The citations of Scripture in the Apostolic Fathers are especially
noteworthy. Usually when any of the authors quotes a New Testament writer he
does so without exhibiting the apostle’s authority. His true attitude toward
apostolic testimony is revealed less in his direct quotations than in his
allusions and in his habit of interweaving biblical terminology with his own.
(Bruce Shelley, By What Authority? The Standards of Truth in the Early
Church [Exeter: The Paternoster Press, 1966], 26)
To suppose that this respect for the apostolic testimony was
confined to written documents, however, would be unwise. The Apostolic Fathers
drew no sharp line between written and oral authorities. But is this not what
one would expect of those within one generation of the apostles? The things
that they had seen and heard were still quite real to them. Papias’ ready
acceptance of authentic oral reports of “the elders” is understandable.
Furthermore, of the many citations of apostolic testimony there are few, if
any, that are quoted as though the author were conscious of quoting a written
authority. The form of the quotation would argue as convincingly that they were
derived from oral tradition. It is most probable that the writers had in mind
that body of acts and doctrines which would expression in the churches’
day-to-day preaching, instruction, and worship. At the same time it must be
understood that no quotation contains any truth that is not substantially
preserved in our Gospels and Epistles. There is no place for tradition not
vouched for in those books later known as the New Testament. (Bruce Shelley, By
What Authority? The Standards of Truth in the Early Church [Exeter: The
Paternoster Press, 1966], 57)
The exclusive authority of the apostolic writings was delayed by
several circumstances, in the early second century. (Ibid., 57)
Fortunately, the meaning of tradition in Origen’s writings is much
clearer. Like Clement [of Alexandria] he also knows of an ecclesiastic
tradition (Com. Ser. on Matt. 46) and a secret tradition. In contrast to
Clement, however, he gives no direct and continuous ancestry for his secret
tradition apart from the Bible. Nor does he confuse secret tradition with the
public rule of faith. He keeps the two quite distinct. His secret tradition is
derived from the Bible by the intellectual elite of the church. It consists of
a number of esoteric doctrines that are beyond the understanding of the average
believer. Origen assumes that Christ and his apostles taught these doctrines privately
to their more intelligent followers, just as Origen teaches his. (Bruce
Shelley, By What Authority? The Standards of Truth in the Early Church [Exeter:
The Paternoster Press, 1966], 130)