SACRED TRADITION IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY
References to Christian tradition (παραδοσις) are frequently seen in the earliest NT writings,
especially in Paul’s letters (e.g., 1 Cor 7:10; 11:2, 6, 23; 15:1-11; 2 Thess
2:15; 3:6). For Paul, this tradition is the church’s sacred truth and the
Gospel that he proclaimed he believed was a “revelation” from God that was also
handed on in the churches to Paul by those who preceded him (1 Cor 15:1-3;
8-11). The anonymous author who wrote to Diognetus, a possible teacher of
Marcus Aurelius (c. 161-180 CE) and written perhaps by 150-22 or later,
offers a criticism of the Jews and a summary of the Christian faith and the
benefits of conversion, and claimed that he was a “disciple of the apostles” (Ep.
Diog. 11.1) and that he would “administer worthily that which has been
handed down (παραδοθεντα) to those who
are becoming disciples of truth” (Ep. Diog. 11.1; LCL, emphasis added).
The “truth” he was teaching appears to be both the Christian gospel and proclamation
of Jesus as Lord of the church. He claims that this tradition comes from Jesus
the Christ (“the Word”) and was “proclaimed by the apostles and believed by the
heathen” (11.3). He adds that this “truth” or “fear of the law is sung, and the
grace of the prophets known, the faith of the Gospels is established, the
tradition of the apostles is guarded, and the grace of the church
leaps for joy” (11.6, Ehrman, LCL, emphasis added). That “truth,” he claims, was passed on to the
apostles by Christ and then to their successors and he invites Diognetus to
become a fellow believer (12.1).
Irenaeus admonishes those in every
church “who may wish to see the truth, to contemplates clearly the tradition
of the apostles manifested throughout the whole world” (Ag. Haer.
3.3.1, ANF, emphasis added). Soon afterward, he relates how the “church
in Rome” dispatched “a most powerful latter to the Corinthians [1 Clement], exhorting
them to peace, to renewing their faith and to declaring the tradition which
it had lately received from the apostles.” Summarizing the apostolic faith,
Irenaeus concludes that those who follow it can learn from “the apostolic tradition
of the Church.” He adds that through the succession of apostles, “the ecclesiastical
tradition rom the apostles, and the preaching of the truth, have
come down to us” (3.3.3, ANF, emphasis added). The early church’s sacred
tradition formed its primary authority before there was a Christian
scripture. Irenaeus asked where his readers would find the truth if the
apostles “had not left us writings” and he answers, “Would it not be necessary
to follow the course of the tradition they handed down to those to whom they
did commit the churches” (3.4.1 ANF, emphasis added).
The NT words for tradition (παραδιδωμι, or παραδουναι,
and παραδοσις) are sometimes coupled with “receiving” tradition
(παρελαβον) as in 1 Cor 15:2-3. This terminology is used
in reference to the church’s sacred teachings that reflect its revelation or proclamation
(compare Rom 6:17; 1 Cor 11;2 [παρεδωκα], 23 [παρελαβον and παρεδωκα]; 15:2-3 [παρεδωκα]; 2 Pet 2:21 [παραδοθεισης] and cf. also Luke 1:2; Acts 16;4 [παρεδιδοσαν] (Büchsel 1964: 2:171-3). The term in 1 Cor
15:2-3 states clearly that one’s salvation depends on receiving the tradition in
15:1-8. Observe the order in this text of three emphases followed by one
(15:3-5) and introduced by “that” (οτι) and the
witnesses here are in a two-one sequence (e.g., he appeared to Cephas then (ειτα) to the Twelve, then (ειπειτα) to above five hundred brothers, then (ειπειτα) to James, then (ειτα) to the rest of the apostles, again, the
two-one sequence with “then” alternating, and last of all to Paul who was the
last appearance that he added to the former without the “that” or then.”) This
balance (3-1 and 2-1) made the tradition easily remembered in early churches.
In the first half of the second century, it was mostly the tradition of Jesus’
words, actions, and fate that formed the earliest and most important traditions
circulating in the later churches (the regular fidei). Those traditions often
included an appeal to an interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures that in time
eventuated into a fixed biblical canon.
Those who suggest that other expressions
of early Christianity were more popular prior to the time of Constantine’s
influence over the church in the fourth century CE do not show familiarity with
the earlier church, traditions and creeds circulating in the first-, second-,
and third-century churches. Jenson rightly contends that there is an obvious connection
between the creeds of the early church and its eventual NT canon (Jenson 2010).
While there are some challenges in his arguments, he clearly argues for the
often-overlooked relationship between creeds and the biblical canon of the
church. The NT canon was not a late development that somehow emerged in the
fourth century after the church then had power, money, and influence.
Several important responses from the
second- and third-century churches to multiple arising crises they were facing
had a major impact on later Christianity, including the expanded role of
bishops, church order, clarification of the rules of faith (or church
tradition), and the recognition of Church scriptures that likely,
following the Hellenistic model and the Jewish Hebrew Bible, later emerged as a
fixed Christian biblical canon. (Lee Martin McDonald, Before There was a
Bible: Authorities in Early Christianity [London: T&T Clark, 2023], 98-100)
