Scripture is a lot like the sun: It is our ultimate source of illuminating truth and spiritual revelation. But just as we need open eyes to see sunlight, God has given us the Church, including pastors and teachers, to help us see His Word rightly, receiving and responding to His Truth. Christian creeds, traditions, and sound teaching from books and classes can also help us see Scripture more clearly, like glasses that shield and sharpen our vision. We don’t place pastors or traditions above Scripture, or even on a level with it, but by God’s grace, Scripture and the Church work together to keep us walking in the light.
We see this in Ephesians 4:11-16, where Jesus appointed the Apostle Paul to write to the Ephesian church that “he [God] gave … the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry.” The “saints” are us, believers in Jesus! And what are we equipped to do? “To the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ … we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (emphases added).
Notice who “gave” the Church its shepherds (pastors) and teachers. Pastors are a gift from God! And as with each joint, organ, and bone in our bodies, what God gives us, we must need.
Of course, our greatest need is Christ and His Word. But logically, we can’t admit our need for Jesus without also admitting our need for His body, the Church! The gospel spoken through believers, members of the Church, is how we come to know Christ, and the Church also helps us understand the Bible. Pastors don’t directly save souls; God does. But God has determined that their preaching of His Word does save souls (Romans 10:14-16). Like when Moses parted the Red Sea, God does the miracle, but the Church carries out the miracle.
In the second century A.D., some “shepherds and teachers” (Ephesians 4:11) in the early Church began to outline core Christian teachings they called the “Rule of Faith” (regula fidei in Latin). The Lexham Survey of Theology says, “The rule of faith is an outline of Christian beliefs, based in Scripture, which summarizes the apostolic proclamation about who God is and what God has done in the person and work of Jesus Christ … Scripture and tradition reinforce one another: Scripture provides the outline for the Christian faith and the rule of faith serves as a guide for reading Scripture.”
The Rule of Faith is not Scripture. But it is a scriptural resource that helps us understand God’s Word. For example, take some time today to look up This rule of faith took many forms, one of which developed into what we know now as the Apostles’ Creed, which is read weekly in many churches all over the world. How might it deepen your study of Scripture?
When it comes to studying the Bible, we don’t need anything or anyone else like we need God. At the same time, God’s Scriptures direct us to His Church, which includes faithful pastors and teachers and (by extension) their classes, books, Bible colleges, seminaries, creeds, and traditions. Yes, God is the One who gives understanding. And He chooses to do so through these gifts He has provided. So we’re wise to include the Church in our study of the Bible, with the Bible as our supreme authority.
Speaking of the Rule of Faith (or “Canon of Truth,” if translated from the Greek), let’s look at how Galatians 6:16 uses the word “rule” to refer to God’s ways: “As for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.” The word for “rule” here is canon in Greek, which used to refer primarily to a standardized measuring rod, similar to a 12-inch wooden ruler. Now, in the Church, “canon” refers to the standard or traditional list of 66 books we affirm as Scripture. It serves us as another kind of “rule of faith.”
In this sense, by God’s Spirit and grace, the Bible is upheld by tradition. Over time, the Church, led by the Holy Spirit, has recognized and affirmed every book in the Old and New Testaments. And as believers read and apply Scripture generation after generation, we continue to affirm this same canon as the authoritative Word of God. Tradition points us to these Scriptures, and through reading Scripture, by God’s Spirit, we continue that tradition.
There are some traditions that become sinful, like the ones Jesus pointed out in Mark 7 that went against God’s commands: “You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men. And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!” (Mark 7:8-9)
Yet, there are other traditions, which are all to be tested against Scripture, that God uses to call and keep us, by His grace: “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.” (1 Thessalonians 2:15)
Adorn the Gospel 