Truth is not a work in progress;
theology is however. We proud Protestants who insist on sola Scriptura—opposed
to prima Scriptura—have painted ourselves into an unnecessary corner with very
little wiggle room to escape. The
problem is that tradition is important, and in many respects absolutely
necessary. Take for instance the doctrine of the Trinity, where would we be
without the Council of Nicea (325 AD) followed by the Councils of Chalcedon
(451 AD) and Ephesus (431 AD) which hammer out the finer details of the
functions of the Godhead? In this regard, it can be shown that opinions based
solely on Scripture were all over the map, depending on which cleric
interpreted those verses. The Orthodox—which I consider myself to be—insisted,
however, that private interpretation was a sure road to ruin and the junk heap
of heresy.
Fortunately for us, tradition
(just another term for the history of Orthodoxy) stepped in and insisted that
“No, Jesus was not only just like God; but God Himself, or otherwise we end up
with two Gods or simply a created son with a beginning prior to our creation.”
And, believe it or not each position can be supported by cherry picking the
Bible.
The wiser heads when presented
with such contradictions, however, insisted that both Old and New Covenants
taught that God is One. For sure it is a mystery, but one worth delving into without
sacrificing this core principle. Thank God, they did so, because during the
process these holy men of God established the canon and a whole lot of
necessary doctrine along the way.
For the truth of the matter is
that we had neither a defined canon of Scripture or Trinitarian creed prior to
this—as a matter of fact, history tells us that the word “Trinity” was not even
in the vocabulary of the Primitive Church or at the very best after the first
two centuries. So, we are, indeed, obligated to tradition for that. We should
not be afraid of the word “tradition,” either—it’s in the Bible; whereas, the
word “Trinity” is not. We’re not talking about the tradition of men (Colossians
2:8; Titus 1:14)—Scripture and common sense condemns that—we’re talking about
Godly tradition (2 Thessalonians 2:15), the kind that young Timothy learned at
the feet of Paul (2 Timothy 1:5) or that which he tucked away in his heart as
heard from his grandmother.
The Assemblies of God’s official
position on Scripture is as follows:
The Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, are verbally inspired of
God and are the revelation of God to man, the infallible, authoritative rule of
faith and conduct.
With all
of this in mind, I think it can be safely said that it was God through the working
and discernment of the Church that gave us the Scriptures and not the other way
around. It may also be stated without fear of contradiction that the New
Testament Church existed before the New Testament books. Therefore, we are once
again reminded that, indeed, the church of the living God, is the pillar and
foundation of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15).
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