Sacred tradition

The Anglican and Methodist churches regard tradition, reason, and experience as sources of authority but as subordinate to scripture – a position known as prima scriptura.

[8] Irenaeus of Lyons held that 'rule of faith' ('κανών της πίστης') is preserved by a church through its historical continuity (of interpretation and teaching) with the Apostles.

[10] In the modern era, scholars such as Craig A. Evans, James A. Sanders,[11] and Stanley E. Porter[12] have studied how sacred Tradition in the Hebrew Bible was understood and used by New Testament writers to describe Jesus Christ.

According to Catholic theology, Paul the Apostle exhorted the faithful to "stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter" (2 Thessalonians 2:15).

According to Roman Catholic theology, two sources of revelation constitute a single "Deposit of Faith", meaning that the entirety of divine revelation and the Deposit of Faith is transmitted to successive generations in Scripture and sacred Tradition through the teaching authority and interpretation of the church's Magisterium, which consists of the church's bishops, in union with the Pope, typically proceeding synods and ecumenical councils.

Holding fast to this deposit the entire holy people united with their shepherds remain always steadfast in the teaching of the Apostles, in the common life, in the breaking of the bread and in prayers (see Acts 2, 42, Greek text), so that holding to, practicing and professing the heritage of the faith, it becomes on the part of the bishops and faithful a single common effort.

But the task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus.

As explained by Athanasius of Alexandria (First Letter to Serapion, 28): "Let us look at the very tradition, teaching, and faith of the catholic Church from the very beginning, which the Logos gave (edoken), the Apostles preached (ekeryxan), and the Fathers preserved (ephylaxan).

[16] Sacred Tradition for the Eastern Orthodox is the deposit of faith given by Jesus to the Apostles and passed on in the Church from one generation to the next without addition, alteration, or subtraction.

[3] This position does not deny that Jesus or the apostles preached in person, that their stories and teachings were transmitted orally during the early Christian era, or that truth exists outside of the Bible.