Fact a Day: March 2nd
The Facts on Roman Catholicism (Harvest House, 1993), p. 6
Why should the issue of what constitutes divine revelation be a vital concern to all Christians?
If God has revealed Himself to mankind, can we know where that revelation is found? Can we identify it? In other words, can we truly know what God has spoken to us?
Protestants have traditionally maintained that God has spoken solely in the 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament. Only these books are divinely authoritative.
In contrast, Roman Catholicism teaches that in addition to the Protestant Bible, there are five other sources having divine authority. First, there are additional books written between the Old and New Testaments, known to Catholics as the deuterocanonical books and to Protestants by the term “Apocrypha.” Roman Catholics consider these books as genuine Scripture and thus include them as part of their Bible.* Second, Catholicism maintains that divine authority is to be found in the authorized Tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, which is also classified as the “Word of God.”* Third, divine authority (infallibility) is given to the Pope when he speaks officially on matters of faith and morals.* Fourth, when speaking or teaching in conjunction with the Pope and orthodox Catholic Tradition, Roman Catholic bishops are also held to be infallible, and hence, divinely authoritative.* Finally, official Roman Catholic interpretation of the Bible (Catholic teaching) is considered to have divine warrant and authority.* In essence, all five of these sources can be summarized by the term “Roman Catholic Tradition.”
*For full documentation, please see The Facts on Roman Catholicism.