That's interesting to read. Honestly, the fact that the Church honors sacred tradition has very often been criticized in forum. Also, the Church Fathers have been used against us as a contradiction.
Tell me, what do you think of Paul's verse from Colossians? What are the essentials you speak of? Thanks!
“Actually, tradition is very important to Biblical Christianity.”
“That’s interesting to read. Honestly, the fact that the Church honors sacred tradition has very often been criticized in forum. Also, the Church Fathers have been used against us as a contradiction.”
Protestants also have tradition and it is cherished. It is not, however equal to or higher than what God has said and inspired. All tradition and doctrine is judged by the highest authority - God’s Word - which is the meaning of Sola Scriptura. If it is not rooted there, it is not a doctrine that is Christian.
Frankly, anyone or group that makes anything other than what God has inspired be equal or higher in authority, deserves to be corrected. Protestant or other denomination.
The Fathers are contradictory. Historically, they are useful, but not authoritative. They have value. The quote I shared above is fantastic and wise.
“Tell me, what do you think of Paul’s verse from Colossians? What are the essentials you speak of? Thanks!”
Different topic about suffering...
I’m too beat after driving so far today to give you anything original. Here is a snippet from Dr. Thomas Constable, one of my former seminary professors and a fantastic teacher of the Bible. Man did he make me work!
Paul’s sufferings 1:24
This verse is “. . . probably the most controversial in the letter.”76
It might have seemed ironical that Paul was in prison, in view of what he had just said about the success of the gospel. Therefore he quickly explained that his afflictions were part of God’s plan, and he rejoiced in them. Paul could rejoice because he knew his imprisonment would benefit his readers through his ministry to them in this letter if in no other way. Furthermore he regarded his sufferings as what any servant of Christ could expect in view of the world’s treatment of his Master.
“. . . the word thlipseon (AV [NASB and NIV], ‘afflictions’) is never used in the New Testament of the atoning sufferings of Christ. We, therefore, must reject any conception of a treasury of merit, such as Roman Catholics allow, composed of Christ’s sufferings plus the sufferings of the saints and dispensed as indulgences.
“If we also dismiss the interpretations which understand Paul to be referring to sufferings demanded by Christ or suffered for His sake (the natural sense of the genative is opposed to this), we are still left with several alternatives.”77
One view is that the phrase “Christ’s afflictions” refers to the quota of sufferings the church must undergo corporately before the end of the age (cf. Matt. 24:6; Heb. 11:40; Rev. 6:11).78 However this idea is foreign to the context that stresses the contribution Paul’s sufferings made to the Colossian’s welfare. Paul’s point was not that his sufferings relieved the Colossians of their share of sufferings for Christ (cf. 1:28–29; 2:1–2).
A second view is that Paul was saying his sufferings were similar to Christ’s. Both he and Christ suffered for believers, Christ on the cross and Paul presently.79 Yet Paul wrote here of Christ’s sufferings. They were His own.
A third view is that the sufferings of Christ to which Paul referred are those sacrificial works the Lord left for believers to perform.80 As Christ suffered during His ministry, so Christians suffer during our ministries. However if this is what Paul meant, why did he speak of them as Christ’s afflictions? This view, as the preceding two views, expresses a Scriptural revelation, but that revelation does not seem to be Paul’s point here.
A fourth view, the one I prefer, regards the afflictions of Christ as Christ’s actual sufferings now, not on the cross but in and through Paul whom He indwelt (cf 2 Cor. 11:23–28).81 When believers suffer, Christ also suffers because He indwells us (cf. Acts 9:4).
“It is no wonder, then, that Paul rejoiced in his sufferings. Seen in the light of his union with Christ, they were transfigured and made an occasion for fellowship with Him, as well as a benefit to the body, the church.”82
Constable, T. (2003). Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Col 1:23–24).