False arguments that Catholics and Orthodox use to prove oral extra-scriptural church tradition are refuted.

"Paul quoted an early hymn from tradition in Ephesians 5:14."

For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you." Ephesians 5:14

1.  Paul got the phrase directly from the Holy Spirit. Inspiration means that the prophecy did not come by an act of human will. We are offended that anyone would suggest the authors of the Bible rely upon human records and not the Holy Spirit. "no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (2 Pet 1:20-21)
2. There are several Old Testament passages that seem to directly underpin Eph 5:14 like, "Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the Lord [Christ] has risen upon you." Isaiah 60:1. "Awake, awake, Clothe yourself in your strength, O Zion; Clothe yourself in your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; For the uncircumcised and the unclean Will no longer come into you." Isaiah 52:1 "Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself! Arise, O Jerusalem, You who have drunk from the Lord's hand the cup of His anger; The chalice of reeling you have drained to the dregs." Isaiah 51:17.
3. Therefore, there is no reason to think the saying comes from tradition, when Paul, the inspired apostle, may be applying the New Testament fulfillment of these passages, just as Matthew did so in his Gospel.
4. There have been speculation that all the following passages are quotes from early Christian hymns, but such is speculative, unsupported by an evidence and inconclusive: Ephesians 5:14, Philippians 2:6-11, Colossians 1:15-20, and 1 Timothy 3:16.
5. Even if these are quotes from early Christian hymns, they were inspired hymns, just as 1 Corinthians 14:26 says: "What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification." Notice that all this is done with the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit. Why would it surprise us if Paul quotes one of these inspired hymns that was familiar to the early church.
6. Of course for Roman Catholic and Orthodox oral tradition defenders, create a huge problem for themselves since they possess no record of inspired hymns from the first century and currently make no claim to even know of any inspired hymns the early church used. If they did have any inspired songs, they would use them in all their "masses".
7. Yes there were several later hymns and poetry recorded by the Apostolic Fathers, but the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches do not use them in Liturgy. If they were consistent in their extra-biblical oral tradition, they would be forced to use all these hymns and poetry in their liturgy. They simply ignore it proving once again, they have more interest in writing themselves a "blank tradition cheque" rather than actually following revealed "traditions" of the early church. In this they show their true intentions by pointing out "oral tradition" then ignoring such traditions in liturgy. Such is shamefully deceptive.

More Pro-Oral Church tradition arguments refuted!

More Anti-Sola Scriptura arguments refuted!

by Steve Rudd

Go To Start: WWW.BIBLE.CA