The core of all Christian belief (and therefore of the catholic faith) is the person of Jesus Christ and the loving God revealed to us by him. The job of the church is to make them known to the people, so that knowing God, they can love God, serve God, and be happy with God for all eternity. By far the richest, most valuable, and most authoritative source of this knowledge is the Bible. The Bible (Old and New Testaments) contains all the information necessary for salvation.
Through history and the writings of the church fathers, we gain valuable insights into the faith and practice of the early Christian church, its worship, and its relationship with the society in which it survived. But scripture is the inspired word of God. In it we find the source of all that we must believe.
Many people believe in things (like the Assumption of Mary into Heaven) which have no basis in scripture. These things may be true. But if belief in them were necessary for salvation, God would have inspired Luke or someone to include them in the scriptures. It is argued that some of the more recent doctrines were widely believed in the early church, and therefore should be included in the “catholic faith.” Others argue that no dogma of only one denomination can be considered believed everywhere by all, and thus cannot possibly be “catholic.” This argument is best resolved by resorting to St. Augustine’s “In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, diversity; in all things, charity.” Since these extra-Biblical doctrines are clearly nonessential, diversity of views should be respected. Therefore, without passing judgment on the truth or “catholicity” of these beliefs, we can conclude that they are not part of the “essentials of the catholic faith.” This gives us one general rule: We should not require belief in anything which is unsupported by scripture.
This sounds a great deal like the Protestant “sola scriptura” (Definition) — and indeed it is. At the same time, neither we nor most protestants (Definition) ignore tradition, the church fathers, or the Ecumenical Councils. As we shall see, much of the “catholic faith” was defined in these sources, but found its roots in scripture. An example is the doctrine of the Trinity. The word isn’t even found in the Bible, and the details were argued about for several hundred years before being defined by the church in Council. Yet who can deny that the Trinity is supported by scripture? Jesus commanded his apostles to make disciples of all nations, “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” There is ample reason for including belief in “three divine persons in one God” as an essential of the catholic faith. The details of how one visualizes these three interacting, however, should be included in the “nonessential” category. (See our discussion of the “filioque” in the Nicene Creed below.)
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