Sacred Tradition

God's word is simply more than letters on a page or sounds for one's ear. His word is creative, meaning that when his says something, it happens. For example, in the Book of Genesis in the Bible, God creates by merely saying the word: "God said, 'let there be light,' and there was light."
Catholics believe that the Word of God is found not just in the Bible, but in the unwritten word as well-called Sacred Tradition. Over the next few days, I'll demonstrate what Sacred Tradition is, and explain the most important part of that Tradition-the Creed.

Before the Word was written, it was first spoken. God first said, "Let there be light," then later someone recorded those words on paper. Jesus first spoke the Word when he preached his Sermon on the Mount. He didn't dictate to the apostle Matthew while he was preaching. Matthew recorded the speech years later, well after Jesus had died, risen, and ascended into heaven. None of the Gospels were written during Jesus's time on Earth. He died in 33 A.D., and the earliest Gospel (which is an Aramaic version of Matthew that other texts refer to) appears between the years 40-50 A.D. The rest of the Gospels were written 20-70 years after Jesus turned over his Church to his disciples. Matthew and John were apostles who actually heard the words of Christ and witnessed his life firsthand. However, the other two authors - Mark and Luke - were later disciples who recorded information secondhand. Jesus's actions and teachings were handed down (remember that the Latin word for "hand down" is tradition) by those who had actually witnessed such events firsthand (Luke frequently makes references to this in his Gospel). The unwritten Gospel was told by the apostles orally long before evangelists, the writers of the Gospels, ever wrote a word down. Luke got much of his information from Mary, Jesus's mother, and Mark relied on St. Peter as a primary source.

Logically, if years passed between Jesus's original teachings and the first appearance of the Gospels on paper, some other method of the Word was used. In the same way that the Old Testament was passed on through oral tradition before it was finally written down, so too was the New Testament. Jesus had fulfilled his ministry on Earth, performed miracles, died, risen from the dead, and ascended into heaven well before anyone wrote anything inspired about it. No one took notes while he preached. Jesus never wrote letters to his apostles as instructions. Sacred Tradition precedes the Bible, but both come from the same source-God.

The New Testament never says anything about Jesus's marital status. It never says that he was married, but it doesn't say that he wasn't, either (you might say "then he probably wasn't," but remember that the Bible also doesn't explicitly mention Peter having a wife, but we know that he did, since Jesus cured Peter's mother-in-law). Christians, however, believe that Jesus was unmarried and did not have children. Sacred Tradition says that Jesus never married in the same way it says there are only four Gospels. Without a written list, how can anyone say that there should only be 27 books in the New Testament? The Catholic response would be, "If we rely on Scripture alone, then there is no correct answer." However, if another avenue exists, say the Catholic belief in the unwritten word, then the Church can go by that.

Catholicism distinguishes between divinely inspired Sacred Tradition and mere human tradition:
Human tradition: Man-made laws that can be changed. An example of this is the Catholic practice of not eating meat on Fridays during Lent. Any Pope could eliminate this practice, change it, or continue it. Celibacy on the parts of priests is another human tradition.

Sacred Traditions: Considered part of the unwritten word of God, and believed since the very early days of the Apostolic Church. It's called Apostolic because the apostles lived during that time. An example of Sacred Tradition is the dogma of the Assumption of Mary. A dogma is a revealed truth that is defined by the Church - and one that all the faithful are required to believe. Although it is never explicitly stated in the Sacred Scripture, the Assumption of Mary is the belief that Mary was assumed, body and soul, into heaven by her son, Jesus. Even though this wasn't defined by the Church until Pope Pius XII in 1950, it has been believed by Catholic Christians since the time of the apostles. Other examples of Sacred Tradition can be found in the 21 Ecumenical Councils of the Church, from Nicea to Vatican II.