The Nugget:
2Th 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. (KJV)
2Th 2:15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. (ESV)
My Comment:
Some of the readers here may get very upset by what I am about to share. If you are guilty of holding to the mistaken belief I am about to severely criticize, you need to get upset and turn to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and genuinely repent of holding this belief, even though it is taught by your church, and learn to follow the truth of the Bible alone.
Roman Catholics quote 2 Thessalonians 2:15 to argue we must follow tradition in addition to the Bible. Read this verse again in the English Standard Version:
2Th 2:15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. (emphasis added)
Notice whose traditions we are commanded to follow: the teachings (the meaning of the underlying Greek word translated traditions) of the Apostles of Christ.
These teachings are found in one place only: the 27 primary source first century historical documents contained in the New Testament and nowhere else.
Defenders of Roman Catholicism, known as Roman Catholic apologists, engage in a logical fallacy called the fallacy of equivocation which means in this case they set forth an argument about tradition but use the word in two quite different meanings.
Roman Catholics are required to believe the ever-changing and expanding unwritten traditions which the Roman Catholic Church claims to possess. The Bible uses the term in 2 Thessalonians 2:15 to refer to the oral teachings and written letters and documents of the Apostles which are now contained in their final and unchanging form in the New Testament.
Cross Reference Bible Study for 2 Thessalonians 2:15 from The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury:
2 Thessalonians 2:15
stand fast. Gr. stēkō (S# G4739, Gal 5:1). %2Th 2:2, See on +**1Co 15:58; +1Co 16:13, +*Gal 5:1, *Php 4:1, +*1Th 3:8.
hold. Gr. krateō (S# G2902, Mat 9:25). *2Th 3:6, Pro 24:21, Rom 14:12, 1Co 11:2; +*1Co 15:2, +*1Th 5:21, 1Ti 6:20, *Tit 1:9, Rev 2:25.
the traditions. Gr. paradosis, *S# G3862. Rendered (1) tradition: Mat 15:2, 3; Mat 15:6, Mar 7:3; Mar 7:5; Mar 7:8, 9; Mar 7:13, Gal 1:14, Col 2:8, 2Th 2:15; 2Th 3:6, (2) ordinance: 1Co 11:2.
All but three of the preceding texts (2Th 2:15; 2Th 3:6; 1Co 11:2) use “tradition” in a most negative sense, as something NOT to be followed.
All that Jesus said about “tradition” was negative: he warned not to follow it.
Roman Catholic apologists assert only their church has the oral or unwritten teachings of Christ and the Apostles preserved as Roman Catholic tradition from that day until now (Joh 20:31; Joh 21:25). They claim to have “the rest of the story” which those who go by the Bible alone and in its entirety are missing.
But this alleged tradition remains a mysterious black box, and its contents remind one of the nursery rhyme, “nothing in it, nothing in it, but the binding ’round it.”
No Roman Catholic has produced an authenticated example of any additional words from Christ that are not in the New Testament. All the extant words of Christ and His direct apostles of the first century are preserved in just one place accessible to all: the 27 primary source documents of the New Testament.
In 2Th 2:15 Paul uses the term “tradition” to refer to the content of the oral teaching the Thessalonians heard Paul give when he was present with them as recorded in the book of Acts (Act 17:1, 2, 3, 4; Act 17:11).
Roman Catholic Apologists are stating absolute lies when they suggest that “tradition” is to be accepted along with the Bible, citing 2Th 2:15.
Paul uses “tradition” in the sense of “teaching” here. Roman Catholics are deceitful when they use the word “tradition,” committing the logical fallacy of equivocation, because they are using a single word but ascribing to it two quite different meanings.
Roman Catholics understand “tradition” to refer to both (1) the very words of Christ and his apostles and (2) the changing and developing doctrines over time of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Bible declares we must believe and hold firmly to the “faith ONCE delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3). The Bible in Jude 1:3 pointedly declares the full, complete faith and system of doctrine was “delivered ONCE” using a very strong Greek term for “once” in this passage.
The term literally means “once for all” (a word found at Heb 9:26, 27, 28 and 1Pe 3:18). God’s truth in the Bible never changes, and must not be added to (Psa 119:89, Pro 30:6, Isa 8:20). 2Th 3:6, Mat 15:2, 3, 4, 5, 6; Mat 15:9, Rom 6:17, *1Co 11:2; *1Co 11:23; +*1Co 15:3, Gal 1:12; Gal 1:14, Col 2:8, +*Jud 1:3 g.
whether. 2Th 2:2, 2Th 3:14.
by word. The oral teaching during the visit of the missionaries. +2Th 2:2, **1Th 2:13.
our epistle. Teaching received since that visit. The preservation of the Apostolic teaching was transferred from the oral to the written medium. There is therefore no body of authoritative tradition separate and distinct from the Bible, as some claim to be the case (see Hogg & Vine, pp. 276, 277). +2Sa 11:15, 1Th 4:15, 16, 17, 18.