Clearly you don't know Scripture very well...
Well, you're welcome to your opinion, but clearly you can't make that assessment of anyone here. :) That's not to say you don't know Scripture, but you just can't make that assessment of anyone you don't know, as you are not... omnipotent... :)
2 Thes. 2:15 says, "Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours."
Since this is Paul saying this, then I'm sure you'll agree that what we have to understand then is, what are these
"traditions that..." ~ they, the Christians in Thessalonica ~
"...were taught, either by their statements or letters, that they should stand firm and hold fast to." What do you suppose these to be, Augustin?
Here, St. Paul is putting oral tradition (teaching) on the same level of authority as written teaching (Scripture).
Well, yes, I agree,
if and only if that teaching is from God via His Holy Spirit... This tradition, this
teaching...
is originally from and guided by the one true Authority, God Himself, Who does so in His Word, by the power of His Holy Spirit, Who, as Jesus said, is our
"Helper, Whom the Father (has sent) in (His) name...", Who "...(teaches us) all things and bring to (our) remembrance all that (He has) said to (us)" (John 14:26). As you will no doubt remember, Paul himself, in Romans 13:1, says
"there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God."
Jesus never wrote a book. He taught the Apostles orally...
Yes, and from the Scriptures... in word and deed. As John says, Jesus Himself is the Word made flesh (John 1:14). And Jesus Himself said that all of Scripture was about Him (John 5:46). And as I'm sure you know... :) ... the writer of Hebrews says,
"Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son..." (Hebrews 1:1-2).
...and commanded them to do the same.
Yes, He did. But He did not tell them to teach anything other than what He said and did. Again, He did tell them, in John 14:26, in telling them of the coming Holy Spirit,
"the Helper, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." (John 14:26).
In fact, the Bible says that not everything Jesus did and taught is in the Bible.
Well, if you're referring to what John says at the end of his Gospel ~ "Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written" (John 21:25), then yes, I agree. But we shouldn't then think that there was anything different in substance or content than what we have in Scripture.
Yet, Christ commanded the Apostles to teach all that He had taught them. (Matt. 28:20).
Absolutely. And that command is for all of us, too, all we who are in Christ. So that brings us back, I think, to what Paul meant by "traditions" in 2 Thessalonians 2:15. In Matthew 28:20, Augustin, Christ told His disciples to teach them, these disciples they were to make from all nations, to observe all that He has commanded them, as you point out.
He did not say anything beyond that, but only to
"teach them to observe all that (He has) commanded them."
This makes sense because it has only been in the last 100 years, give or take, that universal literacy was of any interest in humanity worldwide. Before that, the vast, vast majority of humanity was illiterate. Insisting on a Bible-reading, self-interpreting approach, even if that worked (which it clearly doesn't), would have excluded the vast, vast majority of humanity.
It is the Church that St. Paul refers to as the "pillar and bullwark of truth" in 1 Tim 3:15...
Agree, but this Church that Paul refers to that we should come to understand ~ who it is comprised of and why. At any one time, it is composed of all those who are
"in Christ," for whom
"there is therefore now no condemnation" (Romans 8:1), who have been
"made alive together with Christ... and raised up with Him and seated with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:5-6), who
"(God) has caused to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for (us), who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:3-5).
...not the individual personally interpreting his/her Bible.
...
apart from the Holy Spirit, Who gives us intensely personal ~
not different ~ understanding (John 14:26). As John says ~ and he's speaking to each of us individually,
"the anointing that you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie ~ just as it has taught you, abide in Him" (1 John 2:27). This anointing that we have is the Holy Spirit Himself. And certainly John is not saying that we don't need teachers, as teaching itself is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and as such
"empowered by the Spirit, Who apportions to each one individually as He wills," and given
"for the common good" (1 Corinthians 12:4-11). And earlier in 1 Corinthians, Paul has said,
"no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit Who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual" (1 Corinthians 2:11-13).
St. Peter warns against personal interpretation of Scripture in 2 Peter 1:20-21.
Right, but he goes on to explain in that very passage, specifically verse 21, not to make for themselves some different interpretation that that given by the prophets themselves...
"For" ~
because ~
"no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."
Yet, this is what all Protestantism is based upon, and why
No, quite the opposite, regarding sola Scriptura (which is only one of the five pillars of the Reformation). Sola Scriptura is about what is "from God" and what is not.
there is absolutely no unity of belief among the tens of thousands of man-made denominations that form Protestantism.
On the basics of the Gospel There are no divisions. Namely these things:
"Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men... and being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:5-6)
... and...
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" Romans 8:1-4
...and...
"...in all these things..." ('tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword') "...we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us..." so "...neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:31-39).
On these things, there is absolutely no division. If there is, then that may be cause to question whether that person is a Christian or not.
Grace and peace to you, Augustin.
