The Development of Tradition and the Word

The apostolic fathers, as we have seen, did not have a formal doctrine of the Word of God or of inspiration. Rather they had an intuitive understanding that the Scriptures were the one unified and authoritative revelation of God by the apostles and prophets. We must also remember that for the apostolic fathers, the teaching and preaching of the apostles was a matter of living memory in the church. It is understandable therefore that along with Scripture, the canon of which had not yet been...