We respond. (1) The same faulty logic is coming back:
Second, 1 Corinthians 11:34: “About the other things I shall give directions when I come.”
§ 404. (II) “In 1 Cor. 11:34ff., he is treating two questions: one about the way to pray in church and the other about the way of taking the Eucharist. He begins both with tradition because those commands are not found written anywhere. He concludes with v. 34: ‘About the other things I shall give directions when I come.’ What directions he gave are nowhere found in writing. Catholics correctly think that he not only gave directions about things that had to do with rituals and ceremonies but that he also taught more serious matters concerning the ordination of ministers, the sacrifice of the altar, and about the material and form of the other sacraments. Heretics can by no means show the opposite.”
We respond. (1) The same faulty logic is coming back:
The apostles handed down certain matters; therefore these were not later put into Scripture. The apostles handed down certain matters that were not written; therefore those things are set forth in the traditions of the Papists. To the Corinthians the apostle handed down certain ceremonial regulations about the manner of receiving the Eucharist and about the way to pray in church; therefore certain necessary dogmas were not included and set forth in Holy Scripture. In the church at Corinth, the apostle ordained certain rituals that by their own nature were free and adiaphora; therefore he left behind a huge mass of tradition about the dogmas of faith. At that time the apostle had not yet prescribed to the Corinthians all the things that were related to the rituals of the Church, and he praises them for observing their traditions; therefore after the completion of the New Testament canon we can find not even in the rest of his Epistles what we must know about the apostle’s teaching.
(2) In the administration of the Eucharist there are two things: the substantial and the ceremonial or ritual. The former are necessary and written most sufficiently, because the apostle repeats the institution of the Holy Supper, which he says he received from the Lord Himself (v. 23). This had already been written down by the evangelists, and Paul puts it in this place in his Epistle. The latter, on the other hand, are necessary only in a certain respect, namely, with regard to category and with regard to morality, that things may be done “according to order and elegantly” [1 Cor. 14:40]. That which is merely ceremonial has been left in the liberty of the Church. Thus even the Papists themselves today do not observe all those ceremonies that the apostle prescribed in the Corinthian church in this Epistle.
(3) We cannot take “the other things” [1 Cor. 11:34], for which the apostle promises to give directions, to mean necessary dogmas omitted in Scripture but rather free rituals having to do with graceful order and edification. This we prove, first, from the apostle’s words in 1 Cor. 1:5, that the Corinthians “in every way were made rich with all speech and all knowledge.” If, however, they still had been ignorant of some necessary and serious doctrines, they would not already have been rich in all knowledge. In 1 Cor. 15:1 he writes: “Now I remind you of the Gospel I preached to you, which you also received, in which you also stand, by which you also are saved.” Therefore they were ignorant of nothing that was necessary for their salvation. We prove this, second, from the words themselves, for he says
(“the rest”), namely, the things that are of the same category as the preceding, in which he had spoken about ceremonies and rituals. In addition, he uses the word
[“to give directions”], which applies to ceremonies related to good order and elegance in the Church. Third, from the circumstances. You see, if the Corinthians had still been ignorant of some necessary dogmas, the apostle would have omitted rituals that by their own nature are free and instead would have given the Corinthians instruction about those dogmas in this Epistle. Fourth, from the consensus of the interpreters. In his commentary, Ambrose says, “He promised to establish, when he was present, the other things that have to do with the edification of the Church.” In his commentary, Chrysostom says, “He is speaking about this matter or about other things that are not very urgent.” Theodoret, ibid.: “Because he had written about the more necessary issues, he saved the rest for when he was present.” Oecumenius, ibid.: “He says this either about the same thing, as if the Holy Supper needed correction in other matters, or about something else that needs not so much his words as his presence.” Thomas, in his commentary: “‘The rest,’ that is, things that are not of such danger.” Cajetan, in his commentary: “‘The rest’ is what he had told them earlier. In addition to the abuse of anticipation of the Supper, he had narrated another abuse, namely, that one was suffering hunger while another was drunk. He had told them that, when he came, there were disagreements among them and that he had applied a remedy for neither of these abuses. Therefore he says, ‘About the other things that I have mentioned earlier I shall give directions when I come.’”
(4) What Bellarmine suspects was handed down later by the apostle—namely, “concerning the ordination of ministers, the sacrifice of the altar, the material and form of the sacraments”—these are the things that he himself struggles to dig from the apostolic writings in his book regarding the sacrament of order, the Mass, confirmation, penance, extreme unction, and marriage. Therefore he claims that these are not a part of the unwritten traditions but are scriptural dogmas.
