Oral Tradition

• The Bible is oral tradition which has been written down

Some parts were added at different times by different authors or scribes

• Examples include the story of Jesus and the adulterous woman (John 8), and the entire chapter of John 21.
• This occurred because ancient Christians continued to pass along stories orally for many years after Jesus' death and resurrection and before the Bible existed. Not everything Christ said and did was put into the Gospels.
• Paul gives in 1 Cor 15 an oral tradition of the appearances of Christ to Cephas, then to the twelve, then to five hundred others, etc. We know nothing about these appearances because they were not written down, but those to whom Paul was speaking knew the stories because they were shared through the oral tradition.
• The text was not being "corrupted" by these additions, as some scholars suggest, rather the copyists wanted to preserve stories that they felt were important. Later, the Church accepted the additions as inspired Holy Scripture and placed them in the canon.