NOT in The Bible

WHY CATHOLICS USE TERMS NOT FOUND IN THE BIBLE

1️⃣ Ever heard someone say:

“That word, or phrase, or concept - etc. -  isn’t in the Bible!”

They then use that as some kind of "proof" to reject a Catholic teaching.

This is the basic modus operandi of all protestants, and it's a literal dogma of its own among fundamentalist, and evangelical, "Bible only," sects.

Yet this is more the pride and anger of men who hate The Church, more than any valid ecclesiastical action.  And most are so intent on pursuing this error, that they dont even know it IS an error.  

After 500+ years, they have grown so accustomed to cherry-picking Scripture verses to invalidate The Church (and so validate themselves), that they are clueless to thier mistake.

So, let’s break this down and explain it.

First, off, not every word must be in Scripture - the Bible never tells us that. In a few places, we are told how the Bible could be used to help us, but it never says you may use nothing ELSE. You'd suppose that those who hang on every Scriptural utterance would recognize that. But they refuse to.

However, every truth of God and His plan for men should be there.

This is where Sacred Tradition and Magisterial teaching come into play, to...

✅ preserve, 

✅ explain, 

✅ and define what the Apostles Church.

 This is why The Catholic Church doesn't says it's a a Bible-only church.  Thats a misnomer. Instead, The Church is an APOSTOLIC church, the very one that gave us the Bible - based on the action of the apostles.

2️⃣ The Catholic Church uses doctrinal terms to explain biblical truths that are often implied, rather than explicit, and scattered throughout Scripture.

👨‍🏫 These terms are not man-made inventions, they are precise formulations rooted in divine revelation. But they must be ferreted out at times.

Examples?

✅ The Trinity (God as Three Persons)

✅ The Incarnation of Christ (God becoming flesh)

✅ Purgatory (final purification)

✅ Original Sin (humanity’s inherited fallen state)

👨‍🏫 These doctrines are deeply biblical, even if the exact vocabulary wasn’t yet used when the authors of Scripture wrote, in both Ild Testament times, and the Apostolic era.

And that's the point.

3️⃣ But guess what? 

👨‍🏫 Neither does the word "Bible" itself appear in the Bible. Nowhere does it call itself that. The name Bible wasnt even thought of until AD 404, St. John  Chrysostom. And he used, "biblias," aka, "the books."

Likewise, many common protestant phrases aren't in the Bible, either:

✅ “Altar call” - not there

✅ “Personal relationship with Jesus” - nope

✅ “Once saved, always saved” - total fabrication 

✅ “Sola scriptura” - another made up term

We could go on with this, but you get the point.

👨‍🏫 Now... should these also be rejected, simply because they're not word-for-word in the text?

You protestants will scream, "No!" and manyCatholics  will say, "Yes." But either way - you get the point.

4️⃣ The Church defines words to protect the orthodox interpretation of the Word of God.

For example:

👨‍🏫 Trinity expresses the entire biblical witness to God's nature:

✅ John 1:1 (“the Word was God”)

✅ Matthew 28:19 (baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)

✅ 2 Corinthians 13:14 (mentions all three Persons)

👨‍🏫 Without the word "Trinity," heresies like modalism or Arianism would again flourish.

5️⃣ When heresies arose, the Church responded with clear, defined language to defend the true faith.

Example:

👨‍🏫 The Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.) - before The Bible -  used the Greek word “homoousios” ("of the same substance") to affirm that Jesus is fully God.

👨‍🏫 This counters Arianism, which falsely claimed Jesus was a created being, a puppet of God.

👨‍🏫 These doctrinal definitions don’t add to Scripture, BUT they clarify it.

6️⃣ This is the Church acting under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, as Christ promised in John 16:13:

📃 “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.”

👨‍🏫 Doctrine grows in precision, not in essence.

👨‍🏫 The Church doesn't invent truth, it preserves and articulates it more clearly as needed.

This is called the development of doctrine, as explained by St. John Henry Newman.

7️⃣ So when someone says:

“That’s not in the Bible!”

Ask them:

“Do you mean the word isn’t there, or the truth ot it isn’t?”

👨‍🏫 Because if the truth is there, the Church founded by Christ with apostolic authority has the duty and right to explain it using faithful, theological language.

📌 Stay Catholic. Stay grounded. Use faith and reason.

📚 Sources: Scripture (2 Thessalonians 2:15), Church Fathers, Ecumenical Councils, Magisterium, and the lived Tradition of the Church.