Ambrose on Scripture and Tradition [Part 2]

 

Letter 37

"In most places Paul so explains his meaning by his own words, that he who discourses on them can find nothing to add of his own; and if he wishes to say anything, must rather perform the office of a grammarian than a discourser." (PL 16:1084, also in Fathers of the Church, vol. 26, pg. 286)

This quotation shows that Ambrose did not view an infallible magisterium as necessary for getting the meaning of Scripture (which in this context is specifically the letters the Apostle Paul). 

Cain and Abel, Book 1, Chapter 6

"I wished that they be arrayed in the unadorned words of Scripture in order that they may gleam in their own light and that in due order they may speak out plainly for themselves. The sun and the moon need no interpreter. The brilliance of their light is all-sufficient a light that fills the entire world. Faith serves as an illumination for the inspired Word. It is, if I may say so, an intestate witness having no need of another's testimony, yet it dazzles the eyes of all mankind." (Fathers of the Church, vol. 42, pg. 380)

This is an explicit affirmation of Scripture's clearness, plainness, and perspicuity. 

On the Christian Faith, Book 1, Chapter 6

"Nevertheless I would not that your sacred Majesty should trust to argument and our disputation. Let us enquire of the Scriptures, of apostles, of prophets, of Christ." (https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/34041.htm)

On the Duties of the Clergy, Book 1, Chapter 23

"Men of the world give many further rules about the way to speak, which I think we may pass over; as, for instance, the way jesting should be conducted. For though at times jests may be proper and pleasant, yet they are unsuited to the clerical life. For how can we adopt those things which we do not find in the holy Scriptures?" (https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/34011.htm)

Sermon 14 on Psalm 118

"The books of the heavenly Scriptures are good pastures, by which we are fed by daily reading, by which we are renewed and refreshed, when we taste the things that are written, or ruminate frequently upon that which has been but tasted. Upon these pastures the flock of the Lord is fattened." (cited in William Goode, The Divine Rule of Faith and Practice, Vol. II, pg. 528)

I will end this article series with a quote from Craig Alan Satterlee:

"Nevertheless, Ambrose could not have the fathomed the possibility of preaching in which Scripture was not an integral part. The bishop of Milan was essentially a scriptural preacher. As we have said, recourse to Scripture is constant in his sermons. For Ambrose, Scripture is 'the spiritual home of the Christian, it constitutes [the Christian's intellectual world'. He understood Scripture to be the source of all knowledge and wisdom... " (Craig Alan Satterlee, Ambrose of Milan's Method of Mystagogical Preaching, pg. 210)