Deposit of the Faith

DEPOSIT OF THE FAITH.— The word deposit (Greek παραθήκη) occurs in the letters of St. Paul to Timothy (I Tim. 6:20; II Tim. 1:14), in the writings of several Fathers, especially in Tertullian (De praescriptione, 25: PL 2, 37), and in St. Vincent of Lérins (Commonitorium primum, 22: PL 50, 667 ff.); it definitively entered theological terminology beginning at the end of the sixteenth century and was sanctioned by the First Vatican Council, session III, chapter 4 (Denz-U, 1798 ff.).

In juridical language, the term denotes something of which the depositary is not the owner but the faithful custodian. In ecclesiastical language, the term is used to designate divine Revelation in its integrity and completeness, as contained in Sacred Scripture and in the divine-apostolic tradition. This is the theological concept of the deposit.

Only those truths that form part of public revelation, strictly obligatory for all the faithful, belong to the d. of the f.; private revelations are excluded, even when genuine. In order that the d. of the f., entrusted to the Church, might always be preserved and faithfully handed down, Jesus Christ instituted the living Magisterium, endowed with the gift of infallibility, which belongs to the entire Church, « pillar and foundation of the truth » (I Tim. 3:15), personally to Peter, the foundation of the Church (Mt. 16:18), and to his successors in the Roman primacy (v. POPE).

Consequently, the pope and the bishops united with him have the right and duty to preserve the d. of the f., to explain and defend it, to determine its content and extent, adapting themselves to the needs of people and of the times. This immutable preservation of the d. of the f. does not, however, prevent a real progress (v. DOGMA) in its knowledge on the part of individuals and of the Church as a whole, but always « in eodem dogmate, eodem sensu, eademque sententia » (First Vatican Council, session III, chapter 4, Denz-U, 1800). Therefore, the infallible definitions issued by the Church do nothing other than declare authentically that the truths proposed are contained in the deposit of Revelation, and are generally no more than more explicit declarations of what was less expressly contained in the earlier formulas or definitions (cf. Snm. Theol., 2a-2ac, q. 1, a. 9, ad 2; a. 10, ad 1).