When the Bible talks about "tradition," it has a very specific type of tradition in mind. Which tradition is it speaking of? Is it speaking of the tradition of the Orthodox Church? Is it speaking of the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church? Is it speaking of the tradition of the Lutherans, Reformed, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopalians, Methodists, Pentecostals, etc.? No, of course it is not. The tradition of the early congregations was not the tradition of a particular "church" or a set of "churches"; it was the tradition of the apostles!
The tradition that carried authority was that body of tradition given by the apostles through the Holy Spirit. The early congregations believed it was their job (specifically the job of elders) to preserve that tradition unchanged. Irenaeus explained the process:
We refer them to that tradition which originates from the apostles, which is preserved by means of the succession of elders in the congregations. (Against Heresies III:2:2)
This is entirely biblical. Paul had said, "Stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us" (2 Thess. 2:15; cf. 1 Cor. 11:2). In his letter to Timothy, he had added, "The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Tim. 2:2). Jude likewise had said, "Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints" (1:3). This was apostolic tradition, also referred to as the rule, rule of faith, or rule of truth.
Prior to the Council of Nicea, each congregation had their own rule of faith (though they were all very similar), which contained the central tenets (the essentials) of Christianity that were memorized at baptism by all new Christians.
Let us give up purposeless and fruitless cares and approach the holy and venerable rule of our calling. Let us attend to what is good, pleasing, and acceptable in the sight of him who formed us. Let us look steadfastly to the blood of Christ and see how precious that blood is to God, which has set the grace of repentance before the whole world. Let us turn to every age that has passed and learn that ... the Lord has granted a place of repentance to all that would be converted to him. Noah preached repentance, and as many as listened to him were saved. (Clement of Rome, AD 95-96, First Clement 7)
The one who retains the rule of the truth received through baptism unchangeable in his heart will surely recognize the names, the expressions, and the parables taken from the Scriptures [by the gnostics] but will by no means acknowledge the blasphemous use which these men make of them. (Irenaeus, AD 183-186, Against Heresies I:9:4)
The Congregation, though dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, earth, and the sea and everything in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations, the advents, the birth from a virgin, the suffering, the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and his appearance from heaven in the glory of the Father to gather all things into one and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race, in order that every knee should bow—of things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth—and that every tongue should confess to him, and that he should execute just judgment towards everyone; that he may send spiritual wickednesses and the angels who transgressed and became apostates together with the ungodly, unrighteous, wicked, and profane among men into everlasting fire, but may, in the exercise of his grace, confer immortality on the righteous, holy, and those who have kept his commandments and persevered in his love—some from the beginning of their course and others from their repentance—and may surround them with everlasting glory. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies I:10:1)
Such spirits as are commanded by [the gnostic heretics] and speak when they desire it, are earthly and weak ... sent forth by satan for the seduction and perdition of those who do not hold fast that well-compacted faith which they received at first through the Congregation. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies I:13:4)
The rule of truth which we hold is that there is one God Almighty who made all things by his Word and fashioned and formed—out of that which had no existence—all things which exist. ... Holding this rule we shall easily show that [the gnostics] have deviated from the truth, no matter how many opinions they have nor how much they vary. For almost all the different sects of the heretics admit there is one God, but then, by their pernicious doctrines, they shift, just like the Gentiles do through idolatry. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies I:22:1)
A sound mind—one which does not expose its possessor to danger and is devoted to piety and the love of truth—will eagerly meditate on those things which God has placed within the power of mankind and has subjected to our knowledge ... which makes knowing those things easy by mean of daily study. These things are those that can be seen by us and are clearly, unambiguously, and directly set forth in the Scriptures. However, if you use expressions which are not clear and evident in the interpretations of the parables, the kind everyone finds as their fancy leads them, then no one will have the rule of truth. Instead, however many people explain the parables will be how many differing systems of truth there are! They will be opposed to each other and teaching competing doctrines, such as is typical among the Gentile philosophers. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies II:27:1)
Since we have the truth itself, set plainly in front of us, as our rule and testimony concerning God, we ought not to cast away the firm and true knowledge of God and run after numerous and various answers to questions. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies II:28:1)
The disciple of the Lord [the apostle John] wanted to put an end to all [the gnostic] doctrines and to establish the rule of truth in the Congregation: namely, that there is one Almighty God, who created all things by his Word ... by the Word he also bestowed salvation on the men included in the creation. To establish this, he began his teaching in the Gospel with: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies III:11:1)
Some of these [gnostics] impudently assert that the apostles, when preaching to the Jews, could not declare another god to them except the one in whom they believed. We tell them that if the apostles used to speak to people in line with the opinions instilled in those people in the past, then no one learned the truth from them. And before them no one learned the truth from the Lord, for they say he spoke the same way. In fact, these men can't know the truth, either. The opinion they have now is simply the teaching they received as they were able to hear it. If all this is true, then the rule of truth is with no one. ... The coming of the Lord was apparently useless and unnecessary if he came just to tolerate and preserve each person's idea about God that they had received in the past. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies III:12:6)
We follow the one and only true God as our Teacher. We possess his words as the rule of truth. We all speak alike and about the same things. We know but one God, the Creator of this universe, who sent the prophets, led forth the people from the land of Egypt, and who in these last times has manifested his own Son so that he might put unbelievers to confusion and search out the fruit of righteousness. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies IV:35:4)
Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God; that is, what you are commanded to do by the rule of faith. (Clement of Alexandria, AD 190, Miscellanies IV:15)
[Here Clement is not speaking of a statement of faith or any doctrines; he means your deeds as "ruled" or "measured" by faith in Christ. The "rule of faith" is not always a set of doctrines learned at baptism.]"All things are right," says the Scripture, "to those who understand." That is, those who receive and observe, according to the rule of the Congregation, the exposition of the Scripture explained by [Jesus]. And the rule of the Congregation is the concord and harmony of the Law and the Prophets in the covenant delivered at the coming of the Lord. (Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies VI:15)
Further, Isaiah the prophet is ordered to take a new book and write in it certain things. The Spirit of God was prophesying that through the Scriptures there would later come the sacred knowledge, which was at that time still unwritten, because it was not yet known. For it was spoken in the beginning only to those who understand. Now it has been handed down to us that the Saviour taught the apostles the unwritten rendering of the written Scriptures, inscribed by the power of God on new hearts, as the new book indicates. (Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies VI:15)
When we are going to enter the water, but a little before, in the presence of the congregation and under the hand of the president, we solemnly profess that we disown the devil, and his pomp, and his angels. Hereupon we are thrice immersed, making a somewhat ampler pledge than the Lord has appointed in the Gospel. (Tertullian, AD 200, De Corona 3)
That this rule of faith has come down to us from the beginning of the Gospel, even before any of the older heretics, much more before Praxeas, a pretender of yesterday, will be apparent both from the lateness of date which marks all heresies, and also from the absolutely novel character of our new-fangled Praxeas. In this principle also we must henceforth find a presumption of equal force against all heresies whatsoever: that whatever is first is true, whereas that is spurious which is later in date. (Tertullian, Against Praxeas 2)
All the Scriptures attest the clear existence of, and distinction in, (the Persons of) the Trinity, and indeed furnish us with our Rule of faith. (Tertullian, Against Praxeas 11)
No man receives illumination from an area where all is darkness. Let our seeking, therefore, be in that which is our own, from those who are our own, and concerning that which is our own—that, and only that, which can become an object of inquiry without impairing the rule of faith. (Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics 12)
Now, with regard to this rule of faith, so that we may acknowledge from this point on what it is we defend, it is, you must know, that which prescribes the belief that there is one only God, and that He is none other than the Creator of the world, who produced all things out of nothing through His own Word, first of all sent forth; that this Word is called His Son, and, under the name of God, was seen in diverse manners by the patriarchs, heard at all times in the prophets, at last brought down by the Spirit and Power of the Father into the Virgin Mary, was made flesh in her womb, and, being born of her, went forth as Jesus Christ; thenceforth He preached the new law and the new promise of the kingdom of heaven, worked miracles; having been crucified, He rose again the third day; (then) having ascended into the heavens, He sat at the right hand of the Father; sent instead of Himself the Power of the Holy Ghost to lead such as believe; will come with glory to take the saints to the enjoyment of everlasting life and of the heavenly promises, and to condemn the wicked to everlasting fire, after the resurrection of both these classes shall have happened, together with the restoration of their flesh. This rule, as it will be proved, was taught by Christ and raises among ourselves no other questions than those which heresies introduce and which make men heretics. (Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics 13)
So long ... as the form [of the rule of faith] exists in its proper order, you may seek and discuss as much as you please. [You may] give full reign to your curiosity in whatever seems to hang in doubt or to be shrouded in obscurity. (Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics 14)
Surely you have a teacher around that is gifted with the grace of knowledge. [You have] someone of the experienced class, someone you're closely acquainted with who is curious like yourself. Although he is a seeker like you, he will be quite aware, you newest of novices, that it is better for you to remain in ignorance, lest you should come to know that which you ought not. For you have already acquired the knowledge of what you ought to know [i.e., in the rule of faith].
"Your faith," he says, "has saved you," not your skill in the Scriptures. Now, faith has been deposited in the rule [of faith]. It has a law, and—in the observance of it—salvation.
Skill [in the Scriptures] consists in curious art. Its glory is simply the readiness that comes from study. Let such curious art give place to faith, and let such glory yield to salvation. (Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics 14 & 15)From what and through whom and from when and to whom has been handed down that rule by which men become Christians? For wherever it is apparent that the true Christian rule and faith shall be, there will likewise be the true Scriptures and expositions thereof and all the Christian traditions. (Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics 19)
From this, therefore, do we draw up our rule. Since the Lord Jesus Christ sent the apostles to preach, no others ought to be received as preachers than those whom Christ appointed ... Nor does the Son seem to have revealed [the Father] to any other than the apostles, whom he sent forth to preach ... What that was which they preached ... can ... properly be proven in no other way than by those very congregations which the apostles founded in person, by declaring the Gospel directly to them themselves, both viva voce, as the phrase is, and afterwards by their letters.
If, then, these things are so, it is equally apparent that all doctrine which agrees with the apostolic congregations, those molds and original sources of the faith, must be reckoned for truth, as undoubtedly containing that which the congregations received from the apostles, the apostles from Christ, and Christ from God. In the same way, all doctrine must be prejudged as false which savors of disagreement with the truth of the Congregation and apostles of Christ and God. ...
We have fellowship with the apostolic congregations because our doctrine is not in any way different from theirs. This is our witness of truth. (Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics 21)
The rule of faith had remained rooted in Scripture until the Council of Nicea. The Nicean Creed is merely Caesarea's rule of faith with small changes added by the Council. We know this from a letter written by Eusebius where he explained why he assented to the creed as given at Nicea. The watchmen and elders present at this Council, however, were on a slippery slope that would lead to the downfall of the Lord's Congregation. Because Emperor Constantine had delivered them from persecution and made Christianity the favoured religion of the empire, these men had stars in their eyes when they looked upon him. These men knew very well that it was difficult to add non-Scriptural terminology to the rule of faith, even if it were not necessarily unscriptural.
Until the Council of Nicea, the rule of faith had always used only scriptural terminology. Constantine—not the watchmen or elders—had suggested the insertion of the word homoousios. Eusebius displayed his adoration and idolatry of Constantine by referring to him as "the most pious emperor" and "our most wise and pious sovereign." From this point forward, the gates of Hell would prevail against the Lord's Congregation.