5.- Sacred Scripture
Chapter 4: Sacred Scriptures
Christ – The Unique Word of Sacred Scripture
¶101. God speaks in human language.
· God’s revelation in Sacred Scripture is parallel to the Incarnation
· The Word became flesh and took on our human weakness. He speaks to us also in the language of men.
¶102. God speaks “one word” and not many words. He expresses himself fully and completely in his only word.
· Read Augustine’s quote in CCC ¶102.
¶103. The Church venerates Sacred Scriptures as she venerates the Lord’s Body
· Dei Verbum 21.
o One Table: of the Word of God and the Body of Christ
o “For, since they are inspired by God and committed to writing once and for all time, they present God’s own Word in an unalterable form, and they make the voice of the Holy Spirit sound again and again in the words of the prophets and the apostles.”
o “In the sacred books the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with them.”
o Scripture verifies in the most perfect way the words: “The Word of God is living and active” (Hebrews 4:12), and “is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32; cf I Thessalonians 2:13).
¶104. The Church meets her beloved in Sacred Scriptures. Thus she welcomes that word not as human but as the Divine Voice of God.
· Dei Verbum 24
o “…the study of the sacred page should be the very soul of sacred theology. The ministry of the Word, too—pastoral preaching, catechetic and all forms of Christian instruction, among which the liturgical homily should hold pride of place—is healthy nourished and thrives in holiness through the Word of Scripture.
Inspiration and Truth of Sacred Scripture
¶ 105. God is the author of Sacred Scriptures (read paragraph in CCC).
· John 20:30-31
o “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of [his] disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may [come to] believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.”
· 2 Tim 3:16
o All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”
· 2 Peter 1:19-21
o More over we possess the prophetic message that is all together reliable. You will do well to be attentive to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Know this first of all, that there is no prophesy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, for no prophesy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the Holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God.”
· 2 Peter 3:15-18
o Please read.
¶106. God works through human authors. This proves the intimate relationship between God and man. God can work through man.
· God made use of their own faculties and powers
· They only wrote what God wanted them to write: no more and no less
¶ 107. The Inspired Books teach the truth.
· FIRMLY, FAITHFULLY AND WITHHOUT ERROR
· Teach the Truth wanted to reveal.
· There is no error in Scriptures
· Leo XIII (Providentissimus Deus, 1893)
o There is no real disagreement between scripture and science, “if nevertheless there is disagreement…it should be remembered that the sacred writers, or more truly “the Spirit of God who spoke through them, did not wish to teach us such truths (as the inner structure of visible objects) which are of no help to salvation” (St Augustine, De Genesis ad litt., II,9,20).”
o “For this reason, rather than trying to provide a scientific exposition of nature, they sometimes describe and treat these matters either in figurative language or as the common manner of speech in those times required, and indeed still requires nowadays in every day life, even among most learned.”
¶108. Christianity is not a “religion of the book;” but the religion of the Incarnate and Living Word of God.
· After the resurrection, Jesus opened his disciples’ minds, “to understand the scriptures (Lk 24:45).
The Holy Spirit, Interpreter of Scriptures
¶109. To interpret Scriptures correctly, we must affirm the intentions of the human authors and what God wanted to say through them.
· Dei Verbum 12.1
o “…in sacred Scripture, God speaks trough men in human fashion, it follows that the interpreter of Sacred Scriptures…should carefully search out the meaning which the sacred writers really had in mind, that meaning which God had thought well to manifest through the medium of their words.”
¶110. How do we discover the sacred authors’ intention?
· By taking into account…
o The conditions of time and culture
o Literary genres is use at the time (style of writing)
o The modes of feeling, speaking,, and narrating.
· The historical context of the text and the different forms of literary expressions
¶111. Because Sacred Scripture is inspired by God, it must be interpreted by the same Holy Spirit by whom it was written, otherwise it remains a dead book.
¶112. Be attentive to the content and unity of the whole Scripture.
· We must not separate the books of Scripture from each other as if they were irrelevant to each other.
· All the books of Scripture form a unity.
· Read the quote from St. Thomas Aquinas
¶113. Read the Scripture within the living Tradition of the whole Church
· Past and present
· The Scriptures were written in the Church’s heart.
· It should always be interpreted with the Deposit of Faith in mind and never apart from it.
· The Church is the only true interpreter of Scriptures
o Council of Trent (1546 A.D.) against the protestant reformation
§ “To restrain irresponsible minds, it decrees that no one, relying on his own prudence, twist Holy Scriptures in matters of faith and practice that pertain to the building up of Christian doctrine, according to his own mind, contrary to the meaning that holy mother the Church has held and holds—since it belongs to her to judge the true meaning and interpretation of Holy Scripture—and that no one dare to interpret the Scripture in a way contrary to the unanimous consensus of the Fathers, even though such interpretations not be intended for publications.”
· Some misinterpreted this statements wrong. Some claim that the Church was censoring Scripture and hiding its content from the people. So the First Vatican Council (1870 A.D.) responded with the following.
o “In matters of faith and morals, affecting the building up of Christian doctrine,that is to be held as the true sense of Holy Scripture which Holy Mother the Church has held and holds, to whom it belongs to judge the true sense and interpretation of Holy Scriptures. Therefore no one is allowed to interpret the same Sacred Scripture contrary to this sense, or contrary to the unanimous sense of the Fathers.”
¶114. Be attentive to the analogy of faith.
· Analogy means “partial similarity between two things that are compared.” Oxford Advance Learners Dictionary.
o Mary is an analogy of the Church
o The Prodigal Son is an Analogy of each soul’s journey to conversion.
· Pope Leo XIII (Providentissimus Deus, 1893)
o “In other points the analogy of faith must be followed, and the Catholic doctrine as it has been received from the authority of the Church must be considered as the supreme criterion.”
o Why? “Since it is the same God who is author of the sacred books and of the doctrine handed down by the Church, it is surely impossible to extract from the former a legitimate interpretation which in any way conflicts with the latter.”
· The Catholic Interpretation of Scriptures must bring from the wealth of the Deposit of Faith (ie, Tradition and Scriptures) mainly from the Fathers of the Church, who were the first and immediate interpreters of the Sacred Book.
· Two basic tendencies of interpreting the Deposit of Faith, as outlined by John Paul II (Letter to Cardinal Ratzinger, Regarrding Archbishop Lefebvre, 1988)
o Progressivism: heedless of fidelity to tradition.
· “In this case, progress consists in an aspiration towards the future which breaks with the past, without taking into consideration the function of tradition.”
o Integrism: heedless of the dynamic character of tradition.
· “While the former tendency seems to recognize the correctness of what is new, the latter sees correctness only what is ancient, considering it synonymous with tradition.”
o The Truth: the real desire for the Church
· “The Church, like that householder in the Gospel, wisely brings “from the storeroom both the new and the old” (Mt 13:52), while remaining absolutely obedient to the Spirit of truth whom Christ has given to the church as her divine guide. And the Church performs the delicate task of discernment through her authentic Magisterium.”
NOTE. Paragraphs 115 to 127 from the CCC will be reviewed in a special course at Level Two so that we may enter more deeply into the mystery of Scripture Interpretation. We will study The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church, from the Pontifical Biblical Academy.
The unity of the Old and the New Testaments
¶128. Typology is the means by which the Church illumines the unity of God’s plan reflected in the two testaments.
· The Old Covenant is a “prefiguration” of what God accomplished through his Son, the Incarnate Word.
· 1 Corinthians 10:1-6
o “I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all pass through the sea. All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ. Yet God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the desert. These things happened as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil things, as they did.”
· 1 Peter 3:21
o Noah’s ark “prefigured baptism, which saves you now. It is not a removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
¶129. Christians read the Old Testament in light of Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection.
· Typology helps us read the Old Testament finding an immense content of revelation. It helps us expand our vision of Salvation History.
· But the Old Testament holds its own value.
· Dei Verbum 16
o “For, although Christ founded the New Covenant in his blood…still the books of the Old Testament, all of them caught up into the Gospel message, attain and show forth their full meaning in the New Testament…and in their turn shed light on it and explain it.”
· Matthew 5:17.
o Jesus said: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill it.”
· Luke 24:27.
o “Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures.”
· Read also Romans 16:25-26 and 2 Corinthians 3:14-16
¶130. Read Paragraph.
· Typology helps us see a dynamic movement towards the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation.
Sacred Scripture in the Life of the Church
¶131. Access to Sacred Scripture ought to be open wide to the Christian faithful.
· The Lectionary helps us read most of scriptures during a three year cycle of masses.
· The Liturgy of the Hours brings Scripture to our daily life
· During our retreat we will expand on prayer using Sacred Scriptures.
¶132. We need to study Scriptures
· Sacred Theology
· Listening to the Homily or Sermon during Mass
· Catechetic
· Be challenged by Scriptures
¶133. Ignorance of Scriptures is Ignorance of Christ, (St. Jerome)
2000-2008 © Juan Carlos Aguirre Borchardt