What is the Bible?
The Bible or Sacred Scripture is the collection of books which, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, have GOD AS their AUTHOR, and have been ENTRUSTED as such TO THE CHURCH. (Vatican Council I, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Filius, chapter 2)
This definition includes two essential characteristics:
Why read the Bible?
Since the Bible is God's way of communicating with man about Himself, then reading the Sacred Writings is one way of knowing God.
Nevertheless, the purpose of the Scripture is not only to KNOW about God, but to LOVE Him and others for his sake.
If anybody thinks that he has understood the divine Scriptures or any part of them, and with this knowledge does not build up the double LOVE OF GOD and OF HIS NEIGHBOUR, then he has not yet understood them." (St Augustine, De Doctrina Christiana, 1, 40, 44)
Is there another way of knowing God?
Yes, there is. It is called SACRED TRADITION.
We should remember that
The first generation of Christians did not yet have a written New Testament, and the New Testament itself demonstrates the process of living Tradition. (CCC 83)
What is Sacred Tradition?
TRADITION is the word of God received from Christ himself through the apostles, that was HANDED DOWN (transmitted) to us without alteration, as it were from hand to hand, BY THE CHURCH, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit.
From this definition, one can also see that it has the two basic characteristics of Sacred Scripture.
The Bible itself testifies to the existence of this Sacred Tradition.
So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the TRADITIONS which you were taught by us, either by WORD OF MOUTH or by LETTER. (II Thess 2:15)
O Timothy, guard WHAT HAS BEEN ENTRUSTED to you. (I Tim 6:20)
Follow the pattern of the sound words which you have HEARD from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus; guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. (II Tim 1:13-14)
[W]hat you have HEARD from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (II Tim 2:2)
Where do we find Sacred Tradition?
In His gracious goodness, God has seen to it that what He had revealed for the salvation of all nations would abide perpetually in its full integrity and be handed on to all generations. Therefore Christ the Lord in whom the full revelation of the supreme God is brought to completion (see 2 Cor. 1:30; 3:15; 4:6), commissioned the Apostles TO PREACH to all men that Gospel which is the source of all saving truth and moral teaching [cf Matt 28:19-20, and Mark 16:15; Council of Trent, session IV, DECREE ON SCRIPTURAL CANONS: Denzinger 783 (1501)], and to impart to them heavenly gifts. This Gospel had been promised in former times through the prophets, and Christ Himself had fulfilled it and promulgated it with His lips. This commission was faithfully fulfilled by the Apostles who,
handed on what they had received
The commission was fulfilled, too, by those Apostles and apostolic men who under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit committed the message of salvation to writing. [cf Council of Trent, loc. cit.] (First Vatican Council, Dei Verbum, 7).
So how are Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture related to each other?
Can we summarise the contents of God's message in Scripture and Tradition to men?
Yes, we can--in one Word! The Good News, the Gospel, the Word, is Jesus Christ Himself. The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls him the "Unique Word of Sacred Scripture." Our Faith is not limited to a collection of books. The collection of books is only part of GOD'S LETTER TO MEN. (St John Chrysostom uses this expression to refer to the Sacred Scriptures.) This is why St John says in his Gospel (Jn 21:25).
But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. (Jn 21:25)
Everything that God ever wanted to tell us is summarised in Jesus Christ, His words, and His actions. This makes Him so different from the founders of other religions. Other beliefs do not require a thorough knowledge of the founder. It is enough to know his teachings and to strive to put them into effect. But in our case, we cannot be true believers if we do not know our Founder. In fact, we are even required to love Him! What's more, the supreme goal is to let Him live in our own lives to the point that we can exclaim with St Paul:
it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Gal 2:20)
This is why we cannot read the Scriptures as if we were reading an ordinary history book. Jesus Christ is not of the past--He also belongs to the present:
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. (Heb 13:8)
Much less can we read it as a novel. Jesus Christ is not a fictitious character. He is Real!
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (no 102) teaches:
Through all the words of Sacred Scripture, God speaks only one single Word, his one Utterance in whom he expresses himself completely: [cf Heb 1:1-3]
You recall that one and the same Word of God extends throughout Scripture, that it is one and the same Utterance that resounds in the mouths of all the sacred writers, since he who was in the beginning God with God has no need of separate syllables; for he is not subject to time. [St Augustine, En. in Ps. 103, 4, 1: PL 37, 1378; cf Ps 104; Jn 1:1]
This is why the CCC (no 108) also affirms:
Still, the Christian faith is not a "religion of the book". Christianity is the religion of the "Word" of God, a word which is "not a written and mute word, but the Word which is incarnate and living". [St Bernard, S. missus est hom. 4, 11: PL 183, 86] If the Scriptures are not to remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, "open [our] minds to understand the Scriptures." [cf Lk 24:45]
Since the Good News is Christ Himself, the collection of books that records the preparation for His ministry (Old Testament), His words and His life (New Testament) are venerated as we would venerate Christ Himself.
For this reason, the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord's Body. She never ceases to present to the faithful the bread of life, taken from the one table of God's Word and Christ's Body [cf DV 21]. (CCC 103)
So if one reads Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, one is okay?
Not yet. Because Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition have been entrusted by Jesus Christ to His Church. The Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, no 10, explains that
the task of authentically interpreting the Word of God, whether written or handed on [cf First Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith, Chap 3 "On Faith"], has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church [cf Pius XII, Encyclical Letter Humani Generis, 12 Aug 1950], whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. This teaching office is not above the Word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully in accord with a divine commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit; it draws from this one deposit of faith everything which it presents for belief as divinely revealed.
There are, therefore, three things to consider: BIBLE, TRADITION, and TEACHING OFFICE (MAGISTERIUM) OF THE CHURCH. Thus, in the same point of Dei Verbum quoted above, it adds:
It is clear, therefore, that sacred tradition, sacred Scripture and the teaching authority of the Church, in accord with God's most wise design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all together and each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit contribute effectively to the salvation of souls.
Who actually wrote the Sacred Writings?
The CCC (no 105) tells us that
God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit." [DV 11]
"For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and the New Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author, and have been handed on as such to the Church herself." [DV 11; cf Jn 20:31; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pt 1:19-21; 3:15-16]
But I thought Moses, the prophets, Mark, Luke and those guys wrote the Bible?
The CCC (no 106) explains this as follows:
God inspired the human authors of the sacred books. "To compose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed them in this task, made full use of their own faculties and powers so that, though he acted in them and by them, it was as true authors that they consigned to writing whatever he wanted written, and no more." [DV 11]
What is this thing called "inerrancy" of Scripture?
It simply means that the Sacred Scripture teaches the truth. The CCC (no 107) teaches us:
The inspired books teach the truth. "Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures." [DV 11]
Can anyone just interpret Scripture?
Not really. Remember what Saint Peter wrote in his Second Letter (II Peter 1:20-21)
20 First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
This is why the CCC (no 109) teaches us:
In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to man in a human way. To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to [1] what the HUMAN AUTHORS truly wanted to affirm, and [2] to what GOD wanted to reveal to us by their words. [cf DV 12 # 1]
Tell me how I can know what the HUMAN AUTHORS wanted to affirm.
Let us quote CCC no 110.
In order to discover the sacred authors' intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of their time and culture, the literary genres in use at that time, and the modes of feeling, speaking and narrating then current. "For the fact is that truth is differently presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical and poetical texts, and in other forms of literary expression." [DV 12 # 2]
How does one know what GOD is saying?
The CCC (no 111) says:
But since Sacred Scripture is inspired, there is another and no less important principle of correct interpretation, without which Scripture would remain a dead letter. "Sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written." [DV 12 # 3]
The Second Vatican Council indicates three criteria for interpreting Scripture in accordance with the Spirit who inspired it. [cf DV 12 # 4]
Tell me about these THREE CRITERIA for interpreting Scripture.
We can find these criteria in points 112, 113, and 114 of the CCC. These three criteria are related to (1) Scripture itself; (2) Sacred Tradition; and (3) the teaching of the Church or Magisterium.
But don't the words of Scripture have several meanings like ordinary language? How can one be sure about the MEANING or SENSE of the words?
Point 115 of the CCC tells us:
According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between TWO SENSES of Scripture: the [1] LITERAL and the [2] SPIRITUAL, the latter being subdivided into the [2a] ALLEGORICAL, [2b] MORAL and [2c] ANAGOGICAL senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture in the Church.
Tell me more about the LITERAL SENSE.
Quoting the CCC (no 116), we say:
The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: "All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal." [St Thomas Aquinas, S Th I, q1, a10, ad I]
How about the SPIRITUAL SENSE?
Again, quoting from the CCC (no 117):
The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God's plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.
Could you describe the KINDS OF SPIRITUAL MEANING?
Sure. We are still in point 117 of the CCC:
In the Middle Ages, someone invented a way to remember these different meanings of Scripture. The CCC (no 118) teaches:
A medieval couplet summarizes the significance of the four senses:
The Letter speaks of deeds; Allegory to faith;
The Moral how to act; Anagogy our destiny.
Lettera gesta docet, quid credas allegoria,
moralis quid agas, quo tendas anagogia.
[Augustine of Dacia, Rotulus pugillaris, I : ed. A. Walz : Angelicum 6 (1929) 256]
What are EXEGETES?
Exegetes (pronounced ek-si-jeets) are theologians who carry out the work of exegesis (from Greek exegeisthai, which means to interpret or explain; pronounced ek-si-jee-sis). The CCC (no 119), quoting Dei Verbum, says:
"It is the task of exegetes to work, according to these rules, towards a better understanding and explanation of the meaning of Sacred Scripture in order that their research may help the Church to form a firmer judgement. For, of course, all that has been said about the manner of interpreting Scripture is ultimately SUBJECT TO THE JUDGEMENT OF THE CHURCH which exercises the divinely conferred commission and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God." [DV 12 # 3]
But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the Catholic Church already moved me. [St Augustine, Contra epistolam Manichaei 5, 6: PL 42, 176]
By the way, how do we know WHICH ANCIENT BOOKS should be part of the Bible? Who made the list?
The CCC (no 120) enlightens us on this matter.
It was by the APOSTOLIC TRADITION that the CHURCH discerned which writings are to be included in the list of the sacred books. [cf DV 8 # 3]
This complete list is called the CANON OF SCRIPTURE. It includes 46 books for the Old Testament (45 if we count Jeremiah and Lamentations as one) and 27 for the New. [cf DS 179; 1334-1336; 1501-1504]
The Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah and Malachi.
The New Testament: the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the Acts of the Apostles, the Letters of St. Paul to the Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, the Letter to the Hebrews, the Letters of James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude, and Revelation (the Apocalypse).
Does the OLD TESTAMENT have any value for us Catholics?
Of course. As point 121 of the CCC tells us:
The Old Testament is an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture. Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value, [cf DV 14] for the Old Covenant has never been revoked.
What is the use and relevance of the Old Testament?
Let us quote point 122 of the CCC:
Indeed, "the economy of the Old Testament was deliberately SO oriented that it should PREPARE FOR and DECLARE IN PROPHECY the coming of Christ, redeemer of all men." [DV 15] "Even though they contain matters imperfect and provisional, [DV 15] the books of the Old Testament bear witness to the whole divine pedagogy of God's saving love: these writings "are a storehouse of sublime teaching on God and of sound wisdom on human life, as well as a wonderful treasury of prayers; in them, too, the mystery of our salvation is present in a hidden way." [DV 15]
So Christians also honour the Old Testament?
Affirmative. As no 123 of the CCC teaches us:
Christians venerate the Old Testament as true Word of God. The Church has always vigorously opposed the idea of rejecting the Old Testament under the pretext that the New has rendered it void (Marcionism).
Okay. Now let us move on to the NEW TESTAMENT. Why is the New Testament important?
The CCC (no 124) quotes Dei Verbum:
"The Word of God, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, is set forth and displays its power in a most wonderful way in the writings of the New Testament" [DV 17; cf Rom 1:16] which hand on the ultimate truth of God's Revelation. Their central object is Jesus Christ, God's incarnate Son: his acts, teachings, Passion and glorification, and his Church's beginnings under the Spirit's guidance. [cf DV 20]
What is the place of the GOSPELS in relation to the rest of the Bible?
Point 125 of the CCC teaches:
The Gospels are the heart of all the Scriptures "because they are our principal source for the life and teaching of the Incarnate Word, our Saviour". [DV 18]
After Jesus went to heaven, did the Evangelists sit down right away to write the Gospels?
Naaaah. In fact, point 126 of the CCC says it is possible to distinguish THREE STAGES in the FORMATION OF THE GOSPELS:
So the four GOSPELS are IMPORTANT in the CHURCH, then?
That's pretty obvious, yes? In fact, the CCC (point 127) says:
The fourfold Gospel holds a unique place in the Church, as is evident both in the veneration which the liturgy accords it and in the surpassing attraction it has exercised on the saints at all times:
There is no doctrine which could be better, more precious and more splendid than the text of the Gospel. Behold and retain what our Lord and Master, Christ, has taught by his words and accomplished by his deeds. [St Caesaria the Younger to St Richildis and St Radegunde: SCh 345, 480]
But above all it's the gospels that occupy my mind when I'm at prayer; my poor soul has so many needs, and yet this is the one thing needful. I'm always finding fresh lights there; hidden meanings which had meant nothing to me hitherto. [St Therese of Lisieux, Autobiography of a Saint, tr Ronald Knox (London: Collins, 1960), 175]
Any CONNECTION between the OLD and the NEW?
Let's see what point 128 of the CCC says:
The Church, as early as apostolic times, [cf I Cor 10:6, 11; Heb 10:l; l Pt 3:21] and then constantly in her Tradition, has illuminated the unity of the divine plan in the two Testaments through TYPOLOGY, which discerns in God's works of the Old Covenant prefigurations of what he accomplished in the fullness of time in the person of his incarnate Son.
What does this mean in practice?
What it means is explained in the next point (129):
Christians therefore read the Old Testament in the light of Christ crucified and risen. Such typological reading discloses the inexhaustible content of the Old Testament; but it must not make us forget that the Old Testament retains its own intrinsic value as Revelation reaffirmed by our Lord himself. [cf Mk 12:29-31] Besides, the New Testament has to be read in the light of the Old. Early Christian catechesis made constant use of the Old Testament.[cf I Cor 5:6-8; 10:1-11] As an old saying put it, the New Testament lies HIDDEN in the Old and the Old Testament is UNVEILED in the New. [cf St Augustine, Quaest. in Hept. 2, 73: PL 34,623; cf DU 16]
Does it mean that the Old Testament folk were mere symbols?
Of course, not. The CCC (no 130) teaches:
Typology indicates the dynamic movement toward the fulfilment of the divine plan when "God [will] be everything to everyone." [I Cor 15:28] Nor do the calling of the patriarchs and the exodus from Egypt, for example, lose their own value in God's plan, from the mere fact that they were intermediate stages.
So, therefore, what is the ROLE of Sacred Scripture in the Church?
Let us take points 131 to 133 of the CCC, where it quotes Dei Verbum extensively:
"And such is the force and power of the Word of God that it can serve the Church as her support and vigour, and the children of the Church as STRENGTH for their faith, FOOD for the soul, and a pure and lasting FOUNT of spiritual life." [DV 21] Hence "access to Sacred Scripture ought to be open wide to the Christian faithful." [DV 22]
"Therefore, the study of the sacred page should be the very SOUL OF SACRED THEOLOGY. The ministry of the Word, too - pastoral preaching, catechetics and all forms of Christian instruction, among which the liturgical homily should hold pride of place - is healthily nourished and thrives in holiness through the Word of Scripture." [DV 24]
The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts ALL THE CHRISTIAN FAITHFUL... to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by FREQUENT READING of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ. [DV 25; cf Phil 3:8 and St Jerome, Commentariorum in Isaiam libri]