Understanding The Bible PDF

CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures INTRODUCTION The revelation of God in Jesus Christ is transmitted through Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition as one common source, known as the Deposit of Faith...

CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures INTRODUCTION The revelation of God in Jesus Christ is transmitted through Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition as one common source, known as the Deposit of Faith – The Tradition includes the Scriptures, which are a privileged expression of the Tradition – The Word of God in written or oral form has to be interpreted and explained by the Church The Bible, together with the teaching of the Church, tells us what we need to know in order to be saved CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures THE STORY OF OUR FAITH The 73 books of the Bible tell one story of how God created us and gave us the means to salvation after our first parents sinned and brought death upon themselves and us It tells how God chose the people of Israel to lead all people back to himself and how this work was completed in Christ and his Sacrifice on the Cross – Ultimately, good triumphs, evil fails, and God’s people live with him in Paradise CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures THE STORY OF OUR FAITH (continued) Scripture is not the only authority for our faith Christ founded the Church to keep the living Tradition of the Faith alive The teaching of the Church opens up all the riches of the Bible to us Thanks to the Church, we can read Scripture with greater confidence, understanding, and freedom CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures WHAT CATHOLICS BELIEVE ABOUT THE BIBLE Sacred Scripture is inspired and inerrant – Inspired means “breathed in,” meaning that God the Holy Spirit guided the Sacred Authors of the Bible to write what God wanted and nothing more – Inerrant means that it does not err and that Scripture always teaches truth, never error The Word of God is supreme, but the Scriptures are not the only source for God’s word—as the Scriptures themselves affirm CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures WHAT CATHOLICS BELIEVE ABOUT THE BIBLE (continued) Scripture and Tradition form one source from which the Word of God comes to us – St. Paul reminds the Thessalonian believers: “Stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter” (2 Thes 2:15) Both are truly interpreted by the Magisterium of the Church, which is infallible – Because of Christ’s help, the Church cannot teach error in matters of faith and morals CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO SAY THAT THE BIBLE IS DIVINELY INSPIRED? Divine inspiration infallibly moved the will of each sacred author—without impairing his freedom in any way—to write what was in his intellect, using correct language and expressions While God is the principal author, the human authors are also true authors – The sacred authors were free, intelligent, subordinate instruments of the Holy Spirit – Each book of the Bible is both the work of God and of the human author CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO SAY THAT THE BIBLE IS DIVINELY INSPIRED? (continued) “The Christian faith is not a ‘religion of the book’” (CCC 108) but is a religion of the Word of God, and the Word of God—Christ—is still living today and will live forever Scripture is the way we come to know who Jesus is To live in a way that pleases Jesus, we need to study and meditate on the Bible CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures HOW THE BIBLE WAS WRITTEN The Bible is a collection of many works written by different authors at different times and in different languages – Its books include poetry, history, symbolic visions, lists of facts, etc. The works that make up the Bible are different from other writings – While the sacred authors presented their message according to their time period, the real truth that God wanted us to learn is presented without error CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures HOW THE BIBLE WAS WRITTEN (continued) Not everything in Scripture is easy to understand, but the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, helps us understand how to find the truth in the Bible Inspiration is one of the great mysteries of our faith, like Christ’s Incarnation – The books of the Bible are, like Christ, fully human and fully divine – In the Bible, the Word of God inspired takes on the weakness of human language CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures THE BIBLE IS SACRED LITERATURE The Bible is sacred literature because God is its author – It is written in human language for us to understand, but understanding it correctly requires some preparation Scripture is literature because it uses literary forms and techniques to convey its meaning – It is also ancient literature, so to understand it, we have to understand how its authors saw the world CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures ONE RULE To read any literature, including the Bible, one rule is most important: Understand the literal sense first – The literal sense is what the writer, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wanted to express—the immediate and direct meaning of the text – Literal is different from literalistic, which means understanding everything literally regardless of intention CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures THE BIBLE IS RELIGIOUS The Bible has a different purpose from other human literature, since all of its literature is in service of its religious purpose There are two senses to Scripture: 1. The literal sense is that which the authors intended to express and which is intended by God 2. The spiritual sense is the meaning expressed when reading the Bible under the Holy Spirit in light of the mystery of Christ CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures THE BIBLE IS RELIGIOUS (continued) There is no contradiction between the literal and spiritual senses of Scripture – They belong together because both scholarship and faith help us grasp Scripture’s meaning People today think of literature in terms of human experience, but to the Bible’s authors, religion was what held everything together – The word religion comes from a Latin word meaning “binding” CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures THE BIBLE IS RELIGIOUS (continued) The Bible writers do not write history as we do – We see history as a list of important events We pretend to write “objective” history although in reality all our history is biased – Only God’s point of view is completely unbiased, and the sacred writers tell history from God’s point of view All the history in the Bible is salvation history, the history of how God’s plan to save us unfolded through the ages CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures SPIRITUAL SENSES The Church teaches us to interpret the Bible in spiritual senses since the Holy Spirit often puts more meaning into a passage than the sacred authors knew when they were writing – For example, Christ quoted the first line of Psalm 22 as he died on the Cross The psalm is attributed to David, who expressed a time of great trouble but did not know how his words would apply to Christ CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures THREE SPIRITUAL SENSES Church tradition tells us to look for three spiritual senses in Scripture: 1. The allegorical or typical sense shows how people and events in salvation history point forward to future people and events For example, in the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac, we say that Isaac is a type of Christ 2. The moral or tropological sense shows us how we can use the things the heroes of Scripture did as a pattern for our own lives CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures THREE SPIRITUAL SENSES (continued) 3. The anagogical sense shows us how the events we see in Scripture point upward to what we will know in Heaven When we look for the spiritual senses of a passage in Scripture, we must be careful not to forget the literal sense – “All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal” (St. Thomas Aquinas) – At the same time, the literal sense is not the only sense CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures WHAT “SALVATION HISTORY” IS (continued) Salvation history, the story of how God’s plan to save us was worked out over thousands of years, is different from other kinds of history – It deals not only with the past but also with the future Salvation history can be seen as a series of covenants between God and his people – In the Old Testament, a covenant was an agreement between God and mankind made through individual persons CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures CONTRACT VERSUS COVENANT A covenant is similar to a contract but is much more than merely a contract – A covenant establishes bonds of sacred kinship, uniting the participants in a family relation, while a contract is a temporary business agreement that only lasts as long as circumstances make it necessary God’s covenant unites persons in a union that is meant to last – A corporation is a contract; marriage is a covenant CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures CONTRACT VERSUS COVENANT (continued) Salvation history is the story of how we, sinful humans, have been brought into God’s covenant family We can see seven covenants between God and his people in salvation history – Each covenant is made through a covenant mediator and reflects a promise God makes to all humanity while taking the form of a wider social relationship CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures GOD’S COVENANTS WITH MAN 1. The first covenant in the Bible is with Adam and from it all other covenants spring 2. The second covenant is with Noah and his household after the Flood 3. The third covenant is with Abraham and his whole tribe 4. The fourth covenant is with the whole nation of Israel through Moses CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures GOD’S COVENANTS WITH MAN (continued) 5. The fifth covenant is with all the nations through David and Solomon 6. The sixth covenant is the New Covenant with all humanity through Jesus Christ 7. At the end of time, with the general resurrection, comes the fulfillment of the New Covenant as God’s people finish their earthly pilgrimage CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures and enter Heaven for all LOOK TO THE CHURCH FOR GUIDANCE Many passages in Scripture are difficult to understand, and often people can interpret the same passage in different ways Christ left his authority to teach to the Apostles and their successors, the bishops – The teaching authority of the Church, the Magisterium, keeps us from making serious mistakes in interpreting the Bible since it is protected by the Holy Spirit from teaching error CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures LOOK TO THE CHURCH FOR GUIDANCE (continued) One of the best resources to understand Church teachings and their scriptural basis is the Catechism of the Catholic Church – All the doctrines of the Church are explained there with references to the Scriptural passages from which they come Your priest is also a good person to ask for help in understanding CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scripturesthe WHAT TO READ FIRST Every part of the Bible has to be understood in the context of the rest of the Bible – The New Testament makes no sense without the Old Testament, and the Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament The best place to start is with one of the Gospels, and many like to start with St. Luke – He is a great storyteller, and his Gospel is written for those who knew little about Jewish traditions CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures WHAT TO READ FIRST (continued) Genesis and Exodus are placed at the beginning of the Bible because they prepare the way for everything that follows – Genesis tells how God created the world, how sin entered the world, and how God chose one particular family to be his people – Exodus tells how that family became a nation, how God gave them the mission of bringing his word to the world, and how they failed their mission CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures PRAY All other suggestions are useless unless you approach the Bible with the right spirit We need to remember that the Bible is the Word of God and approach it with due reverence – We should pray for guidance before reading any part of Scripture – We also need to live a life of prayer, making prayer a regular part of our lives rather than an occasional indulgence CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures PRAY (continued) – Going to Mass regularly will bring Scripture to life, since the Mass is salvation history alive and present today “Reading Sacred Scripture, praying the Liturgy of the Hours and the Our Father— every sincere act of worship or devotion revives the spirit of conversion and repentance within us and contributes to the forgiveness of our sins” (CCC 1437) CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Scriptures