Fr. Charles on Instruction on Sacred Scripture

Instruction on Scripture

This narrative is written for distribution to each member of the adult education class of Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish of the Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC) as an aid to promote each member’s spiritual growth and development as we study Sacred Scripture.  The narrative will address three important topics for better understanding Sacred Scripture; what is revelation, the importance of the Old and New Testaments and Sacred Scripture in the Life of the Church. These topics are taken from the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation entitled Dei Verbum dated November 18, 1965 which supported and expanded the Council of Trent’s decrees in 1546 on Sacred Canons.   

The study of Sacred Scripture should begin with an understanding of revelation itself.  So what is revelation?  Revelation is how God reveals himself to man and how He makes his hidden will known to man (Ephesians 1:9).  God has used men throughout salvation history to convey this message, beginning with Adam and Eve and coming to fulfillment in Jesus Christ who is both our mediator to God and the fullness of God’s revelation (Matthew 11:27).  He wants man to know him as our father, our friend, our protector and that salvation is a reality.

God first revealed himself to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and despite their disobedience God gave them hope for salvation (Genesis 3:15).  Next, God revealed himself to Abraham, our father of faith and obedience, promising him a great nation and a great blessing for his faithfulness and trust (Genesis 12:2-3).  God continued revealing his plan for salvation through Moses and the prophets (Dei Verbum Ch. 2).  The message was clear from the beginning, salvation will be given to those who trust and remain faithful to the God.

Finally, God chose to reveal himself through Jesus the Christ.  “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14); Jesus was born and the history of salvation neared its completion.  Jesus, the second person of the Holy Trinity, lived among us performing signs and wonders, teaching us about God’s infinite love and when he died, rose, and ascended into heaven, the salvation history was fulfilled.  Yet, complete fulfillment will not occur until Jesus returns in all his glory to restore the kingdom.  To help us with our wait, He sent us the Holy Spirit to help build up our trust in God, to remain faithful to God and to be obedient to God’s commands (1 Timothy 6:14).   

The story of salvation history beginning with message to Adam and Eve, the messianic fulfillment, the establishment of church, and finally the spreading of the Gospel, is contained within seventy-three books we call the Bible.  There are forty-six books in the Old Testament and twenty-seven books in the New Testament call Sacred Scripture (Nichols p.99).   The forty-six books of the Old Testament foretell the messianic fulfillment while the twenty-seven books of the New Testament tell how the Old Testament was fulfilled.

The Old Testament’s forty-six books took shape over a period of a thousand years incorporating poems and narratives which revealed God’s relationship and interaction with man (Nichols 101).  These poems, stories and narratives eventually became the thirty-nine books of the Jewish Bible.  However, the Church found seven additional books written after the Jewish Bible was finalized to be important text that revealed God’s plan for salvation and added these books to the Old Testament.  These forty-six books of the can be divided into four sections each revealing a part of the of God’s plan for Salvation.  The first block is the Pentateuch containing the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth.  The second section are the Historical books of first and second Samuel, first and second kings, first and second Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Ester and the first and second books of Maccabees.  The third section of the Old Testament are poetic books called the Wisdom Books which includes the books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Songs, Wisdom, and Sirach also referred to as Ecclesiasticus.  The fourth section of the Old Testament contains the writings of the Prophets including the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi (Nichols p101).

The New Testament first began to develop around the year 50 and was written for at least three reasons; first, the early church was not longer geographically contained within Jerusalem and therefore it was important to maintain contact with the members through letters.  It was developed to combat the heresy on the rise and finally because the Apostles began to die and it was necessary to preserve their first-hand accounts of their knowledge of Jesus and his teachings (Nichols p.103)

The twenty-seven books of the New Testament can be divided into three sections; The Gospels, the New Testament Letters and the Catholic Letters.  The first section contain the Gospels are Mathew, Mark, Luke and John; and the Acts of the apostles.  The second section contains the New Testament letters include the fourteen letters of St. Paul to the Romans, the first and second letters to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, to the Colossians, the first and second letters to the Thessalonians, the first and second letters to Timothy, to Titus, to Philemon, and to the Hebrews.  The third section of the New Testament includes the Catholic Letters of James, the two letters of Peter, the three letters of John, the letter of Jude and the final book of this section and of the Scared Scriptures is the book of Revelation also called the Apocalypse written by John.

Each book making up Sacred Scripture was compiled over a period of time from the writings of one or more authors writing about the same subject.  Examples in the Old Testament of works with multiple authors and other sources include the Wisdom Books.  The Wisdom Books are listed above. These writings were likely compiled from several works readily available in the Near East.  In the New Testament, the Christological hymns incorporated in St. Paul’s writings most likely come from the oral traditions being told at the time (Nichols p. 123)

Although the recognized books Old and New Testament were in existence for a long period of time prior to the Council of Trent, it wasn’t until the fourth sessions of the The Council of Trent that the books of the Old and New Testament were declared Sacred Scripture and canonical, authoritative, and unchangeable or to be added to.   Although Sacred Scripture was influenced by the writing style of the authors and world events, the Church found it necessary to declare the authors and the messages being conveyed, were inspired by the Holy Spirit and the final version of the books are without error.

 The Church cautioned students of Sacred Scripture, us, that when studying scripture avoid using pieces of the document to justify a point, but consider the entire document and its meaning (De Verbum, Ch. 3).  The Council went so far as to pronounce that anyone who misinterpreted the Sacred Scriptures would be excommunicated, the denial of membership within the Church.  The Dogmatic Constitution on Devine Revelation, Dei Verbum, took the Council of Trent’s declaration on the Sacred Scripture and again declared Sacred Scripture inspired by the Holy Spirit and is without error and contains the solid teaching of God’s revelation about himself and his hidden will to humanity.   The document declared that Sacred Scripture is of the life of the Church (Dei Verbum Ch. 4). 

Sacred Scripture and the Sacred Traditions of the Church are the supreme rule of the Faith because they were inspired by the Holy Spirit and have been written forever and without error as the words of God. They are the love story between God and humanity with God offering to man food for thought, food for nourishment and food for everlasting life.  This story contains forceful and powerful words which are alive and active in Sacred Scripture and are the Church’s support and energy from the past, to the present and for the future (Dei Verbum, Ch. 6). 

So precious are the words for the life of the Church, she believes all people should have easy access to them therefore encourages their translations in the native languages spoken throughout the World.  The Church has a divine role in matter of translation and like that of a mother watches over her precious gifts, watching over Sacred Scripture to make sure all translations to are error free and the translations do not vary from the original text.     

Sacred Scripture, the life of the Church, should be investigated and studied because it is not beyond human understanding or comprehension.   The Church encourages everyone to read and study Sacred Scripture for a number of reasons but most importantly because they are source of spiritual strength and nourishment.  However, the Church places strict guidelines upon those who are called to teach and preach Sacred Scripture the obligation to follow the mind of the church, to be diligent readers of Sacred Scripture and to carefully study the Word for its intended meaning.  As written earlier, the teacher or student should avoid picking out a phrase or a section of Sacred Scripture to justify a point without understanding the entire meaning of intended message.  To further stress the importance of reading and studying scripture, Dei Verbum uses a quote from St. Jerome’s commentary on Isaiah, “ignorance of scripture is the ignorance of Christ” (PL 24, 17). The document encourages all religious to pray before reading the scripture and supports this by using a quote from St. Ambrose, On the Duties of Ministers I, 20,88: PL l6,50 “we speak to Him when we pray , we hear Him when we read the divine saying”. 

This has been a brief review of Sacred Scripture to help in your spiritual growth by showing the meaning of revelation, the development and importance of the Old and New Testament to you and to the Church, and the role Sacred Scripture plays in the life of the Church.   It is important to remember that Sacred Scripture nourishes, is the message of truth, it feeds, strengthens, and sustains us on our spiritual journey.  We must pray before reading asking the Holy Spirit to enlighten us and to provide us with understanding God’s plan of our salvation. 

                                                          Works Cited

Nichols, Aidan, the Shape of Catholic Theology. Collegeville, MN:  The Liturgical Press, 1991.

St. Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah, Prol: PL 24, 17, accessed August 11, 2009, from www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/257/Ignorance_of_Scripture

The Council of Trent, The Fourth Session, Trans. J. Waterworth (London: Dolman, 1848) 17-21, accessed from http://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct04.html

St. Ambrose, On the Duties of Ministers I, 20, 88: PL l6, 50 from Dei Verbum 1965