Chapter 1
God, the Church and Scripture

The story of the Bible begins with God and His everlasting love for human beings. As a matter of fact the Dei Verbum, Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, begins its consideration of Sacred Scripture on the highest plane by connecting it with life and mystery of the Holy Trinity itself.

The mercy of God the Father for us reveals itself through the life and words of God the Son, who then sends us His truth and love by God the Holy Spirit. All three Persons are therefore involved in the revelation and realization of God’s saving plan for the human race, namely our redemption.

Sacred Scripture is the written record of that revelation and redemption. It was composed by human writers who were inspired by God’s grace and wrote inerrantly what He wished them to communicate. This point should be taken into account at every stage of biblical studies; if it is forgotten, the Bible will easily be misunderstood and its true meaning deformed.

Sacred Scripture - both the Old and New Testaments, all seventy-three books - is really the manifestation of the truth and love of God Himself in His dealings with mankind. For this reason, Scripture can truly be called sacred and is unlike any other ancient book.

Jesus Christ is the summation and fulfillment of Scripture, as He reveals to us God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Christ is therefore the greatest Revelation, which no book can fully contain. This Revelation includes His miracles, His words, the infinite power of His divine Person, His boundless charity for each person and His mysterious action through the sacraments. None of this could ever be captured in the written word.

We must remember that Christ Himself never wrote a book, and that Saint John, His closest disciple, stated that there were "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" (see John 21:25). From this text we can conclude that Christ said and did far more than was ever written down in the Bible.

The total Revelation of Christ to His followers is called Sacred Tradition (see Dei Verbum, no. 9). It contains all the individual truths that He gave to His followers and, just as importantly, the proper context in which to understand them rightly. It is a living tradition because it comes from Christ the Living Word Himself. It is active throughout the centuries, and as such it is entrusted to His Church.

This is verified in Scripture itself. Christ promised that He would be with His disciples "to the close of the age" (see Matthew 28:20), and that He would communicate His truth to men through His disciples: "He who hears you hears me" (see Luke 10:16).

This communication of Christ, then, is not done in the abstract, but through the witness of His followers in the Church that He founded. And it is the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity who works in those followers and maintains them in the vital context of Christ’s truth and love, as He reveals God the Father (Dei Verbum, no. 8).

Therefore, this interrelated and powerful action of the Three Persons is preserved in the living tradition of the Catholic Church. No part of Scripture can be properly understood outside of this living tradition, which is really the Gospel itself in its full meaning.

The living unwritten tradition not only precedes the written word of Scripture, but also forms the origin and vital context of its interpretation - and this can be applied to both the Old and New Testaments.

Without an understanding and appreciation of God’s loving plan in Jesus the Messiah for the Hebrew people, the books of the Old Testament would be largely unintelligible, and without an understanding and appreciation of Christ’s Person and gift to the new chosen people, the books of the New Testament would be completely unintelligible.

It is not enough to know the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, or to study history and archeology extensively. If the Bible is not read in the living context in which it was written, it cannot be truly understood.

For this reason, Dei Verbum (no. 12) stresses that Scripture must be read and interpreted in the same spirit with which it was written.

Practically, this means that the words of the Old and New Testaments must be understood within the living tradition of the Church: "There exists a close connection and communication between Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture. For both of them, flowing from the same divine wellspring, in a certain way merge into a unity and tend toward the same end" (Dei Verbum, no. 9).

Scripture alone, therefore, is not sufficient for understanding the whole truth of Christ and Redemption; Scripture must be understood within a context greater than itself.

Intrinsically connected with Scripture and Tradition is the Magisterium of the Church. The Magisterium is the teaching authority of Christ’s Mystical Body extended throughout time. It consists of the pope, and the bishops in union with Him, as they explain Scripture and other revealed truths, especially in matters of faith and morals.

The Holy Spirit actively guides the Magisterium, not only in times of heresy or misunderstanding, but in an ordinary way through instructions given by popes and bishops throughout the ages.

The Magisterium can never be considered outside of the living tradition of the Church; rather, it is the supernatural extension and protector of the living tradition. Without the Magisterium, we would have no guarantee that what we believe today was really revealed by Christ to His disciples. This was emphasized by Vatican II:

Yet this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully (Dei Verbum, no. 10).

We will speak more about this connection, but perhaps an example will help. The Old Testament text of Malachi 1:11 says the following: "And in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations."

In writing this prophecy, Malachi was working within the tradition of fidelity and loyalty to God’s covenant, as were all the prophets. Implicit in Malachi’s message is the fact that God should be honored with a generous fulfillment of the ritual laws, without cheating or lukewarmness.

Thus, the literal meaning of this text, placed in its historical context, appears to be the correction of unlawful practices when offering sacrifices.

Malachi is upbraiding those who would bring animals that were blind, or sheep that were lame, in order to fulfill their duty to God. However, placed within the living tradition of the Church and of Christ the Messiah, this text refers to a greater offering which would be pure and universal - extended to all the corners of the earth - namely, the offering of Christ to His Father for our sins, for He is the Lamb without blemish.

Finally, the Council of Trent in 1562, working within this tradition and desiring to address Protestant misunderstandings about the Eucharist, stated explicitly that Malachi 1:11 referred to the sacrifice of the Mass. For Christ’s offering of himself to the Father in the Holy Eucharist is truly universal, without blemish, and extending throughout the earth. In this and similar ways, the Magisterium exercises its role of guarding and explaining what had been revealed.

We can appreciate the divinely established unity of Tradition, Scripture, and Magisterium. They all support one another and, in a sense, elucidate one another. Tradition without Scripture would run the risk of becoming vague or being forgotten; Scripture without Tradition would become a sterile letter, without real life; and both Tradition and Scripture without the Magisterium could be easily misinterpreted and deformed throughout time.

In light of this, one can appreciate more the Second Vatican Council’s statement on their inter-connection: "It is clear, therefore, that, in the supremely wise arrangement of God, sacred Tradition, sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without the others. Working together, each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to the salvation of souls" (Dei Verbum, no. 10).