Sacred Scripture (CCC 101-141)
PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
SECTION I: “I BELIEVE” – “WE BELIEVE”
CHAPTER 2: GOD COMES TO MEET MAN
ARTICLE 3: SACRED SCRIPTURE
IN BRIEF
134 All Sacred Scripture is but one book, and this one book is Christ, “because all divine Scripture speaks of Christ, and all divine Scripture is fulfilled in Christ” (Hugh of St. Victor, De arca Noe 2, 8: PL 176, 642: cf. ibid. 2, 9: PL 176, 642-643).
135 “The Sacred Scriptures contain the Word of God and, because they are inspired they are truly the Word of God” (DV 24).
136 God is the author of Sacred Scripture because he inspired its human authors; he acts in them and by means of them. He thus gives assurance that their writings teach without error his saving truth (cf. DV 11).
137 Interpretation of the inspired Scripture must be attentive above all to what God wants to reveal through the sacred authors for our salvation. What comes from the Spirit is not fully “understood except by the Spirit’s action” (cf. Origen, Hom. in Ex. 4, 5: PG 12, 320).
138 The Church accepts and venerates as inspired the 46 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New.
139 The four Gospels occupy a central place because Christ Jesus is their center.
140 The unity of the two Testaments proceeds from the unity of God’s plan and his Revelation. The Old Testament prepares for the New and the New Testament fulfills the Old; the two shed light on each other; both are true Word of God.
141 “The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures as she venerated the Body of the Lord” (DV 21): both nourish and govern the whole Christian life. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps 119:105; cf. Isa 50:4).
Commentary:
It is wonderful to see the Catechism’s support of the Sacred Scriptures. This is one of the first departure points from the Roman Catholic Church that Protestants have made. Paragraph 138 defines the canon of the Bible for Roman Catholics: 73 books including the Old Testament Apocrypha. From these seventy-three books, along with Church Tradition and the Magisterium, all of Roman Catholic doctrine is derived.
The Second Vatican Council gave three criteria for proper interpretation of the Scriptures by the Holy Spirit:
“1. Be especially attentive ‘to the content and unity of the whole Scripture.’ …
2. Read the Scripture within ‘the living Tradition of the whole Church.’ …
3. Be attentive to the analogy of faith” (paragraphs 112-114).
These criteria are great insofar as they go. The content and unity of the Scripture is definitely important for any Bible student. Good historical criticism is also important. Knowing how a passage has been interpreted throughout the centuries helps keep a Christian from veering off-course from the Bible. The “analogy of faith” can be troubling at times because it can cause a framework to be imposed over the Scriptures for the sake of having a framework. A solid, Bible-based framework and understanding is necessary for reading the Bible properly. However, the Bible should always be able to trump the framework.
One of the biggest surprises so far in reading the Catechism came with paragraph 133: “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.”‘” Every Roman Catholic I’ve ever met and asked about reading the Bible has said the exact opposite of this statement. Most Roman Catholics I’ve known have been scarred away from reading the Bible.
However, the 1994 publication of the newest Latin original and English translation of the Catechism may have been the beginning of a renewed interest among Roman Catholic theologians concerning reading the Bible. May this exhortation to frequent reading of divine Scriptures bless everyone who adheres to it!