Intro to Sacred Scripture:

Bible:

Greek- Ta Biblia, which means The Books

Latin- Ta Biblos, which means The Book

Hebrew Parts of the Old Testament: (46) The Christian Parts:

1. Neviim 1. Pentateuch/Torah/5 Books
of Moses

2. Kethubim

a. Former Prophets 2. Historical Books (6)

b. Latter Prophets 3. Prophetic Books (15),

3 major and 12 minor

prophets

3. Wisdom 4. Writings (13)

Nihil Obstat/ Imprimatur

The Seven Deuterocanonical Books:

1. Tobit 5. Sirach/Ecclesiasticus

2. Wisdom 6. 1Maccabees

3. Baruch 7. 2Maccabees
4. Judith

Protestants called these books as Apocryphal.

Parts of the *New Testament: (27)

1. Four Gospels (4)

2. Acts of the Apostles (1)
3. Letters of Paul (14)
4. Other Epistles/ Letters of the Apostles (8)

Catholic Bible (73)

Non-Catholic Bible (66)

Divisions of the Holy Bible:

1. Old Testament, it recounts the covenant of God with Israel which was marked
by His unfailing love and faithfulness despite the disobedience of Israel. Originally
written in Hebrew, few parts in Aramaic then translated in Greek.

2. New Testament, it recounts the covenant of God made available to all people
in Christ through His passion, death and Resurrection (Paschal Mystery).

Testament, comes from the Latin word Testamentum which means covenant.

Covenant, means a close bond relationship between God and His people.

➢ Authors of the Holy Bible

1. God (sacred/divine author), the principal author, this makes the Holy
Bible unique.
2. Human Authors, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

➢ Robert Estienne, divided the Bible into verses. (main editor)

➢ Sanctes Pagnini in 1528, divided the OT into verses.
➢ Robert Stephanus in 1551, divided the NT into verses.
➢ Stephen Langton, divided the Bible into chapters. (1226)
➢ Hebrew, language of their ancestors.
➢ Aramaic, language of Jesus.
 ➢ Greek, dominant official language of the people.
➢ The principal purpose to which the plan of the Old covenant was directed
was to prepare for the coming of Christ.

According to Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum, 11)

➢ Its writing was under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit
(Biblical Inspiration).
➢ God made use of the powers and abilities of the human authors that
they may write only what God wanted them to write for our
salvation.
➢ However, they were not used by God as mere tape-recorders or
secretary.
➢ God acted in and through the human authors. He speaks the way
human speaks.
➢ Therefore, the Scripture is preserved from error in so far as the truths it
contains are for our salvation (Biblical Innerancy).

Bible Truth Salvation

A book or story must be read according to its literary forms so the truth for our
salvation may be understood without error.

First Account:

➢ Where does everything come from?

➢ Who is that God?
➢ Why does He create?
➢ How does He create?
➢ In the beginning, when God created the heavens….
➢ Let us make man….
➢ Be fertile and multiply…
➢ Let them have dominion…
➢ What does Man is the image and likeness of God mean?

*Second Account:
 ➢ On the seventh day, God rested, blessed the day and made it holy.
➢ God formed man out of clay and blew into his nostrils the breath of life so
he became a living.
➢ God created the woman out of the rib of the man.
➢ Ah, at last this is the bones of my bones and the flesh of my flesh…
➢ That’s why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife and
the two becomes one.
➢ Identify the following: characters, setting, problem and solution

CREATION, THE SUSTAINING POWER OF GOD!

➢ God, the creator/ruler/origin/source of everything.

➢ God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Blessed Trinity) is the creator.
➢ The Father creates through His powerful words in their Holy Spirit.
➢ God created everything to share His goodness and love.
➢ God created through His simple act of Divine speech (Let there be…/
Let us…).
➢ The creation of man is the climax of the creation story.

Man is the image and likeness of God, means:

➢ Man has the capacity to love/ man is good.
➢ Man has the capacity to procreate.
➢ Man has conscience, freewill/freedom, soul, intellect, dignity…
➢ Man is at the top of the creations of God/ the crown of the creation
of God.
➢ Thus, man is responsible of creations of God (stewardship).

Man, the masterpiece of God.

Creation of heavens refers to the creation of invisible Spirits like the angels.

Let us make man… us because God declared a heavenly assembly when He

created man. It can also refer to God the Father, son and Holy Spirit.

Second Story:

➢ God formed man out of clay and blew into his nostrils the breath of life so
he became a living. Thus, man composes body and soul.
 ➢ God created the woman out of the rib of the man.
➢ Why rib? Why not from the head neither of the feet of the man?
➢ The woman was not taken from the head of the man to be ruled by him
nor from the feet of the man to be trampled upon. But, the woman was
taken from the rib of the man to be protected by him, from the left side to
walk beside him, near the heart to be loved by him.
➢ This means that behind the success and failure of the man is the woman.

formless/empty/no life/dark

1. light (day/night) 4. lights in heaven

2. separation of upper (sky) 5. fishes/birds

and lower water (bodies of water)

3. dryland (earth) 6. animals/ man

plants/trees

there is life/light/peace/balance and harmony

7. All of the work of God led to Sabbath day, a day of rest, and the day was
holy because God made it so.
MODULE IV-THE FALL OF MAN (Genesis Chapter 3/ CFC Chapter 8)

God:

➢ is good and love.

➢ the creator/source/ruler/origin of everything.
➢ He created everything out of His goodness and love.

Questions:

1. If God created everything good and love, why is there so much sin and
evil in the world? Where does sin/evil come from?

Answer: It comes from the willful disobedience of man who abused the
freedom that God had given them. Everything is created by God good. Sin/evil
is made by man.

2. What are the sins committed by the first man?

Answer: disobedience, abuse/misuse of freedom, pride, envy

3. How do we call their sins?

Answer: Original sin

4. What does original sin mean?

Answer: Original because it dates from the origin of the human race. It also
means universal. Sin because it is a state contrary to God’s will.

5. What does Church teach about Original sin?

Answer: The Church Teaching clearly explains to us that it is not only the first man
who lost justice and holiness which was given by God but also for his
descendants. In other words, we once lost the Sanctifying Grace given by God
to us when the first man committed sin. That’s why, original means universal
because all of us descendants or members of the human race are affected with
the original sin; and all of us need to be redeemed.

The Church clarifies that we do not inherit Adam’s personal sins but the sinful
condition started by his originating sin or what we inherit is the consequences of
Adam’s personal sins which is the Originated sin or “kasalanang mana”.

Originated sin means the actual sinful state into which we are born. It refers to
two things: concupiscence and sin of the world.

Concupiscence:

➢ The heart of the darkness within us.

➢ The effects of original sin.
➢ It is not a sin. The inclination which comes from sin and inclines to sin.
➢ The deep-seated disorder in our appetites.
➢ The root cause of our personal sins.
➢ It remains even after baptism.

Baptism: takes away original sin and through this we regain the sanctifying
grace which is the grace of being communion/united with God; or friendship
with God.

Sin of the world: the polluted world into which we are all born. Example is the
sinful structures such as injustices, exploitation, oppression, corruption etc.

Capital sins; the root sins or the origin of our many sinful thoughts, words and
deeds. The 7 capital sins: pride, lust, anger, covetousness or avarice, envy, sloth
and gluttony.

Genesis 3:15 refers to the very first promised of salvation/redemption. The

woman symbolizes Mary and offspring symbolizes Jesus Christ our Savior. It also
refers to Satan’s defeat.

3 moments presented from the story:

➢ Temptation: the forbidden fruit and “to be like God” which means
to be ahead of God, without God and not according to God.
 ➢ Sin: they ate the forbidden fruit; disobedience, abuse/ misuse of
freedom and pride.
➢ Judgment: serpent, will be banned from all the wild animals…
woman, will be the mother/ light of the family, the homemakers…
man, the bread winner of the family…

Symbolisms used from the story:

❖ Serpent: satan
❖ Garden of Eden: paradise
❖ Adam: man
❖ Eve: Mother of all the living
❖ Nakedness: state of innocence
❖ The first man/woman realized that they were naked: They lost their state of
innocence.
❖ God made leather garments to cover their bodies; their shame:
symbolizes Reconciliation.
❖ It was the woman who gave in first to the temptation: Women are weak
and fickle- minded.
❖ Man ate the fruit when the woman gave him even he knew that it was
forbidden: One of the weaknesses of man is the woman. Behind man’s
failure is the woman.
❖ God asked the man/woman why they ate the forbidden fruit. Man
blamed the woman. Woman blamed the serpent: In reality, people don’t
want to accept their faults/ mistakes. They keep blaming the others.