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17 views

Cfe 101 Module 1

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mewa09985
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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INTRODUCTION TO THE

SACRED SCRIPTURES
CFE 101
INSPIRED WORD

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for


teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for
training in righteousness, so that one who
belongs to God may be competent, equipped for
every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
What is a sacred Scripture?
St. Paul’s letter to Timothy contains an
exhortation to hold firm to the biblical
word of God precisely because it comes
from God, even though written by human
authors. It is God who moved the human
authors to commit to writing what God
wanted them to write.
Indeed, from the dawn of the Christian
religion, the followers of Christ have
considered the Bible a special communication
of God, in which the prophets of the Old
Testament and Jesus of Nazareth in the New,
revealed to the chosen people the secrets of
divine wisdom and the means of salvation for
mankind.
The Christian Scriptures are not
just an important piece of religious
writing; they also provide basic
guidelines of moral conduct.
TEACHINGS OF
THE CHURCH
Those divinely revealed realities which
are contained and presented in Sacred
Scripture have been committed to writing
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For
holy mother Church, relying on the belief
of the Apostles (see John 20:31; 2 Tim.
3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-20, 3:15-16)
holds that the books of both the Old and
New Testaments in their entirety, with all
their parts, are sacred and canonical because
written under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, they have God as their author and
have been handed on as such to the Church
herself.
(1) In
composing the
sacred books,
God chose
men and while
employed by
Him https://www.patheos.com/blogs/religionprof/2012/09/the-
bibles-authors-were-inspired-by-god.html
(2) they made use
of their powers
and abilities, so
that with Him
acting in them
and through
them, https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-13-no-3-2012/paul-james-faith-works
(3) they, as true
authors, consigned
to writing
everything and
only those things
which He wanted
(Dei Verbum 11).
https://www.ellenwhite.info/books/ellen-g-white-book-acts-of-
the-apostles-aa-52.htm
Inspiration and Inerrancy of Sacred
Scripture

Sacred Scripture is inspired and


inerrant. The notion of biblical
inspiration is derived from a word
which means “breathed in” – meaning
God himself guided the human authors
who wrote the books of the Bible
whose intellects were enlightened
directly by the action of Holy Spirit to
write what God wanted them to write
without, however, impairing their
freedom (Hahn, 2004, p. 7.)
This uniqueness of the books of
the Bible makes God the principal
author of scripture, and the human
authors also as real authors because
they acted as free and intelligent
instruments of the Holy Spirit.
Hahn (2004), that “Scripture teaches
truth, never error” (p. 7).
But what is that truth that the Bible
teaches?
“The Bible, according to Knox (2011),
is free from error in those religious
affirmations that are made for the sake
of our salvation” (p. 86).
How about stand of science?
This understanding of biblical
inerrancy does not, however, make
the Bible free from scientific,
historical and factual errors and
contradictions because its
content and purpose is not to
provide a scientific explanation
of phenomena nor an accurate
historical reporting of events.
B. Canon of Sacred Scripture
The books of the Bible are
often referred to as canonical
books. Canon is the Greek for
“rule” or “norm.”
The canonical books form the
rule, or norm, of faith for they are
recognized and accepted as
inspired by God. In addition, the
word “canon” also came to mean
“list.”
The canon is the list of books,
both the Old Testament and New
Testament, that the church recognizes
as inspired necessary to your faith. So,
the inclusion of a book in the canon
means that it was divinely inspired.
Two Versions of the Scriptures:

1. Alexandrian Canon or Septuagint:

2. Palestinian Canon
1. Around 250 B.C.E., the original
Hebrew of the Old Testament was
translated into Greek (the most
commonly used language of the
time) in Alexandria, Egypt by
seventy (70) scholars (hence, the
name “Septuagint”).
In making their translation, the scholars
added other well-known books that were
not originally written in Hebrew but in
Greek, or Aramaic.
The Catholic Church accepted all the
books of the Septuagint as canonical that
constitute the Old Testament (Knox, 2011,
pp. 93 – 94). It has a total of forty-six (46)
books.
2. After the sacking of Jerusalem and the
destruction of the Temple by the
Romans in 70 C.E., some Pharisees
gathered at Jamnia (modern Jabneh,
south of Tel Aviv) to draw up a canon of
Scripture that contained only those
books originally written in Hebrew.
This canon excluded books that were
written in Greek or Aramaic. It has thirty-
nine (39) books. This is still the canon
accepted by Jews today. When the
Protestants in the 16th century started
making translations from the original
Hebrew, they used the Palestinian canon
(Knox, 2011, p. 94).
These seven (7) books that make up
the difference between the Alexandrian
Canon and Palestinian Canon are
referred to as deuterocanonical —
”second canon”—to show that they are
not accepted in the Jewish canon.
(1 and 2 Maccabees, Judith,
Tobit, Baruch, Sirach, and
Wisdom). Many Protestant editions
of the Bible, however, include these
books at the end under the title
“Apocrypha.”
C. Divisions of the Bible
1. Old Testament

2. New Testament
1. This part of the Bible contains
historical writings, stories, poetry,
songs, writings on human wisdom,
writings on prophecy that span the
whole extent of the Jewish life. The
Old Testament is also called the
Jewish Scripture.
2. Known also as the Christian
Scripture, the New Testament is the
inspired testimony about Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, and the New Covenant. It
is centered on Jesus of Nazareth, his life,
death and resurrection, which are also
called as the Paschal Mystery.
It presents Jesus’ ministry and
teachings, and the Church’s post
resurrection understanding of who
Jesus really was.
The word comes from the Latin
“testamentum”, Hebrew “berith”, and the
Greek “diatheke,” meaning “formal
agreement, or covenant between two (2)
parties. The term “Old Testament” was first
introduced by Tertullian (ca 200 AD) to refer
to the Jewish Scripture and “New
Testament” to the Christian Scripture.
D. Interpretation of Sacred Scripture
Two (2) Approaches of Interpreting the Sacred
Scriptures

1. Exegesis
Exegesis is the exposition of a text based on a careful,
objective analysis. The exegesis literally means “to
lead out of.” That means that the interpreter is led to
his conclusions by following the text. "Exegesis is an
act of love.
2. Eisegesis
Eisegesis is the interpretation of a passage
based on a subjective, non-analytical reading.
The word eisegesis literally means “to lead
into,” which means the interpreter injects his
own ideas into the text, making it mean
whatever he wants.
Factors to Consider in Interpreting
Sacred Scriptures (CFC 92-96):
1. the inspired human author’s
intention
2. the text itself
3. the reader of the text
4. the common horizon connecting
the original community context of
the text with our community
reading today.
MISSIONARY RESPONSE
The Bible tells the most magnificent
of all stories—the story of how you
have been redeemed. It is also full of
wisdom for daily living. It teaches you
how to treat other people, how to
handle your fears and sorrows, how to
get your priorities straight.
The wisdom of the Bible shows
you how to become the people you
were meant to be.
END OF THE TOPIC!

CLOSING PRAYER

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