Sacred Scripture

The Terms Scripture and Bible

• Scriptures – comes from the Latin word
scriptura which means “writing”
– the term scriptures emphasizes the great
diversity of authors, literary genera, and times
in history
• Bible – comes from the Greek words ta
biblia which simply means “the books”
– The term bible highlights the unity of the
Sacred scriptures and emphasizes that God is
the ultimate author
 Author of Sacred Scripture
• Primary author: God
• Secondary authors: The human writers
• A good illustration to understand
this relationship is an instrument
– A pen
– A saxaphone
• The Scriptures are Divine and Human
– It is the same with Christ
 Inspiration
• “All scripture is inspired by God” (2 Tim 3:16). The
word used here literally means “God-breathed”
– The Holy Spirit inspired the authors to record without
error the truths necessary for Salvation
– Inspiration is neither divine possession nor simply a seal
of approval
• Biblical Inspiration - God used or “inspired”
the thoughts, ideas, language, style, will,
energy, work, emotions, feelings, etc… of the
human authors to write what he wanted them
to and nothing more
 Inerrancy
• Inerrancy - means making no mistakes or errors
– Scripture is inerrant in that it always teaches truth and
never falsehood
– We know that the bible is true since it came from God
who can neither deceive nor be deceived
– Analogy - Just as the word of God became like us in
all things except sin so the words of God became like
our speech in all ways except error (Pope Pius XII)
• Even thought the Scriptures are totally true that
does not mean they are always easy to
understand
– One can interpret them in a false way or miss the
point of what they are trying to show
– They are not meant to be a scientific account of things
 The Bible is Sacred Literature
• Sacred – because God wrote it
– God is the primary author
• Literature – because it uses human
language and literary forms/genera
– we need to understand these forms to
understand the meaning of the Scriptures
– Examples - Legal writings, historical
narrative, historic myth (symbolic language),
prophetic, apocalyptic, ancient biography,
dialogue, letter, wisdom, poetic/song,
dramatic
– Ancient Literature – is not written in the same
way as modern literature, e.g. novel, or
history textbook
• Intention of the author
– We need to know the author’s times, culture,
literary forms, and modes of thought if we are
going to discover what the author intended
 Activity
In groups of two skim through these bible passages below to figure out which
genera/literary form is used. Write your answers and your names on a
separate sheet of loose leaf.
• Leviticus 6:1-7 • Letter
• Psalm 150 • Historical narrative
• Revelation 6:1-3 • Historic myth (symbolic
• Isaiah 7:10-17 language)
• Ecclesiastes 3:1-9 • Legal writings
• Genesis 11:1-9 • Prophetic writings
• Luke 1:1-4 • Apocalyptic writings
• 2 Thess 3:16-17 • Ancient biography
• Genesis 21:1-8 • Wisdom literature
• Poetry
 Canon of Scripture
• Canon is the Greek word for “rule”
– The books in the “canon” were chosen because they
matched the “rule” or measure of faith
– Canon of Scripture - official list of inspired books
that make up the Bible
• The canon of scripture has 73 books:
– 46 books of the OT
– 27 books of the NT
– In the early Church there was some debate as to
which books were inspired
– This was settled by the council of Carthage in 397
and approved by pope St. Siricius
– 3 rules for determining the canon:
• Orthodox, Apostolic, & Universal
 Canon of Scripture
• This canon of scripture is different from protestants
who hold that there are 39 books of the OT
• Duetrocanonical books – books of the bible written
in Greek which most of our protestant brothers and
sisters do not accept
– Tobit, Judith, Parts of Esther, Wisdom, Sirach
(Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, Parts of Daniel, 1 Maccabees,
and 2 Maccabees
– These texts were written in Greek instead of Hebrew
– Martin Luther took them out of the canon because they
went against his ideas about faith especially purgatory
• Apocrypha - Books that were rejected from the
canon
– 3 & 4 Maccabees, Book of David, Gospel of Thomas
 Important Translations of the
Scriptures
• Palestinian Canon – Accepted by the Jews,
written in Hebrew, but does not contain the
Duetrocanonical books
• Septuagint (LXX) – Accepted by Greek Jews
and early Christians, written in Greek, and
contains the Duetrocanonical books
– 70 separate translators all made the same translation
• Vulgate – Accepted by the Church, written in
Latin, and contains all the Old and New
Testament
– Translated by St. Jerome
 Old and New Testament
• Scripture is one since the
Word of God is one
– Old Testament prepares for The New
the New Testament
• E.g. the sacrifice of Isaac
the son Abraham
Fulfills the
– The New Testament fulfills Old
the Old Testament
• E.g. The sacrifice of Jesus
the son of the Father
The Old
– They both shed light on one Testament
another prepares for
• In Scripture the Eternal the New
Word of God comes to us Testament
in the words of God
 Jesus – The Word of God
• The mystery of the
Word of God is
greater than the
words contained in The Eternal Word of God
the scriptures
• The scriptures are
not a dead word
from the past but
are an encounter The written words of
with the a living and Scriptures
Eternal Word of
God
• Catholicism then is
not “a religion of the
book” but of the
living and incarnate
Word of God, Jesus
Christ
 Senses of Scripture
• Literal Sense
– 1. Literal - literal meaning and intention of the author,
original language (OT – Hebrew; NT – Greek), historical
context, literary form
• All other spiritual senses are based upon the literal sense
• Spiritual senses
– 2. Allegorical – understanding how the events in salvation
history foreshadow Christ and the Church
• Leads to faith
– 3. Moral – teaches us on how to act
• Leads to charity
– 4. Anagogical or heavenly – directs us toward the glory of
heaven
• Leads to hope
• Summary
– The letter speaks of deeds; allegory leads to faith; the
moral how to act; anagogy our destiny
 Activity
• Parting of the Red Sea
– Exodus14:21-28
– Allegorical - What sacrament is this an
allegory of? Why?
• Desert wonderings
– Exodus 17:1-7
– Moral - What virtue or virtues does this
passage remind us we need to have?
• Fruit of the promised land
– Numbers 13:21-27
– Heavenly – what does the fruit of the
land tell us about heaven
How do we read the Scriptures?
• With the help of the Holy Spirit who inspired them and
under the guidance of the Church’s Magisterium
• 3 principles
– Read the scriptures with attention to the content and unity of the
whole of Scripture
• Read a passage within its context and its relationship to with other
places in the bible
• All the books of the bible make up one book
– Read within the living Tradition of the Church
• There are certain ways that the Church has always or never read a
certain passages
– Read with attention to the “analogy of faith”
• This means the inner harmony which exists among all the truths and
doctrines of faith
 Example
• “Is not this the carpenter, the
son of Mary and brother of
James and Joses and Judas
and Simon, and are not his
sisters here with us?" (Mark 6:5)
• How do we understand ‘brothers and sisters’
– Content and unity – Lot is Abraham’s nephew (Gen
12:5) and yet the author also refers to him as his
brother (Gen 13:8)
– Living Tradition – held that they are Jesus’ cousins.
St Jerome in the 4th century said that the idea that
they are blood brothers and sisters was “novel”
– Analogy of Faith – this interpretation is in harmony
with the teaching of Mary’s perpetual virginity
 Fundamentalism
• Fundamentalists are a branch of Protestants
who always interpret the scriptures literally, often
without reference to other passages in the bible
– Seven literal days of creation
– “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a
thousand years are like a day” 2 Pet 3:8
• Fundamentalists interpret the words of the Bible
in their most immediate sense often in a way
that distorts the author’s intended meaning and
purpose
– The order of seven days is the literary and memory
device