Sacred Scripture

The Church Transmits the Truth of Jesus

-When Jesus came to Earth, he established the foundations of the Church through the gathering
of the 12 apostles
-These followers were with Jesus, constantly, learning everything He taught and following His
example
-After Jesus died, he continued to appear to his disciples to reassure them and continue teaching
them
-After the Ascension, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to the Apostles at Pentecost to begin the mission
of the Church

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-He does all this so that the entirety of humans can receive salvation after His death
-The Apostles began by preaching and teaching the Good news that Jesus had taught
-They spread out through all the world to spread this message. This story is found in Acts of the
Apostles
-Along with their preaching, the Apostle’s authority was confirmed by their ability to perform
signs and miracles
-The Good News of Jesus was spread from person to person

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-Over time, the communities of the Church grew so numerous that not all of them could be
attended to by an original Apostle or disciple of Christ
-They began writing letters to encourage the different communities. They also began to write
down accounts of Jesus’ life
-These various accounts that were handed down verbally and orally are known as Sacred
Tradition
-Tradition was first passed down orally, then it was written down
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-3 Sources of Sacred Tradition
-The Liturgy- The Church expressed many teachings through prayers, hymns, and sacramental
rites
-Events prompted by the Holy Spirit- In events such as the Ecumenical Councils, the Holy spirit
works through the members of the Church to clarify teachings without error
-The Writings of the Church Fathers- Words of the early saints who were able to give us living
testimony of the living Tradition of the Gospels

Sacred Scripture
-Sacred Scripture is the part of Sacred Tradition that was written down through the promptings
of the Holy Spirit
-Through Sacred Scripture, God speaks His Word to us in which He expresses himself
completely
-The word speaks in time, revealed in time revealed to us as a timeless reality and relationship
-Because of the perfection of God’s word

Sacred Scripture- Authorship

-We believe that God is the Author of the Bible
-Not an assistant

-The human writers completely write the Bible through their own free will

-Yet, God remains the sole Author of the Bible

-The human writers did not have their role diminished, because the Holy Spirit’s inspiration
enabled the writer to truthfully write God’s word

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-The Holy Spirit’s inspiration is what prevented the human authors from error
-Both the Holy Spirit and the human writers are considered authors but God is the Primary
Author because it his word
-The primary authorship of God is intentionally affirmed by the human writers. This means they
understood what they were writing, meant to write it, and believed it to be true
-All that these human authors wrote pointed to their understanding o f supernatural signs,
realities, and mysteries

Sacred Scripture- Source of Truth

-The books of the Bible were written to reveal the truth about God’s action in human history
-These actions tell us about who he is, what he wants, and how he offers us his wisdom and
mercy
-These truths reflect the realities of the two types of authors
-God = Supernatural Truth

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-Supernatural Truths- Through revelation, God has made his intimate life and eternal decrees
concerning human salvation known to us
-Natural Truth- Through revelation, God also shows fundamental truths that are nc=necessary for
salvation humankind. These natural truths could be figured out by human intelligence, but
through revelation, humans can know these truths easily, with absolute certainty and without
error
-Both of these types of truths are interconnected, but it is the natural truths that are ordered and
pointing to supernatural truths

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-Because the Bible is the inspired Word of God, we can be assured that what is taught in the
Bible is Truth
-We also accept that the Truth of God has been relayed to us without error
-Inerrancy of scripture and the Divine Inspiration of the authors by God go hand in hand
-This did not occur by chance. It was God’s intention for the scriptures to reveal his Truth
without any error

The Sanctity of Sacred Scripture

-The sanctity of scripture means that we believe that the Bible has moral perfection in its
doctrine
-There are three different aspects of the Bible that work together to relay moral perfection to us
-The Divine Origin
-The Purpose of the Bible
-The Precepts of the Bible

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-Its Divine Origin
-The Bible does not always speak of Good things
-The Bible gives us the commands of God that help us avoid moral error
-In order to do so, The Bible may narrate evil deeds, but they all are eventually condemned either
implicitly or explicitly
-While both the Old and New Testaments are free of moral error, the New Testament is a
completion of the Old and possesses greater moral perfection

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-The Purpose of the Bible-
-The Purpose of the Bible is to allow for everyone to have the tools that will help them to get to
heaven
-Each of the Testaments have their own specific purpose by work together for the greater
purpose of salvation for all
-OT- Tells the story of how God lays the foundation for saving grave to enter the world through
the nation of Israel
-NT- reveals explicit moral truths through the person of Jesus Christ and the Church he institutes

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-The Precepts of the Bible-
-Natural Human reason was impaired by Original Sin
-God institutes moral precepts in both the OT and NT to give us the moral clarity that was lost
through Original Sin
-He begins setting up moral truths that had been lost in the OT
-He finishes in the NT by perfecting these truths through Jesus declaring their true meaning and
showing us the best way to live them out

Interpretation of Scripture
-Because of the Divine authorship, interpretation if scripture must be done with the whole
scripture in mind
-The interpretation n of scripture must also be done with the whole of the Sacred Tradition of the
Church in mind as well
-We must understand that God does not contradict himself. If we find contradiction in scripture,
then we are interpreting it correctly
-This means that we cannot get hung up on individual passages that may contradict each other
out of context. Rather, we focus on the context in which the scriptures were written

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-Scripture is to be interpreted in the same “Spirit” in which it was written
-We must attempt to understand scripture from the author’s POV
-The Church is charged with the duty of promoting, teaching, and protecting the true
interpretation of scripture just as God intended it
-When reading the scripture, there is an official revelation that is supported by the Church, and
there is a personal revelation that is individual to each other
-While these revelations may have different meanings, they are never to contradict