13. Humans And The Bible
God is a transcendent reality. People only know His presence through the wonderful universe He created, as psalms 8 and 18 describe:
“When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and stars that you set in place” (Psalm 8:4).
“The heavens declare the glory of God;
the firmament proclaims the works of his hands” (Psalm 19:2).
The human mind is very limited and cannot imagine what God is like. Therefore, He used the Bible to reveal to people who He is, what His will and His laws are.
1. WHAT IS THE BIBLE?
Dogmatic Constitution On Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum) of the Second Vatican Council says, “The Holy Bible is the word of God spoken to humanity to reveal to them God himself, his love, his intentions and his plan of salvation, through that man can know God and share in his nature” (DV 25).
- The Bible is the word of God.
We cannot know what God is like on our own if He does not reveal Himself to us. Fortunately, we know God better, thanks to divine revelation in the Scriptures.
The Bible reveals a part of the spiritual life to humanity. When the awareness and evolution of human language became comprehensible, the Bible was born.
The Bible reveals God’s love for human beings, through His plan to send a savior, announced many times since the beginning of the Bible (Genesis 3:15), to restore salvation. Harmony has broken down between God and man. The One that God promised and is mentioned in the Old Testament is called the Messiah, who is Jesus, with the mission of redeeming humanity.
His teachings and life, as well as the early church he founded, are recorded in the book we call the New Testament. On the cross, before dying, Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The painful death and resurrection of Jesus is the climax of the Bible, God’s word to us.
Saint Paul wrote in a letter to the Jewish believers, “In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe” (Heb 1:1-2).
So, is the scripture that we read every day really the word of God?
- The Bible is an inspired human language:
– History:
The Bible, spanning a history of more than 1,500 years, has about 40 authors. Diverse literary genres, from prose to poetry, history, prophecy, epistles …
The language used in the Old Testament was mostly written in Hebrew. The New Testament is in Greek.
Regardless of what language, a human language has its limitations: by itself, from the expressive language, oral tradition and recorded scripts, to the limitations of history, era, and individual authors. … Not to mention other limitations when it is translated into other languages.
Although very limited, the Bible, through human style, is inspired by God to express God’s words and His intentions to people, as Saint Paul wrote, “Everything written in the Bible is inspired by God” (2 Tim 3:16).
How do we know that is God’s word to humanity?
– The authenticity of the Bible:
People scrutinize and find all kinds of contradictions and counter-arguments to consider the Bible as a collection of outdated, useless, anti-scientific, anti-evolution books. But to this day, the Bible is the most influential book in human civilization, translated into more than 2,400 languages with more than 7 billion copies. But that is not an argument to consider the holy book as God’s word to humanity.
We believe the Bible is God’s word for its internal reasons: it is consistent and systematic, consistent with the depth of human conscience that nature has endowed in us, since we were born as humans. The Bible of Jewish people, chosen by God to carry out His plan, has little to say about the history of this country and much to teach about morality.
Indeed, from ancient times until now and forever after, an immutable moral code, beyond space and time, agreed upon by all religions, including atheists, is very necessary for human existence and survival. That is also what makes humans, as a society, different from animals: loving fellow humans, honoring father and mother, living righteously, taking care of the weak, doing good and avoiding evil… All are teachings of holy scriptures.
2. LIVING THE BIBLE
- The Bible’s words of life:
The Lord said, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Just as our body needs food to survive, our moral life also needs to be nourished by the word of God.
In everyday life, many things the Bible teaches do not follow common wisdom, but go against common sense. Therefore, many of His disciples at one point abandoned Him and left.
Jesus said, “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe” (John 6:63-64) and Peter answered, “You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
Not everyone can hear God’s voice. It is not rare for people today to ignore His words, because they are busy worrying about food, clothing, and money, like the parable of the sower, which God explained in the gospel of Luke (Luke 8:4-8).
We have freedom and God respects that freedom. Saint John writes in the book of Revelation,
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).
So who can hear God’s words?
- God’s word for those who are simple and have a clear conscience.
Our ordinary simple people believe that there is an omniscient God (heaven has eyes, meaning knows everything), who is omnipotent and has the right to reward and punish justly (heaven punishes, saves, or loves …). Meanwhile, highly educated people think that God does not exist, so how come punishment?
God’s Word is very simple for everyone, anyone can understand. Jesus prayed to the Father, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will” (Mt 11:25-26).
However, this simple understanding, although correct and sincere, is very simple, easily leading to erroneous inferences, as was seen during the time of the apostles. To avoid this and also to exercise the authority given by God, Saint Peter wrote, “There is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20).
- Authority to interpret Scripture.
Before returning to heaven, Jesus established His church and commanded, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20).
The Church has real power and authority. “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Mt 16:18-19).
The Church does not create new truths; but interpret God’s word in the authority given to it.
Indeed, the Bible as presented above is very rich and diverse. From language expressions to historical circumstances, from writing styles to the author’s personal background; all seriously affect the meaning of the text. To understand the original meaning correctly, one must have very high expertise to interpret and annotate objectively.
The Church is the final authority to decide matters. The Church always reminds bible experts of Jesus’ warning to those who interpret the law. “You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter” (Luke 11:52).
Thus the Bible is God’s word, which is very simple and rustic, anyone can understand. However, we must not manipulate or misunderstand the original meaning that God wants to tell us.
Conclusion:
The Bible is to be understood. Prophet Jeremiah said, “When I found your words, I devoured them;
your words were my joy, the happiness of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16).
The Bible is immutable and has eternal values. “Heaven and earth will pass away; but my words will never pass away” (Mt 24; 35).
The Bible is daily food and the living word: “The word of God is the living word” (Hebrews 4:12).
The Bible is for practice. Jesus said, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it” (Luke 8:21).
Christians must know the scriptures: “Whoever does not know the scriptures does not know Christ” (Saint Jerome).