|
Preface |
| §1. |
|
Document is the authentic teaching about revelation and the
process of transmission. It is about, and is itself an announcement
of, the message of salvation for the world. |
Ch. 1. Revelation Itself |
| §2. |
|
God reveals God's self in goodness and wisdom, to make known
the hidden purpose of God's will and to enable through Christ
access to God in holy spirit and a share in the divine nature.
The plan of revelation is realized by God's deeds in history,
which are proclaimed and clarified in scripture. These come
together in Christ, the mediator and fullness of revelation. |
| §3. |
|
Deeds of salvation history: created realities, first parents, promise of salvation, Abraham-patriarchs-Moses-prophets. |
| §4. |
|
Fullness
of revelation, Christ: Word made flesh, clear manifestation
of God, Jesus perfects revelation by fulfilling it through work
of making self present and manifest in words and deeds, signs
and wonders, death, resurrection, and sending spirit of truth.
Christian dispensation is the new and definitive covenant, which
will never pass away. We now await no further new public revelation
before Jesus' return. |
| §5. |
|
Human
response: obedience of faith to God. Faith is the full submission
of intellect and will to God's loving initiative. While it involves
human person's free assent, it is always the work of God's grace. |
| §6. |
|
God
communicates divine treasures which totally transcend the understanding
of the human mind, yet are made intelligible and accessible
to human reason. |
Ch. 2. The Transmission of Revelation |
| §7. |
|
Gospel was promised in former times through the prophets; it was fulfilled and promulgated by Christ, and preached, lived and legislated for by apostles and successor bishops. All of scripture is as a mirror through which the Church looks at God. |
| §8. |
|
What was handed on is everything which contributes to holiness of life and the increase of faith. This content develops in the tradition of the Church,
This happens through the contemplation and study made by believers, who treasure these things in their hearts (cf. Luke 2:19, 51), through the intimate under-standing of spiritual things they experience, and through the preaching of those who have received through episcopal succession the sure gift of truth.
God uninterruptedly converses with Church, through it the living voice of the Gospel resounds. |
| §9. |
|
Scripture and tradition are two points in the conversation between the Church and God, not one or the other. |
| §10. |
|
Together, Scripture and tradition make one sacred deposit of the Word of God, entrusted to the care of the living teaching office of the Church. The Church is not above the Word of God, but serves it. |
Ch. 3. The Divine Inspiration and the Interpretation of
Sacred Scripture |
| §11. |
|
All books of Old and New Testament are sacred and canonical because they have God as their author and have been handed on as such to the Church.
In composing the sacred books, God chose men and while employed by [God] they made use of their powers and abilities, so that with [God] acting in them and through them, they, as true authors, consigned to writing everything and only those things which [God] wanted.
|
| §12. |
|
Interpreter of scripture should carefully investigate the original author's intention, including the literary forms he employed which communicate truth in different ways (Pius XII, Divino afflante Spiritu, 1943). Attention also should be paid to the content and unity of the whole of Scripture, and the living tradition of the whole Church. |
| §13. |
|
Scripture is true and holy, but we need also appreciate the "marvelous 'condescension' of eternal wisdom" into limited human language and forms. |
Ch. 4. The Old Testament |
| §14. |
|
God entered into covenant with a people, manifested self to them in words and deeds, and foretold the plan of salvation. Books are permanently valuable because divinely inspired. |
| §15. |
|
Principle purpose to which the plan of the old covenant was directed was to prepare for the coming of Christ and the messianic kingdom. Shows divine pedagogy, though some things are incomplete and temporary. |
| §16. |
|
New Testament is hidden in Old, Old Testament is manifest in New. |
Ch. 5. The New Testament |
| §17. |
|
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us in the fullness of grace and truth. Writings of the New Testament stand as a perpetual and divine witness to the realities of Christ's words, deeds, death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Holy Spirit. |
| §18. |
|
Gospels have a special preeminence as principle witness of the life and teaching of the Incarnate Word. Church believes in their apostolic origin. |
| §19. |
|
The four gospels are historical, and faithfully transmit what Jesus Christ really did and taught for eternal salvation. |
| §20. |
|
The epistles and other apostolic writings include true teaching, where the saving power of Christ's work is preached, the story of the Church's origins and fulfillment foretold. |
Ch. 6. Sacred Scripture in the Life of the Church |
| §21. |
|
Church venerates Scripture as it does the body of the Lord; from the table of both she receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life. All preaching is nourished and ruled by Scripture. |
| §22. |
|
Easy access to Scripture should be provided for all the Christian faithful. |
| §23. |
|
Exegetes and other students of Scripture should move ahead in study in a manner that enlightens minds, strengthens wills, and sets as many people's hearts on fire with the love of God as possible. |
| §24. |
|
Theology is rejuvenated by careful scrutiny of Scripture in the light of faith; "the study of the sacred page is, as it were, the soul of sacred theology" (pastoral preaching, catechetics, ministries of the Word). |
| §25. |
|
All clergy must hold fast to sacred Scripture through diligent reading and careful study, with frequent reading accompanied by prayer. |
