CLE 6

Understanding The Bible: A Catholic Guide To The Word of God

Too many Catholics aren't comfortable reading and understanding the Bible. Let's look
at the most essential principles taught by the Catholic Church for reading and interpreting
Scripture.

For a strong faith, it's important to know this!

The Bible is uniquely important

The Holy Bible is unmatched in importance for learning about God, his plans for us, and
how he has worked through human history for our salvation.
Since God inspired & confirmed the Bible, we had better know how to read it correctly!

Key principles for reading Scripture

These three points are essential to a basic understanding of the bible: 1 God is indeed
the principal author of Sacred Scripture. 2. God made use of specific people that
wrote in a human language, and did so at a particular time and place in history. 3. At
times we have to work carefully to determine exactly what a sacred author is
asserting to be true, distinguishing that from something he's using as an image to
help us understand the truth more clearly.
We need to look at each of these points in detail...

God is the principal author of Scripture

If there is only one thing you remember about understanding the Bible, let it be this
point! To get it just right, I'll quote from the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic
Church:

God himself is the author of Sacred Scripture.

(Compendium of the Catechism, #18)

God made use of people to write the Bible

This is important: God did not "dictate" the Bible, word for word, to people who just
wrote down his words. Instead, he did something...
...more amazing!
He made use of specific people to write the various sacred books of the Bible. And
although God gave each author special grace to aid him in this work, each author wrote in a
way that was natural to him.
This is also really important for a true Catholic understanding of the Bible. We have to
understand this point completely, or we risk a serious misunderstanding!
These writers used the language of their time, and they used words and wrote in a style that
reflected their own personalities and educations.
Some people get nervous when they start reading about this point—don't be! This is important
for a solid understanding of the Bible.

Let's summarize it this way: 1 These men had to work with the imperfections of
human language and understanding. 2. Despite this limitation, the Holy Spirit
still used them to write the message of salvation in a way that was
completely accurate.

This is really quite astonishing—God was willing to work through people to tell us his saving
truth. He revealed his divine truths via historical acts, using events and people of his choosing.
And he did so using...

Human language and knowledge

God also used human language and knowledge—with all of its limitations—to tell us his eternal
truths. He conveyed things to people through words and actions that made use of the ways of
speaking and thinking that were common at the time. God worked this way so it would be
possible for humans to write down or pass on these eternal truths. The people who
experienced these events and received God's divine messages either wrote them down later, or
would pass them on in a reliable oral tradition that was later written down under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit.
Of course, sometimes we have to work carefully to get past the imperfections of human
language and knowledge in order to see what God wanted to tell us. This is an important step
for understanding the Bible!

Embrace the Word of God

The whole point of reading and understanding the Bible is to encounter God, understand the
revelation he has given us, and grow in faith. So now that you've read a passage of Scripture
and understand what the author is saying... ...take that next step—listen to God!
Scripture is a living thing, meant for people in all times & places. God speaks through
it now just as much as he did when it was written.

Let the Bible enkindle your faith

Some people feel intimidated when they start to read Scripture.

But not you!
Now you have a solid foundation for understanding the Bible. The basic principles contained in
this article will help you overcome many uncertainties people have with Scripture.
So start reading!

From: BeginningCatholic.com
https://www.beginningcatholic.com/understanding-the-bible