CATHOLICS AND THE BIBLE Recently I have been watching the Kenyan Sunday televangelists on TV but I dont understand too well about the Bible questions they do ask their participants and viewers and how the Scripture is interpreted. The shows are though very entertaining, but also very protestant. The questions tend to be surface-level at best, which are not very challenging or insightful. Christians need to dig deeper under the surface of Scripture in order to benefit. The Four Senses: According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, there are four “senses” of Scripture. These can be located in paragraphs 115-118 of the Catechism: 1. The “literal” sense: What the fundamental sense of the words of Scripture mean. 2. The “spiritual” senses: Broken down into three subgroups: 3. The “moral” sense: How the words of Scripture apply to mankind. 4. The “allegorical” sense: How the words of Scripture apply to Jesus. The “anagogical” sense: How the words of Scripture apply to the new heavens and the new earth to come. For example, when one reads about a “temple” in the Bible, the first thing that comes to mind is a big building in Jerusalem where animal sacrifices were conducted. That would be the literal sense. However, the moral sense (how it applies to us) of the word “temple” also comes to mind. St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19: Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? God created our bodies from nothing and made them temples of the Holy Spirit! How many of us have desecrated our temples like King Antiochus did in 2 Maccabees 6, through debauchery! The good news is that with Holy Communion, if we are in the state of grace, Jesus comes into our temple and cleanses it, just like He once did in the temple at Jerusalem! The allegorical sense (how it applies to Jesus) is that Jesus said in John 2:19: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Jesus’ body is the new temple in Jerusalem. The destruction of His temple during the crucifixion foreshadows the destruction of the physical temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD by the Roman army. The anagogical sense of Scripture (how it applies to the new heavens and the new earth to come) is that there will be no temple in heaven after the second coming, because Christ will be our Temple. This comes to us from St. John, in Revelation 21:22: “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb.” There are many more examples of the four senses of Scripture all throughout the Bible. The alert reader who recognizes that there are four senses will begin to see biblical truths that are hidden from the fundamentalist reader, who doesn’t even know that they exist. But, there are other lenses to look through when reading the Bible! Typology: Biblical typology is a method of reading Scripture that looks for people or events in the Old Testament that foreshadow Jesus and Mary and events in the New Testament. The most obvious one is the story of Abraham (the father) sacrificing Isaac (his son) on Mount Moriah, in Genesis 22. Here Isaac is carrying wood up a hill that his father will use to sacrifice him. At the last minute, an angel stops Abraham, and a ram with his head caught in a thicket is sacrificed instead. Obviously, Isaac foreshadows Christ carrying his wooden cross up a hill for his sacrifice, and the ram (a male lamb) with his head caught in a thicket (sounds like a crown of thorns on the head of the Lamb of God) represents Christ, who was sacrificed for us all. Solomon’s temple was built on this site, and many animal sacrifices took place on that spot through the centuries. Another example of biblical typology is the story of Joseph in the Old Testament, in Genesis 37. His brothers strip him of his garments, and sell Joseph to pagans for twenty pieces of silver. Joseph goes to Egypt, and winds up being unjustly accused of rape, and thrown in jail. By interpreting Pharaoh’s dream, he eventually becomes Pharaoh’s right hand man, having dominion over the Kingdom of Egypt. He saves Israel from starving by providing them bread. This sounds an awful lot like Christ, who once was stripped of his garments, and who also went to Egypt once under great duress. Jesus was sold to unbelievers for thirty pieces of silver, unjustly accused, and thrown in jail. He now sits at the right hand of God, and has dominion over His Kingdom in heaven and on earth. He saves us from damnation by providing us bread from heaven; the Eucharist. Some other examples include the following: In the first book of the Bible, Genesis 3, a man (Adam), a woman (Eve), and the devil meet. The devil wins. In the last book of the Bible, Revelation 12, a man (Jesus), a woman (Mary) and the devil meet. The devil loses. In Genesis 3:15, God says that “The Woman” will strike the head of the serpent. Satan was defeated at Golgotha by the Son of God and Mary, who Jesus always called “Woman.” Golgotha is also known as “the place of the skull.” In Judith 13, Judith cuts off the head of General Holofernes, which is also a biblical type of Mary crushing the head of the serpent, from Genesis 3:15. The Holy Family is a biblical type of the Holy Trinity – Joseph represents God our loving Father, the Holy Spirit-filled Mary represents the Holy Spirit, and of course, Jesus represents, and is, God the Son. Covenants: Yet another way to read the Bible is through God’s covenantal relationship with man. Here is a list of all of the six major covenants: 1. Adam and Eve, (Genesis 1:26-2:3) – God promises that man has dominion over the plants and animals, and is to be fertile and multiply in marriage. The sign of the covenant is to rest on the Sabbath. 2. Noah and his family, (Genesis 9:9-17) – God promises no more floods destroying the earth, and to be fertile and multiply. The sign here is the rainbow. 3. Abraham and his descendants, (Genesis 17:1-14; 22:16-18) – God promises to give the sterile Abraham countless descendants who will be blessed, and to make him a “father of many nations” (which is what “Abraham” means). The sign here is circumcision. 4. Moses and the Israelites, (Exodus 19:5-6) – God swears to make Israel a holy nation, a kingdom of priests set apart from the other nations. The sign of the covenant is the Passover. 5. David and the Kingdom of Israel (2 Samuel 7:8-19) – God swears to David that he will be a King of Israel, and that this royal Davidic Kingdom will last forever. The sign here is Solomon’s temple. Jesus and the Church (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Matthew 16:17-19; 26:28) – This New Covenant fulfills all of the other five covenants. 6. Jesus is the eternal high priest of the new worldwide Davidic Kingdom, the Catholic Church, where the law will be written on our hearts. The sign of this New Covenant is Jesus Himself in the Eucharist. Notice how in each covenant, the number of people taken in gets larger: Adam and Eve – one man and one woman Noah – a family Abraham – a tribe Moses – a nation David – a royal Kingdom over other nations Jesus – a worldwide royal Kingdom over every nation Jewish Lens: Always remember to try to understand the Bible as a first century Jew would, and not as twenty-first century American would. For instance, in Matthew 16:19, when you hear that Jesus gave Peter the keys to the Kingdom, a first century Jew would immediately recognize that as a reference to Isaiah 22:22, where Eliakim, the King’s Prime Minister, was given the keys of the Davidic Kingdom. When Jesus said “give us this day our daily bread”, that is a reference to the supernatural daily bread from heaven known as manna, now replaced by the Eucharist. Those Old Testament footnotes at the bottom of the page of Catholic Bibles are there for just this reason, so use them! Our Loving Father: Finally, never forget to read the Bible without recognizing that God is OUR (not mine, not his, not her) loving Father who is always watching us, helping us, and chastising us in order to enable us to fulfill our royal destiny – to be one spirit with Him in Heaven (1 Corinthians 6:17). Scripture says that God’s people perish for lack of knowledge! (Hosea 4:6) Some people see God as a stern judge, ready to punish us at the drop of a hat for sins committed. Yet, He is not that. He is our merciful loving Father, and we are the royal heirs to His Kingdom! When we interpret Scripture accurately, we come to a better understanding and appreciation for love that our Father had for us, and thereby are able to respect our place as His children.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 10:06:28 +0000
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