Father Adam’s notes on Dei Verbum: The Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on Divine Revelation
The Bible comes from the Tradition of the Church
 The Gospel was first part of the oral tradition of the church.
 Before it was written down it was preached orally by the apostles.
 These men then handed down to their successors what they learned and it was handed on and on until they
committed to paper what they first learned orally.
 This is why as Catholics we hold both Scripture and Tradition as sources of our faith because before there was
The Bible we had Tradition.
o Tradition came first.
 We, therefore, have to be faithful to both the tradition contained in the Bible and the Tradition as
handed down by word of mouth through the centuries. (2 Thessalonians 2:15)
 Both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition are to be accepted and venerated with the same sense
of loyalty and reverence.
 Rejecting one is rejecting the other.
Not the Bible alone – the Bible and Tradition
o
o
o
o
We do not believe in the Bible alone as our source of faith because the Bible comes from Tradition.
"Sacred tradition and sacred scripture form one sacred deposit of the word of God, committed to the church."
Acts 2:42
"The task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on, has been entrusted
exclusively to the living teaching office of the church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ."
Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium (the teaching office of the Church) stand together and
are linked together in such a way that one cannot stand without the others.
The Bible
 Sacred Scripture written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit has God as its author
o Men and women who wrote the books of the Bible were employed by God who used them to write
“everything and only those things which He wanted”
 There is no error in Sacred Scripture
 We today need to investigate and study the Bible to see what it is that God intended to communicate to
us.
 We are to “carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writers intended, and what God wanted to
manifest by means of their words.”
 That is why we need the Church to tell us what it is that God intended to transmit to us through a
particular piece of the Bible
We need the Church: the Bible doesn’t suffice
 It is not enough to just have the Bible: you need the Church.
 If the Bible was all that you need why is it that we have so many different churches which all interpret the Bible
differently and one cannot agree with the other.
 You have to remember that the Bible was written at a different time and in different places with different
cultural nuances.





Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament)
God chose a people through whom He would enter into a special relationship with the whole human race
God through the people of Israel made known His ways to all the nations
The books of the Old Testament are infinitely valuable and in them we find God’s marvelous plan for our
salvation
Christians should receive the books of the Old Testament with great reverence for in them is given “expression
to a lively sense of God.”
 They contain “a store of sublime teachings about God”
 They contain “sound wisdom about human life”
 They contain a “wonderful treasury of prayers”
Both the Old Testament and the New Testament go together
o the New Testament is best understood in light of the Old
The Christian Scriptures (New Testament)
 The Gospels have a preeminence among all the Scriptures, that is, they are the most important because they
witness to the life and teaching of Jesus
o They are of apostolic origin which is something the Church has held always
 What the apostles first preached and what was handed on from them was then, under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, written down and handed down to us
 The sacred writers selected from the many events of Christ’s life, His sayings, His teachings, only some that they
heard and put down in writing
o We only have a limited selection of what Jesus did, said, and taught
The Bible in the life of the Church
 The Church has always venerated the Bible just as she venerates the body of our Lord
 The Church at the Mass feeds the faithful with the Bread of Life from both the Bible as well as Christ’s
Body in Holy Communion
 All the preaching of the Church must be regulated by the Bible
 The faithful should have easy access to the Bible
 The Church has always worked hard to provide the faithful with the Bible
 The Church is even willing to work with our “separated brethren” to come up with a common translation
which is acceptable to all Christians so that we may have a common translation of the Bible
 The Church encourages Biblical studies
 Theology rests on the written word of God : the Bible along with Tradition are the foundations for all of theology
 THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE IS THE SOUL OF SACRED THEOLOGY
 The homily at Mass holds the foremost place as a way for God to nourish His people in a healthy and holy way
 Clergy must make it their constant task to study the Bible and read it
 Prayer should always accompany the reading of the Bible so that “God and man may walk together.”
 JUST AS THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IS STRENGHTENED BY THE FREQUENT CELEBRATION OF THE HOLY MASS, SO
TOO, IS THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH STRENGHTENED WHEN WE GIVE DUE REVERENCE TO THE BIBLE –THE WORD
OF GOD – WHICH LASTS FOREVER