Catechism of the Catholic Church
PART ONE -
THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
SECTION ONE
I. CHRIST - THE UNIQUE WORD OF SACRED SCRIPTURE
101 In order to reveal himself to men, in the condescension of his
goodness God speaks to them in human words: "Indeed the words of God,
expressed in the words of men, are in every way like human language, just
as the Word of the eternal Father, when he took on himself the flesh of
human weakness, became like men."[63]
102 Through all the words of Sacred Scripture, God speaks only one single
Word, his one Utterance in whom he expresses himself completely:[64]
You recall that one and the same Word of God extends throughout
Scripture, that it is one and the same Utterance that resounds in the
mouths of all the sacred writers, since he who was in the beginning God
with God has no need of separate syllables; for he is not subject to
time.[65]
103 For this reason, the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she
venerates the Lord's Body. She never ceases to present to the faithful the
bread of life, taken from the one table of God's Word and Christ's
Body.[66]
104 In Sacred Scripture, the Church constantly finds her nourishment and
her strength, for she welcomes it not as a human word, "but as what it
really is, the word of God".[67] "In the sacred books, the Father who is in
heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with them."[68]
105 God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "The divinely revealed
realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred
Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit."[69]
"For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the apostolic age,
accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and the New
Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that,
written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their
author, and have been handed on as such to the Church herself."[70]
106 God inspired the human authors of the sacred books. "To compose the
sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed them in
this task, made full use of their own faculties and powers so that, though
he acted in them and by them, it was as true authors that they consigned
to writing whatever he wanted written, and no more."[71]
107 The inspired books teach the truth. "Since therefore all that the
inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed
by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture
firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the
sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred
Scriptures."[72]
108 Still, the Christian faith is not a "religion of the book".
Christianity is the religion of the "Word" of God, "not a written and mute
word, but incarnate and living".[73] If the Scriptures are not to remain a
dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the
Holy Spirit, "open [our] minds to understand the Scriptures."[74]
109 In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to man in a human way. To interpret
Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human
authors truly wanted to affirm, and to what God wanted to reveal to us by
their words.[75]
110 In order to discover the sacred authors' intention, the reader must
take into account the conditions of their time and culture, the literary
genres in use at that time, and the modes of feeling, speaking and
narrating then current. "For the fact is that truth is differently
presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in
prophetical and poetical texts, and in other forms of literary
expression."[76]
111 But since Sacred Scripture is inspired, there is another and no less
important principle of correct interpretation, without which Scripture
would remain a dead letter. "Sacred Scripture must be read and
interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written."[77]
The Second Vatican Council indicates three criteria for interpreting
Scripture in accordance with the Spirit who inspired it.[78]
112 Be especially attentive "to the content and unity of the whole
Scripture". Different as the books which compose it may be, Scripture is
a unity by reason of the unity of God's plan, of which Christ Jesus is the
center and heart, open since his Passover.[79]
The phrase "heart of Christ" can refer to Sacred Scripture, which makes
known his heart, closed before the Passion, as the Scripture was obscure.
But the Scripture has been opened since the Passion; since those who from
then on have understood it, consider and discern in what way the
prophecies must be interpreted.[80]
113 2. Read the Scripture within "the living Tradition of the whole
Church". According to a saying of the Fathers, Sacred Scripture is
written principally in the Church's heart rather than in documents and
records, for the Church carries in her Tradition the living memorial of
God's Word, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives her the spiritual
interpretation of the Scripture (". . . according to the spiritual
meaning which the Spirit grants to the Church"[81]).
114 3. Be attentive to the analogy of faith.[82] By "analogy of faith" we
mean the coherence of the truths of faith among themselves and within the
whole plan of Revelation.
The senses of Scripture
115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two
senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being
subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. The profound
concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living
reading of Scripture in the Church.
116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture
and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation:
"All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal."[83]
117 The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God's plan, not only the
text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks
can be signs.
1. The allegorical sense. We can acquire a more profound understanding
of events by recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing
of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ's victory and also of Christian
Baptism.[84]
2. The moral sense. The events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to
act justly. As St. Paul says, they were written "for our instruction".[85]
3. The anagogical sense (Greek: anagoge, "leading"). We can view
realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, leading us
toward our true homeland: thus the Church on earth is a sign of the
heavenly Jerusalem.[86]
118 A medieval couplet summarizes the significance of the four senses:
The Letter speaks of deeds; Allegory to faith;
The Moral how to act; Anagogy our destiny.[87]
119 "It is the task of exegetes to work, according to these rules, towards
a better understanding and explanation of the meaning of Sacred Scripture
in order that their research may help the Church to form a firmer
judgement. For, of course, all that has been said about the manner of
interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgement of the
Church which exercises the divinely conferred commission and ministry of
watching over and interpreting the Word of God."[88]
But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the
Catholic Church already moved me.[89]
120 It was by the apostolic Tradition that the Church discerned which
writings are to be included in the list of the sacred books.[90]
This complete list is called the canon of Scripture. It includes 46
books for the Old Testament (45 if we count Jeremiah and Lamentations
as one) and 27 for the New.[91]
The Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles,
Ezra and Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Job, Psalms,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach
(Ecclesiasticus), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel,
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah,
Haggai, Zachariah and Malachi.
The New Testament: the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John, the Acts of the Apostles, the Letters of St. Paul to the Romans, 1
and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2
Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, the Letter to the
Hebrews, the Letters of James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude,
and Revelation (the Apocalypse).
The Old Testament
121 The Old Testament is an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture.
Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value,[92] for the
Old Covenant has never been revoked.
122 Indeed, "the economy of the Old Testament was deliberately SO oriented
that it should prepare for and declare in prophecy the coming of Christ,
redeemer of all men."[93] "Even though they contain matters
imperfect and provisional,[94] the books of the OldTestament bear witness
to the whole divine pedagogy of God's saving love: these writings
"are a storehouse of sublime teaching on God and of sound wisdom on human
life, as well as a wonderful treasury of prayers; in them, too, the
mystery of our salvation is present in a hidden way."[95]
123 Christians venerate the Old Testament as true Word of God. The Church
has always vigorously opposed the idea of rejecting the Old Testament
under the pretext that the New has rendered it void (Marcionism).
The New Testament
124 "The Word of God, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone
who has faith, is set forth and displays its power in a most wonderful way
in the writings of the New Testament"[96] which hand on the ultimate truth
of God's Revelation. Their central object is Jesus Christ, God's incarnate
Son: his acts, teachings, Passion and glorification, and his Church's
beginnings under the Spirit's guidance.[97]
125 The Gospels are the heart of all the Scriptures "because they are
our principal source for the life and teaching of the Incarnate Word, our
Saviour".[98]
126 We can distinguish three stages in the formation of the Gospels:
1. The life and teaching of Jesus. The Church holds firmly that the four
Gospels, "whose historicity she unhesitatingly affirms, faithfully hand on
what Jesus, the Son of God, while he lived among men, really did and
taught for their eternal salvation, until the day when he was taken up."[99]
2. The oral tradition. "For, after the ascension of the Lord, the
apostles handed on to their hearers what he had said and done, but with
that fuller understanding which they, instructed by the glorious events of
Christ and enlightened by the Spirit of truth, now enjoyed."[100]
3. The written Gospels. "The sacred authors, in writing the four
Gospels, selected certain of the many elements which had been handed on,
either orally or already in written form; others they synthesized or
explained with an eye to the situation of the churches, the while
sustaining the form of preaching, but always in such a fashion that they
have told us the honest truth about Jesus."[101]
127 The fourfold Gospel holds a unique place in the Church, as is evident
both in the veneration which the liturgy accords it and in the surpassing
attraction it has exercised on the saints at all times:
There is no doctrine which could be better, more precious and more
splendid than the text of the Gospel. Behold and retain what our Lord and
Master, Christ, has taught by his words and accomplished by his deeds.[102]
But above all it's the gospels that occupy my mind when I'm at prayer; my
poor soul has so many needs, and yet this is the one thing needful. I'm
always finding fresh lights there; hidden meanings which had meant nothing
to me hitherto.[103]
The unity of the Old and New Testaments
128 The Church, as early as apostolic times,[104] and then constantly in her
Tradition, has illuminated the unity of the divine plan in the two
Testaments through typology, which discerns in God's works of the Old
Covenant prefigurations of what he accomplished in the fullness of time in
the person of his incarnate Son.
129 Christians therefore read the Old Testament in the light of Christ
crucified and risen. Such typological reading discloses the inexhaustible
content of the Old Testament; but it must not make us forget that the Old
Testament retains its own intrinsic value as Revelation reaffirmed by our
Lord himself.[105] Besides, the New Testament has to be read in the light of
the Old. Early Christian catechesis made constant use of the Old
Testament.[106] As an old saying put it, the New Testament lies hidden in
the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.[107]
130 Typology indicates the dynamic movement toward the fulfilment of the
divine plan when "God [will] be everything to everyone."[108] Nor do the
calling of the patriarchs and the exodus from Egypt, for example, lose
their own value in God's plan, from the mere fact that they were
intermediate stages.
131 "And such is the force and power of the Word of God that it can serve
the Church as her support and vigour, and the children of the Church as
strength for their faith, food for the soul, and a pure and lasting fount
of spiritual life."[109] Hence "access to Sacred Scripture ought to be open
wide to the Christian faithful."[110]
132 "Therefore, the study of the sacred page should be the very soul of
sacred theology. The ministry of the Word, too - pastoral preaching,
catechetics and all forms of Christian instruction, among which the
liturgical homily should hold pride of place - is healthily nourished and
thrives in holiness through the Word of Scripture."[111]
133 The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian
faithful... to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent
reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is
ignorance of Christ.[112]
IN BRIEF
134 "All Sacred Scripture is but one book, and that one book is Christ,
because all divine Scripture speaks of Christ, and all divine Scripture is
fulfilled in Christ" (Hugh of St. Victor, De arca Noe 2, 8: PL 176, 642).
135 "The Sacred Scriptures contain the Word of God and, because they are
inspired, they are truly the Word of God" (DV 24).
136 God is the author of Sacred Scripture because he inspired its human
authors; he acts in them and by means of them. He thus gives assurance
that their writings teach without error his saving truth (cf. DV 11).
137 Interpretation of the inspired Scripture must be attentive above all
to what God wants to reveal through the sacred authors for our salvation.
What comes from the Spirit is not fully "understood except by the Spirit's
action' (cf. Origen, Hom. in Ex. 4, 5: PG 12, 320).
138 The Church accepts and venerates as inspired the 46 books of the Old
Testament and the 27 books of the New.
139 The four Gospels occupy a central place because Christ Jesus is their
centre.
140 The unity of the two Testaments proceeds from the unity of God's plan
and his Revelation. The Old Testament prepares for the New and the New
Testament fulfils the Old; the two shed light on each other; both are true
Word of God.
141 "The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures as she
venerated the Body of the Lord" (DV 21): both nourish and govern the whole
Christian life. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path"
(Ps 119:105; cf. Is 50:4).
ENDNOTES
1 Cf. Dei Filius DS 3015.
2 DV 2; cf. Eph 1:9; 2:18; 2 Pt 1:4.
3 I Tim 6:16, cf. Eph 1:4-5.
4 DV 2.
5 St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3, 20, 2: PG 7/1, 944; cf. 3, 17, 1; 4, 12,
4; 4, 21, 3.
6 DV 3; cf. Jn 1:3; Rom 1:19-20.
7 DV 3; cf. Gen 3:15; Rom 2:6-7.
8 Roman Missal, Eucharistic Prayer IV, 118.
9 Gen 10:5; cf. 9:9-10, 16; 10:20-31.
10 Cf. Acts 17:26-27; Dt 4:19; Dt (LXX) 32:8.
11 Cf. Wis 10:5; Gen 11:4-6.
12 Cf. Rom 1:18-25.
13 Cf. Gen 9:16; Lk 21:24; DV 3.
14 Cf. Gen 14:18; Heb 7:3; Ezek 14:14.
15 Jn 11:52.
16 Gen 12:1.
17 Gen 17:5; 12:3 (LXX); cf. Gal 3:8
18 Cf. Rom 11:28; Jn 11:52; 10:16.
19 Cf. Rom 11:17-18, 24.
20 Cf. DV 3.
21 Dt 28: 10; Roman Missal, Good i Friday, General Intercession VI;
see also Ex 19:6.
22 Cf. Is 2:2-4; Jer 31:31-34; Heb 10:16.
23 Cf. Ezek 36; Is 49:5-6; 53:11.
24 Cf. Ezek 2:3; Lk 1:38.
25 DV 2.
26 Heb 1:1-2.
27 St. John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel 2, 22, 3-5 in The
Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, tr. K. Kavanaugh OCD and O.
Rodriguez OCD (Washington DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1979),
179-180: LH, Advent, week 2, Monday, OR.
28 DV 4; cf. I Tim 6:14; Titus 2:13.
29 1 Tim 2:4.
30 cf. Jn 14:6.
31 DV 7; cf. 2 Cor 1:20; 3:16 - 4:6.
32 DV 7; cf. Mt 28:19-20; Mk 16:15.
33 DV 7.
34 DV 7.
35 DV 7 # 2; St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3, 3, 1: PG 7/1, 848;
Harvey, 2, 9.
36 DV 8 # 1.
37 DV 8 # 1.
38 DV 8 # 3.
39 DV 8 # 3; cf. Col 3:16.
40 DV 9.
41 Mt 28:20.
42 DV 9.
43 DV 9.
44 DV 9.
45 DV 10 # 1; cf. I Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 1:12-14 (Vulg.).
46 DV 10 # 1; cf. Acts 2:42 (Greek); Pius XII, Apost. Const.
Munificentissimus Deus, 1 November 1950: AAS 42 (1950), 756, taken along
with the words of St. Cyprian, Epist. 66, 8: CSEL 3/2, 733: "The Church
is the people united to its Priests, the flock adhering to its Shepherd."
47 DV 10 # 2.
48 DV 10 para 2.
49 Lk 10:16; cf. LG 20.
50 Cf.Jn 8:31-32.
51 Cf. Vatican Council I: DS 3016: nexus mysteriorum; LC 25.
52 UR II.
53 Cf. I Jn 2:20, 27.
54 Cf. .Jn 16:13.
55 LG 12; cf. St. Augustine, De praed. sanct. 14, 27: PL 44, 980.
56 LG 12; cf. Jude 3.
57 DV 8 # 2; cf. Lk 2:19, 51.
58 GS 62 # 7; cf. GS 44 # 2; DV 23; 24; UR 4.
59 DV 8 # 2.
60 DV 8 # 2.
61 St. Gregory the Great, Hom. in Ezek. 1, 7, 8: PL 76, 843D.
62 DV 10 # 3.
63 DV 13.
64 Cf. Heb 1:1-3.
65 St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 103, 4, 1: PL 37, 1378; cf. Ps 104; Jn
1:1.
66 Cf. DV 21.
67 Th 2:13; cf. DV 24.
68 DV 21.
69 DV 11;
70 DV 11; cf. Jn 20:31; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pt 1:19-21; 3:15-16.
71 DV 11.
72 DV 11.
73 St. Bernard, S. missus est hom. 4, 11: PL 183, 86.
74 Cf. Lk 24:45.
75 Cf. DV 12 # 1.
76 DV 12 # 2.
77 DV 12 # 3.
78 Cf. DV 12 # 4.
79 Cf. Lk 24:25-27, 44-46.
80 St. Thomas Aquinas, Expos. in Ps. 21, 11; cf. Ps 22:14.
81 Origen, Hom. in Lev. 5, 5: PG 12, 454D.
82 Cf. Rom 12:6.
83 St. Thomas Aquinas, S Th I, 1, 10, ad I.
84 Cf. I Cor 10:2.
85 I Cor 10:11; cf. Heb 3:1 -4:11.
86 Cf. Rev 21:1 - 22:5.
87 Lettera gesta docet, quid credas allegoria, moralis quid agas, quo
tendas anagogia.
88 DV 12 # 3.
89 St. Augustine, Contra epistolam Manichaei 5, 6: PL 42, 176.
90 Cf. DV 8 # 3.
91 Cf. DS 179; 1334-1336; 1501-1504.
92 Cf. DV 14.
93 DV 15.
94 DV 15.
95 DV 15.
96 DV 17; cf. Rom 1:16.
97 Cf. DV 20.
98 DV 18.
99 DV 19; cf. Acts 1:1-2.
100 DV 19.
101 DV 19.
102 St. Caesaria the Younger to St. Richildis and St. Radegunde: SCh 345,
480.
103 St. Therese of Lisieux, Autobiography of a Saint, tr. Ronald Knox
(London: Collins, 1960), 175.
104 Cf. I Cor 10:6, 11; Heb 10:l; l Pt 3:21.
105 Cf. Mk 12:29-31
106 Cf. I Cor 5:6-8; 10:1-11.
107 Cf. St. Augustine, Quaest. in Hept. 2, 73: PL 34,623; Cf. DU 16.
108 1 Cor 15:28.
109 DV 21.
110 DV 22.
111 DV 24.
112 DV 25; cf. Phil 3:8 and St. Jerome, Commentariorum in Isaiam libri
xviii prol.: PL 24, 17B.
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