Are We Using the Bible The Wrong Way?

Reflections on Word of God Sunday, January 21, 2023

Today's First Reading is from the Book of the Prophet Jonah, and tells the story of Jonah's call from God to go to a pagan city and preach repentance to the sinful people there.

Today's Second Reading is from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians. St. Paul admonishes his converts to DO what our Lord himself advised His follower—always to be ready for the judgment.

Today's Gospel is from the Gospel of Mark, reminding us that Jesus came to announce to all men the good news of God's eternal plan for them...and for them to take action on it.
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Did you get that?

- Repentance. - Be ready for Gods judgement - Follow Christ in action. Some excellent advice, from the Word of God. But at this junction on 'Word of God Sunday,' I feel we should make a significant point ABOUT the Word of God.

+ When Christ told the people of Galilee..."Repent and believe in the gospel," he did not mean, nor did he imply, "the Bible."

+ When we read in Luke....“He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Lk 24:45) – it isn't referring to, "the Bible."

+ When Matthew wrote the words, “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel...”. he did not mean "the Bible," either.

I recently undertook a concise history of the Bible's origin and development, and one thing I quickly learned in this labor is just how little myself, and most of us, know about it.
This leaves me in a peculiar predicament as regards the Bible:

I know about it, and I believe its Word - but I think most people use it the wrong way.

Let me explain. I'm reminded that this word, “gospel” had a different connotation than our word, “Bible.”

It referred to the fact that Christ, the Messiah of the Jews, had come in fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures.
When Matthew, Luke, and Jesus mentioned, “gospel,” or Scripture, it called to the OLD Testament, the Hebrew scriptures – not the New Testament.

Remember, at that time, there was no Bible as we know. There was no New Testament, and there was no future vision for one....that came much later.

So where does that leave us?
Well, in short, it means we have to be careful.

Today, we have an ubiquitous belief that digging around in the Bible is the key to salvation...

”You'll go to heaven if you just read that Bible.”

Well...hold on a minute.

The Bible, as sacred Scripture, speaks of Christ and proclaims him as the One God who endured suffering for our sins, and then entered into his glory.
Not simply a part of it, but the WHOLE of Scripture speaks of Christ.
But THAT is the important point - the whole thing in context must be understood.

Not just fragments shouted out at church, put on a T-shirt, or used in arguments on Facebook.

Rather, the whole of Christ's mission and ACTIONS, from his life, to his death and His Resurrection..., it must all be seen from 10,000 feet.
Moreover, if we do take this holistic approach, we find some very obvious calls to action as regards our salvation, from our loving Savior:

+ Baptism – original, pre-Christ sin, is cleansed through baptism

+ Repent — to turn from SIN and die to your old life

+ Confess SIN - confession and repentance were cornerstones of what Christ taught the Apostles... and what they taught others.

+ Forgive Sins – “as you forgive, or as you do not forgive,” he told His Apostles.

+ Partake of the Eucharist – “take my body and eat of it, for the forgiveness of sins...do this in memory of me.”

But here's an interesting phenomenon seen in the modern day:
These 'action keystones' of Christs saving mission, .... Baptism, Confession/Forgiveness of sin (Reconciliation), and The Eucharist ... these are singly, or often, universally ignored outside the Catholic Church, despite the fact they made it into every Bible you can lay hands on!

Christ was quite clear about them, and His Apostles got the message that they were a crucial, “package deal” on our short journey toward heaven and the true life which God arranged for us.

And we can find reinforcements for this message in a scriptural context.

For example, in the Book of Luke, we read of the journey that the Risen Lord makes with the disciples of Emmaus – it ended with a meal, if you recall.
They all sit down at table, Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it and offers it to them.

At that moment, their eyes are opened, and they recognize Him as Christ.

However, this lovely scene clearly demonstrates the unbreakable bond between sacred Scripture and the EUCHARIST... It's right there, clearly described.

But more than that, it shows the Bible ITSELF pointing out that these external sacraments of our salvation – Baptism, Reconciliation, and Eucharist - while maybe not welcomed by some - are inseparably described IN the scripture.
Yet, they are generally rejected, in part or in whole, everywhere in Christendom outside the Catholic Church... while everyone generally replaces them by happily reading their Bibles.

So, if people pick and choose what they get outta Scripture, we are left to ask:

what IS the value of Scripture?
We get an inkling of that answer in the Second Letter to Timothy, where Saint Paul urges his co-worker to have constant recourse to sacred Scripture, because... “all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
To quote Captain Obvious: “Scripture is good.”

But remember, again, Paul didn't mean "the Bible" or the New Testament.

All that Paul is saying is that, “Scripture,” is good for things like teaching, correction of wayward error, or for 'righteousness training.'
But he does not even suggest that poking around in the Bible (Scripture), etc. is a guarantee of salvation.

So it follows that when we hear the expression, “Word of God,” it means more than that.

It literally leads us to follow Jesus - not just by reading what was said about Him after the fact - but to do what Jesus DID in action.

Because that is really what the whole of the Bible does for us – it leads us to faith in His saving grace and His salvation through an entirety of understanding AND activity.

This is why we should avoid private interpretation of Scripture, and especially “cherry-picking” from the Bible.

It's actually a very complex thing, and it even warns us to be careful of doing that lest we misinterpret.
Okay fine - how SHOULD we approach the Bible? That answer is simple, and you might not like it if you're a non-Catholic. Here it is:

We should have confidence in the Holy Spirit as He provides inspiration, by

1. Allowing the Catholic Church to teach us the sacred Scriptures

2. Relying on the Church's Magisterium to authentically interpret Scripture

3. Utilizing the Catechism of the Church together with Scripture to enlighten us and make the Scriptures the norm in our spiritual life.

Okay, I know that statement will not sit well with some, especially those raised on, modern “Bible study,” and self-interpretation of Scripture as a routine practice.

I understand.

But there's no way to dodge around it: Most of us are *not* scholars in biblical history, language, culture, etc., it IS complicated and easy to misunderstand, and well,....Jesus never handed out the first "Bible." That library of works (as we know it) came way late to the party.

So when diving into the Word of God, my advice is to get some assistance from the people that made it available in the first place – the Catholic Church.
Maybe you love 'em, maybe you hate 'em, but they've been doing it since the beginning,...nearly 2,000 years. They won't bite; so let 'em help.

References 1. "The Sunday Readings" by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M., 2. “Aperuit Illis,” Pope Francis S.J., September, 2019, 3. CatholicCulture.org