Holy Scripture
Holy Scripture
Holy Scripture, the Christian Bible, is a collection of books written over multiple centuries by those inspired by God to do so. It was written by the prophets and apostles in human language, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and collected, edited, and canonized by the Church. Above all, the Bible is a faith document. The Canon of Christian Scripture contains only the Jewish Old Testament and the New Testament. Those books from the Greek version of the Septuagint sometimes referred to as "The Apocrypha" or "Deuterocanonical Books" are considered profitable and good to read but are not used to establish any Church doctrine.
Unfortunately, there are many different English translation of the Christian Bible currently in use. For this Household, the English translation of choice is The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV). Other English translations acceptable for use within the Household are the King James Version (KJV) and the Revised Standard Version (RSV or RSV-CE). Caution is urged whenever one reads from one of the other English translations available, as by "modernizing" the language, theological errors (some significant) have been introduced in many.
The Bible is the word of God and about the Word of God, Jesus Christ. It is God's revelation of himself, the word of God in the words of men. The Bible is a witness to the revelation of God, and it is a part of the active and living Holy Tradition of the Church. Thus, if Tradition is the life of the Church, then the Scripture is the primary language of that life.
The Bible - both Old and New Testaments - is fundamentally about Christ. The whole Bible presupposes the Incarnation and Resurrection of Christ. Indeed, the very purpose in writing the New Testament was because Christ had already risen from the dead. With the death of the Apostle James, the Church realized that the eyewitnesses were not always going to be with them, and therefore the preaching of the eyewitnesses was written down.
The preaching of the apostles preceded the Scripture, so we must understand the Scripture as an expression of that preaching; the word of God had already gone out and established the Church, which served as the context for the Scripture's composition and canonization.
Faith is the acceptance of a truth on the word of another, not guessing or direct knowledge from being an eyewitness. The Bible presupposes the faith of the reader. It is a faith document - not science, philosophy, history, archaeology, literature, ideology, or biography. Because of its origins and usage in the community of faith, it does not attempt to establish its own authenticity or to prove its basic assumptions. It was not intended as a logical proof for the existence of God or for the reality of that to which it attests.
Because the Bible is a faith document, we must respect its integrity as the final revelation of the Christian faith. We do not recognize any other writings as canonical Scriptures. Though the Bible does not constitute an all-sufficient summary of revelation, no new revelation has been given. Even if another document were to be unearthed which scholars all agreed came from the hand of Paul or Moses, it would not be added to the canon. Likewise, if an existing part of the canon were undeniably proven not to be from its traditionally ascribed author, it would not be removed from the canon.