The Bible cannot be properly understood if it is taken apart from the Church in which it was born.

1. The Church was not born from the Bible, because the Church is prior to the Bible. That is, first came the Church, and in her the Bible was born. This is true both with respect to Israel, if we are referring to the Old Testament, and with respect to the Christian Church, if we are referring to the New Testament.

When the books of the New Testament were written, the Church had already been founded by Christ; for we should remember that Christ died and rose again around the year 30, whereas the books of the New Testament were written much later. For example, the Gospel of Saint Mark was written around the year 64; Saint Luke wrote his Gospel between the years 65 and 80; the present Gospel of Saint Matthew dates more or less from those years. The first books of the N.T. are the letters of Saint Paul, written between the years 51 and 67. The last was Revelation, written between the years 70 and 95.

2. When the Bible was written (specifically, the N.T.), the Church was already a living community, governed by the Apostles and by their successors, who transmitted the Word of God by living voice. Not everything that happened was written down, not even everything from the life and preaching of Jesus (Jn 21:25; 2 Thess 2:15; 2 Tim 1:13; 2:2; 2 Jn 12)

3. The Bible is truly the Word of God, and we must believe and obey what it teaches and commands us. But Jesus Christ did not come to write a Bible. He came to inaugurate the Kingdom of God and, for that purpose, founded a community (his Church) that would already be in the world the proclamation and permanent beginning of that Kingdom. Jesus did not command his Apostles to hand out Bibles, but to preach and to govern his Church in his name (Mt 28:19; Lk 10:16; Rom 10:17). Jesus did not tell his disciples to read the Bible in order to know his will; rather, he placed them in relation with his Church and with the authorities he left in it (Acts 9:6-17; Mt 18:15-17). Yahweh did the same in the O.T. (Dt 17:8-13)

In the Bible we find parts that are difficult to understand, and many distort their meaning; for this reason it is necessary that someone who is fully inserted in the Church help to understand them (2 Pet 3:16; Acts 8:29-31)

4. The Christian Church of the first century was guided by the Word of God. But this Word was not only in the few books that some of the Apostles wrote; it was also found in the words and deeds of Jesus, in the preaching of the Apostles, and in the guidance that they continually gave to the Church, guidance that she received, preserved, and lived with fidelity. This set of living orientations from Christ and the Apostles (which were not written down) is what the Church calls Tradition, which became embodied in the very life of the Church, in her institutions, in her worship and, above all, in her way of understanding the questions raised by the Bible.

5. Tradition is the atmosphere or environment in which the Bible was written, and the key to interpreting it correctly. Tradition is the life and faith of the Church of the first century which, together with the written Bible, has been faithfully preserved and transmitted.

 

Author: Fr. Disán Vázquez