The Transmission of Divine Revelation

[CENTRO ANTI-BLASFEMIA]

The Transmission of Divine Revelation
Catechism Lesson III: God "desires all men to be saved and to come to
the knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:4)
Author: Catholic.net Staff Writer | Source: Catholic.net


PART ONE
THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

SECTION ONE
"I BELIEVE" - "WE BELIEVE"



CHAPTER TWO
GOD COMES TO MEET MAN



ARTICLE 2
THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE REVELATION



74 God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of
the truth":29 that is, of Christ Jesus.30 Christ must be proclaimed to
all nations and individuals, so that this revelation may reach to the
ends of the earth:






God graciously arranged that the things he had once revealed for the
salvation of all peoples should remain in their entirety, throughout
the ages, and be transmitted to all generations.31



I. THE APOSTOLIC TRADITION



75 "Christ the Lord, in whom the entire Revelation of the most high
God is summed up, commanded the apostles to preach the Gospel, which
had been promised beforehand by the prophets, and which he fulfilled
in his own person and promulgated with his own lips. In preaching the
Gospel, they were to communicate the gifts of God to all men. This
Gospel was to be the source of all saving truth and moral
discipline."32



In the apostolic preaching. . .



76 In keeping with the Lord´s command, the Gospel was handed on in two
ways:



- orally "by the apostles who handed on, by the spoken word of their
preaching, by the example they gave, by the institutions they
established, what they themselves had received - whether from the lips
of Christ, from his way of life and his works, or whether they had
learned it at the prompting of the Holy Spirit";33



- in writing "by those apostles and other men associated with the
apostles who, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, committed
the message of salvation to writing".34



. . . continued in apostolic succession



77 "In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved
in the Church the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave
them their own position of teaching authority."35 Indeed, "the
apostolic preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the
inspired books, was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession
until the end of time."36



78 This living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is
called Tradition, since it is distinct from Sacred Scripture, though
closely connected to it. Through Tradition, "the Church, in her
doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every
generation all that she herself is, all that she believes."37 "The
sayings of the holy Fathers are a witness to the life-giving presence
of this Tradition, showing how its riches are poured out in the
practice and life of the Church, in her belief and her prayer."38



79 The Father´s self-communication made through his Word in the Holy
Spirit, remains present and active in the Church: "God, who spoke in
the past, continues to converse with the Spouse of his beloved Son.
And the Holy Spirit, through whom the living voice of the Gospel rings
out in the Church - and through her in the world - leads believers to
the full truth, and makes the Word of Christ dwell in them in all its
richness."39



II. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRADITION AND SACRED SCRIPTURE



One common source. . .



80 "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely
together, and communicate one with the other. For both of them,
flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some
fashion to form one thing, and move towards the same goal."40 Each of
them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ,
who promised to remain with his own "always, to the close of the age".
41



. . . two distinct modes of transmission



81 "Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing
under the breath of the Holy Spirit."42



"And [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which
has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy
Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that,
enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve,
expound and spread it abroad by their preaching."43



82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation
of Revelation is entrusted, "does not derive her certainty about all
revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and
Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of
devotion and reverence."44



Apostolic Tradition and ecclesial traditions



83 The Tradition here in question comes from the apostles and hands on
what they received from Jesus´ teaching and example and what they
learned from the Holy Spirit. The first generation of Christians did
not yet have a written New Testament, and the New Testament itself
demonstrates the process of living Tradition.


Tradition is to be distinguished from the various theological,
disciplinary, liturgical or devotional traditions, born in the local
churches over time. These are the particular forms, adapted to
different places and times, in which the great Tradition is expressed.
In the light of Tradition, these traditions can be retained, modified
or even abandoned under the guidance of the Church´s Magisterium.







III. THE INTERPRETATION OF THE HERITAGE OF FAITH



The heritage of faith entrusted to the whole of the Church



84 The apostles entrusted the "Sacred deposit" of the faith (the
depositum fidei),45 contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to
the whole of the Church. "By adhering to [this heritage] the entire
holy people, united to its pastors, remains always faithful to the
teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread
and the prayers. So, in maintaining, practicing and professing the
faith that has been handed on, there should be a remarkable harmony
between the bishops and the faithful."46



The Magisterium of the Church



85 "The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God,
whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been
entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its
authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ."47
This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the
bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome.



86 "Yet this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is
its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the
divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to
this devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully.
All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn
from this single deposit of faith."48



87 Mindful of Christ´s words to his apostles: "He who hears you, hears
me",49 the faithful receive with docility the teachings and directives
that their pastors give them in different forms.



The dogmas of the faith



88 The Church´s Magisterium exercises the authority it holds from
Christ to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas, that is, when it
proposes, in a form obliging the Christian people to an irrevocable
adherence of faith, truths contained in divine Revelation or also when
it proposes, in a definitive way, truths having a necessary connection
with these.



89 There is an organic connection between our spiritual life and the
dogmas. Dogmas are lights along the path of faith; they illuminate it
and make it secure. Conversely, if our life is upright, our intellect
and heart will be open to welcome the light shed by the dogmas of
faith.50



90 The mutual connections between dogmas, and their coherence, can be
found in the whole of the Revelation of the mystery of Christ.51 "In
Catholic doctrine there exists an order or hierarchy of truths, since
they vary in their relation to the foundation of the Christian
faith."52



The supernatural sense of faith



91 All the faithful share in understanding and handing on revealed
truth. They have received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who
instructs them53 and guides them into all truth.54



92 "The whole body of the faithful. . . cannot err in matters of
belief. This characteristic is shown in the supernatural appreciation
of faith (sensus fidei) on the part of the whole people, when, from
the bishops to the last of the faithful, they manifest a universal
consent in matters of faith and morals."55



93 "By this appreciation of the faith, aroused and sustained by the
Spirit of truth, the People of God, guided by the sacred teaching
authority (Magisterium),. . . receives. . . the faith, once for all
delivered to the saints. . . The People unfailingly adheres to this
faith, penetrates it more deeply with right judgment, and applies it
more fully in daily life."56



Growth in understanding the faith



94 Thanks to the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the understanding of
both the realities and the words of the heritage of faith is able to
grow in the life of the Church:



- "through the contemplation and study of believers who ponder these
things in their hearts";57 it is in particular "theological research
[which] deepens knowledge of revealed truth".58



- "from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which [believers]
experience",59 the sacred Scriptures "grow with the one who reads
them."60



- "from the preaching of those who have received, along with their
right of succession in the episcopate, the sure charism of truth".61



95 "It is clear therefore that, in the supremely wise arrangement of
God, sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the
Church are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand
without the others. Working together, each in its own way, under the
action of the one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to the
salvation of souls."62



IN BRIEF



96 What Christ entrusted to the apostles, they in turn handed on by
their preaching and writing, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
to all generations, until Christ returns in glory.



97 "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred
deposit of the Word of God" (DV 10) in which, as in a mirror, the
pilgrim Church contemplates God, the source of all her riches.



98 "The Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and
transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she
believes" (DV 8 § 1).



99 Thanks to its supernatural sense of faith, the People of God as a
whole never ceases to welcome, to penetrate more deeply and to live
more fully from the gift of divine Revelation.



100 The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been
entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the
Pope and to the bishops in communion with him.






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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. 1 Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 1:12-14 (Vulg.).
46 DV 10 § 1; cf. Acts 2:42 (Greek); Pius XII, apostolic constitution,
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; LG 25.
52 UR II.
53 Cf. 1 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 Ez. 1,7,8:PL 76,843D.
62 DV 10 § 3.

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