Chapters of Bible Study / A Popular Introduction to the Study of the Sacred Scriptures

by Herman J. Heuser

The God of all Providence, who in the wondrous counsel of His love raised the human race in its beginning to participation of the divine nature, and afterwards delivered it from universal guilt and ruin, restoring it to its primitive dignity, has, in consequence, bestowed upon man a singular safeguard—making known to him, by supernatural means, the hidden mysteries of His divinity, His wisdom, and His mercy. Although in divine revelation some things are comprehended which are not beyond the reach of human reason, they are made the objects of revelation in order that all may come to know them with facility, certainty, and freedom from all error. It is not, however, on this account that revelation can be said to be absolutely necessary; but because God of His infinite goodness has ordained man to a supernatural end. This supernatural revelation, according to the belief of the universal Church, is contained both in unwritten Tradition and in written Books. These are called sacred and canonical because, being written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, they have God for their author, and as such have been delivered to the Church. This belief has been perpetually held and professed by the Church with regard to the Books of both Testaments. There are well-known documents of the gravest character, coming down to us from the earliest times, which proclaim that God, who spoke first by the Prophets, then by Himself, and thereafter by the Apostles, composed the Canonical Scriptures. These are divine oracles and utterances—a Letter, written by our heavenly Father, and transmitted by the sacred writers to the human race on its pilgrimage afar from its fatherland. If, then, such and so great is the excellence and the dignity of the Scriptures that God Himself has, as the author of them, composed them, and that they treat of God's deepest mysteries, counsels, and works, it follows that the branch of sacred theology which is concerned with the defence and interpretation of these divine books must be most excellent and in the highest degree profitable.

Now We, who by the help of God, and not without fruit, have by frequent letters and exhortation endeavored to promote other branches of study, which seemed well fitted for advancing the glory of God and contributing to the salvation of souls, have for a long time cherished the desire to give an impulse to the most noble study of the Sacred Scriptures, and to impart to it a direction which is suitable to the needs of the present day. The solicitude of the Apostolic office naturally urges, and even compels Us, not only to desire that this grand source of Catholic revelation should be made more safely and abundantly accessible to the flock of Jesus Christ, but also to prevent it from being in any way violated, on the part either of those who impiously and openly assail the Scriptures, or of those who are led astray into fallacious and imprudent novelties.

We are not ignorant, indeed, Venerable Brethren, that there are Catholics not a few, men abounding in talent and learning, who do devote themselves with alacrity to the defence of the Divine Books, and to making them better known and understood. But while giving to these men the commendation which they deserve for their labor and the fruits of it, We cannot but earnestly exhort others also, from whose skill and piety and learning we have a right to expect the very best results, to give themselves to the same most praiseworthy work. It is Our wish and fervent desire to see an increase in the number of approved and unwearying laborers in the cause of Holy Scripture; and more especially that those whom Divine Grace has called to Holy Orders should, day by day, as is most meet, display greater diligence and industry in reading, meditating, and explaining it. Among the reasons for which this study is so worthy of commendation—in addition to its own excellence and to the homage which we owe to God's word—the chief reason of all is the manifold benefit of which it is the source. This we know will flow therefrom on the most certain testimony of the Holy Ghost Himself, who says: "All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, that the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work." That such was the purpose of God in giving the Scriptures to men is shown by the example of Christ our Lord and of His Apostles. He who obtained authority by miracles, merited belief by authority, and by belief drew to Himself the multitude, was accustomed in the exercise of His Divine Mission to appeal to the Scriptures. He uses them at times to prove that He was sent by God, and that He is God. From them He draws arguments for the instruction of His disciples and the confirmation of His doctrine. He vindicates them from the calumnies of objectors. He quotes them against Sadducees and Pharisees. He retorts from them upon Satan himself, when he impudently dares to tempt Him. At the close of His life His utterances are from Holy Scripture. It is the Scripture which He expounds to His disciples after His resurrection, and during all the time till He ascends to the glory of His Father. Faithful to His precepts, the Apostles, although He Himself granted "signs and wonders to be done by their hands," nevertheless used with the greatest efficacy the sacred writings, in order to persuade the nations everywhere of the wisdom of Christianity, to break down the obstinacy of the Jews, and to suppress the outbursts of heresy. This is manifest in their discourses, especially in those of St. Peter. These were almost woven from sayings of the Old Testament, which made in the strongest manner for the new dispensation. We find the same thing in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John, and in the Catholic Epistles. Most remarkably of all is it to be found in the words of him who boasts that he learned the law at the feet of Gamaliel, in order that, being armed with spiritual weapons, he might afterwards say with confidence: "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty unto God."

Let all, therefore, especially the novices of the ecclesiastical army, understand how much the divine Books should be esteemed, and with what determination and reverence they should approach this great arsenal of heavenly arms. Those whose duty it is to handle Catholic doctrine before either the learned or the unlearned will nowhere find more ample matter or more abundant exhortation, whether on the subject of God, the supreme and all perfect Good, or of the works which display His glory and His love. Nowhere is there anything more full or more express on the subject of the Saviour of the human race than that which is to be found throughout the Bible. St. Jerome has rightly said "ignorance of the Scripture is ignorance of Christ." In its pages His Image stands out as it were alive and breathing; diffusing everywhere consolation in trouble, encouragement to virtue, and attraction to the love of God. As regards the Church, her institutions, her nature, her functions, and her gifts, we find in Holy Scripture so many references, and so many ready and convincing arguments, that, as St. Jerome again most truly says: "A man who is thoroughly grounded in the testimonies of the Scriptures is a bulwark of the Church." If we come to moral formation and to discipline, an apostolic man finds in the sacred writings abundant and most excellent aid, precepts full of holiness, exhortations framed with sweetness and force, shining examples of every kind of virtue, and, finally, the promise of eternal reward, and the threat of eternal punishment, uttered in weightiest terms, in God's name and in God's own words.

This peculiar and singular power of the Scriptures, springing from the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, adds to the authority of the sacred orator, fills him with apostolic liberty of speech, and communicates to him a forcible and convincing eloquence. Those who infuse into their speech the spirit and strength of the Word of God speak, "not in words only, but in power also, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much fulness." Hence those preachers are foolish and improvident who, in preaching religion and proclaiming the precepts of God, use no words but those of human science and human prudence, trusting to their own reasonings rather than to those that are divine. Their discourses may be glittering with lights, but they must be cold and feeble, for they are without the fire of the utterance of God. They must fall far short of that power which the speech of God possesses. "The Word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit." All the more far-seeing are agreed that there is in the Holy Scriptures an eloquence that is marvellous in its variety and richness, and that is worthy of the loftiest themes. This St. Augustine thoroughly comprehended, and this he has abundantly set forth. It is confirmed also by the best of the preachers of all ages. They have gratefully acknowledged that they owed their repute chiefly to assiduous familiarity with the Bible, and to devout meditation on the truths which it contains.

The Holy Fathers well knew all this by practical experience. They never cease to extol the Sacred Scripture and its fruits. In innumerable passages of their writings we find them applying to it such phrases as—"an inexhaustible treasury of heavenly doctrine," or "an overflowing fountain of salvation," or as "fertile pastures and most lovely gardens, in which the flock of the Lord is marvellously refreshed and delighted." Let us listen to the words of St. Jerome, in his Epistle to the cleric Nepotian: "Often read the divine Scriptures; yea, let holy reading be always in thy hand; study that which thou thyself must preach.... Let the speech of the priest be ever seasoned with Scriptural reading." St. Gregory the Great, than whom no man has more admirably described the functions of the pastors of the Church, writes in the same sense: "Those," he says, "who are zealous in the work of preaching, must never cease from study of the written word of God." St. Augustine, however, warns us that "vainly does the preacher utter the word of God exteriorly unless he listens to it interiorly." St. Gregory instructs sacred orators "first, to find in Holy Scripture the knowledge of themselves, and then to carry it to others, lest in reproving others they forget themselves." This had already, after the example and teaching of Christ Himself, who "began to do and to teach," been uttered far and wide by an apostolic voice. It was not to Timothy alone, but to the whole order of the clergy, that the command was addressed: "Take heed to thyself and to doctrine; be earnest in them. In doing this thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee." For the saving and for the perfection, both of ourselves and of others, we have at hand the very best of aids in the Sacred Scriptures, and most abundantly in the Book of Psalms. Those alone will, however, find it who bring to the divine oracles not only a docile and attentive mind, but a habit also of will which is both pious and without reserve. The Sacred Scripture is not to be regarded like an ordinary book. Dictated by the Holy Ghost, it contains matters of the most grave importance, which in many instances are difficult and obscure. To understand and to explain them there is always required the "coming" of the same Holy Spirit; that is to say, His light and His grace. These, as the Royal Psalmist so frequently insists, are to be sought by humble prayer, and to be preserved by holiness of life.

It is in this that the watchful care of the Church shines forth conspicuously. By her admirable laws and regulations she has always shown herself solicitous that the celestial treasure of the Sacred Books, so bountifully bestowed upon man by the Holy Spirit, should not lie neglected. She has arranged that a considerable portion of them should be read, and with pious mind considered by all her ministers in the daily office of the sacred psalmody. She has ordered that in cathedral churches, in monasteries, and in convents of other regulars, which are places most fit for study, they shall be expounded and interpreted by capable men. She has strictly commanded that her children shall be fed with the saving word of the Gospel at least on Sundays and on solemn feasts. Moreover, it is owing to the wisdom and the diligence of the Church that there has always been, continued from century to century, that cultivation of Sacred Scripture which has been so remarkable and which has borne such ample fruit.

And here, in order to strengthen Our teaching and Our exhortations, it is well to recall how, from the first beginnings of the Christian religion, so many who have been renowned for holiness of life and for sacred learning have given their deep and most constant attention to Holy Scripture. If we consider the immediate disciples of the Apostles, St. Clement of Rome, St. Ignatius of Antioch, and St. Polycarp—or the Apologists, such as St. Justin and St. Irenæus, we find that in their letters and in their books, whether in defence of the Catholic faith or in commendation of it, they draw faith and strength and unction mainly from the word of God. When there arose, in various Episcopal Sees, catechetical and theological schools, of which the most celebrated were those of Alexandria and of Antioch, there was little taught in those schools but what consisted in the reading, the unfolding, and the defence of the divine written word. From these schools came forth numbers of Fathers and of writers whose laborious studies and admirable writings have justly merited for the three following centuries the appellation of the golden age of biblical exegesis.

In the Eastern Church, the greatest name of all is Origen. He was a man remarkable alike for quickness of genius and for persevering labor. From his numerous writings and his immense work of the Hexapla almost all who came after him have drawn. Others who have widened the field of this science may also be named. Among the more excellent, Alexandria could boast of Clement and Cyril; Palestine, of Eusebius and the other Cyril; Cappadocia, of Basil the Great and the two Gregories, Nazianzen and Nyssene; and Antioch, of St. John Chrysostom, in whom skill in this learning was rivalled by the splendor of his eloquence.

In the Western Church there were many names as great: Tertullian, Cyprian, Hilary, Ambrose, Leo the Great, Gregory the Great; most famous of all, Augustine and Jerome. Of these two the former was marvellously acute in penetrating the sense of God's word, and most fertile in the use that he made of it for the promotion of Catholic truth. The latter has received from the Church, by reason of his pre-eminent knowledge of Scripture and the greatness of his labors in promoting its use, the name of the "Great Doctor."