Dogmatic Constitution On Divine Revelation
Promulgated by Pope Paul VI, Nov. 18, 1965
(This reading is excerpted from the document in Vatican II Council entitled: Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. Each paragraph is numbered accordingly for easy reference. The student is encouraged to read the document in its entirety from https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html)
No. 1 – Preface The Council takes its direction from the words of St. John: We announce to you the eternal life which dwelt with the Father and was made visible to us … so that you may have fellowship with us and our common fellowship be with the Father and his son Jesus Christ.” Therefore, this Council sets forth authentic doctrine: on divine revelation, and how it is handed on. I. Revelation Itself No. 2 God chose: to reveal himself, and his hidden purpose: by which, through Christ, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father, and come to share in the divine nature. Through this revelation God: speaks to men as friends, and lives among them, so that he may invite and take them into fellowship with himself. This plan of revelation is realized by deeds and words having an inner unity: by deeds of God in the history of salvation, which confirm teachings, and teachings and realities signified by words, which clarify the mystery contained in the deeds. The deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shine out in Christ: who is both the mediator, and the fullness of all revelation. No. 3 God, who creates all things and keeps them in existence, gives men witness to himself in created realities. Planning to make the way of salvation known, he went further: After the fall he gave our first parents hope by his promise of redemption, and kept the human race in his care. He called Abraham to make of him a nation. Through the patriarchs, Moses and the prophets: he taught this people to acknowledge himself, and to wait for the promised savior. In this manner he prepared for the gospel down through the centuries. No. 4 Then he sent his son, the eternal Word: to dwell among men, and tell them of the innermost being of God. Jesus Christ completes the work of salvation which his Father gave him to do. To see Jesus is to see his Father … Jesus perfected revelation by fulfilling it through his whole work of making himself present and manifesting himself: through his words and deeds, his signs and wonders, but especially through his death and glorious resurrection from the dead and final sending of the Spirit of truth. Jesus confirmed what revelation proclaimed: that God is with us to free us from sin and death, and to raise us up to life eternal. The Christian dispensation, as the new and definitive covenant: will never pass away. We now await no further new public revelation before Christ’s manifestation in glory. No. 5 The total commitment, called “the obedience of faith,” is to be given: freely to God who reveals, and freely to the truth revealed by him. To make this act of faith: grace and the interior help of the Holy Spirit precede and assist. The Holy Spirit deepens understanding and completes faith by his gifts. No. 6 Through divine revelation, God chose: to communicate himself, and his decisions regarding the salvation of men; sharing with men divine treasures which totally transcend the understanding of the human mind. The sacred Synod affirms, “God, the beginning and end of all things; can be known with certainty from created reality by the light of human reason” but the Synod teaches that is through His revelation “that those religious truths which are by their nature accessible to human reason can be known by all men with ease, with solid certitude, and with no trace of error, even in the present state of the human race. II. Handing on Divine Revelation No. 7 God has seen to it that what he had revealed for salvation: would abide in its full integrity, and be handed on to all generations. Therefore, Christ commissioned the Apostles: to preach the gospel to all men, and to impart heavenly gifts to men. The apostles, by oral preaching and example, handed on what they received: from the lips of Christ, from living with him, from what he did, or what they had learned through the Holy Spirit. The commission was fulfilled also by those apostles and apostolic men who, inspired by the Holy Spirit, put the message of salvation in writing. To keep the gospel forever whole and alive within the Church, the apostles handed over to bishops as their successors “the authority to teach in their own place.” No. 8 And so the apostolic preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books, was to be preserved by a continuous succession of preachers until the end of time. What was handed on by the apostles includes everything which contributes: toward the holiness of life, and increase in faith of the people of God. Tradition This tradition which comes from the apostles develops in the Church with the help of the Holy Spirit. There is growth in the understanding of the realities and the words handed down, through: contemplation and study made by believers, and the preaching of bishops. The Fathers of the Church witness to the presence of this living tradition. Through tradition the Church’s canon of the sacred books is known. No. 9 Tradition and Scripture Hence, there exist a close connection and communication between sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture. For both of them, flowing from the same divine wellspring, in a certain way merge into a unity and tend toward the same end. Both sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture are to be accepted and venerated with the same sense of devotion and reverence. No. 10 Interpretation of the Word of God The task of authentically interpreting the word of God has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church: This teaching office serves the word. It draws from this deposit of faith everything which it presents for belief as divinely revealed. Sacred tradition, Scripture and the teaching authority of the Church: are so linked that one cannot stand without the other. Together and each in its own way under the Holy Spirit contribute to the salvation of souls. III. Sacred Scripture, Its Inspiration and Divine Interpretation No. 11 Those divinely revealed realities in Sacred Scripture were written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Church holds that: The books of both the Old and New Testaments are sacred and canonical because: written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author, and have been handed on as such to the Church. In composing the sacred books: God chose and employed men, making use of their abilities. They, as true authors, wrote everything and only those things which he wanted. Therefore, the books of scripture teach solidly, faithfully and without error what God wanted put into sacred writings. All scripture is divinely inspired. No. 12 However, since God speaks in Sacred Scripture through men in human fashion, the interpreter of the Sacred Scripture, in order to see clearly what God wanted to communicate to us, should carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writers really intended, and what God wanted to manifest by means of their words. To search out the intention of the sacred writers: attention must be paid to literary forms, and customs of expression at the time of the writing. The content and unity of the whole of scripture must be considered. The living tradition of the whole Church must be taken into account, along with the harmony which exists between elements of the faith. All of what has been said about the interpretation of scripture is subject to the judgment of the Church, expressed in human language which carries out the divine commission and ministry of guarding and interpreting the Word of God. No. 13 In Scripture, the words of God, have been made like human discourse, just as of the old Word of the eternal Father, when he took to Himself the weak flesh of humanity became like other men. IV. The Old Testament No. 14 God, in preparing the salvation of the whole human race, chose a people to whom he would entrust his promises: First, he entered into a covenant with Abraham, and through Moses, with the people of Israel. Israel came to know by experience the ways of God with men. God himself spoke to them through the prophets. The plan of salvation foretold is found in the books of the Old Testament: these books, written under divine inspiration, remain permanently valuable. No. 15 The principal purpose of the plan of the old covenant was directed to prepare for the coming of Christ: to announce the coming by prophecy, and indicate its meaning through various types. Christians should receive the Old Testament books with reverence. V. The New Testament No. 16 God, inspirer and author of both Testaments, arranged that the New Testament be hidden in the Old and the Old made manifest in the New. No. 17 The word of God is set forth and shows its power in a most excellent way in the New Testament. Christ: established the kingdom of God on earth, showed his Father and himself by deeds and words, and completed his work by his death, resurrection, ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit. He draws all men to himself. This mystery was not shown to other generations as it was to the apostles. To these realities, the writings of the New Testament stand as a perpetual and divine witness. No. 18 Among all the Scriptures and even those of the New Testament, the Gospels have a special pre-eminence: They are the principal witness for the life and teaching of the incarnate Word, our Savior. No. 19 The Church holds that the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) are of apostolic origin. They are historical and hand on faithfully what Jesus Christ, while living among men, really did and taught for salvation. The sacred authors wrote the four gospels, selecting some things from the many which had been handed on by word of mouth or in writing, reducing some of them to summaries, explaining some things in view of the situation of their churches, and preserving the form of proclamation but always in such fashion that they told us the honest truth about Jesus. No. 20 Besides the four gospels the canon of the New Testament contains the epistles of St. Paul and other apostolic writings composed under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit: Confirming matters which concern Christ, more fully stating his teaching, his saving power preached, and the story told of the beginnings of the Church. After the ascension of the Lord, the apostles handed on what he had said with that clearer understanding they had after the descent of the Holy Spirit. VI. Sacred Scripture in the Life of the Church No. 21 The Church receives and offers life to the faithful: both from the word of God, the scriptures, and the body of Christ in the liturgy. Like the Christian religion itself, all the preaching of the Church must be nourished and regulated by Sacred Scripture. “For the word of God is living and efficient” and is “able to build up and give the inheritance among all the sanctified.” No. 22 Easy access to Scripture should be provided for all the Christian faithful. The Church from the beginning accepted the Greek translation of the Old Testament called the Septuagint, and honored other translations, especially the Vulgate. The Church is always concerned that translations be made into different languages. And if, given the opportunity and the approval of Church authority, these translations are produced in cooperation with the separated brethren as well, all Christians will be able to use them. No. 23 The Church also encourages: study of the Eastern and Western Fathers and liturgies, and scriptural studies by Catholic exegetes and other students of theology, working together under the care of the Church. No. 24 Sacred theology rests on the written Word of God, together with sacred tradition, as its primary and perpetual foundation. The same word of Scripture is the basis of: pastoral preaching, catechetics and Christian instruction, in which the liturgical homily has first place. No. 25 All clergy, catechists and other teachers must study Scripture. The Council also urges the Christian faithful to learn to know Jesus through scripture: by reading, or, through the liturgy, and instruction. Prayer should accompany the reading of Scripture so that God and man may talk together. It is the responsibility of bishops to give instruction to their faithful in the right use of the divine books. Editions of Scriptures should be prepared for and distributed to non-Christians. No. 26 Just as the life of the Church is strengthened by more frequent celebration of the Mass, similarly we may hope for a new stimulus for the life of the Spirit from a growing reverence for the word of God. |
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