Learning about the Bible

Lesson One

Jesus came to reveal the truth of the Father’s love for us.◦ Why do we need Him to do this?

He became man for our sake.◦ Christ becoming man is called the Incarnation

Revelation◦ Comes from the word to reveal

Jesus shows us the hidden truths that God chose to reveal about Himself. ◦ Room full of Christmas gifts that we are still

unwrapping

Divine Revelation

Because we are made in the image and likeness of God, we can come to know the TRUE nature of man from Christ◦ We are meant to:

Think the way He thinks Love the way He loves Desire the way He desires Desire what He desires See the way He sees

We come to know ourselves

After Christ rose from the dead, He ascended back to His father, but He made us a promise.◦ Matthew 28:20

He would never abandon us. He established the Church and stays with us

in many ways.◦ What are some ways that Christ is still with us

through the Church

The Role of the Church

Christ and the Church make up one mystical person.◦ What does mystical mean?◦ Spiritual in nature◦ We can’t feel it◦ Or even completely understand it

The relationship between Jesus and the Church is like that between our body and our soul.

He is the head, we are the body

So what is the Church’s mission or job?◦ She continues to help people in every time period

understand Jesus’ teaching.◦ The teachings have not changed, been added to, or

adjusted… They have just been explained differently for different

people For example, pretend you are going to tell someone

how to make a cheeseburger Now imagine that that person is 4 years old, would it

change how you taught them? Now imagine that that person is paralyzed and can’t use

their hands, would it change how you explained it to them?

The Role of the Church

Wrote the Gospel of St. John Wrote three epistles Only Apostle to not die a martyr’s death Wrote the book of Revelation Took care of Mary after the Ascension before she

went to heaven Do you think he knew Jesus pretty well? So, I asked you last week, why is the New

Testament so small compared to the Old Testament. Why does it not keep going because I’m sure there is more we could say about Jesus?

St. John the Evangelist

St. John is the most likely the last eyewitness of Jesus.◦ He died after all the other Apostles

Why is it important to not add any more after the last eyewitness died?◦ Let’s play a little game of telephone

All Revelation ends with St. John

Sacred Tradition◦ This has to do with what the Church teaches◦ What she has always believed to be true because

of people’s stories being passed down Sacred Scripture

◦ This is the written word of God that has been approved by the Church

◦ It is held as divinely inspired, so therefore it was very seriously scrutinized before being accepted as an approved text in the Bible

Two sources of Divine Revelation

How is this tradition preserved?◦ Tradition is preserved through the guidance of the

Holy Spirit. Where does the word come from?

◦ Tradition come from the Latin word tradere "to hand over"

What is the first recorded statement of sacred tradition?◦ The first recorded statement of tradition is the

Bible, but it is not limited to this.

Sacred Tradition

What are other forms of tradition?

Is the Bible one book?◦ No, it is a collection of 73 books; 46 in the Old

Testament and 27 in the New Testament Where did the Bible come from?

◦ The Bible was a collection of works that continued to be passed down. In 393 at the Council of Hippo it was decided which books would be included and which would not.

Sacred Scripture

Many human authors, but all written by the Holy Spirit

The authors wrote down the ideas that God wanted them to write down.

This is called divine inspiration Can you think of a time that you may have

been inspired? Perhaps to help someone? Or, with your school work?

Divine Inspiration