Scripture Is a Unique Word | by Francis Etheredge
This Word of God continues the creativity of our Creator.
There is a tendency to reflect on Scripture as if it is “just” another word in the marketplace: one word among many, competing, like each one does, for our limited attention; but I want to make a plea for reflecting on Scripture as a unique word: a word which comes from God: a word which is different from its very origin, and not because of a pronouncement that has been made. In other words, this word of God, “clothed in the flesh of human experience,” is a word which expresses the creativity of the Creator; indeed, it is a word which is an instrument of the creativity of the Creator. The word, then, of Naaman the leper (2 Kgs 5: 1-19), is capable of illuminating my life and, in so doing, bringing me closer to the mysterious action of God within it. Thus, just as Naaman had to come to the river Jordan for a “type” of baptism, so I had to come from trying to understand myself in the categories of reason, and plunge into the mysteries of faith. And, in plunging into the waters of baptism, I had to uncover the pride and sin symbolised in the “wealth” of human garments, and the leprosy which these things concealed. So, what is this word of God which is capable of revealing man in the mystery of Christ and His Church? In this article, I want to reflect on the “ingredients” which make the word of God a truly unique word: a word “wrought” out of the creativity of our Creator: a word which, therefore, continues the creativity of our Creator.
Presupposing the gift and task of faith, theology arises when “faith seeks understanding” (St Anselm); and within that gift and task of faith lies Scripture: “God speaks to [us] … in human words” (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC] §101). A key text for the person who wants to know how theology and scripture work together, is the Second Vatican Council’s document on the word of God, the “Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum” (DV). On the one hand, the Council says that the “study of the sacred page” should be the very soul of sacred theology (DV §24). On the other hand, Sacred Scripture is compared to the Incarnation (DV §13). Thus the Fathers of the Council have planted us firmly amidst the works of God and, furthermore, in the midst of the great analogy at work in the Second Vatican Council: the mystery of the Incarnation (cf. Lumen Gentium §8, Gaudium et Spes §22 and Ad Gentes Divinitus §10 and 22). It is as if we are being taught to understand salvation in terms of the mystery of our Saviour, Jesus Christ; indeed, the beginning and end of all our activity is to put people in intimate communion with Jesus Christ (cf. Pope John Paul II, Catechesi Tradendae §5). Clearly, then, if the mystery of Christ is central to the history of salvation, it is certainly central to our understanding of the mystery of Scripture.
The following discussion has been divided into five parts. Dei Verbum on “The nature of Scripture (I)” is followed by a consideration of the relationship between “Divine Inspiration and Revelation (II).” This leads to “Time and the Sense of Scripture (III),” and then on to “Exegesis (IV).” Finally, the last section is on “The intention of the author (V).”
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