As Catholics, we do not rely on an individual priest to interpret the
Scriptures. We do rely on the Church to interpret the Bible when it comes
to essential doctrine. For example, in the early Church around the year
325 A.D., there arose a dispute about the nature of Christ and the Trinity.
A certain heretic named Arius claimed that Jesus was a created being and
was not (fully God and fully Man). The Church, drawing on the understanding
of Scripture which had been handed down from the Apostles orally by Tradition,
gave us the word Trinity and defined it as: (Three Persons of One Substance,
in one God. Each being a Person of the Trinity, fully God by themselves, yet only one God; this being a mystery.)
This is a definition that most Bible believers still hold to today, yet
their belief is only implicit. The word Trinity is not explicitly mentioned
it the Bible.
Further, history tells us that the Canon of Scripture was not arrived
at until 382 A.D. Until then, there was some dispute over both the Old and the New Testament.
In 382 A.D. the Catholic Church, in a general council of bishops at Rome, under the
supervision and sanction of the Pope, discerned the list of books which
belong in the Bible. Therefore, if the Church discerned which books are
the Bible, as Catholics, we believe that the Church can rightly interpret
the written Word of God.
This does not excuse any Catholic or non-Catholic Christian from studying
and meditating on God's Holy Word. As David wrote in Psalm 119:
11 Thy
Word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Catholics,
as all other Christians, ought to seek God's Will for their individual
lives by reading the Bible. Christ does speak to us through the Bible;
He:
- leads us
- teaches us, and
- strengthens our faith through His Word.
As
Saint Paul wrote in Romans, Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the
Word of God.
(Romans 10:17)
Our Lord said that he would build a Church and the gates of Hell would
not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:13-20)
He told Peter feed my sheep. (John 21:15-17) St. Paul wrote to
Timothy and told him to appoint bishops and elders. Presbyters is where
we get the word for our New Testament Priest.
These priests would be responsible for feeding His sheep. He did not say
go write a book and let every man figure it out for himself. There are
28,000 denominations, each of whom is claiming that the Holy Spirit has
led them to teach this or that. Jesus says Himself,
"He is The Way, The Truth, and The Light" (John 14:6)
not
"the way(s), the truth(s), and
the light(s)."
As for the use of Latin, you are gravely mistaken my dear brother.
The Church changed the Liturgy from Greek into Latin around the third century
because most of the known world spoke Latin and not Greek. However all
of the Eastern Catholics, such as the:
- Melkites
- Syriacs, and
- Armenian
Catholics
all translated the text into their respective languages. Further,
in the West, where Latin wasn't spoken, it was taught in the schools. If
you were going to be able to read, you were going to be able to read Latin.
In fact, it wasn't until the twentieth century that Latin
became a dead language. You can still find old medical books from American
universities written in Latin, because it was a universal language and
every one who went to high school studied it, therefore it was easier for
the books to be printed in one language. Well, for a very similar reason
the Church used Latin.
If you were Polish and you migrated to France you could still understand
the Mass, because both the Polish and the French spoke Latin. So quite the
opposite, the Church kept the Liturgy in Latin so people could understand
it no matter where they went.
As for Bible translations into the vernacular, I hate to tell you but,
the Catholic Church issued an English translation, long before King James
thought of it. Yes, the Church, did restrict any "Tom, Dick or Harry", from
translating the Bible because some of the translations were heretical.
Case in point: Martin Luther took it upon himself to insert the word alien (the German
for alone) in Romans 3:28. The original Greek does not have that word there,
yet he took the liberty to insert it in his translation.
One last point in conclusion. There are many Catholic exegetes who
are not priests or bishops. The Church does not prevent people from studying
the Scriptures, nor does it discourage legitimate questions which come
from a faith that seeks understanding. |
