Catechism of the Catholic Church

131 "And such is the force and power of the Word of God that it can serve the Church as her support and vigour, and the children of the Church as strength for their faith, food for the soul, and a pure and lasting fount of spiritual life." ¹⁰⁹ Hence "access to Sacred Scripture ought to be open wide to the Christian faithful." ¹¹⁰

132 "Therefore, the study of the sacred page should be the very soul of sacred theology. The ministry of the Word, too - pastoral preaching, catechetics and all forms of Christian instruction, among which the liturgical homily should hold pride of place - is healthily nourished and thrives in holiness through the Word of Scripture." ¹¹¹

133 The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful... to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ. ¹¹²

134 All Sacred Scripture is but one book, and this one book is Christ, "because all divine Scripture speaks of Christ, and all divine Scripture is fulfilled in Christ" (Hugh of St. Victor, De arca Noe 2, 8: PL 176, 642: cf. ibid. 2, 9: PL 176, 642-643).

135 "The Sacred Scriptures contain the Word of God and, because they are inspired, they are truly the Word of God" (DV 24).

136 God is the author of Sacred Scripture because he inspired its human authors; he acts in them and by means of them. He thus gives assurance that their writings teach without error his saving truth (cf. DV 11).

137 Interpretation of the inspired Scripture must be attentive above all to what God wants to reveal through the sacred authors for our salvation. What comes from the Spirit is not fully "understood except by the Spirit's Action" (cf. Origen, Hom. in Ex. 4, 5: PG 12, 320).

138 The Church accepts and venerates as inspired the 46 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New.

139 The four Gospels occupy a central place because Christ Jesus is their centre.

140 The unity of the two Testaments proceeds from the unity of God's plan and his Revelation. The Old Testament prepares for the New and the New Testament fulfils the Old; the two shed light on each other; both are true Word of God.

141 "The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures as she venerated the Body of the Lord" (DV 21): both nourish and govern the whole Christian life. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Ps 119:105; cf. Isa 50:4).

1 Cf. Dei Filius DS 3015.

2 DV 2; cf. Eph 1:9; 2:18; 2 Pt 1:4.

3 I Tim 6:16, cf. Eph 1:4-5.

4 DV 2.

5 St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3, 20, 2: PG 7/1, 944; cf. 3, 17, 1; 4, 12, 4; 4, 21, 3.

6 DV 3; cf. Jn 1:3; Rom 1:19-20.

7 DV 3; cf. Gen 3:15; Rom 2:6-7.

8 Roman Missal, Eucharistic Prayer IV, 118.

9 Gen 10:5; cf. 9:9-10, 16; 10:20-31.

10 Cf. Acts 17:26-27; Deut 4:19; Deut (LXX) 32:8.

11 Cf. Wis 10:5; Gen 11:4-6.

12 Cf. Rom 1:18-25.

13 Cf. Gen 9:16; Lk 21:24; DV 3.

14 Cf. Gen 14:18; Heb 7:3; Ezek 14:14.

15 Jn 11:52.

16 Gen 12:1.

17 Gen 17:5; 12:3 (LXX); cf. Gal 3:8

18 Cf. Rom 11:28; Jn 11:52; 10:16.

19 Cf. Rom 11:17-18, 24.

20 Cf. DV 3.

21 Deut 28: 10; Roman Missal, Good Friday, General Intercession VI; see also Ex 19:6.

22 Cf. Isa 2:2-4; Jer 31:31-34; Heb 10:16.

23 Cf. Ezek 36; Isa 49:5-6; 53:11.

24 Cf. Zeph 2:3; Lk 1:38.

25 DV 2.

26 Heb 1:1-2.

27 St. John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel 2, 22, 3-5 in The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, tr. K. Kavanaugh OCD and O. Rodriguez OCD (Washington DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1979), 179-180: LH, Advent, week 2, Monday, OR.

28 DV 4; cf. I Tim 6:14; Titus 2:13.

29 I Tim 2:4.

30 cf. Jn 14:6.

31 DV 7; cf. 2 Cor 1:20; 3:16-4:6.

32 DV 7; cf. Mt 28:19-20; Mk 16:15.

33 DV 7.

34 DV 7.

35 DV 7 § 2; St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3, 3, 1: PG 7/1, 848; Harvey, 2, 9.

36 DV 8 § 1.

37 DV 8 § 1.

38 DV 8 § 3.

39 DV 8 § 3; cf. Col 3:16.

40 DV 9.

41 Mt 28:20.

42 DV 9.

43 DV 9.

44 DV 9.

45 DV 10 § 1; cf. I Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 1:12-14 (Vulg.).

46 DV 10 § 1; cf. Acts 2:42 (Greek); Pius XII, Apost. Const. Munificentissimus Deus, § November 1950: AAS 42 (1950), 756, taken along with the words of St. Cyprian, Epist. 66, 8: CSEL 3/2, 733: "The Church is the people united to its Priests, the flock adhering to its Shepherd."

47 DV 10 § 2.

48 DV 10 § 2.

49 Lk 10:16; cf. LG 20.

50 Cf. Jn 8:31-32.

51 Cf. Vatican Council I: DS 3016: nexus mysteriorum; LG 25.

52 UR 11.

53 Cf. I Jn 2:20, 27.

54 Cf. Jn 16:13.

55 LG 12; cf. St. Augustine, De praed. sanct. 14, 27: PL 44, 980.

56 LG 12; cf. Jude 3.

57 DV 8 § 2; cf. Lk 2:19, 51.

58 GS 62 § 7; cf. GS 44 § 2; DV 23; 24; UR 4.

59 DV 8 § 2.

60 St. Gregory the Great, Hom. in Ezek. 1, 7, 8: PL 76, 843D.

61 DV 8 § 2.

62 DV 10 § 3.

63 DV 13.

64 Cf. Heb 1:1-3.

65 St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 103, 4, 1: PL 37, 1378; cf. Ps 104; Jn 1:1.

66 Cf. DV 21.

67 I Thess 2:13; cf. DV 24.

68 DV 21.

69 DV 11.

70 DV 11; cf. Jn 20:31; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pt 1:19-21; 3:15-16.

71 DV 11.

72 DV 11.

73 St. Bernard, S. missus est hom. 4, 11: PL 183, 86.

74 Cf. Lk 24:45.

75 Cf. DV 12 § 1.

76 DV 12 § 2.

77 DV 12 § 3.

78 Cf. DV 12 § 4.

79 Cf. Lk 24:25-27, 44-46.

80 St. Thomas Aquinas, Expos. in Ps. 21, 11; cf. Ps 22:15+.

81 Origen, Hom. in Lev. 5, 5: PG 12, 454D.

82 Cf. Rom 12:6.

83 St. Thomas Aquinas, S Thess I, 1, 10, ad I.

84 Cf. I Cor 10:2.

85 I Cor 10:11; cf. Heb 3:1 -4:11.

86 Cf. Rev 21:1 - 22:5.

87 Lettera gesta docet, quid credas allegoria, moralis quid agas, quo tendas anagogia. Augustine of Dacia, Rotulus pugillaris, I: ed. A. Walz: Angelicum § (1929) 256; Augstine of Dacia, Rotulus pugillaris, I: ed. A. Walz: Angelicum § (1929) 256.

88 DV 12 § 3.

89 St. Augustine, Contra epistolam Manichaei 5, 6: PL 42, 176.

90 Cf. DV 8 § 3.

91 Cf. DS 179; 1334-1336; 1501-1504.

92 Cf. DV 14.

93 DV 15.

94 DV 15.

95 DV 15.

96 DV 17; cf. Rom 1:16.

97 Cf. DV 20.

98 DV 18.

99 DV 19; cf. Acts 1:1-2.

100 DV 19.

101 DV 19.

102 St. Caesaria the Younger to St. Richildis and St. Radegunde: SCh 345, 480.

103 St. Therese of Lisieux, Autobiography of a Saint, tr. Ronald Knox (London: Collins, 1960), 175.

104 Cf. I Cor 10:6, 11; Heb 10:l; l Pt 3:21.

105 Cf. Mk 12:29-31

106 Cf. I Cor 5:6-8; 10:1-11.

107 Cf. St. Augustine, Quaest. in Hept. 2, 73: PL 34,623; Cf. DV 16.

108 I Cor 15:28.

109 DV 21.

110 DV 22.

111 DV 24.

112 DV 25; cf. Phil 3:8 and St. Jerome, Commentariorum in Isaiam libri xviii prol.: PL 24, 17B.