Imagine children running and tussling in the grass in a lovely playground. However, notice that they are romping around with no supervision . . . and deadly dangers lurking at every side. You notice a sharp cliff dropping down a thousand feet to one side, another side filled with hidden landmines, poisonous snakes in the sand, and a bog of quicksand on the fourth side. You are speechless with shock. The children are decimated as they fall prey to the dangers around them.
Now take a moment to catch your breath and imagine the same children playing in the same playground, but now they are surrounded by a secure chain-link fence and carefully supervised by adults who protect them. The youngsters are now joyous and carefree, and you can relax and enjoy the fun. Relief washes over your body, and you begin to chuckle at the children’s antics.
To be in danger now, a child would have to disregard all the rules and protective measures. He’d need to defiantly reject the supervision and crawl over the fence to leave the safety of the group.
Two recent misconceptions have plagued Catholics regarding the reading and studying of the Bible. Ask around, and you’ll find that the average person in the average parish frequently accepts one or two unhappy fallacies. Let’s analyze them both.
Misconception #1: Catholics aren’t supposed to read the Bible, since it is complicated, and they fear they will invariably misinterpret it and end up confused or misled. The Church forbids the private reading of Scripture. Well, isn’t the Bible hard to understand? The Bible is the prerogative of the clergy, scholars, or college professors.
Misconception #2: Many Catholics associate Bible reading and study with Protestantism. If laymen study the Bible, don’t they interpret it incorrectly and go off the deep end? Isn’t that why many former Catholics are now Protestants? Interestingly, a parish priest visiting our home recently lamented, “Oh, if I could only get my parishioners over the deep-seated fear that if they study the Bible, they will somehow become Fundamentalist Protestants!”
This sounds strange to the ears of us former Protestants, because for us, it was the opposite. It was the love and study of the Bible that brought us into the Catholic Church. Yet this subtle fear prevents many Catholics from dusting off the family Bible and making a go at personal study.
Our imagined playground, fraught with dangers, illustrates the situation nicely. Are there real dangers associated with studying the Bible? Do pitfalls lie to the left and right? Yes, of course. Is the Bible sometimes difficult to understand? Yes—even St. Peter wrote that some of the things written by St. Paul “are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures” (2 Pet. 3:16). So the fear is not without foundation.
Survey the landscape of Christian history, and you will see well-meaning individuals and groups with crazy interpretations of Scripture strewn in every direction. The carnage and division brought about by the “Bible-only” theology is apparent for everyone to see. Yet we also see many who have loved the Bible deeply, studied it studiously, and done so without casualties. They have reached the dizzying heights of biblical study and through it have grown to love Jesus and the Catholic Church with ever deepening ardor.
What differentiates the two? Why do some stumble and fall off by the wayside, while others “play” with joyful, utter abandon—almost carefree in their study of Scriptures and, seemingly, with no fear of danger? The fence around the playground and the supervision make all the difference. They provide a barrier between the children and destruction. They allow the child to frolic. What are they in our illustration?
The fence is the Sacred Tradition. It provides the necessary understanding of Catholic teaching, proper doctrine, and instruction on how to study the Bible properly. The Catechism is a great summary of the Tradition that safely provides the lines for us to stay in. The supervision is the divinely appointed Magisterium, which simply means “teaching office,” with the authority to teach, instruct, and protect the deposit of the Faith. God instituted the pope and the bishops to hand on the deposit of faith and act as shepherds to protect, govern, and feed the sheep.
The Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium are readily available to anyone who desires them. This is what make the difference between the playground fraught with danger and the safe playground for carefree activity. The dangers are real, but the protections and guidance are just as real. Those who follow the simple guidelines and avoid forays into the quicksand and cliffs will study Scripture with great benefit—and, I may add, with deep joy and pleasure.
It is high time that Catholics wake up and discover the riches that have been deposited in their account. Their treasure is ready for withdrawal! Dust off the Bibles, cast aside paralyzing fears, learn the basic rules of biblical interpretation, join a good Catholic Bible study, observe the protective parameters of Church teaching, and frolic to your heart’s content!
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What does the Church teach about personal Bible study (CCC 133)? What kind of access or restriction should be placed on Catholics regarding the Bible (131)? How does the Bible speak of itself and its use by God’s people (Rom 15:4, 2 Tim. 3:14-17)?
Read Psalm 119. What is the Psalmist’s theme and passion? What value does the Psalmist place on the scriptures in Psalm 19:7-11? Is the Bible the only source of God’s revelation (1 Thess. 2:13, 2 Thess. 2:15, CCC 80-82)?
Even though the Sadducees studied the Scriptures assiduously, what did Jesus say of them (Mark 12:24)? Do the scriptures always have a plain meaning, and are they always easy to understand (2 Pet. 3:15-17, Acts 8:29-31)? Based on these verses, is everyone’s understanding of Scripture equally valid?
Does everyone have the same ability to understand the Scriptures (Heb. 5:11)? Should individuals research the scriptures for themselves (Acts 17:11)? Is the interpretation of the Bible ultimately left up to each individual, and what place does “private interpretation” have in the interpretation of Scripture (2 Pet. 1:20)? Where does authoritative interpretation of Scripture have its source (CCC 84, 85, 95)? Who has the ultimate right to protect and interpret the Bible (CCC 119, Acts 20:27-31, Titus 1:9)?
What is the “pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:14-15)? Who or what has judicial authority over a believer (Matt. 18:17)? How are the faithful to respond to the protective teaching authority of the Church (CCC 87, 88)?
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St. Jerome, Doctor of the Church: “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”
St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church: “‘I am not,’ you will say, ‘one of the monks, but I have both a wife and children, and the care of a household.’ Why, this is what hath ruined all, your supposing that the reading of the divine scriptures appertains to those only, when you need it much more than they. For they that dwell in the world, and each day receive wounds, these have most need of medicines. So that it is far worse than not reading, to account the thing even ‘superflulous’: for these are the words of diabolical invention. Hear ye not Paul saying ‘that all these things are written for our admonition
Pope Gregory I: “The emperor of heaven, the Lord of men and angels, has sent thee his epistles for thy life’s behoof; and yet, glorious son, you neglect to read these epistles ardently. Study then, I beseech you, and daily meditate on the words of your Creator. Learn the heart of God in the words of God, that you may sigh more ardently for the things that are eternal, that your soul may be kindled with greater longings for heavenly joys.”
Second Vatican Council: “The Church has always venerated the divine scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord. . . . Easy access to Sacred Scripture should be provided for all the Christian faithful. . . . Since the word of God should be accessible at all times, the Church by her authority and with the maternal concern sees to it that suitable and correct translations are made into different languages, especially from the original texts of the sacred books.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Read the Scripture within ‘the living Tradition of the whole Church.’ According to a saying of the Fathers, Sacred Scripture is written principally in the Church’s heart rather than in documents and records, for the Church carries in its Tradition the living memorial of God’s Word, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives it the spiritual interpretation of the Scripture (‘according to the spiritual meaning which the Spirit grants to the Church’)” (113).