OTHCC Chapter 90: items 1781

The Old Testament in the Heart of the Catholic Church < > All Chapters

{1781}      Down

In 1 Sam 16:11-13, David's anointing

a.   caused a great earthquake in the land.
b.   caused the Spirit of the Lord to be upon him.
c.   enabled him to defeat his brothers in battle.

Down

{1782}      Down       Up

The anointed ones are anointed in and by

a.   the kingdom of David.
b.   the Law and the Prophets.
c.   the Spirit of the Lord.

Down Up

{1783}      Down       Up

Read Is 61:1-3. Those who have the Spirit of the Lord come upon them are often said to be

a.   anointed.
b.   blessed.
c.   cursed.

Down Up

{1784}      Down       Up

Read Jeremiah, Jer 23:5-6. This prophecy, along with Isa 11, fueled the hopes of the people of Israel for

a.   a messiah who would save Israel.
b.   a victorious general of the army.
c.   the return of King David.

Down Up

{1785}      Down       Up

The messiah that the people of Israel gradually learned to hope for would be anointed by the Spirit of the Lord.

a.   Maybe.
b.   No.
c.   Yes.

Down Up

{1786}      Down       Up

The ''Servant Songs'' are passages from the book of Isaiah in which ''The Messiah's characteristics are revealed above all.'' [CCC 713] They proclaim that the Messiah's identity is linked with the triumph of the Cross, not with earthly glories, and that it is through the Cross of Jesus that the Spirit will be poured out to all men. Read Isa 42:1-9. In this Servant Song it is plain that the servant who is to come

a.   is the Messiah.
b.   will fail in his mission.
c.   will suffer and die.

Down Up

{1787} Down Up

Recall that the Messiah is the one upon whom God puts his Spirit. That is what makes him the Messiah, the anointed one of God. <<

Down Up

{1788}      Down       Up

Read Isa 49:1-6. The Messiah is to be a light

a.   to Israel alone.
b.   to the nations.
c.   to the nations alone.

Down Up

{1789}      Down       Up

Read Isa 50:4-10. In this Servant Song the Catholic Church sees it foretold that the Messiah

a.   will be a king.
b.   will not suffer.
c.   will suffer.

Down Up

{1790} Down Up

Read Isa 52:13-53:12. The Catholic Church sees in this passage the revelation of the Passion and Death of Jesus, the Messiah. This passage is read every year at the liturgy of Good Friday. <<

Down Up

{1791}      Down       Up

Read Isa 61:1-2. Who first said that the life and mission of Jesus is the fulfillment of the meaning of this passage?

a.   Jesus.
b.   St. Augustine.
c.   St. Paul.

Down Up

{1792} Down Up

(Now read Luke 4:16-21). <<

Down Up

{1793}      Down       Up

That Jesus is the Messiah, the fulfillment of God's promise to Israel,

a.   is something all Jews should have seen immediately.
b.   is something that anyone would find reasonable.
c.   was not something that Israel could reasonably have expected.

Down Up

{1794}      Down       Up

Making the claim that Jesus is the Messiah, the fulfillment of God's promise to Israel, and therefore that the Old Testament has more than its literal meaning and should be read in the light of the New

a.   is arrogant, unreasonable, and blasphemous.
b.   is a totalitarian privileging of meaning.
c.   would be a sin, if Jesus were not God.

Down Up

{1795} Down Up

Jesus is the Messiah, the fulfillment of the promises made to Israel. The Catechism itself calls this ''surprising'' [CCC 591] and calls this intervention of God in history ''unprecedented'' [CCC 579]. That is, the children of Israel could not have come to this knowledge about the true nature of the Messiah on their own. On their own, they could never have imagined that God would speak his Word in the way he actually did.

Also, as is fully proper, no mere man, but only God himself, can say what his promises to Israel truly mean.

Thus it is correct and fully in accord with reason to see the New Testament hidden in the Old, to see the meaning of the Messianic promises not violated but fulfilled in Jesus.

However, this is correct and reasonable only if Jesus is God made man. Then and only then is it God himself who says what his promises to Israel truly mean. >>

Down Up

{1796} Down Up

Who are you, to tell God what his Word means? If Jesus is not God made man, if the sacraments are not real and the New Testament is not true, then no academic argument in the world can ever justify what the Catholic Church has always done. Indeed, Jesus himself can not justify his use of the Old Testament unless he truly is the Word of God. [compare CCC 581]

Please get this straight: the whole issue of whether it is proper and reasonable to read the Old Testament as if the sacraments were real and the New Testament were true, is NOT finally an academic argument. All an academic argument can discover is that doing such a thing is proper and reasonable ONLY if Jesus is exactly who the Catholic Church professes him to be.

Reading the Old Testament in the light of the New is a surprise, a meaning God himself, and God alone, gives to the Old Testament. The Catholic Church would NEVER have read the Old Testament in the light of the New, if she did not believe her Lord, who taught her to do just that.

If you want to draw close to Jesus by drawing close to his Catholic Church, then you too must learn to read the Old Testament as she does in her heart.

Just so you're clear: the Catholic Church reads the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament because Jesus is the Lord. There is absolutely no other good reason - academic or otherwise - to read the Old Testament in the light of the New. Only God himself could reveal to us that this is what his Word means. <<

Down Up

{1797}      Down       Up

Why do you think Marcion's idea, that the Old Testament is not part of the ''real'' Bible, did not prevail?

a.   It was just an accident that Marcion lost - it could have gone either way, depending on who had more power.
b.   Marcion was just not very smart or persuasive, so very few people thought his ideas were more true and more reasonable.
c.   The Holy Spirit, working in and through the bishops and Pope of the Catholic Church, protected the true meaning of the Bible.

Down Up

{1798}      Down       Up

Wait a minute. Marcion was a Christian. He was baptized. So were many of the people who accepted his ideas. That means that Marcion's ideas were held, not by people who ''wanted to bring down the Church,'' but by people who claimed that Marcion's ideas should be accepted because they were more true to the ''real'' Catholic faith. So - really - why did Marcion's ideas not prevail?

a.   It was just an accident that Marcion lost - it could have gone either way, depending on who had more power.
b.   Marcion was just not very smart or persuasive, so very few people thought his ideas were more true and more reasonable.
c.   The Holy Spirit, working in and through the bishops and Pope of the Catholic Church, protected the true meaning of the Bible.

Down Up

{1799}      Down       Up

Here are two facts: a) Marcion's popularity shows that hundreds, even thousands, of baptized Catholics can consider scary heresies to be more true and more reasonable than the Catholic faith. b) A Catholic bishop, along with dozens (yes, dozens) of Catholic priests and Catholic theologians, decided that St. Joan of Arc was a heretic and should be burned at the stake.

Here is a conclusion from those facts: being Catholic, being a theologian, or even being a bishop, does not seem to protect you from terrible errors.

Here is the question for you: So - really - why did Marcion's ideas not prevail?

a.   It was just an accident that Marcion lost - it could have gone either way, depending on who had more power.
b.   Marcion was just not very smart or persuasive, so very few people thought his idea was more true and more reasonable.
c.   The Holy Spirit, working in and through the bishops and Pope of the Catholic Church, protected the true meaning of the Bible.

Down Up

{1800}      Up

Throughout history, people have disagreed about what the Bible means. Very smart people have disagreed with other very smart people. Christians have disagreed with other Christians. Sometimes, it matters a lot who is right. For example, if Marcion's ideas had been followed, then (among other things) Christians would have thrown the Old Testament out of the Bible. But how can we tell who is right? For instance, how can we really be certain that Marcion was wrong?

a.   Due to the fact that all truly intelligent people agree about what the Bible means, we know that a committee of very smart people with university degrees will find the true meaning of the Bible every time.
b.   Even though history shows that we do not necessarily find the true meaning of the Bible on our own, Christ himself continues to give man what he needs to study the truth of the Bible through the sacrament of Holy Orders.
c.   Since people have been disagreeing about what the Bible means for thousands of years, we can't ever really be certain who is right when people disagree about the true meaning of the Bible.

Up < > All Chapters