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Our Principles of Study

angfrayle on August 5th, 2008

Our Principles of Study The principles that we follow in our study of Scriptures are three:

  1. Adherence to the Scriptural text
  2. Adherence to the Complete Christian Canon
  3. Adherence to the Word of God

Adherence to the Word of God

The Word of God designates three correlative realities. First, it is Jesus Christ himself, the Word Incarnate (John 1:1-18). Second, "Word of God" is the totality of the proclamation of the apostles, handed down through generations in an act of Tradition. Finally, "Word of God" is inspired scriptures, the apostolic tradition that is put into writing. These three correlative realities cannot be encountered except within the Church whom Christ founded on the faith of the apostles. Christ is the Head of this Church which is His Body. At the same time, he is the one Word of God that is echoed in the many words of men in the Scriptures. Our study of the Scriptures has for its goal the hearing of the Word of God that has been fully and definitely pronounced in Christ. It is through the faith of the Church that this Word is grasped and proclaimed to all men.

The Church is the Creation and Spouse of the Word of God. It is ekklhsia, those which have been called into being and continue in existence because of the Word. Like a Bride, the Church listens to the voice of her spouse and obeys him in fidelity. The Church listens to Him as Logos, the expression of God’s will discernible by faith in the events of human history. She listens to His voice as it is heard through the Scriptures read in the assembly of the faithful and understood in the light of the memory of the apostles.

When we study the Scriptures it is to strenghten our communion with that Church in whose bosom we have received the waters of new life in Christ. We study Scriptures as an extension of the Liturgy of the Word so that in union with the Church, our listening may be intensified and our understanding made clearer.

Why “Word” of God Cannot Be Scriptures Alone

Which Tradition Are We Talking About?

Adherence to the Complete Christian Canon

The complete Christian canon is made up of 27 books of the New Testament and 46 books of the Old Testament. The 46 books of the Old Testament that we accept are those which are enshrined in the Greek Septuagint, the Scriptures of the apostles. We do not admit the Hebrew canon used by non-Catholics because it is a canon that was unknown to the early Christians. This canon is a product of the Jewish Council of Jamnia, the same Council which expelled the early Christians from the synagogue.

The complete Christian Old Testament canon has come down to us by apostolic tradition and confirmed in the Councils of the Church, notably that of Carthage and later by the Council of Trent.

Adherence to the Scriptural Text

The Scriptural text we would like to read and study are those that are approved for use in the liturgy. In the Philippines, these are the New American Bible and the Catholic edition of the Good News Bible in the Filipino languages (in our region, this would be the Tagalog Popular Version with Deuterocanonicals). But we also admit other translations so long as these can help us understand the inspired word of Scriptures.

We know that no translation is definitive; we know too that the different translations render the Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic originals in their different nuances. Thus, we take it as advantageous for us if we can compare competent translations to the ones we favor. The translations we use for this purpose should have the following qualities:

  1. they have the complete canon
  2. they are the products of contemporary biblical scholarship
  3. they are in a language which we understand

Thus, apart from the translations already mentioned, we also use the following

  1. The New Revised Standard Version
  2. The Jerusalem Bible
  3. The Christian Community Bible
  4. The Douay Bible in its different editions

For purposes of Ecumenism, we also use the following when they are available

  1. The New International Version
  2. The New Living Translation
  3. The King James Version

Our Study of the Scriptural Text

John 1:1-18
View in: NAB NIV KJV NJB Vulg Greek
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2The same was in the beginning with God.
3All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made.
4In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7This man came for a witness, to give testimony of the light, that all men might believe through him.
8He was not the light, but was to give testimony of the light.
9That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world.
10He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12But as many as received him, he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name.
13Who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
15John beareth witness of him, and crieth out, saying: This was he of whom I spoke: He that shall come after me, is preferred before me: because he was before me.
16And of his fulness we all have received, and grace for grace.
17For the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
18No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
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