TOPIC 1
CONTENT OF REVELATION
1. Himself
- Above all God reveals himself and who he is
2. His plan
- He shoes us his plan of salvation and mercy, forgiveness of sin and
restoration of life and happiness. He wants us to cooperate with his plan
and shows us how
STAGES OF REVELATION
Extension
- Continual growth in the amount of people who acknowledge and accept
what God revealed
Depth
- Continual growth in the content of revelation up to the time of Christ and
the apostles
- Continual growth in understanding the content of revelation
FULLNESS OF REVELATION
GOD REVEALS HIMSELF WHERE?
1. In creation
- God creates the whole world for us, to support us in life and reveals
Himself to us through His handiwork
2. In scripture through salvation
- The Bible records God’s entering into special covenant relationship with
His chosen people, the race of Abraham, the people of Israel
- Even God’s revelation in history was weakened by the infidelities and
hardness of the heart of His chosen people
3. In church
- God’s definitive revelation in Jesus Christ did not stop with Christ’s
ascension to His Father. Jesus Himself had gathered around Him in a
group of disciples who would form the nucleus of His Church
4. In other religion
- The church inn her prophetic mission of “reading the signs of the times
and of interesting them in the light of the Gospel”, discerns the seeds of
the Word in the history and culture of all men of good will.
TYPES OF DIVINE REVELATION
1. Immediate
- A revelation received directly from God
2. Mediate
- A passing of the revelation
3. Natural
- A manifestation of God in nature and creation; a revelation of God in His
work
4. Supernatural
- A revelation above the natural taking place in history
5. Public
- A revelation to a group of people, or to the Church, the people of God
6. Private
- Given to individual or group of individuals for special reasons
WHY THERE IS A NEED FOR GOD’S REVELATION?
God’s revelation is an eye opener for us, God communicates with us in revealing
Himself in every other ways, it is for us to realize something we should. It is for us
to accept Him as our Savior.
TOPIC 2
PILLARS OF FAITH
1. Sacred scripture
- Sacred – something connected with God that deserves veneration
- Scripture – sacred writing of Christianity contained in the Bible
2. Sacred tradition
3. Church magisterium
Form of the Bible
1. Tablet
2. Scroll
3. Codex
4. Manuscript
5. Modern
6. Binding
7. Ebooks
TORAH (first five books of the Bible)
- Pentateuch – law or torah
1. Genesis – origin of mankind and the Jewish people
2. Exodus - life of Moses
3. Leviticus & Deuteronomy – detail divine law as revealed to Moses by
Yahweh, one of the Jewish names of God;
4. Numbers – contains statistical information about the Hebrews.
5. Joshua, Judge and Ruth – books which bridge the time between Moses and
the Jewish monarchy
2 Division of the bible
1. Old Testament
- Composed in Hebrew and translated in Greek circa 2nd and 3rd BCE
- A covenant between God and man with 46 books
- Sacred writing of Judaism
- Pentateuch, Historical, Wisdom and Prophetic sections
2. New Testament
- Approximately six centuries, separate the writing of the Old and New
Testaments
- New covenant through Jesus Christ
- 27 books
Numbers of the books in the New Testament
- 27 BOOK
Number of letter in the new testament
- 22 Letters
Last book of the bible
- Revelation
Gospel Books
1. Matthew (lion)
2. Mark
(ox)
3. Luke
(man)
4. John
(eagle)
3 Stages of the Gospel
1. The life and teachings of Jesus – what Jesus, while He lived among us,
really did and taught for our eternal salvation, until the day He was take up
2. Oral Tradition – after Jesus ascension, the apostles handed on their hearers
what Jesus had said and done
3. The written Gospels – the sacred authors, in writing the 4 Gospels, selected
certain elements that had been handed on orally or already in written form,
others they synthesized or explained in view of the situation of their
churches, while preserving the form of proclamation. But always in such a
way that they have told us the honest truth about Jesus.
4 Factors in interpreting the Scripture
1. The Human Author – common sense tells us to find out what the inspired
human author had in mind when interpreting a text. This involves some
basic idea of the social, economic, and religious conditions of the authors in
their particular historical situations (cf. DV 12;CCC 110)
2. The Text itself – we have to look at its literary form which the author is
using
3. The Readers/Hearers – we are constantly asking Scripture new questions and
problems, drawn from our own experience.
4. The Common Horizon – which first unites all the books of the Bible into a
basic unity, and second, links together the context of the Scriptural text and
its tradition with our present reading context today. This horizon is the new
and eternal covenant God has established with us in His Incarnate Son, Jesus
Christ.
