The Evangelization Station

DIVINE REVELATION

Victor R. Claveau, MJ

Revelation, in its verbal sense, means a removal of the veil, and hence it means the manifestation of something that was hidden. For our purposes, revelation means the manifestation of a truth whether that truth could or could not have become known from other sources. If God communicates a truth to us, this revelation is called divine.

Revelation is supernatural in form when God communicates a truth to us not through creation, but in a higher and extraordinary way, such as when God speaks directly to us, or indirectly, through His commissioned messenger.

One of the fundamental differences between Catholic Christians and the myriad of Christian denominations is what is considered God’s revelation. What is the basic rule of faith? For most non-Catholic Christians the rule of faith is the Bible and the Bible alone (Sola Scriptura). On the other hand, Roman Catholic Christianity, speaking most recently in the Second Vatican Council, identifies God’s revelation as contained not only in Sacred Scripture but also in Sacred Tradition.[i] The Church’s veneration of Holy Scripture is clearly delineated in The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum 6 § 21):

 “The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord, since, especially in the sacred liturgy, she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table both of God’s word and of Christ’s body. She has always maintained them, and continues to do so, together with sacred tradition, as the supreme rule of faith, since, as inspired by God and committed once and for all to writing, they impart the word of God Himself without change, and make the voice of the Holy Spirit resound in the words of the prophets and Apostles. Therefore, like the Christian religion itself, all the preaching of the Church must be nourished and regulated by Sacred Scripture. For in the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven meets His children with great love and speaks with them; and the force and power in the word of God is so great that it stands as the support and energy of the Church, the strength of faith for her sons, the food of the soul, the pure and everlasting source of spiritual life. Consequently these words are perfectly applicable to Sacred Scripture: ‘For the word of God is living and active’ (Heb. 4:12) and ‘it has power to build you up and give you your heritage among all those who are sanctified’ (Acts 20:32; see 1 Thess. 2:13).”[ii]

The Council fathers, in the Documents published upon the conclusion of Vatican II,[iii] clearly communicate that God’s complete revelation was communicated to the apostles:

“In His gracious goodness, God has seen to it that what He had revealed for the salvation of all nations would abide perpetually in its full integrity and be handed on to all generations. Therefore, Christ the Lord, in whom the full revelation of the supreme God is brought to completion (cf. 2 Cor. 1: 20; 3:16; 4:6), commissioned the apostles to preach to all men that gospel which is the source of all saving truth and moral teaching, and thus to impart to them divine gifts. This gospel had been promised in former times through the prophets, and Christ Himself fulfilled it and promulgated it with His own lips. This commission was faithfully fulfilled by the apostles who, by their oral preaching, by example, and by ordinances, handed on what they had received from the lips of Christ, from living with Him, and from what He did, or what they had learned through the prompting of the Holy Spirit. The commission was fulfilled, too, by those apostles and apostolic men who under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit committed the message of salvation to writing.”[iv]

Secondly, Christ provided that the successors of the apostles would receive, through a laying on of hands, the authority to teach in their stead.

 “But in order to keep the gospel forever whole and alive within the Church, the apostles left bishops as their successors, “handing over their own teaching role” to them.[v] This sacred tradition, therefore, and sacred Scripture of both the Old and the New Testament are like a mirror in which the pilgrim Church on earth looks at God, from whom she has received everything, until she is brought finally to see Him as He is, face to face (cf. 1 Jn. 3:2).”[vi]

And finally, God provided for the continued transmission of his revelation through the Church.

 “Therefore, the apostolic preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books, was to be preserved by a continuous succession until the end of time. Hence the apostles, handing on what they themselves had received, warned the faithful to hold fast to the traditions which they have learned either by word of mouth or by letter (Cf. 2 Thess. 2:15), and to fight in defense of the faith handed on once and for all (Cf. Jude 3). Now what was handed on by the apostles includes everything which contributes to the holiness of life, and the increase in faith of the People of God; and so the Church, in her teaching, life, and worship, perpetuates and hands on to all generations all that she herself is, all that she believes.”[vii]

In addition, the Catholic Church holds to a canon, which differs in the number of Old Testament writings considered to be divinely inspired.

 “It was by the apostolic Tradition that the Church discerned which writings are to be included in the list of the sacred books (Dei Verbum 8 § 3). This complete list is called the canon of Scripture. It includes 46 books for the Old Testament (45 if we count Jeremiah and Lamentations as one) and 27 for the New” (DS 179; 1334- 1336; 1501-1504).”[viii]

“The Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah and Malachi.”[ix]

“The New Testament: the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the Acts of the Apostles, the Letters of St. Paul to the Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, the Letter to the Hebrews, the Letters of James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude, and Revelation (the Apocalypse).”[x]

  • [i] The revealed doctrine, which was not committed to sacred Scripture (though it may have appeared in uninspired writings), but which has been handed down by a series of legitimate pastors of the Church from age to age. As revelation it must have come to the Apostles directly from the mouth of Christ or been handed down by the Apostles at the dictation of the Holy Spirit.
  • [ii] Documents of Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Walter J. Abbott, S.J., Gen. Ed., (New York: Herder and Herder Association Press, 1966), Ch.  VI, par. 21, p. 125.
  • [iv] Ibid. pp. 114-115.
  • [v] Irenæus Against Heresies, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I, Alexander Roberts, D.D., and James Donaldson, L.L.D., Eds. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1991), Book III, Ch. 3, 1., p. 415.
  • [vi] Documents of Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. p. 115.
  • [viii] “Article 3: Sacred Scripture,” Catechism of the Catholic Church (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1994), p. 34.

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