How to read the Bible as a Catholic

What is typology? Why does it matter? It matters because the writers of the Bible, specifically the authors of the New Testament, used it. To understand what they wrote, and what the Catholic Church teaches, you need to understand this. And this: The Bible is a Catholic book.

+JMJ+ Learning to read the Bible as a Catholic involves more than buying a commentary and a Bible and thinking you’re all set. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a start, but it’s only a start. A bare beginning. An important thing to keep in mind while learning to read the Bible as a Catholic is this word right here: typology. It’s something the New Testament writers used and expected their listeners and readers to recognize and understand.

Video, Understanding Biblical Typology, by Steve Ray.

This is the righteousness of God, which was veiled in the Old Testament, and is revealed in the New…

–St Augustine, On the Spirit and the Letter, Ch 18, near the end of the chapter.

This grace hid itself under a veil in the Old Testament, but it has been revealed in the New Testament according to the most perfectly ordered dispensation of the ages, forasmuch as God knew how to dispose all things.

–St Augustine, On the Spirit and the Letter, Ch 27, at the beginning of the chapter.

Video, How to Understand the Bible: A Catholic Book, by Fr. Chris Alar, from his series, Explaining the Faith.

Newman understood that given the active providence of God, human history involves not only “historical depth, change over time, and causal relationships,” but also the presence of “a transcendent intelligence that renders historical events as symbols of its will, connecting them according to a system of inner meaning.”

—Newman on Doctrinal Corruption, by Matthew Levering (see Notes below).

And this is relevant also to interpreting the Scriptures: God writes with historical events, events as symbols. Typology. These events in the Bible are God’s writing. The Holy Spirit inspired the New Testament writers to write these things this way. It’s one of the things that convinced me that the Bible is what the Church claims it is: the inspired Word of God. I don’t for one moment believe that anyone could sit down and make up the Bible and have it fit together the way it does.

Back to typology. When Jesus or His Mother Mary do something, look closely at it. Look for parallels. The event or description, what-have-you, points back to something in the Old Testament. And in the Old Testament, when Abraham or Moses or David or Solomon say or do something, look forward to the New, look for the New Testament parallel. (I’m thinking particularly of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant and the account of her going to help her cousin, Elizabeth in Luke’s Gospel, but there are so many, many, many others.)

Typology is something we don’t usually see on our own. Philip the deacon taught the Ethiopain eunuch and then, after being instructed, the eunuch asked for baptism. Jesus Himself walked with the disciples on the road to Emmaus and taught them, but their eyes were not truly opened until He took the bread and broke it:

30 And it came to pass, whilst he was at table with them, he took bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him: and he vanished out of their sight. 32 And they said one to the other: Was not our heart burning within us, whilst he spoke in this way, and opened to us the scriptures?

—Luke 24:30-32, Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition, public domain.

But once someone shows us, it’s hard to unsee. The Church is here to be that someone who shows us. And note that it was at the breaking of the bread that the disciples in Emmaus recognized Him. That’s a sign of the Eucharist. I think that’s significant. That’s when we really begin to see with Catholic eyes, when we receive grace in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.

I am ever so grateful that the Church showed me all the things she has shown me. When I was learning to read the Bible listening to Scott Hahn tapes, I was gobsmacked. Still am. Seems like every single day I discover something new about the Church, about Christ, about the Kingdom, about the interior life, something all the time. And it is glorious!

Well, somedays don’t seem so glorious. For those of you who read last week’s post, you’ll remember my little Miss Lucy Dawg was ailing and had to go to the vet. We went three times, that’s how bad it was. But she’s not suffering now. Miss Lucy Dawg passed away Monday afternoon. I miss her. I like to think she’s reunited with her beloved sister, Abby.

Now don’t start spouting theology at me. I know a little about human souls and animal souls and the difference between the two. I said I like to think, I didn’t say it is so or that it is Catholic teaching. I do like to think of them running and playing together again, free of suffering and pain and all the ailments their animal flesh was heir to. I like to think of me running and playing with them, also free of ailments, laughing with joy to see them being silly and goofy, the way I remember them. It’s a sweet dream, anyway.

I’m gonna let the Thomistic Institute spout some theology now.

Video, Powers of the Soul: A Closer Look (Aquinas 101), by Fr. Gregory Pine, OP.

That’s it for this week. Thank you for visiting and reading. Feel free to comment below or leave feedback using the Contact page. May this year be the year we search the Scriptures, and live our Catholic faith to the fullest to become the saints the Lord always meant us to be. God bless you and may His peace be always with you. +JMJ+

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Notes and Links

Understanding Biblical Typology, video by Steve Ray.
St Augustine, On the Spirit and the Letter, Ch 18, near the end of the chapter.
St Augustine, On the Spirit and the Letter, Ch 27, at the beginning of the chapter.
How to Understand the Bible: A Catholic Book, by Fr. Chris Alar, from his series, Explaining the Faith.
Newman on Doctrinal Corruption, by Matthew Levering: Hardcover, Kindle (Amazon affiliate links, see Full Disclosure below).
Powers of the Soul: A Closer Look (Aquinas 101), by Fr. Gregory Pine, OP.
Catholics traditionally pray the indulgenced Come, Holy Spirit prayer before reading, praying or studying the Scriptures.

Image: The Supper at Emmaus, Jan Cossiers, from the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, via Wikimedia Commons. License: Creative Commons 1.0 Universal Public Domain.

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