Chapter III
Scripture
and Tradition as a Source of Faith toward Jesus Christ
As a believer in Jesus
Christ, we want to improve ourselves based on the person of Jesus Christ.
The person of Jesus Christ become the basic and example of our self-development,
because in Him we find a greater human dignity that acceptable by God. He is
the image of God that has been chosen as the way, truth and life. In Him we
find the perfection of human being in the presence of God. In order to find Jesus
as perfect figure, we need to improve our understanding through of the main
source, which is the Holy Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament,
as well as the tradition of the Church. Holy Scripture become the source of our
faith.
A.
Old Testament Scriptures
For the faithful (orang
beriman), Holy Scripture have very important role:
·
Became the main written source for human
being to understand the saving work of God at all time.
·
Source of reference and inspiration to
develop faith. Due to this reason every faithful needs to understand the Holy
Scripture Correctly.
The Old Testament as the
Christians have now been prepared through a long process, about more than Ten Centuries,
since Eleventh Century BC until about
the First Century AD (Ando Domine-BC).
The
History of the Old Testament
At first, is in the
form of a collection stories about the experience of the Israelites in their relationship
with their history and at the same time in relationship with the role and the presence
of God in their lives. The experiences of God's saving work throughout their
history was told to their children and grandchildren throughout their
generations. Until one day there are certain people, who have been inspired by
the Holy Spirit write dawn into a whole book as we have today. Holy Scripture
is not a history Book, athought there is historical elements.
The
Contents of the Old Testament
About the Old
Testament, the Second Vatican Council document on Divine Revelation (Dei
Verbum), article 14 said:
Loving God with full
attentition, plan and prepare the salvation of all humanity. God chose for
Himself a people, to do His promises. Because after the agreement with Abraham
(cf. Gen. 15:18) and with the Nation of Israel through Moses (cf.. Exodus 24:
8), with the word of God and His works, He revealed himself to the people that
He chose to experience how God relate with humans.
For the prosess of
salvation which is described and explained by the author as the True Word of
God written in the Book of the Old Testament.
The
Relation Between Old Testament and New
Testament.
Documents Vatican II
about Divine Revelation = Wahyu Ilahi (Dei Verbum), article 16 said:
God, the author of the
Books of the Old and New Testaments, in His wisdom acknowledged that the New
Testament is hidden in the Old Testament and the Old Testament opens in the New Testament.Then what is
the relationship of the Old Testament and the New Testament?
The
meaning of the "Old Testament"
The
term "Old Testament"
is used to distinguish the "New
Testament".
In the history of Salvation,
the relationship between human and God assured(diikiat) by the Promises, which is in the Old
Testament, all human being is symbolized by the Israelites especially through
their leaders.
The Promises is a
covenant of Love to save (Perjanjian Kasih yang menyelamatkan). In that covenant,
God promised to always save the people and from human being, God challenge faithfulness.
Unfortunately the faithfulness
of God is often rewarded (dibalas) by the infidelity of the Israelites. But God
who is faithful continue to keep promises to save humanity by:
the renewal of the
promises through His Son Jesus Christ. So the Old Testament is talking about the
covenant between man and God before Christ.
The history in Old
Testament is a history of Faith. Although the "Old Testament" is not
perfect but its remains important. In Old Testament God reveals to human being
about:
1.
How God interact with human.
2.
The awareness about the presence of God.
3.
The great teachings about the wisdom of God.
4.
The life procedure of human life.
5.
The promises of the coming of Jesus Christ
the Redeemer.
6.
The preparation of the kingdom of God.
The
process of making the Old Testament Scriptures
Generally the Old
Testament contains of two major parts, namely the Prehistory Book and History
Book.
·
The Prehistory Book,
begin from the story of
the Creation unti the Tower of Babel = menara babel Genesis 1-11.
The History Book
starting
from Abraham who lived around the year 2000/1800 BC until before Jesus Christ.
The process of the writing of the
Old Testament:
1. Between the years
1800 - 1600 S.M:
the
time of the Fathers of the nations = bapa-bapa Bangsa (Abraham-Isaac-Jacob).
This
period was the beginning of Israel's history that starting from the call of
Abraham to the story of Jacob. In this years the Fathers of the nations still
alive.
2. Between the years
1600-1225 S.M:
The
story of the Israelites run away to Egypt, slavery in Egypt, the liberation
from Egypt to the Sinai Covenant. The stories also still be delivered orally. The
short formulation of the 10 commandments has been written on this period as a
way of life.
3.
Between the years 1225-1030 S.M:
The
struggle (perebutan) for the land of Canaan and the time of the Judges (hakim-hakim).
In this period, the people of Israel taken (merebut) the land of Canaan which
is believed to be the Promised Land under Joshua's leadership.
4. Between the years
1030-930 S.M:
King’s
Period (zaman raja-raja).
In
this period, the Israelites entered in a new era of their life. They began to
embrace a structure of their life that begins with King Saul, later replaced by
David and continued by King Solomon, David's son. At this time the Israelites
became well-known and respected by other nations. At the time of King Saul,
David and Solomon, the parts of the Old Testament Scriptures begin to be
written.
5.
Between the years 930-722 S.M:
Kingdom
of Israel and Judah.
After
King Solomon died, Israel divided into two kingdoms, the North Kingdom (Israel) and the South Kingdom (Judah). Northern Kingdom lasted until 722
B.C. In this period began the preaching of the prophets like Elijah and Elisha, Hosea and Amos. At
this time some parts of the preaching began to be written. We can read in
Deuteronomy.
6.
Between the years 722-587 S.M:
The
Kingdom of Judah still in progress after the failure of the kingdom of Israel.
The
kingdom of Judah is still strong until they finally exiled to Babylon in 587
B.C. At this time some written traditions about the story of fathers of the
nation began to be collected together
7.
Between the years 586-539 S.M:
The
exile of the Istaelites to Babylon.
The
people of Israel from the Kingdom of Judah lived in Babylon, for 50 years. The
book of Lamentations (ratapan) was written. In this period also the priests (para
Imam) write the laws that included in the book of Leviticus(imamat).
8.
Between the years 538-200 S.M:
After
the exile, the Israelites were allowed to return to their homeland by the
Persian king.
The
Persia King overpower(mengalahkan) the kingdom of Babylon.
At
this time the five books of the law (lima kitab taurat) has been completed. Also
the history books of Joshua, Judges, 1-2 Samuel, and Kings already completed.
The books of the prophets too many have finished and selected 150 psalms which
we have received until now.
The reason why we must read and study the
Old Testament are:
1.
We will see how God continuously and
faithfully reveals Himself to be known; and how the nation of Israel responded
to the revelation of God. The quality of the relationship between God and the
nation of Israel can be imitated by the people of today in building a better
relationship with God.
2.
The Old Testament is the Word of God.
Due to that humans must listen and do what is said to us.
3.
It contains predictions (Nubuat-nubuat)
about the Messiah that God has promised. Therefore, understanding about Jesus
Christ as the fulfillment of God's promises can be fully understood if we study
the Old Testament.
4.
Jesus himself as a Jew (Yahudi) founding
his teaching in Old Testament. He does not deny the Old Testament, but affirm
and renew it.
A. New Testament
The content
of the New Testament
is the
faith experience about Jesus.
Through
the relationship and togetherness with Jesus, either direct or indirect, they
finally believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Savior and the
fulfillment of God's promise to save human being.
Basically,
the authors have different faith experience about Jesus Christ,
it
deepends on the backgrounds that they havewith Jesus. That is why the style, the
way and the content of the faith experience that they proclaim and write has a
different emphasis to one another.
In
the midst of the difficulties to read and to understand the contents of the New
Testament, the Holy Council(konsili suci) requests that all the faithful must
often reading the Holy Scriptures again and again in order to have the knowledge
about Jesus Christ (Dei Verbum Art. 25).
About
the Holy Scripture, St. Paul in his Second Letter to Timothy says that all the
writing that given by God are:
1.
Useful for teaching.
2.
To show the wrong action that done by
humanity.
3.
To improve behavior (memperbaiki
kelakuan).
4.
To teach the truth. "(2 Tim 3: 26).
St. Hironimus said:
"Ignore
the Holy Scriptures means Ignore Jesus Christ."
Old book (PL) speaks
about the covenant between God and the
people of Israel; while the second book, named the New Testament,
speaks about the covenant between
mankind and Jesus of Nazareth. So both are seen as God's covenant with mankind. only in the old covenant(perjanjian
lama), an agreement is still limited to the Nation of Israel, while in the
second period named which "the New
Covenant," the relationship was extended to all mankind.
So
the essence of the word "Covenant"
is more clear in the Old Testament,
but deeper in the New Testament.
In the NT God deals
with mankind no longer through a letter of an agreement (naska perjanjian), but
through His own Son Jesus Christ.
The process of writing
the New Testament (27 books) is a long process that is about 100 Years.
When Jesus was still
alive, no one of his Apostles take notes about what he did or what he said, or
anything about his life. They just want to be the Apostles of Jesus who follow
Jesus wherever He went, stayed with Jesus, learned to listen to his teaching,
and witnessing the actions of Jesus. Only after the resurrection of Jesus, they
began to feel how important is the presence of Jesus in their lives, and for
many people who had been following Jesus. Then after Jesus' resurrection, the Apostles
began to realize that Jesus is Lord
and Savior.
Pentecost
is a moment for them to
be brave to proclaime to many people about who Jesus really is.
Pentecost is a Blessing moment
They are brave to
preach the life of Jesus. And they started coming out from their hiding place,
and go to different places to teach about the life of Jesus. Then many people
believe in Jesus and give them to be baptized. They are scattered in different
cities, until outside of Palestine. The apostles can’t present in their midst,
so sometimes communication is done through letters. The letter could contain
advice to resolve issues or teaching or stories about the life of Jesus.
Only after the disciples
died and the people who believe in Jesus Christ more and more, then at that
time comes the need to write about the life of Jesus, his work, his words and
the end of his life. Because of the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they wrote the
story of Jesus based on their eye witnesses (saksi mata). His followers are already
spread in the middle of the World(read Luke 1: 1-4). And through writing they
can already proclaim their faith (and the faith of the church) about Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior.
The
Period of the Life of Jesus Until the New Testament.
1. Between
the year of 7/6 before Christ (BC) - 30 AD (M)Jesus was born around 7/6 SM *,
grew up in the village of Nazareth, the Galilee area. His spiritual life is so
deep and obey the law strongly (cf. Mt 5:17).
2. Around
the year 27/28 AD Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River
by John the Baptist.
Then he went throughout all Galilee
and Judea to proclaim the Kingdom of God. When Jesus was born, and appear
in public, Palestine was under Roman colonizer
led
Caeser Augustus and at
that time the Palestine was led by King Herod.
3. In
the situations like this there is an hatred atmosphere among the Jews against
the Roman colonizer.
The Jews believe that their God is a
faithful God and always present in their life.
In this conditions their hopes on God become
stronger that God will free them from suffering through a figure called the Messiah.
4.
After being baptized by John the
Baptist, Jesus continue the mission that has been proclaimed by John. Jesus
reveals God's intervention to human being through:
His Life, His
Word and His Work.
5. In
proclaiming His mission as the Messiah, Jesus use
Parables to be easily understood
by people.
Jesus delivered with divine authority(penuh
wibawa). That is why Jesus always said: "I tell you ... (Mark 1:27).
6. The
hatred of the Religious Leaders and the Pharisees could be seen to test Jesus
because they want to kill him, (Mt 12:14). In the end, they used the
opportunity to arrest him during the Easter
Celebration.
7. Since
the arrested of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Apotles who always
together with Him seems very scare of afraid. Peter deny, the other disciples scattered
every where. Jesus must face agony alone even carrying the cross without any
body. Until finally Jesus died on the Cross.
8. The
resurrection of Jesus
is to strengthen their faith.
Finally they believe that Jesus is:
Messiah,
the Son of God, Lord and Savior. They are more and
more convinced of everything that has been proclaimed by the Old Testament
about the Messiah, and it was seen as accomplished in Jesus.
In
the year of 367 Saint Athanasius collected a list of the Holy Scripture,
including the New Testament. The Catholic Church recognizes that the number of
writings or books in the New Testament
are 27 books. The essence of the New Testament:
·
About the life of Jesus Christ
·
About the work of Jesus.
·
About Word of Jesus.
·
About the struggle of Jesus
Although
New Testament focus on Jesus, but there
are also the life of the first Church.
Generally the form of the New Testament is about Parable, Teaching, Letters and Prediction.
The
four writings in New Testament is called GOSPEL.
·
The Gospel of Mattew,
·
The Gospel of Luke
·
The Gospel of Mark
·
The Gospel of John.
Their
writing stop with the story of Jesus appeared after Resurrection from the dead.
Seeing from the contents (isi), the four Gospels consider as the most important book.
The
"Acts of the Apostles"
tells
about
the beginning of the first Christian community and its development for more
than 30 years with the two main characters, namely Peter and Paul.
Last
Revelation is the Revelation of Saint
John.
This
book contains about the life of all Christians and the whole world. The book is
directed to the future or the end of time, and the affirmation of God's work of
salvation.
St.
Paul in his letter to Timothy asserts (menegaskan)
"All scripture is inspired by God and is
useful for teaching, reveal the wrong deeds, correcting attitudes and guide
people to walk in righteousness"(kebenaran) (2 Tim 3: 16-17)
C. Tradition
Traditions
in the Church
is
an expression of the experience of the Church's faith in Jesus Christ, which is
received, proclaimed, celebrated, and accepted through out the generations.
The
Tradition have a future orientation and at this time is very precious because
there is the time of Jesus and the
Apostles.
The
New Testament is the center and source of all the tradition, because it reveals
the experience of the faith of the Early Church. The Catholic Church believes
that the Scriptures (the Bible) with the tradition are declared by the Church
as "the highest point of reference of the faith of the Church" (Dei
Verbum Art. 21).
"The
Truth of the Faith"
Is Direct to the reality of faith
and the disposition of heart in responding to the God’s revelation.
To preserve Tradition, the early
Church collected and compiled the sacred writings which were recognized as
Faith of the Apostles. The canonization of the Scriptures became very important
especially to distinguish the wrong teachings from the original teachings. The
early church also developed the formulation of the creed as a form of normative
confession of faith. In that way, God's revelation is maintained and expressed
in the life of the church.
Church traditions maintained by the
Church, especially traditions that grow and are carried out in a special period
of time, namely
the times of Jesus and the
Apostles, called
the age of the Early Church.
The tradition was built on the
foundation of the Apostles and Prophets with Christ Jesus as the Cornerstone
(Eph 2:20). Then the formulation of the experience of the faith of the Early
Church, called the New Testament Scriptures written by the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit
is the center and source of all Tradition.
Because the New Testament Scriptures teach steadfastly and faithfully and
without error, truths that God wants included in them for the sake of salvation.
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