Sacred Scripture and the Modern Catholic Part 4

4. The New in Light of the Old: Analogy of Scripture

"God, the inspirer and author of the books of both Testaments, in His wisdom has so brought it about that the New should be hidden in the Old, and that the Old should be made manifest in the New" (, no. 16).

The complete canon of Scripture includes 73 books. But as the teaches, there is an inner unity which also allows us to refer to the Bible as a single book:

"Be especially attentive 'to the content and unity of the whole Scripture.' Different as the books which comprise it may be, Scripture is a unity by reason of the unity of God's plan, of which Christ Jesus is the center and heart, open since His Passover" (, no. 112).

This principle of interpretation is called the analogy of Scripture. The analogy of Scripture allows us to see how the plans, promises, and covenants of the Old Testament salvation history are realized and fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ and the foundation of the Roman Church. Salvation history, viewed in this light, allows us to see that "His story" becomes "our story." This realization allows us to read the Scriptures with a new-found interest. What may have appeared to be an obscure story now becomes our family history. St. Paul states: "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by steadfastness and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope" (Rom. 15:4).

When viewed in this light, the Scriptures invite us in and provide us with a God-given worldview. We become acquainted with "the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Eph. 3:1 1). We have become "fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone" (Eph. 2:19-20). It is with this knowledge and through the life of prayer which must accompany it that we may begin to make sense of our lives and our role in the modern world. Vatican II provides that "Christ fully reveals man to himself" (, no. 22), and without this Christ-centered knowledge of self we have no hope of living the life that God intends for us.