Papal Interpretation of Scripture

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meltzerboy

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Hypothetical situation (I think): If the Pope stated that a particularly complicated verse in Scripture had a certain meaning, would he be speaking infallibly? Even if he were not speaking “ex cathedra,” would his statement influence or sway your own thinking to the extent that you felt obligated to agree with the Pope’s interpretation, even though you previously had a very different interpretation?
 
In order for him to be speaking infallibly, he would have to exercise the criteria native to his office corresponding to an infallible statement. He would have to speak from the chair of Peter, on an issue of faith or morals, for all the faithful to hold. Regarding a non-“infallible” teaching, the Catechism speaks thusly about such a teaching from the Church:*892 Divine assistance is also given to the successors of the apostles, teaching in communion with the successor of Peter, and, in a particular way, to the bishop of Rome, pastor of the whole Church, when, without arriving at an infallible definition and without pronouncing in a “definitive manner,” they propose in the exercise of the ordinary Magisterium a teaching that leads to better understanding of Revelation in matters of faith and morals. To this ordinary teaching the faithful “are to adhere to it with religious assent” which, though distinct from the assent of faith, is nonetheless an extension of it.*So, a Church teaching such as I understand you to posit should certainly influence one’s understanding of a passage.
 
No pope can contradict Scripture.

But the Church provides us the full deposit of Christ through apostolic testimony, morality, Christology. A pope cannot contradict the deposit of faith…why would he???
 
KathleenGee said:
No pope can contradict Scripture.

But the Church provides us the full deposit of Christ through apostolic testimony, morality, Christology. A pope cannot contradict the deposit of faith…why would he???
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Kathleen, I’m not saying the Pope contradicts Scripture. However, in Catholicism, I’m sure there are certain passages in Scripture that are difficult and challenging to interpret. Suppose the Pope offers an interpretation that is different from your own. In that case, would you and should you be willing to depart from your own reading of a passage, based on knowledge, and agree with the Pope’s interpretation?
 
MarcoPolo said:
In order for him to be speaking infallibly, he would have to exercise the criteria native to his office corresponding to an infallible statement. He would have to speak from the chair of Peter, on an issue of faith or morals, for all the faithful to hold. Regarding a non-“infallible” teaching, the Catechism speaks thusly about such a teaching from the Church:892 Divine assistance is also given to the successors of the apostles, teaching in communion with the successor of Peter, and, in a particular way, to the bishop of Rome, pastor of the whole Church, when, without arriving at an infallible definition and without pronouncing in a “definitive manner,” they propose in the exercise of the ordinary Magisterium a teaching that leads to better understanding of Revelation in matters of faith and morals. To this ordinary teaching the faithful “are to adhere to it with religious assent” which, though distinct from the assent of faith, is nonetheless an extension of it.So, a Church teaching such as I understand you to posit should certainly influence one’s understanding of a passage.
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Thank you for this information, MarcoPolo.
 
Yes it would sway my opinion even if he was not speaking infallibly. I would pray for clarity if I struggled with what the Pope was teaching.
 
Essentially, the Pope never makes a decision or a proclamation in a vacuum. In each and every case that I am aware of, the College of Cardinals was also involved in the process - most of which take years or even decades.

The proof of the efficacy of Papal and Church infallibility is that of the 266 Popes, not a single one has reversed or contradicted established Church teaching. In those limited cases where there appears to be a conflict, the context must be carefully examined for clarity.
 
If the Pope is being an expositor of Scripture or giving an interpretation of a Scripture passage that is not binding in nature as doctrine, but only meant to be enlightening for our understanding of that passage, then I can see myself preferring another interpretation that I feel is better, that is, not my own interpretation (by no means) because I don’t feel qualified to interpret, but I can see me preferring an interpretation by St. Thomas Aquinas or St. Augustine over most people. But I would certainly take what any Pope says when interpreting, even things that are not binding to my faith, as being well worth my time to try to understand what he is saying!
 
The Holy Father will not teach contrary to the deposit of faith that is found in our universal Catholic Catechism, that is developed from Sacred Scripture, the Oral Tradition of Jesus Christ witnessed by the apostles and passed down.

The Holy Spirit guides the Holy Father, the bishops…and us. His Shepherd knows His flock and His flock knows Him.

There are times we hear of remarks given by the Vatican that come across as compromised. Later we find out it is not an official but someone giving his opinion.

We already have our beliefs and understanding of Scripture and the Incarnation. If a pope were to contradict that and give us a different interpretation, with likewise different takes…that does not affirm our living relationship with Christ in the Church, we would assume he is speaking also from his personal interpretation/opinion, it would stay with him.

One of the amazing things to learn about the history of the saints is that they all bore witness to Christ, they all had different charisms, but they all brought us to Christ. That is what the pope is supposed to do.

There was a pope in the past who wanted Latin to be used in all seminaries throughout the world in an encyclical and it was not followed by seminaries.

Pope Benedict wrote some books on Christ but likewise properly stated that these were his personal reflections on Christ and not something definitive, meaning, they were orthodox and binding.
 
KathleenGee said:
No pope can contradict Scripture.

But the Church provides us the full deposit of Christ through apostolic testimony, morality, Christology. A pope cannot contradict the deposit of faith…why would he???
Click to expand...
👍
 
Hello, everyone,

I have a question:

If the Council of Trent prohibited the private interpretation of Scripture, and the Pope and Magisterium have only infallibly interpreted a few verses, are Roman Catholic lay persons partaking of private interpretation when they attempt to interpret the Scriptures when in dialogue?
 
meltzerboy said:
Hypothetical situation (I think): If the Pope stated that a particularly complicated verse in Scripture had a certain meaning, would he be speaking infallibly? Even if he were not speaking “ex cathedra,” would his statement influence or sway your own thinking to the extent that you felt obligated to agree with the Pope’s interpretation, even though you previously had a very different interpretation?
Click to expand...
meltzerboy,

I just wanted to make a point that I think that no one had yet addressed: in your scenario, for there to be any contention, then the pope would have to be saying that the verse of Scripture in question had one (and only one) possible interpretation. In other words, he would have to be saying that there is no other way to look at that verse. Short of such an assertion, a person could validly offer interpretations that differed (but did not contradict) the pope’s, and there wouldn’t be any problem with that…
 
richport29 said:
Hello, everyone,

I have a question:

If the Council of Trent prohibited the private interpretation of Scripture, and the Pope and Magisterium have only infallibly interpreted a few verses, are Roman Catholic lay persons partaking of private interpretation when they attempt to interpret the Scriptures when in dialogue?
Click to expand...
A few applicable sections from the catechism:

III. THE INTERPRETATION OF THE HERITAGE OF FAITH

The heritage of faith entrusted to the whole of the Church

84 The apostles entrusted the “Sacred deposit” of the faith (the depositum fidei),45 contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to the whole of the Church. "By adhering to [this heritage] the entire holy people, united to its pastors, remains always faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. So, in maintaining, practicing and professing the faith that has been handed on, there should be a remarkable harmony between the bishops and the faithful."46

The Magisterium of the Church

85 "The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ."47 This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome.

86 "Yet this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully. All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of faith."48

87 Mindful of Christ’s words to his apostles: “He who hears you, hears me”,49 the faithful receive with docility the teachings and directives that their pastors give them in different forms.

The dogmas of the faith

88 The Church’s Magisterium exercises the authority it holds from Christ to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas, that is, when it proposes, in a form obliging the Christian people to an irrevocable adherence of faith, truths contained in divine Revelation or also when it proposes, in a definitive way, truths having a necessary connection with these.

89 There is an organic connection between our spiritual life and the dogmas. Dogmas are lights along the path of faith; they illuminate it and make it secure. Conversely, if our life is upright, our intellect and heart will be open to welcome the light shed by the dogmas of faith.50

90 The mutual connections between dogmas, and their coherence, can be found in the whole of the Revelation of the mystery of Christ.51 "In Catholic doctrine there exists an order or hierarchy of truths, since they vary in their relation to the foundation of the Christian faith."52

The supernatural sense of faith

91 All the faithful share in understanding and handing on revealed truth. They have received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who instructs them53 and guides them into all truth.54

92 "The whole body of the faithful. . . cannot err in matters of belief. This characteristic is shown in the supernatural appreciation of faith (sensus fidei) on the part of the whole people, when, from the bishops to the last of the faithful, they manifest a universal consent in matters of faith and morals."55

93 "By this appreciation of the faith, aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth, the People of God, guided by the sacred teaching authority (Magisterium),. . . receives. . . the faith, once for all delivered to the saints. . . The People unfailingly adheres to this faith, penetrates it more deeply with right judgment, and applies it more fully in daily life."56

Growth in understanding the faith

94 Thanks to the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the understanding of both the realities and the words of the heritage of faith is able to grow in the life of the Church:
  • “through the contemplation and study of believers who ponder these things in their hearts”;57 it is in particular “theological research [which] deepens knowledge of revealed truth”.58
  • “from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which [believers] experience”,59 the sacred Scriptures "grow with the one who reads them."60
  • “from the preaching of those who have received, along with their right of succession in the episcopate, the sure charism of truth”.61
95 "It is clear therefore that, in the supremely wise arrangement of God, sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without the others. Working together, each in its own way, under the action of the one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to the salvation of souls."62

(continued)
 
ARTICLE 3
SACRED SCRIPTURE

I. CHRIST - THE UNIQUE WORD OF SACRED SCRIPTURE

101 In order to reveal himself to men, in the condescension of his goodness God speaks to them in human words: "Indeed the words of God, expressed in the words of men, are in every way like human language, just as the Word of the eternal Father, when he took on himself the flesh of human weakness, became like men."63

102 Through all the words of Sacred Scripture, God speaks only one single Word, his one Utterance in whom he expresses himself completely:64

You recall that one and the same Word of God extends throughout Scripture, that it is one and the same Utterance that resounds in the mouths of all the sacred writers, since he who was in the beginning God with God has no need of separate syllables; for he is not subject to time.65

103 For this reason, the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord’s Body. She never ceases to present to the faithful the bread of life, taken from the one table of God’s Word and Christ’s Body.66

104 In Sacred Scripture, the Church constantly finds her nourishment and her strength, for she welcomes it not as a human word, “but as what it really is, the word of God”.67 "In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with them."68

II. INSPIRATION AND TRUTH OF SACRED SCRIPTURE

105 God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit."69

"For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and the New Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author, and have been handed on as such to the Church herself."70

106 God inspired the human authors of the sacred books. "To compose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed them in this task, made full use of their own faculties and powers so that, though he acted in them and by them, it was as true authors that they consigned to writing whatever he wanted written, and no more."71

107 The inspired books teach the truth. "Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures."72

108 Still, the Christian faith is not a “religion of the book.” Christianity is the religion of the “Word” of God, a word which is “not a written and mute word, but the Word which is incarnate and living”.73 If the Scriptures are not to remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, "open [our] minds to understand the Scriptures."74

III. THE HOLY SPIRIT, INTERPRETER OF SCRIPTURE

109 In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to man in a human way. To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm, and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words.75

110 In order to discover the sacred authors’ intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of their time and culture, the literary genres in use at that time, and the modes of feeling, speaking and narrating then current. "For the fact is that truth is differently presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical and poetical texts, and in other forms of literary expression."76

111 But since Sacred Scripture is inspired, there is another and no less important principle of correct interpretation, without which Scripture would remain a dead letter. "Sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written."77

The Second Vatican Council indicates three criteria for interpreting Scripture in accordance with the Spirit who inspired it.78

112 1. Be especially attentive “to the content and unity of the whole Scripture”. Different as the books which compose 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.79
The phrase “heart of Christ” can refer to Sacred Scripture, which makes known his heart, closed before the Passion, as the Scripture was obscure. But the Scripture has been opened since the Passion; since those who from then on have understood it, consider and discern in what way the prophecies must be interpreted.80
113 2. Read the Scripture within “the living Tradition of the whole Church”. According to a saying of the Fathers, Sacred Scripture is written principally in the Church’s heart rather than in documents and records, for the Church carries in her Tradition the living memorial of God’s Word, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives her the spiritual interpretation of the Scripture (". . . according to the spiritual meaning which the Spirit grants to the Church"81).

114 3. Be attentive to the analogy of faith.82 By “analogy of faith” we mean the coherence of the truths of faith among themselves and within the whole plan of Revelation.
 
The senses of Scripture

115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture in the Church.

116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: "All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal."83

117 The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God’s plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.
  1. The allegorical sense. We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ’s victory and also of Christian Baptism.84
  2. The moral sense. The events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As St. Paul says, they were written “for our instruction”.85
  3. The anagogical sense (Greek: anagoge, “leading”). We can view realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland: thus the Church on earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem.86
118 A medieval couplet summarizes the significance of the four senses:

The Letter speaks of deeds; Allegory to faith;
The Moral how to act; Anagogy our destiny.87

119 "It is the task of exegetes to work, according to these rules, towards a better understanding and explanation of the meaning of Sacred Scripture in order that their research may help the Church to form a firmer judgment. For, of course, all that has been said about the manner of interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgement of the Church which exercises the divinely conferred commission and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God."88
But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the Catholic Church already moved me.89
 
richport29 said:
Hello, everyone,

I have a question:

If the Council of Trent prohibited the private interpretation of Scripture, and the Pope and Magisterium have only infallibly interpreted a few verses, are Roman Catholic lay persons partaking of private interpretation when they attempt to interpret the Scriptures when in dialogue?
Click to expand...
I originally made a series of posts from the catechism, but for the sake of pertinence, I can refer you to catechism sections 109-119 which refer specifically to the interpretation os the scriptures. Basically, we as Catholics have some latitude, but our efforts must be informed by and guided by the magisterium of the Church.
 
po18guy said:
“I originally made a series of posts from the catechism, but for the sake of pertinence, I can refer you to catechism sections 109-119 which refer specifically to the interpretation os the scriptures. Basically, we as Catholics have some latitude, but our efforts must be informed by and guided by the magisterium of the Church.”
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Thank you, Po18guy,

I will definitely read that portion of the catechism. However, what do Catholics do when there is no guidance by the Magisterium? So, if no authoritative interpretation has been given, what authority does the layman have to interpret? And how binding will his interpretation be?
 
po18guy said:
“I originally made a series of posts from the catechism, but for the sake of pertinence, I can refer you to catechism sections 109-119 which refer specifically to the interpretation os the scriptures. Basically, we as Catholics have some latitude, but our efforts must be informed by and guided by the magisterium of the Church.”
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PO18guy,

Some initial questions: When the catechism states, "“It is the task of exegetes to work…”, who are the exegetes?

Now, if the “exegetes” of 119 include laymen, how would you reconcile that freedom given to laymen with the Council of Trent’s commandment against private interpretation (please consider that in the 16th century, no Catholic laymen would have dreamt that they were allowed to interpret Scripture privately under any circumstances)?

Also, how would you interact with 109-110 and 113? What would a Catholic laymen apply that to a text? How does a laymen know if he has correctly understood the sense of the historical author and the “Living Tradition of the whole Church”?
 
richport29 said:
Thank you, Po18guy,

I will definitely read that portion of the catechism. However, what do Catholics do when there is guidance by the Magisterium? So, if no authoritative interpretation has been given, what authority does the layman have to interpret? And how binding will his interpretation be?
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If our private interpretation does not accord with the totality of the magisterial teaching of the Church, it is reduced to mere opinion, and is by definition, error.

For example, one may agree with fundamentalists that Mary had other children, based on extra-biblical addition of meaning to Matthew 1:25, combined with a mis-reading of verses relating to “brothers and sisters” of the Lord. However, consulting with the magisterium, we see that the reasons for belief in Mary’s perpatual virginity are numerous and profound, and that the true meaning of “brothers and sisters” of the Lord has an explanation that is consistent with perpetual virginity.
 
po18guy said:
"If our private interpretation does not accord with the totality of the magisterial teaching of the Church, it is reduced to mere opinion, and is by definition, error.

For example, one may agree with fundamentalists that Mary had other children, based on extra-biblical addition of meaning to Matthew 1:25, combined with a mis-reading of verses relating to “brothers and sisters” of the Lord. However, consulting with the magisterium, we see that the reasons for belief in Mary’s perpatual virginity are numerous and profound, and that the true meaning of “brothers and sisters” of the Lord has an explanation that is consistent with perpetual virginity."
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Po18guy,

Than you for your reply, I will definitely think through it. I noticed that I did make a mistake. The question should read, “what does a Catholic laymen do when there is* no *guidance…”
 
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