HOW CATHOLICS SHOULD READ THE OLD TESTAMENT
Catholics should read the Old Testament as the true Word of God, while recognizing that it reaches its fullest meaning in Jesus Christ. The Old Testament is neither discarded nor treated merely as a collection of hidden predictions.
A Catholic way to read it:
1. Read each passage in its historical and literary context.
Consider its genre - history, law, poetry, wisdom, prophecy, or apocalyptic writing - and ask what the human author intended. Catholic interpretation should be historically grounded and must not impose arbitrary meanings on the text.
2. Read it as part of God’s unified plan of salvation.
God is the author of both Testaments. The Old prepares for the New, while the New fulfills and clarifies the Old; both remain true revelation.
3. Read it in the light of Christ's death and Resurrection.
Jesus is the interpretive key to Scripture. The Church uses typology, meaning that persons, events, and institutions in the Old Testament can prefigure Christ and the Church - for example, the Passover pointing toward Christ’s Paschal sacrifice.
4. Respect the Old Testament's own value.
Christians should not treat Israel’s Scriptures as worthless or merely as a defective first draft. They reveal God's real dealings with Israel and retain their intrinsic value, even as Christians perceive their fulfillment in Christ.
5. Read the New Testament together with the Old.
The Old Testament helps explain the New: the covenant, Passover, kingdom, temple, sacrifice, exile, and return all illuminate Christ and the Church. Conversely, Christ reveals the deeper meaning of these earlier realities.
6. Read within the Church's living Tradition.
Interpretation should accord with the unity of Scripture, the faith handed on in the Church, and the coherence of Catholic doctrine. The liturgy is especially important because it regularly interprets the Old Testament through Christ.
In short: first ask what the text meant in its original context; then ask how it participates in God's plan fulfilled in Christ; finally, receive its spiritual meaning in harmony with the Church's faith.
FOR FURTHER READING AND REFERENCES:
Catholics should read the Old Testament as the true Word of God, while recognizing that it reaches its fullest meaning in Jesus Christ. The Old Testament is neither discarded nor treated merely as a collection of hidden predictions.
A Catholic way to read it:
1. Read each passage in its historical and literary context.
Consider its genre - history, law, poetry, wisdom, prophecy, or apocalyptic writing - and ask what the human author intended. Catholic interpretation should be historically grounded and must not impose arbitrary meanings on the text.
2. Read it as part of God’s unified plan of salvation.
God is the author of both Testaments. The Old prepares for the New, while the New fulfills and clarifies the Old; both remain true revelation.
3. Read it in the light of Christ's death and Resurrection.
Jesus is the interpretive key to Scripture. The Church uses typology, meaning that persons, events, and institutions in the Old Testament can prefigure Christ and the Church - for example, the Passover pointing toward Christ’s Paschal sacrifice.
4. Respect the Old Testament's own value.
Christians should not treat Israel’s Scriptures as worthless or merely as a defective first draft. They reveal God's real dealings with Israel and retain their intrinsic value, even as Christians perceive their fulfillment in Christ.
5. Read the New Testament together with the Old.
The Old Testament helps explain the New: the covenant, Passover, kingdom, temple, sacrifice, exile, and return all illuminate Christ and the Church. Conversely, Christ reveals the deeper meaning of these earlier realities.
6. Read within the Church's living Tradition.
Interpretation should accord with the unity of Scripture, the faith handed on in the Church, and the coherence of Catholic doctrine. The liturgy is especially important because it regularly interprets the Old Testament through Christ.
In short: first ask what the text meant in its original context; then ask how it participates in God's plan fulfilled in Christ; finally, receive its spiritual meaning in harmony with the Church's faith.
FOR FURTHER READING AND REFERENCES:
- Magisterium AI
- The Jewish People and Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible (May 24, 2001).
- Verbum Domini, Pope Benedict XVI. 41.
- Catechism of the Ukrainian Catholic Church: Christ – Our Pascha. 43, 44, 45.
- CCC. 129.
- On the Fourfold Sense of Scripture in Jesus of Nazareth, Volume 1. p. 7.
- Ecclesia in Medio Oriente, Pope Benedict XVI. 70.