Reading the Bible

READING THE BIBLE

The first commandment asks us to love God with all our heart. Life has no meaning if we do not love God. And even when we do love him, we must grow in that love. Yet if we do not know someone, it is difficult, even impossible, to truly love them. We need to know someone well in order to love them. Indeed, how can we please someone if we do not know their tastes? What gives them joy? What they love?

To love God well, we must know what pleases him; yet ‘God dwells in unapproachable light’ (1 Tim 6:16).

The creature in itself cannot fathom the Creator. This is why God reveals himself. Thus God communicates himself to man through divine revelation. God makes himself known to Adam and Eve. Another stage of revelation is the covenant with Noah. Through the patriarchs and the prophets, God reveals himself. Through the people of Israel, God reveals himself. But the fullness of revelation is Jesus. Heb 1:1-2: ‘God, in these last days, has spoken to us through his Son.’ There will be no further revelation; that is to say, there will be no received truth that comes to improve, correct, or complete the definitive revelation of Christ. There are sects that often come along claiming there is a third or fourth testament. This is not true. So Saint John of the Cross tells us that Christ is the perfect and unsurpassable Word of the Father. He says that whoever seeks special revelations commits not only a folly, but an offense against God; for He has said everything in Christ. Thus Christ is the Word of God.

Henri Bayemi