In a trip to Europe (before the pandemic!

), you noticed above the door of a Lutheran

church: Sola Scriptura (“By Scripture Alone”). Explain the implications, values, and
limitations of this assertion in light of the theology of revelation, tradition, the authority
and interpretation of Scripture, and the role of the church in relation to Scripture. Your
response should draw from both Dei Filius and Dei Verbum.

Note: DF= Dei Filius / DV = Dei Verbum / DH = Denzinger Hünermann

I consider necessary to start by approaching to what can be understood by revelation.

Etymologically, the word revelation (from the Latin revelation and the Greek apocalypsis)
simply means the removal of a veil and disclosure. It seems that both the Jewish and Jewish
Christian tradition, take for granted and share in common the idea that the revelation of the god
known as YHWH has been written down and recognized as canonical in the collection of books
called Tanak (TNK) or the Jewish Bible and the Christian Bible.
Catholic systematic theology tends to identify several types of revelation: (1) natural
revelation could refer to the self-manifestation of God in nature as in Acts:

“Men, why are you doing this? We are of the same nature as you, human beings.
We proclaim to you good news that you should turn from these idols to the living God,
‘who made heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them.’ In past generations he
allowed all Gentiles to go their own ways; yet, in bestowing his goodness, he did not
leave himself without witness, for he gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons,
and filled you with nourishment and gladness for your hearts.” (Acts 14:15-17)

but also to the voice of conscience:

“For when the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature observe the
prescriptions of the law, they are a law for themselves even though they do not have the
law” (Rom 2:14).

(2) Historical revelation meaning it was made to specific individuals and groups through
particular events at specific times and places; (3) active revelation as the gradual process of
God’s manifestation; (4) objective revelation as the deposit of truth in the form of knowledge
and wisdom; (5) immediate revelation if a person received it directly from God; and (6) mediate
revelation if it was passed on from a first recipient to others.
The different types of revelation and the possibility for it can be also found in some
church documents. For instance, Dei Filius stated that God can be known with the sole light and
effort of human reason: “The same holy Mother Church holds and teaches that God, the
beginning and end of all things, can be known with certainty from the things that were created
through the natural light of human reason; for |ever since the creation of the world his invisible
nature…has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made (Rom 1:20)” (DH 3004).
But also, Dei Filius went further by stating that there is another kind of revelation, divine
revelation: “But it pleased his (God’s) wisdom and goodness to reveal himself and the eternal
decrees if his will in another and a supernatural way, as the apostle says: ‘In many and various
ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us
by a Son (Heb 1:1-2)’” (DH 3004). Dei Filius defended that this divine revelation, (1) allows

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human beings to know the truth about God and the eternal decrees of his will, and, more
importantly, (2) these truths are not beyond human reason and they can, even in the present
condition of mankind, be known by everyone with facility, with firm certitude, and with no
admixture of error (DH 3005).
More recently Dei Verbum also made clear that revelation, is not (only) direct and
immediate, but mediated by the events of history (intrinsically linked words and works), and
what is contained in the world: “This plan of revelation is realized by deeds and words having an
inner unity: the deeds wrought by God in the history of salvation manifest and confirm the
teaching and realities signified by the words, while the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the
mystery contained in them” (DV 2). Thus, events are already the word of God insofar as they are
bearers of meaning as constitutive of the development of history that God unfolds throughout
history with humankind.
The Church maintains that revelation is a freely-taken initiative from God: “In all
wisdom and insight, he (God) has made known to us the mystery of his will in accord with his
favor that he set forth in him” (Eph 1 8b-9). The constitution Dei Verbum on Divine Revelation
of the Second Vatican Council (DV) also reflects this insight: “Through divine revelation, God
chose to show forth and communicate Himself and the eternal decisions of His will regarding the
salvation of men” (DV 6).
The purpose of revelation is to communicate God himself and his determinations: “But it
pleased his (God’s) wisdom and goodness to reveal himself and the eternal decrees if his will in
another and a supernatural way” (DF 2). Also, through revelation the invisible God (see Col.
1;15, 1 Tim. 1:17) out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends (see Ex. 33:11;
John 15:14-15) and lives among them (see Bar 3:38), so that He may invite and take them into
fellowship with Himself.
The first known document of the New Testament, meaning the Pauline letter to the
Thessalonians affirms reflect the awareness that the apostolic preaching was the communication
of the word of God: “And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in
receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received not a human word but, as it truly is, the
word of God, which is now at work in you who believe” (1Thess 2:13).
But revelation is also understood as the content of the divine unfolding, meaning as
doctrine addressed to humans in their respective history. Thus, it was declared by the 4th Lateran
Council, Chapter 1 on The Catholic Faith: “The Holy Trinity, undivided according to its
common essence and distinct according to the proper characteristics of the Persons,
communicated the doctrine of salvation to human race” (DH 800). Although it has to be noticed
that the word revelation does not appear explicitly in this statement because it was equated with
the term doctrine.
The Church believes that the Sacred Scripture is the word of God recorded as written
revelation. Sone strands of the NT seem to reflect this insight: “All scripture is inspired by God
and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that
one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (2Tim 3:16-17).
Also Vatican II who expresses this clearly: “In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven
meets His children with great love and speaks with them” (DV 21) and “For the Sacred
Scriptures contain the word of God and since they are inspired, really are the word of God; and
so the study of the sacred page (theology) is, as it were, the soul of sacred theology” (DV 24).
The Council also states that the process of authorship is the result of both God and human
beings: “In composing the sacred books, God chose men and while employed by Him they made

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use of their powers and abilities, so that with Him acting in them and through them, they, as true
authors, consigned to writing everything and only those things which He wanted.” (DV 11).
According to this last statement, the word of God is the result of a collaborative effort between
God and men though inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit. God has never written a book; God
inspired a book: “God, the inspirer and author of both testaments…” (DV 15) but it was the work
of human beings, functioning as true authors, what actually made possible for the word of God
(revelation) to be registered and preserved in material artifacts.
Historically, the Church believes that the word of God is channeled as in two strains,
veins or manifestations, namely Sacred Scripture and Tradition. The Council of Trent already
expressed this conviction when it says that “the council clearly perceives that this truth and rule
(meaning the Sacred Scriptures) are contained in the written books and unwritten traditions (in
libris scriptis et sine scripto traditionibus) that have come down to us having been received by
the apostles from the mouth of Christ himself or from the apostles by the dictation of the Holy
Spirit, and have been transmitted (per manus traditae), as it were, from hand to hand” (DH 1501).
This was perhaps the clearest and most overwhelming declaration of the fathers gathered in Trent
against the concept of sola Scriptura.

Dei Verbum dedicated an entire chapter (Chapter II numbers 7-10) to explain the doctrine
of the “handing on divine revelation.” It basically echoes and reaffirms the same conviction:
“Hence there exists a close connection and communication between sacred tradition and Sacred
Scripture. For both of them, flowing from the same divine wellspring, in a certain way merge
into a unity and tend toward the same end. For Sacred Scripture is the word of God inasmuch as
it is consigned to writing under the inspiration of the divine Spirit, while sacred tradition takes
the word of God entrusted by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and hands it on
to their successors in its full purity, so that led by the light of the Spirit of truth, they may in
proclaiming it preserve this word of God faithfully, explain it, and make it more widely known”
(DV 9).

The Church recognizes that tradition (handing on or handing over) is a divine initiative
that comes as a gift for humanity: “In His gracious goodness, God has seen to it that what He had
revealed for the salvation of all nations would abide perpetually in its full integrity and be
handed on to all generations” (DV 7). The rest of this number explains the process in which
tradition has passed since the OT times to Christ, to the Apostles and their successors up to us
today. It can be said in all truth that tradition existed before Scripture because this latter
presupposes a process that started with the communication and reception of the revealed message
before it was written.

Thus, the process of “handing down” does not occur in the vacuum but it is an ecclesial
process, meaning that it happens in the living community of the faithful: “Sacred tradition and
Sacred Scripture form one sacred deposit of the word of God, committed to the Church” (DV
10). “Therefore the Apostles, handing on what they themselves had received, warn the faithful to
hold fast to the traditions which they have learned either by word of mouth or by letter (see 2
Thess. 2:15). Now what was handed on by the Apostles includes everything which contributes
toward the holiness of life and increase in faith of the peoples of God; and so the Church, in her
teaching, life and worship, perpetuates and hands on to all generations all that she herself is, all
that she believes (DV 8). And also: “This tradition which comes from the Apostles develop in

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the Church with the help of the Holy Spirit.” It is the purpose of tradition to help the Church to
“growth in the understanding of the realities and the words which have been handed down” (DV
8).

Tradition is not static but a living process that pertains to the practice and life of the
faithful, meaning, it has not only dogmatic but also ethical and liturgical repercussions: “The
words of the holy fathers witness to the presence of this living tradition, whose wealth is poured
into the practice and life of the believing and praying Church.” (DV 8) Tradition also has
implications for the evolution, development or clarifying understanding of Scripture “Through
the same tradition the Church's full canon of the sacred books is known, and the sacred writings
themselves are more profoundly understood and unceasingly made active in her” (DV 8).

Finally, tradition in the Catholic church has an intrinsic relation to the authority of the
interpretation of Scripture, as Dei Verbum sates: |It is clear, therefore, that sacred tradition,
Sacred Scripture and the teaching authority of the Church, in accord with God's most wise
design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all
together and each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit contribute effectively to
the salvation of souls.”

The loving tradition is a necessary component or element of the interpretative role that
the exegetes exercise in and for the church: “The living tradition of the whole Church must be
taken into account along with the harmony which exists between elements of the faith. It is the
task of exegetes to work according to these rules toward a better understanding and explanation
of the meaning of Sacred Scripture, so that through preparatory study the judgment of the Church
may mature” (DV 12). This last phrase is very significative because it presupposes that tradition
is not only a living but also a process of development and even of evolution towards a better
understanding of the content of the revelation. Tradition is then subjected to development and
improvement, even correction.

When related to theology, tradition also has a role to play in the life of the church. Dei
Verbum says that: “Sacred theology rests on the written word of God, together with sacred
tradition, as its primary and perpetual foundation.” (DV 24). Only when theology is faithful to
the living tradition of the church can contribute to its strengthening and rejuvenation (also DV
24).