Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me. Matthew 25:40

In this section we will look at:

• How social justice is explored and handled in the Old and New Testaments.
• What the Bible shows us about our responsibilities towards each other.
• How God guides us through Scripture.

Social justice runs like a golden thread throughout Scripture. The Bible is very clear that we have social responsibilities for the earth and towards each other; not only in what we do but in what and who we speak up for. Some people think that religion and politics shouldn’t mix but this is a false dichotomy. Politics is the art of living well together and Jesus was always concerned with those who suffered at the hands of other people. His own death was, in part, a political challenge to the status quo.

When we leave out faith from politics, we leave out God from our local, national and international decision-making and legislation. We see the multiple effects of this with the breakdown of civil society, corrupt governance and dictators leading oppressive regimes. With substantial levels of poverty and rising levels of conflict and violence in many parts of the world leading to mass migration and unstable global economics, we need Catholic perspectives more than ever. Engaging in politics and living out our faith are not a choice between God and the world. How we seek God’s guidance in our daily life and management of world affairs shapes the common good and the kingdom that Jesus invited us to share.

In a democratic system we have the right to participate in politics at different levels: from electing our representatives to responding to government consultations, to making a difference in our neighbourhood, to challenging institutions and various sectors. We should take advantage of the opportunities provided by our democratic system whenever we can. In this way we express our faith through social action. We try to look at the world through the eyes of Jesus, to draw on our Catholic Tradition, to challenge injustices wherever we can, and to support others in their pursuit of the common good.

Catholic Principles for reading the Bible

Before we look at a number of important themes in Scripture, here are some Catholic principles for reading the Bible:

1. God is the principal author of Sacred Scripture.
2. God used specific people who wrote in human language at a particular time and place in history. These writers reflected their own personalities and educations.
3. The truth that they conveyed is differently presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical and poetical texts, and in other forms of literary expression.
4. Catholics seek to understand what a sacred author is saying to be true, distinguishing that from something he is using as an image to help them understand the truth more clearly.
5. God chose to reveal certain truths for the sake of salvation. This message of salvation is the set of revealed truths which Catholics call the “deposit of faith,” or Divine Revelation. The Bible is primarily concerned with telling these truths, which are without error.

To help Catholics grow in faith as they read Scripture, the Church gives us three important points for interpreting and understanding the Bible:

1. ‘Be especially attentive “to the content and unity of the whole Scripture”’. (Catechism, 112). It all fits together, so we shouldn’t just look at selected parts in isolation.
2. Read the Bible within ’the living Tradition of the whole Church’ (Catechism, 113), since the Holy Spirit guides the Church in interpreting Scripture. Especially helpful is seeing how the saints, popes, early church fathers and mothers and Church councils have commented on Scripture throughout history.
3. Pay attention to ‘the coherence of the truths of faith among themselves and within the whole plan of Revelation’. (Catechism, 114).

The entire deposit of faith forms a wonderful unity – doctrine sheds light on Scripture, and Scripture on doctrine.

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 is incarnate and living’.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, sec.108.

How the Bible Speaks to Catholics

In the New Testament, the Old is generally spoken of as ‘the Scriptures’ or ‘the sacred writings’ (Matthew 21:42). Gradually the word ‘Scripture’ has been used in the singular and has become a synonym for the Bible. Catholics cite Acts 8:32 to support this definition.

Catholics believe that there are different senses to our understanding of the Bible:

• The literal sense – 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.
• The spiritual sense – In light of the unity of God’s plan, not just the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.
• The allegorical sense – We can find a more profound understanding of events by seeing their significance in Christ; so the crossing of the Red Sea is both a sign of Christ’s victory and of Christian baptism.
• The moral sense – The events we read in Scripture should lead us to act justly and fairly.
• The anagogical sense (Greek: anagoge, ‘leading’) – We can see the realities and events in the Bible in terms of their eternal significance, leading us home to God. So the Church on earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem.

The whole point of reading is to encounter God, understand the revelation he has given us, and to grow in faith and wisdom in our everyday life.

We do not read alone, we read the Bible within the tradition of the Church to benefit from the holiness and wisdom of all the faithful who have gone before us.

Let us now take a look at the Bible through the lens of some key social justice themes as they emerge and develop in the Old and New Testaments.

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< Section 1: What is Social Action

Section 3: How to Take Action >

<< Back to ‘Turning Tables: A Toolkit for Scripture and Social Action’

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