The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament

THE IGNATIUS CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE

NEW TESTAMENT

THE IGNATIUS CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE

Revised Standard Version    Second Catholic Edition

TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL TONGUES
BEING THE VERSION SET FORTH A.D. 1611

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS REVISED A.D. 1881-1885 AND A.D. 1901

COMPARED WITH THE MOST ANCIENT AUTHORITIES

AND REVISED A.D. 1946 AND 1952

THE ORIGINAL CATHOLIC EDITION OF THE RSV TRANSLATION
WAS PREPARED BY THE
CATHOLIC BIBLICAL ASSOCIATION OF GREAT BRITAIN
IN A.D. 1965

THIS EDITION WAS REVISED ACCORDING TO

LITURGIAM AUTHENTICAM

2001

IGNATIUS PRESS    SAN FRANCISCO

Published with ecclesiastical approval.

Original RSV Bible text:
Nihil obstat
: Thomas Hanlon, S.T.L., L.S.S, Ph.L.
Imprimatur
: + Peter W. Bertholome, D.D.
Bishop of Saint Cloud, Minnesota
May 11, 1966

Second Catholic Edition approved under the same
imprimatur
by the
Secretariat for Doctrine and Pastoral Practices,
National Conference of Catholic Bishops
February 29, 2000

Introduction, commentaries, and notes:
Nihil obstat
:Rev. Msgr. J. Warren Holleran, S.T.D.
Imprimatur:
+ Most Rev. George Niederauer
Archbishop of San Francisco,
January 13, 2010

The
nihil obstat
and
imprimatur
are official declarations that a book or pamphlet is free of doctrinal or moral error. No implication is contained therein that those who have granted the
nihil obstat
and
imprimatur
agree with the contents, opinions, or statements expressed.

Second Catholic Edition approved by the
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA

The Scripture contained herein is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Catholic Edition, copyrighted 1946, 1965, and 1966 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and it is used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover art:
The Four Evangelists,
by Christopher J. Pelicano

Cover design by Roxanne Mei Lum

Published by Ignatius Press in 2010
Bible text: Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition
© 2000 and 2006 by the Division of Christian Education of the
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America
All rights reserved

Introduction to the New Testament and Matthew, commentaries, and revisions
© 2010 by Ignatius Press, San Francisco
All rights reserved

ISBN 978-1-58617-250-3 (PB)

ISBN 978-1-58617-484-2 (HB)

ISBN 978-1-58617-485-9 (LB)
Library of Congress Control Number 200941682

Printed in the United States of America

Introduction to the Ignatius Study Bible

Introduction to the 1966 Edition

Introduction to the Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition

Abbreviations for the Books of the Bible

Introduction to the Gospels

THE NEW TESTAMENT

   
The Gospel according to Saint Matthew

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Gospel according to Saint Mark

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Gospel according to Saint Luke

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Gospel according to Saint John

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Acts of the Apostles

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Second Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Letter of Saint Paul to the Galatians

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Letter of Saint Paul to the Philippians

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Letter of Saint Paul to the Colossians

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The First Letter of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Second Letter of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The First Letter of Saint Paul to Timothy

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Second Letter of Saint Paul to Timothy

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Letter of Saint Paul to Titus

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Letter of Saint Paul to Philemon

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Letter to the Hebrews

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Letter of Saint James

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The First Letter of Saint Peter

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Second Letter of Saint Peter

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The First Letter of Saint John

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Second Letter of Saint John

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Third Letter of Saint John

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Letter of Saint Jude

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

   
The Revelation to Saint John (Apocalypse)

     
Introduction

     
Text
and
Commentary

Index of the Parables and Metaphors of Jesus

Index of the Miracles of Jesus

Index of Doctrines

Index of Charts

Index of Maps

Index of Topical Essays

Index of Word Studies

Colored Maps

Notes

You are approaching the "word of God". This is the title Christians most commonly give to the Bible, and the expression is rich in meaning. It is also the title given to the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, God the Son. For Jesus Christ became flesh for our salvation, and "the name by which he is called is The Word of God" (Rev 19:13; cf. Jn 1:14).

The word of God is Scripture. The Word of God is Jesus. This close association between God's
written
word and his
eternal
Word is intentional and has been the custom of the Church since the first generation. "All Sacred Scripture is but one book, and this one book is Christ, 'because all divine Scripture speaks of Christ, and all divine Scripture is fulfilled in Christ
¹
" (CCC 134). This does not mean that the Scriptures are divine in the same way that Jesus is divine. They are, rather, divinely inspired and, as such, are unique in world literature, just as the Incarnation of the eternal Word is unique in human history.

Yet we can say that the inspired word resembles the incarnate Word in several important ways. Jesus Christ is the Word of God incarnate. In his humanity, he is like us in all things, except for sin. As a work of man, the Bible is like any other book, except without error. Both Christ and Scripture, says the Second Vatican Council, are given "for the sake of our salvation" (
Dei Verbum
11), and both give us God's definitive revelation of himself. We cannot, therefore, conceive of one without the other: the Bible without Jesus, or Jesus without the Bible. Each is the interpretive key to the other. And because Christ is the subject of all the Scriptures, St. Jerome insists, "Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ"
²
(CCC 133).

When we approach the Bible, then, we approach Jesus, the Word of God; and in order to encounter Jesus, we must approach him in a prayerful study of the inspired word of God, the Sacred Scriptures.

Inspiration and Inerrancy
  The Catholic Church makes mighty claims for the Bible, and our acceptance of those claims is essential if we are to read the Scriptures and apply them to our lives as the Church intends. So it is not enough merely to nod at words like "inspired", "unique", or "inerrant". We have to understand what the Church means by these terms, and we have to make that understanding our own. After all, what we believe about the Bible will inevitably influence the way we read the Bible. The way we read the Bible, in turn, will determine what we "get out" of its sacred pages.

These principles hold true no matter what we read: a news report, a search warrant, an advertisement, a paycheck, a doctor's prescription, an eviction notice. How (or whether) we read these things depends largely upon our preconceived notions about the reliability and authority of their sources—and the potential they have for affecting our lives. In some cases, to misunderstand a document's authority can lead to dire consequences. In others, it can keep us from enjoying rewards that are rightfully ours. In the case of the Bible, both the rewards and the consequences involved take on an ultimate value.

What does the Church mean, then, when she affirms the words of St. Paul: "All Scripture is inspired by God" (2 Tim 3:16)? Since the term "inspired" in this passage could be translated "God-breathed", it follows that God breathed forth his word in the Scriptures as you and I breathe forth air when we speak. This means that God is the primary author of the Bible. He certainly employed human authors in this task as well, but he did not merely assist them while they wrote or subsequently approve what they had written. God the Holy Spirit is the
principal
author of Scripture, while the human writers are
instrumental
authors. These human authors freely wrote everything, and only those things, that God wanted: the word of God in the very words of God. This miracle of dual authorship extends to the whole of Scripture, and to every one of its parts, so that whatever the human authors affirm, God likewise affirms through their words.

The principle of biblical inerrancy follows logically from this principle of divine authorship. After all, God cannot lie, and he cannot make mistakes. Since the Bible is divinely inspired, it must be without error in everything that its divine and human authors affirm to be true. This means that biblical inerrancy is a mystery even broader in scope than infallibility, which guarantees for us that the Church will always teach the truth concerning faith and morals. Of course the mantle of inerrancy likewise covers faith and morals, but it extends even farther to ensure that all the facts and events of salvation history are accurately presented for us in the Scriptures. Inerrancy is our guarantee that the words and deeds of God found in the Bible are unified and true, declaring with one voice the wonders of his saving love.