REVELATION :
GOD'S OFFER OF LIFE AND LOVE
Jose M. de Mesa
East Asian Pastoral Institute
Theology Annual vol.13 1991-1992 p.189-196
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
Abstract
This is a discussion of the special nature of God's revelation, and of the relationship of faith and revelation. Faith does not consist in an understanding of dogma and faith documents, but rather in an acceptance of the word of God and obedience to it on the part of the whole person.
本文讨论天主启示的特质，并说明信仰与启示的关系。信仰并不只在于理解教义及信仰条文，而是整个人对天主之言的服从与接纳。
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
The God-human relationship is fundamental to the Christian Faith. Often referred to as revelation and faith, the relationship founds and sustains the Judaeo-Christian Tradition. Because of this, our understanding of the various aspects of this Tradition like Christology, Ecclesiology, Morality and Spirituality are dependent on our grasp of this foundational relationship. It is therefore understandable that the document Dei Verbum [DV] of Vatican II, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, is regarded as one of the pivotal documents of the Council together with Lumen Gentium (Church), Gaudium et Spes (Church in the Modern World) and Sacrosanctum Concilium (Liturgy).
It is interesting to note that the Council itself considered Dei Verbum a proclamation of the Good News. Footnote 1 of the document states that "this Constitution is not intended merely as a theological document, but as a proclamation to the world. It is a fresh announcement of the gospel, of the 'kerygma' preached by the apostles." Dealing with such foundational reality, Dei Verbum can be considered as the most revolutionary document of the Council. A change in the perception of revelation and faith implies a concomitant alteration of views regarding the other aspects of the Christian Faith, unless inconsistency is preferred to integral understanding. This is why a good and an insightful reading of Dei Verbum is important.
More than a quarter of a century has passed since the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Through the years reflection on what the Council promulgated has continued. While Dei Verbum is likely to be remembered for what it said about the bible, I wish to focus my attention on its thoughts regarding the relationship between God and people which the bible presupposes.
The Constitution obviously considers the phrase "word of God" (DV # 1) to be central. It embodies and describes the biblical understanding of the God-human relationship. The imagery it employs is that of God "speaking" and people "listening". A word is spoken and received. To comprehend this way of speaking adequately, it is necessary to spell out the significance of the notion of "word" in the bible. To this end we need to examine "dabar", the Hebrew concept of "word".
Dabar has two characteristics. First, it makes no distinction between the person speaking and the word that is spoken by that person. Speaking was a mode of being of the person. Referring to what is spoken automatically indicates the person speaking. Conversely, the person speaking is known through the word uttered.
Secondly, dabar denotes both action and communication. As deed and word, dabar means an event in nature or history as well as a spoken or written word. Indeed, it can be described either as an active word or an eloquent deed. Deed and word combined constitute the reality of dabar. When reference is made, therefore, to someone speaking, we should think of something happening or being realized. Speech is communicative action.
If "word" is what dabar suggests, the phrase "word of God" is an idiom for the very self of God active on our behalf. The word of God is God. In John's prologue we read that "in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God" (Jn. 1:1). No distinction is made between the word spoken by the person and the person speaking. The phrase "word of God" also designates a God who is dynamically present in our lives and in our world for our sake. Dabar is deed or action. This manner of imaging God tells us of the divine word as not only communicative, but as effecting something as well. God's marvelous deeds are seen within this perspective as God's words.
The phrase "word of God" does not, therefore, refer primarily to scripture although this is the way it is popularly understood. This does not imply in any way that the designation is mistaken. The bible is also "word of God" insofar as it witnesses to God's deeds. Hence, we rightly say at the end of a reading from scripture in our Eucharistic celebration : "This is the word of the Lord." The word of God as bible is secondary and consequent to the first meaning of the phrase, that is, the very person of God offered unconditionally in relationship.
The faith experience
"Hearing the word of God with reverence and proclaiming its confidently" (DV # 1) contains a double reference. It describes, in the idiom of speaking and hearing, the faith experience (revelation-faith) as well as the Christian attitude towards the bible. It is the first reference which we shall discuss here. To hear God's word with reverence is really another way of saying that one experiences God's action in one's life. God is "speaking" (offering life and love) and we are "hearing" this initiative "with reverence" (accepting humbly and gratefully). We open ourselves to this gracious goodness reaching out to us in love.
In welcoming God's offer of life and love, we find ourselves gripped by this experience. As in the experience of falling in love, we feel so overwhelmed by an unmerited and unexpected manifestation of acceptance and goodness that we cannot but talk about this experience spontaneously. We are impelled by this experience from deep within to "proclaim" to others what has happened to us. We do so confidently because what we are communicating is not mere intellectually accumulated knowledge, but something we have personally experienced deeply. In the words of I John 1:1, what has been "heard", "seen", "looked upon", and "felt" is what is being announced. It seems to me that this is what mission is all about. It is not being given an external mandate, but experiencing an impulse from within. We are, as it were, "missioned" by this experience of God which has seized us. In this sense, being-in-mission is part and parcel of the faith experience.
But just what is the content of this experience? Dei Verbum answers this question by pointing us to the testimony of John : "We announce to you the eternal life which was with the Father, and has appeared to us. What we have seen and have heard we announce to you, in order that you also may have fellowship with us, and that our fellowship may be with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ" (1 Jn. 1:2-3). What has been experienced and is now being proclaimed is "eternal life". In biblical thought, "eternal life" is not equated with what is still to come. Eternal life is a reality which is already present here and now (cf., for instance, Jn. 6:54). Furthermore, the biblical understanding of eternal life does not limit such life within a so-called spiritual realm divorced from earthly, historical realities. Unlike the popularly held view arising from the Tridentine catechism, which put the heavenly and the earthly in opposition, eternal life in the bible concerns the quality of life in this world and beyond.
The Greek term used in the text of the First Letter of John for "life" is "zoe" rather than "bios". While the latter speaks of existence, the former means a positive quality of such an existence. "Zoe" refers to a life worth living, a truly good life. The same word is used in Jesus' announcement of what he brings : "I have come to bring life (zoe), life (zoe) in its fullness" (Jn. 10:10). Article 2 of Del Verbum repeats this thought as an offer of full humanness when it uses the idiom "to share in the divine nature" ; that is, to become fully human as God intends. Eternal life, then, can be described as the fullness of life which begins here on earth, to say the least, but is ultimately not totally experienced in this world. There is more to life than history can ever possibly manifest. This is so because eternal life is life rooted in The Eternal, who is the inexhaustible God. What ought to be paid attention to more carefully is that God's offer of life and love includes and, therefore, begins with the goodness of life in this world. We cannot just be lamenting that we are "mourning and weeping in this valley of tears" while we await true life in heaven. This would hardly be a compliment to our God who created the world and life to be delighted in. To live life to the full would be the better option, and it would surely be a grateful way of praising the God who made everything good.
The life which is spoken of is a life of solidarity, not one of individualism and isolation. The proclamation of life which God offers is envisioned as leading to fellowship with one another, with God the Father as well as Jesus Christ. Without explicitly saying so, Vatican II in Dei Verbum is broadening an earlier notion of revelation in Catholic theology. No denial is made of the Neo-scholastic understanding of revelation as the making known of truths by God for human salvation. But there is a redefinition of the divine initiative in terms of an offer of life and love. God offers life (zoe) out of love (cf. DV ## 1, 2). Consequently, we can state that "revelation" for Dei Verbum is God's offer of life and love. This is God's word (dabar): the offering of life and love to us. If we read the parable of the sower and the seed in Luke 8:4- 15 in the light of our discussion of dabar and Dei Verbum, it is clear that the word of God in the narrative signifies God acting for our sake, offering life and love to all.
Characteristics of revelation
Article 2 of this dogmatic constitution brings out the important characteristics of God's offer of life and love. It points out most clearly, first of all, that the initiative in this offer comes from God: "God chose to reveal Himself...". God makes the first move, takes the first step to share life and love with us－and this for no other reason than divine "goodness and wisdom". We can, perhaps, imagine God to be so delighted with existence and life as to decide to share these with creation. Revelation is a deliberate choice of God. This important aspect of the Judaeo-Christian Tradition suggests a passion within God for human beings. It differs from philosophy, which begins with a human question about the possibility, existence and activity of a transcendent being which could answer human longing. Revelation assumes that God's question is primary; it comes first and subsequently is followed by a human answer. Revelation is not an act of human seeking, but of being sought after. God's initiative of relating precedes the human counterpart of the relationship. As one Jewish poem puts it :
Lord, where shall I find Thee?
High and hidden in Thy place ;
And where shall I not find Thee?
The world is full of Thy glory.
I have sought Thy nearness ;
With all my heart have I called Thee ;
And going out to meet Thee
I found Thee coming toward me.
If God's offer of life and love is God's decision and not at all dependent on human merit, revelation must be further characterized as unconditional. Its only foundation and reason is God's gracious goodness. In accord with this understanding is the inclusiveness of such revelation: the offer is extended to all regardless of position, condition or situation. No one is excluded a priori. As unconditional, God's offer is firm and never revoked or withdrawn no matter how we respond to it. Precisely because this initiative does not depend on us, it is totally dependable. "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases", says the Book of Lamentations in witness to God's faithfulness towards us. "God's mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning" (Lam. 3:22-23). Such witness of our Tradition is most consoling, for we know that, regardless of what happens to us and no matter how far we stray from the right path, God will never abandon us. On the contrary, God will always offer forgiveness, as Jesus' parable of the merciful father assures us (cf. Lk. 15:11-24). Love, which manifests itself as forgiveness in sinful situations, is never withdrawn at any time. This may be foolishness when measured by human standards, but God is much more concerned with what happens to us and what we do to one another than about the divine reputation.
The unconditional offer of life and love has still another characteristic in the document. Revelation, according to Dei Verbum, happens in history. History is the setting of human experiences and it is there that salvation is proffered. Interestingly, Vatican II did not choose between "revelation" and "salvation" in this document. It simply employed the terms interchangeably. Articles 2, 3 and 4 shuttle back and forth between the two terms. As far as the Council was concerned, the history of salvation is the history of revelation and vice-versa. By mentioning history, the Council wanted to convey the conviction that the offer of life and love (salvation) happens in and through ordinary human experiences. Salvation is truly experienced, albeit provisionally and fragmentarily, in ordinary human situations. It is not to be sought in a so-called "supernatural sphere" above the "natural realm" of earthly, secular life in society. In a very real sense, there is no salvation outside the world (Schillebeeckx). God is truly at work in the ordinary. That is what is extraordinary about revelation. What we call the history of salvation is really our own particular human histories as communities of people in and through which God's offer of life and love is experienced. Just as Israel had its own history of salvation, so also every Christian community in a given culture and society will have its unique history of salvation.
Article 4 of Dei Verbum concerns itself with the Christological character of revelation. For Christians, Jesus is the decisive and definitive offer of life and love from God. He "speaks the words of God (Jn. 3:34), and completes the work of salvation which his Father gave him to do (cf. Jn. 5:36; 17:4)". It was he who "perfected revelation". In Jesus we are assured in faith that God's will is the total well-being of persons and of peoples, the fullness of life. Jesus' life, ministry, passion, death and resurrection point decisively to what God wills to effect in our world : life, and its fullness. It cannot be otherwise, for to experience Jesus is to experience the God who is Life (cf. Jn. 14:9). Because of this, we have come to know who God is for us in and through Jesus. Indeed, in Jesus we have really seen the face of God. When seen in and through the person of Jesus, God's face is one of amazing goodness and humanness. God is a caring God who looks after people and who compassionately champions the cause of their well-being.
Faith as obedience
We have begun with revelation, God's unconditional offer of life and love in and through ordinary human situations. To complete the picture, we now turn to the correlative of revelation, faith. Article 5 of Dei Verbum describes faith as an "obedience" by which we entrust our whole selves freely to God. Obedience follows the same idiom of speaking. "Obedire", the Latin word from which "obedience" comes, means "to listen intently". It denotes following the voice which is addressing us. In the case of the God-human relationship, the obedience of faith is our opening of self, acceptance of and commitment to the dabar of God ; that is, the active divine presence offering life and love.
The offer is just what it is, an offer. It cannot be imposed on us and it is not. Neither will God manipulate us into accepting it. We have the freedom to accept or to reject the offer. Thus, Dei Verbum insists that faith is a totally free commitment of self to God. Of our own accord, we receive the offer gratefully or turn our backs on it.
We must not, however, conceive revelation as neutral. The offer which comes from God in and through Jesus Christ has a bias for life and love. The offer, for instance, of love to another person is hardly neutral or indifferent to the possible response it can elicit. Such an offer is seeking for a genuine relationship. Revelation, God's offer of life and love, seeks relationship with those to whom it is extended. Article I already posited this by saying that the purpose of the proclamation of eternal life is fellowship with God and with one another.
Revelation is also not neutral in the sense that it empowers persons and peoples to respond affirmatively to the offer. In the words of the document: "If this faith is to be shown, the grace of God and the interior help of the Holy Spirit must precede and assist, moving the heart and turning it to God..." The same passage asserts that it is the same Holy Spirit who constantly brings faith to completion.
When we take into account the notion of dabar which looms over this whole discussion, we realize that entrusting ourselves to God's word means to follow the direction this voice gives. If dabar is word and deed, commitment is unavoidable. Giving our word is realizing it in life. The voice, as we have seen earlier, had spoken decisively and definitively about life ("zoe") in its fullness which it wills for people. Faith, which is our "yes" to God's word, is a commitment to the kind of life God wants us to experience, a life that is meaningful, delightful and fulfilling.