The Fact of Supernatural Revelation

a) The Criteria of Revelation

a) THE CRITERIA OF REVELATION Revelation, which is morally necessary to man, must, if it be given, show unmistakable signs or marks which evidence it as true supernatural revelation. Such signs or marks are known as the criteria of revelation. The word criteria is the plural of criterion, a Greek word that has been taken bodily into the English language; it signifies “a means for judging.” The criteria of revelation are, therefore, the means for judging revelation and knowing for certain that it is truly revelation and not a pretended, fictitious, or counterfeit manifestation of doctrine. The criteria of revelation are both internal and external. Internal criteria are those that are contained in the doctrine itself which claims to be revealed. External criteria are remarkable signs, outside the doctrine revealed, which point to it and mark it as the actual revelation of God. We shall speak of both kinds of criteria in some detail: i. Internal Criteria of Revelation.—One of the fonts of revelation, as we shall presently see, is Holy Scripture or the Bible. The Bible is offered to men as the word of God; it is a body of matters revealed. Now, in looking for the internal criteria of the Bible we ask: What is the nature of the contents of this scripture? Is it noble, majestic, calculated to raise and satisfy man’s best aspirations, beneficial to man and to society? Does it bear the mark of superhuman wisdom? Nay, is it such that man, unaided by God, could not have produced it? If so, then there is internal evidence of compelling nature to induce us to accept it as the very word of God. In a word, the internal criteria declare it to be a body of true supernatural revelation.—Internal criteria are recognized as of the greatest value in determining the age, authorship, and genuineness of many merely human documents and monuments. Study of the internal structure, style, and content of a manuscript may often give us certain knowledge of its age and authorship. For example, archaeologists have made certain (largely by internal criteria) that the “Moabite Stone” was engraved in the 9th century b. c. Paintings left unsigned by ancient masters have often been identified beyond question by their internal criteria (e.g., style, manner of workmanship, quality of coloring, method in which the oils have been applied, treatment of line and perspective, etc.). On the other hand, many manuscripts and paintings which present spurious claims of noted authorship are shown to be counterfeit by the study of internal criteria. No one can deny that the study of such criteria is a scientific procedure and one of immense value. True, the matter is open to abuse, and man’s tendency to be precipitate in pronouncing judgment may, in certain cases, rob it of significance. Thus a poem written by James Whitcomb Riley was once foisted successfully on the best critics as a newly discovered relic of Edgar Allan Poe. This was possible because the poem was written by a real poet, comparable with the other whose work he had imitated. But had the “discovery” been the composition of a young schoolboy, there would have been no doubt or deception to affect the critics. Now, if a sacred writing be as distinct and different in content from the works of men as the best poetry of Poe is distinct and different from the random rhymes of a schoolboy, then it is certain beyond doubt or scruple that men are not its sole and sufficient authors. That such compelling criteria exist to substantiate the claims of Holy Scripture to be true revelation, it will’ be our task presently to prove. Here we simply indicate the nature of internal criteria and declare its value as a determinant of authorship.

2. External Criteria of Revelation.—The external criteria of revelation are (a) Miracles and (&) Prophecies. If true miracles are wrought, if true prophecies are pronounced and perfectly fulfilled, in support of the claims of a revelation, then it is certain that such revelation is indeed God’s very word; for miracles and prophecies are works of God and of no other. They are the “seals” which God alone can impress upon a doctrine, and they indicate “the genuine article.” We shall speak briefly about each of these criteria: a) Miracles are marvellous events, outside the ordinary course of nature, produced by Almighty God. Now, there are two questions that may be raised about miracles: Are miracles possible? If possible, do they really occur, or have they occurred? To the first question we must give an affirmative answer, or show upon what score miracles are impossible. Surely they are not impossible to God, for God can do anything in which there is no contradiction, and in miracles there is no such contradiction. Neither do miracles contradict the divine wisdom; they are not “corrections” or “unforeseen prodigies” wrought by God in unexpected circumstances: they are exceptions to the uniform way in which things act (i.e., to “natural laws”), but God who framed the mode of action of creatures can also decree exceptions from eternity; and thus the miracle is as much a part of the eternal and changeless decrees of God as the regular course of nature. Nor is there any impossibility in miracles inasmuch as they affect creatures; for creatures are utterly dependent and contingent, and can make no “demands” to be left in the ordinary course of their natural action. In the abstract, then, miracles are certainly possible. But do they occur? Certain smug gentlemen of the last century thought they were saying something very wise and scientific when they placidly announced that “Miracles simply do not happen.” The answer to that blind assertion is simply that miracles have occurred, and, as a matter of fact, do occur. When, for example, a gaping wound is suddenly healed, we have a miracle. When a dead man is raised to life, we have a miracle. Take the case of the wound suddenly healed. Nature as we know it would have to be entirely reconstructed to produce such as effect without miracle; therefore, there can be no question of a “hidden law of nature of which we are yet ignorant” as an explanation of such a result. Nature heals wounds, but it requires in every case the cooperation of time, and a good deal of time too. Cell comes from cell; protoplasm from protoplasm. The process is very gradual. In the case considered there is no such gradual process, but an immediate and perfect healing. Here, then, is an unquestioned “marvellous event outside the ordinary course of nature.” That God is its author may be known from the human agent through whom the wonder is wrought, his purpose, his character, the effecthe desires to produce by the act. If there be certainty of the good moral effect of the events, and of the good aim and character of the person through whom the wondrous deed is wrought, we have no choice but to declare that the miracle is a true one and that God is its author. Certain deceptive effects may be produced by trickery; obviously, there is no question of such matters here, for investigation and scientific procedure can always discover the true source of such effects. Again, preternatural powers that are evil—devils, in a word—may produce wondrous effects, but, as the fruit shows the tree, so such effects show their evil source. Besides, evil spirits are not omnipotent; there are some effects that are entirely outside their power to produce. We coftie back to the fact that miracles can and do happen, and that they can be known as true miracles. At Lourdes—to name but one place where miracles have occurred and occur still—there is a corps of physicians and surgeons in attendance, among them men of no faith who would like nothing better than to explain the miracles by natural causes, and yet all are forced to admit that the miracles happen. Most of the miracles there recorded are immediate cures of organic ailments, restoration of tissues that could be restored in no natural way without the protracted cooperation of time and careful treatment. Less than fourteen percent of the miracles there scientifically recorded are of such kind that they could have a possible explanation in nervous shock and sudden readjustment of muscular and nervous function. If there is any human certainty about events, if there is any certainty about causes and effects, if there is any certainty at all, the sincere mind is literally forced to admit not only the possibility, but the actual fact, of the existence of true miracles. And miracles, by their very definition are works of God. Now, when God works a miracle as a seal and signature of some doctrine, then that doctrine must be, beyond quibble, the very word of God Himself. b) Prophecies are certain and definite predictions of events which depend for their occurrence upon free-will (whether of God or men), and so cannot be merely guessed at or conjectured with anything approaching certainty. Prophecies are sure predictions of future free events. In other words, they are predictions of future events which only Omniscience can know. Therefore, they are proper to God, and when God signs a doctrine with prophecies that are perfectly fulfilled, the doctrine is the word of God.

b) Holy Scripture

Holy Scripture, or the Bible, is one of the fonts of revelation. Bible (from the Greek ta biblia, “the books” ) is the name of a collection of writings which the Church recognizes as the true word of God. It is divided into the Old Testament, or books written before the coming of Our Lord, and the New Testament or sacred writings composed after the coming of Christ. That the Bible is true revelation we know by internal and external criteria. We cannot here go into details about the various parts of the Old and New Testaments, but present our arguments in general, However, we give a somewhat detailed description of the Old and New Testament writings and their authenticity in the Appendix of this book. i. Internal Criteria. The Bible, in both Old and New Testaments, possesses a unity and beauty absolutely unique among known writings. Made up of widely various matters, written by writers of every degree of culture and education, composed in many different times and places, set forth in varied forms of classic language and dialect, it nevertheless possesses an organic unity that binds together all the integral parts of the volume and sets forth in most regular process the unfolding of a plan that centers in the person and the work of Our Divine Lord. In no merely human book are such unity and beauty discerned. One writer, equipped for his work by careful training and long study, may succeed in producing a very harmonious and unified work; and yet his work (if we look for it among existing books) does not present such unity and beauty as this collection of widely various compositions, made by different men, of different abilities, in different times, in different places, and through the medium of different forms of speech. Even here we have evidence of a more than human authorship in the Holy Scriptures.

Surely one Mind conceived and executed this unified work.—But leaving aside unity and beauty of style and structure, let us consider the influence exercised by this sacred volume. It is not its literary value and power that have made the Bible the one almost universal influence over minds and hearts that it has been through the centuries; no, it is the very content of the Scripture. As a consolation in trial, as a monument of the teaching received from the Apostles, as a source of hope and courage in face of temptation, as an oracle of God to turn to upon every occasion, the Holy Scripture stands absolutely unique among the books available to men.—Again,—to choose but one instance of compelling internal evidence,—if we but study the utterances of Christ as recorded in the New Testament, we must be convinced that these are the very words of God; for no solemn pronouncement of scholar, or hero, or philosopher, can compare in dignity, majesty, power, superhuman understanding of life and human hearts, with the words of One who (considered as man) had no worldly education, no training in mighty thoughts and ideals for the guidance of the destinies of men and of the world. If we read the bald narrative of Scripture, and dwell upon the words of Our Lord, we must needs paraphrase the exclamation of the soldier at the Crucifixion and cry out from the depths of a sincerely convinced mind, “Indeed this is the Word of God!” In Holy Scripture, then, Revelation is a fact.

2. External Criteria. The prophecies contained in both Old and New Testaments are numerous, and are fulfilled in fact. The most important of the Old Testament prophecies are those that foretell the coming of the Redeemer; and these deal in no generalities, but are clear and full of detail and circumstance. Thus the date of the Redeemer’s coming was foretold (Daniel ix, 24), as was the fact that He was to be born of a virgin (Isaias vii, 14), of the tribe of family of David (Jeremias xxiii, 5), at Bethlehem (Micheas v, 2), and that kings should come offering Him gifts (Psalm Ixii, 9). To mention other prophecies: the name of the Redeemer was foretold; His Passion and death were described; the fact that He was to be sold for thirty pieces of silver, that He was to have hands and feet pierced, that His garments were to be distributed, and His outer garment assigned by lot, that he was to rise again, to pour out His spirit on all men, and establish a kingdom that should not be destroyed—all these facts and many others were foretold in the Old Testament from 400 to 800 years before they occurred. In the New Testament, too, we find prophecies, chief of which were pronounced by Our Lord Himself. He foretold the manner and time of His Death, His Resurrection, His Ascension. He foretold that Judas would betray Him, that Peter would deny Him, that His disciples would forsake Him, that the Holy Ghost would come upon the disciples. He foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, the razing of the Temple, the dispersion of the Jews. He foretold the growth of His Church and the preaching of His gospel to all men.—Thus, true prophecies attest the character of Holy Scripture as genuine revelation. In Holy Scripture, then, revelation is a fact.

c) Tradition

Tradition, as we employ the word, does not mean a haphazard handing on of doctrine from father to son, from generation to generation. It means the word of God that was not committed to inspired writings, but nevertheless was set forth in uninspired writings of genuine historical value and in other monuments the reliability of which cannot be questioned. It is supplementary to Holy Scripture, and together with Scripture constitutes the sole source of general divine revelation. The Apostles preached under God’s guidance, and their words were confirmed by “signs that followed,” i.e., by miracles. In like manner, God’s guidance is discerned in the doctrinal and liturgical practices of the Church, for the Church was founded by Godmade-Man, and He promised to abide with it forever, to keep it from leading men astray and to make it lead souls to God, their last end. Thus, we find reliable Tradition in the Apostolic preaching and instruction; (&) the doctrinal and liturgical practice of the Church; (c) the writings of holy and learned men who lived and wrote in the early centuries of Christianity (i.e., the Fathers of the Church) ; for such writings reflect Apostolic teaching, since the writers were pious men, in close contact with one another and with the bishops of the Church, and could not have introduced new and unauthoritative doctrines in their writings (even on the impossible supposition that they would try to do so) without immediate detection and condemnation; (d) the liturgy, and acts of the martyrs, and the creeds or formulas of faith recognized and used by the Church. Our Lord Jesus Christ is true God (as we shall prove in the next Book of Apologetics) and His revelation is true revelation; it is the true word of God. Now Our Lord made provision for the propagation and preservation of His revealed religion by commissioning His Apostles to speak and teach in His name. He told them to teach “all things whatsoever He had commanded them.” Hence, the Apostolic teaching is true revelation; it is the instruction of Christ Himself, imparted to the world through the Apostles; and Christ told His Apostles that “he that heareth you, heareth me, and he that heareth me, heareth him that sent me.” Now this revelation, this teaching or word of God Himself, was made known to the world not only in the Holy Scriptures, but in Tradition. St. Clement of Rome, writing before the year 100, declared that the Apostles arranged for the continuance of their work after their own deaths by a succession of authorized teachers. St. Irenaeus wrote, in the second century, that every sincere inquirer after truth might know it from “the tradition of the Apostles, which is known to all the world.” St. Paul commanded the Thessalonians (2 Thess. ii, 14) to “hold the traditions which you have learned whether by word or by our epistle.” Certainly, the Apostles did not all write; only two of the Apostles wrote Gospels (SS. Matthew and John), but all taught, and the teaching of all was equally the word of God. Besides, the Scripture, despite its perfection, is not a sufficient revelation of all truths of the supernatural religion. Without Tradition we should not know what Scripture is, what books belong to it, nor the proper interpretation of its contents. Those that say that the Bible alone is the source of all revealed truth will search the Bible in vain for the support of their assertion. Two things are, therefore, certain: first, the teaching of the Apostles was the true word of God, was revelation; and secondly, this teaching is embodied in Tradition. If, then, it can be shown that Tradition has been kept intact, it follows of necessity that revelation as a fact is contained in Tradition. Now Tradition was and is kept intact. The successors of the Apostles, the bishops, were, from the earliest days of the Church, in close contact with one another and with the Pope, the successor of St. Peter. If any individual held an erroneous view, this was known and condemned at once. The vital importance of holding the true faith made the subject of the “content” of the faith of deepest interest and concern to all Christians; and nothing new or unauthorized could creep in without instant detection.

In passing, we mention that the dogmas pronounced by the Church through all ages are never new truths. Dogmas are pronounced to settle the question that sometimes arises about a doctrine held by all, but about the origin of which there is dispute. In other words, a doctrine ever believed by the Church may sometimes come into question as to whether it is really revealed or whether, perhaps, it has been held as a pious belief, a logical doctrine in view of the body of truths delivered to the Apostles (i.e., “the Deposit of Faith”). Thus new pronouncements of doctrine, new dogmas, are authoritative settlements of points concerning the standing of doctrines: they are never new or “newly invented” doctrines. Revelation of the necessary truths of the faith was definitely closed with the death of the last Apostle; but it is in the very nature of things that there should be occasional question about the content of that revelation, question of this or that point of doctrine as belonging or not belonging to that revelation. From this passing remark we may see at once that while Holy Scripture and Tradition constitute the sole source of revealed doctrine, they need an authoritative interpreter; and this, as we shall see by and by, is the infallible Church of Christ and its infallible Head. In a word, Scripture and Tradition are the complete font of revelation, but they are not the complete rule of faith. The rule of faith is the teaching of the Church divinely founded to show men infallibly the way of truth and of salvation.

Summary of the Article

In this Article we have studied the criteria of revelation, both internal and external, and have seen that such criteria are valuable, and when verified are sufficient to compel assent and cause one to recognize revelation as the true and indubitable word of God. We have studied in short detail the external criteria of revelation, viz., miracles and prophecies both as possibilities and as facts. We have briefly studied Holy Scripture and Tradition and have seen that these are justified by the criteria as true revelation.

In Book First we proved that there exists one, infinite, all-perfect God, who is the Creator, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. In Book Second we showed that this allperfect God is to be known, loved, and served by men in the practice of the true religion. In this Third Book we study Him who brought the true religion to men, Jesus Christ, man’s Redeemer, who is both true God and true man. The Book is divided into three Chapters as follows: Chapter I. Jesus Christ, the Redeemer Chapter II. Jesus Christ, True God Chapter III. Jesus Christ, True Man

This Chapter deals with the fact that man, created and preserved by God for the attainment of a wondrous end through the practice of true religion, is not as God made him, but has fallen from pristine perfection and requires a redemption to restore to him his lost opportunity of achieving his end. Further, the Chapter studies the fact that this necessary redemption has been accomplished by Jesus Christ, who is, in consequence, the true Redeemer. The Chapter is accordingly divided into two Articles as follows: