âYou study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me.â
John 5:39
Placing a right understanding on what I read, I obey Christâs command: âSearch the Scripturesâ (John 5:39), âSeek and you will findâ (Matthew 7:7).
Christ, then, wonât say to me what He once said to the Jews: âYou err, knowing neither the Scriptures, nor the power of Godâ (Matthew 22:29).
Now, Paul tells us that
âChrist is Godâs power and Godâs wisdom.â
1 Corinthians 1:24Â
So if the person who doesnât know Scripture doesnât know Godâs power and wisdom, it follows that ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.
I will act like the master of a household, bringing forth from his treasury things both new and old (Matthew 13:52), saying to his beloved in the words of the Song of Solomon: âI have kept for you things new and old, my belovedâ (Song 7:13).
Allow me, then, to explain Isaiah in this way, demonstrating that he wasnât just a prophet, but also an evangelist and an apostle. Of himself and other evangelists, he says: âHow lovely are the feet of those who preach good news, proclaiming peace!â (Isaiah 52:7). God moreover addresses him like an apostle: âWhom shall I send? Who will go to My people?â Isaiah replies: âHere I am; send meâ (Isaiah 6:8).
But it mustnât be thought that I intend, in a single short discourse, to explain this outstanding book of Scriptureâs total meaning. After all, it encompasses all the Lordâs mysteries. It foretells Emmanuelâs birth from a virgin, and His accomplishing wondrous miracles and signs. It foretells His death, burial, and rising from the dead as the Saviour of all people. I donât need to mention the natural sciences, ethics, logic; but those things which are the proper subject of Holy Scriptureâs teaching, and can be conveyed in human language and grasped by the human mind, are found in the book of Isaiah.
This discourse by Jerome is excerpted from his Commentary on Isaiah, Book 1: Prologue. English translation by © Nick Needham, Daily Readings from the Early Church Fathers, published by Christian Heritage, 2017.
Top image credit: Praying hands on open bible and candle, photo from Bigstock.com, © by Ale-ks, stock photo ID: 7079929. Used with permission. Scripture verse from Psalm 119 added.
St Jerome was an Early Church Father who centred his life on the Bible: he translated it into Latin, commented on it in his works, and above all, strove to live it in practice throughout his long earthly life, despite the well-known difficult, hot-tempered character with which nature had endowed him.
Jerome was born into a Christian family in about 347 A.D. in Stridon. He was given a good education and was even sent to Rome to fine-tune his studies. As a young man he was attracted by the worldly life (cf. Ep 22, 7), but his desire for and interest in the Christian religion prevailed.
He received Baptism in about 366 and opted for the ascetic life. He went to Aquileia and joined a group of fervent Christians that had formed around Bishop Valerian and which he described as almost âa choir of blessedâ (Chron. ad ann. 374). He then left for the East and lived as a hermit in the Desert of Chalcis, south of Aleppo (Ep 14, 10), devoting himself assiduously to study. He perfected his knowledge of Greek, began learning Hebrew (cf. Ep 125, 12), and transcribed codices and Patristic writings (cf. Ep 5, 2). Meditation, solitude and contact with the Word of God helped his Christian sensibility to mature. He bitterly regretted the indiscretions of his youth (cf. Ep. 22, 7) and was keenly aware of the contrast between the pagan mentality and the Christian life: a contrast made famous by the dramatic and lively “vision” – of which he has left us an account – in which it seemed to him that he was being scourged before God because he was âCiceronian rather than Christianâ (cf. Ep. 22, 30).
In 382 he moved to Rome: here, acquainted with his fame as an ascetic and his ability as a scholar, Pope Damasus engaged him as secretary and counsellor; the Pope encouraged him, for pastoral and cultural reasons, to embark on a new Latin translation of the Biblical texts. Several members of the Roman aristocracy, especially noblewomen such as Paula, Marcella, Asella, Lea and others, desirous of committing themselves to the way of Christian perfection and of deepening their knowledge of the Word of God, chose him as their spiritual guide and teacher in the methodical approach to the sacred texts. These noble women also learned Greek and Hebrew.
After the death of Pope Damasus, Jerome left Rome in 385 and went on pilgrimage, first to the Holy Land, a silent witness of Christ’s earthly life, and then to Egypt, the favourite country of numerous monks (cf. Contra Rufinum, 3, 22; Ep. 108, 6-14). In 386 he stopped in Bethlehem, where male and female monasteries were built through the generosity of the noble woman, Paula, as well as a hospice for pilgrims bound for the Holy Land, “remembering Mary and Joseph who had found no room there” (Ep. 108, 14).
He stayed in Bethlehem until he died, continuing to do a prodigious amount of work: he commented on the Word of God; he defended the faith, vigorously opposing various heresies; he urged the monks on to perfection; he taught classical and Christian culture to young students; he welcomed with a pastor’s heart pilgrims who were visiting the Holy Land. He died in his cell close to the Grotto of the Nativity on 30 September 419-420. [bio source by Josef Ratzinger/Benedict XVI]