The Bible as Literature

When a child reads a letter of St. Paul aloud in church, it does not matter if the child himself understands the reading, it only matters that he pronounce the text correctly. When the words of the letter are pronounced correctly, it is as though Paul himself is speaking to the church. It does not matter that it happens to be a child. The words of Scripture speak for themselves.

That is exactly how Jesus handles the Devil in chapter 4 of Matthew. Jesus himself does not speak, he merely recites the text of Scripture, and without ever making an argument—let alone lifting a finger—the full power of his Father’s authority is brought to bear through the written content of Deuteronomy.

Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Matthew 4:1-11.

Episode 239 Matthew 4:1-11; Subscribe: http://feedpress.me/the-bible-as-literature; “Twisting” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com (http://incompetech.com/)) Licensed under Creative Commons: B.y Attribution 3.0 License http:// creativecommons .org/ licenses /by/3.0/

Show Notes

When a child reads a letter of St. Paul aloud in church, it does not matter if the child himself understands the reading, it only matters that he pronounce the text correctly. When the words of the letter are pronounced correctly, it is as though Paul himself is speaking to the church. It does not matter that it happens to be a child. The words of Scripture speak for themselves. 

That is exactly how Jesus handles the Devil in chapter 4 of Matthew. Jesus himself does not speak, he merely recites the text of Scripture, and without ever making an argument—let alone lifting a finger—the full power of his Father’s authority is brought to bear through the written content of Deuteronomy.

Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Matthew 4:1-11.

Episode 239 Matthew 4:1-11; Subscribe: http://feedpress.me/the-bible-as-literature; “Twisting” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com (http://incompetech.com/)) Licensed under Creative Commons: B.y Attribution 3.0 License http:// creativecommons .org/ licenses /by/3.0/

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What is The Bible as Literature?

Each week, Dr. Richard Benton, Fr. Marc Boulos and guests discuss the content of the Bible as literature. On Tuesdays, Fr. Paul Tarazi presents an in-depth analysis of the biblical text in the original languages.