What is our aim when we listen to a lecture, watch a play, read a book, or, in short, come into contact with any kind of text? In the first part of the work “This is the Book of God’s Commandments,” one of his first lectures, St. Thomas explains what we all seek in a good speaker or good reading: instruction for ignorance, delight for tedium, and motivation, or stimulation, for sluggishness.
These three benefits are found in an eminent form in the Sacred Scriptures. The Angelic Doctor explains that the Sacra Pagina – as the medieval people called the Bible – instructs firmly by the eternal truth of its words, delights by its usefulness, and effectively convinces by the strength of its authority.
In our century, when the whirlwind of empty doctrines creates the strange sensation that everything is chaos, lies, and illusion, where can we find the sure teaching that satisfies man’s natural desire for truth, if not in that “Law that endures for ever” (Bar 4:1)?
Aquinas explains that the eternal character of Scriptural doctrine comes from the divine authority that pronounced it: “For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it?” (Is 14:27). Indeed, “God is not man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should repent” (Nm 23:19). And it is God, moreover, who declares of Himself: “For I the Lord do not change” (Mal 3:6).
The Word of God also moves the will through its necessity. When he mentions motivation, St. Thomas is not referring to a mere interior and sentimental stirring, but to an incentive to act virtuously: “to be moved”. Indeed, man will be judged according to his actions in this life. How can one act with righteousness and holiness if not guided by divine light and impelled by charity? Thus, the truth contained in the Scriptures, by nourishing faith and love, impels us to the practice of good works, without which no one will be saved.
The Bible, therefore, has an authority by which it convinces those who come into contact with it. This authority proves effective for three reasons: first, because of its origin, which is God; second, because of the necessity to believe, for this is what Christ commands us; third, owing to the uniformity of its teaching.
Besides securely instructing the intellect and strengthening the will, the Sacra Pagina also delights and attracts by reason of its usefulness: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit” (Is 48:17). A good is profitable when it helps us achieve a greater good. In this sense, the value of the Sacred Scriptures reveals itself to be maximal and universal, for it guides us toward the best of all goods: “All who hold her fast will live” (Bar 4:1).
What life is this? According to Aquinas, it is divided into three: the life of grace, by which we participate – already on this earth! – in divine life itself; the life of justice, which consists in good works – impossible to practise without heavenly help; and the life of glory, in which we will see God as He is.
In short, the Scriptures, together with Sacred Tradition, constitute the “map” that God gave to men so that they might find the path that anticipates and leads to the heavenly homeland:
“But he who looks into the perfect Law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that acts, he shall be blessed in his doing” (Jas 1:25). ◊
