The Bible as Sacred Scripture

The sayings of the prophets and apostles openly proclaim that God's eternal word, His eternal covenant, and true religion have been written by God into the hearts of people, that is, into the human soul. This is God's true original writing, which He has authenticated with His seal, or His idea, as the image of His divinity.

The first Jews inherited the religion as a written law, for at that time they were seen as children. However, Moses and Jeremiah foretold a future time when God would write His law into their hearts. Thus, it was only the Jews and the Sadducees who had reason to fight for the law written on tablets, but certainly not those whose law was written in their hearts.

We call all that is ordered for the practice of piety and religion sacred and divine, and it remains sacred only as long as people use it with a religious sentiment. For if people are no longer pious, the sacred thing is no longer sacred.

Words acquire a specific meaning simply through their usage. When arranged to inspire reverence in the reader, these words become sacred, as does the book that contains them. But if later the use of language decays to the point where the words no longer have meaning, or if the book is entirely neglected, then neither the words nor the book will have any further use or sanctity. Sacred Scripture remains sacred, and its words remain divine, as long as they inspire reverence for God in people. But if people completely neglect it, as the Jews once did, it becomes nothing more than paper and ink, and people completely desecrate it, exposing it to corruption.

There are three reasons why Scripture is called the word of God: 1.) because it teaches the true religion, of which God is the eternal author; 2.) because it presents prophecies as God's decrees; 3.) because the true authors, through the power of individual enlightenment, taught and presented their teachings as God's revelations.

The author of the Bible is God because it teaches the true religion. It is divided into the Old and New Testaments because, before the coming of Christ, the prophets proclaimed religion as a domestic law, based on the covenant made during Moses' time; after the coming of Christ, however, the apostles proclaimed religion as a universal law for all people, and solely by the power of Christ's sufferings. This is not because the teachings of the two covenants differ or because the universal religion is new.

Even if fewer books had been preserved, we would not be deprived of God's word:

1. The books of both covenants were written for certain people, according to the conditions of the time and the relationships of those people. Prophets were sent to rebuke the wicked of their time.
2. Understanding Scripture and the prophets' meaning is different from understanding God's intent, that is, the truth of the matter itself.
3. The books of the Old Testament were selected from many, and ultimately the assembly of Pharisees compiled and recognized them. Similarly, the books of the New Testament were included in the canon through the decisions of councils. But the members of these councils were not prophets; they were merely teachers, and yet it must be acknowledged that in their selection, God's word was their standard. Therefore, before these books were approved, they had to be known to God's word.
4. The apostles wrote not as prophets, but as teachers, and they taught in a way they judged to be easier for their disciples. Therefore, their teaching includes many things that we could do without from a religious standpoint.
5. In the New Testament, there are four Evangelists. Who believes that God wanted the story of Christ to be told four times and shared in writing with people? It is true that each one aids in understanding the others, but it is not necessary to know everything that the Evangelists recount. Each one preached the gospel in a different place, and each one wrote down what they preached to tell the story of Christ, not to explain the others.

Scripture can only be called the word of God in relation to religion, that is, the universal divine law. Sacred Scripture would be divine even if it had been written in different words or in a different language, and in this sense, we have received Sacred Scripture infallibly. We easily understand its main content: love God above all else and love your neighbor as yourself.

Spinoza "Teológiai-politikai tanulmány", Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1984