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  By its nature, prophecy can be difficult to interpret. It uses many symbols, and these can be taken in more than one way.The key to understanding biblical prophecy is to determine itsliteralsense—that is, what it meant in itsoriginalcontext, what the prophet was trying to communicate to his audience for their benefit. Normally Old Testament prophecies have their primary fulfillment within the generation to which they were given or within a few generations. However, they can have ad …

The Canon of Scripture and Its Origin The clearest example of a sacred Tradition that both Catholics and Protestants accept is the canon of Scripture. The word canon comes from a Greek word that means “rule,” and refers to the Church’s official list of inspired writings. You can find this list in the table of contents of every Catholic or Protestant Bible.The canon of Scripture was first declared in Rome in A.D. 382and was later defined at two Catholic councils in North Africa(Hippo in A.D. 3 …

Understanding the Eucharist How can you tell if you have the right understanding—the biblical interpretation, Jesus’ interpretation—of the Eucharist? I’d suggest five things to look for: your beliefs should be strange,sacrificial,serious,sacramental, and shocking. First, as we’ve already seen, the proper Christian understanding of the Eucharist must be strange, and hard to accept. That’s how it was initially received, and Jesus did nothing to dispel this impression. Why, he was trying to p …

The Sermon on the Mount related in Matthew 5-7 has much in common with the teaching of Jesus related in Luke 6. It is widely recognized that Luke 6 teaches in an abbreviated form what Matthew 5-7 teaches in greater detail. But there are also some significant differences. The sermon of Luke 6 takes place on a plain, whereas the sermon of Matthew 5-7 takes place on a mountain. There are also differences between the Beatitudes themselves in the two accounts. Luke recounts only four Beatitudes and …