Bible In One Year Day 312 (2 Maccabees 15, Wisdom 19, Proverbs 25: 21-23)

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Day 312:  The Conclusion of the Old Testament 

Death of Nicanor

Bible In One Year Day 311 (2 Maccabees 14, Wisdom 17-18, Proverbs 25: 18-20)

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Judas Maccabeus before the Army of Nicanor 

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 311 Scripture as Final Authority?

CHALLENGE: “We know that the Bible teaches we should do theology ‘ by Scripture alone’ (sola scriptura) because Jesus and the apostles quote Scripture as their final authority.”

DEFENSE: This claim is demonstrably false.

Although Jesus and the apostles quote from Scripture, all this shows is that they considered it an authority capable of settling questions it deals with, not that it was the only authority. Speaking of it as “their final authority” misleadingly assumes there was a single, final authority for them, but a person can have Scripture as an authority while also having other authorities.

Thus Catholics, Orthodox, and other Christians who do not accept sola scriptura also quote Scripture to settle issues. Just look at other entries in this book. Scripture is regularly cited to prove different points, yet the author clearly does not believe in sola scriptura. Therefore, the sola scriptura advocate will need to show more than that Jesus and the apostles quoted Scripture to settle issues. He will need to show they recognized no other authorities.

This is not possible. For a start, Jesus and the early Christians lived in an age when public revelation was still being given. Some of these revelations are recorded in Scripture (e.g., Matt. 1:20–21, 2:13; Luke 1:11–20, 28–37, 2:9–14; Acts 9:4–6, 10–17, 10:10–16; Rev. 1:10–11).

Regardless of whether a revelation was recorded in Scripture (and many were not until decades after they were given), its message was authoritative. This, of itself, reveals that the early Christians did not believe in sola scriptura.

The transmission of revealed material (whether it took the form of a vision or not) is Tradition, and the early Christians passed on Tradition in oral form long before it was written in Scripture (e.g., Matt. 10:7; Luke 10:1–16; Acts 2:14–40; 1 Cor. 11:1–2; 2 Thess. 2:15, 3:6).

They also believed a divine teaching authority (Latin, magisterium) had been given to the Church, beginning with Jesus, who “taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes” (Matt. 8:29) and pronounced authoritatively on the correct interpretation of prior revelation (Matt. 5:21–48). Similarly, the leaders of the Church recognized that they were divinely guided in a way that allowed them to pronounce authoritatively on the questions of their day (Acts 15:1–29).

We thus see the early Church using Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist 

Bible In One Year Day 310 (2 Maccabees 13, Wisdom 15-16, Proverbs 25: 15-17)

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Antiochus and Stratonice, painting by Francesco Fontebasso,

Day 310: Rivals of the Heart 

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 310 Historical Sins

CHALLENGE: “Catholics have committed grave sins in history, including sins of avarice, intolerance, and persecution.”

DEFENSE: Yes, they have! Jesus did not come to make men sinless in this life but to make it possible for sinners to be saved.

Sin is an ongoing reality (James 3:2; 1 John 1:8) against which we must struggle (1 Cor. 10:13). Jesus taught us to pray, on a regular basis, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt. 6:12).

We must also recognize that sins are not only committed against God; they affect those on earth, and their forgiveness must also be sought.

People alive today did not commit the sins of the past and so are not responsible for them. Nevertheless, the past sins have continuing negative effects in the world, and we must do what we can to remedy them. This applies to all of us, and in the year 2000 John Paul II made a dramatic act of public apology for the sins committed by Catholics in the past, stating: “We cannot fail to recognize the infidelities to the Gospel committed by some of our brethren, especially during the second millennium. Let us ask pardon for the divisions which have occurred among Christians, for the violence some have used in the service of the truth, and for the distrustful and hostile attitudes sometimes taken towards the followers of other religions.”

He went on to say: “Let us confess, even more, our responsibilities as Christians for the evils of today. We must ask ourselves what our responsibilities are regarding atheism, religious indifference, secularism, ethical relativism, the violations of the right to life, disregard for the poor in many countries. We humbly ask forgiveness for the part which each of us has had in these evils by our own actions, thus helping to disfigure the face of the Church” (Homily, March 12, 2000).

Having made this act of public apology, it remains to be seen whether others will take a similar attitude regarding their own sins and those of their forebears.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist 

Bible In One Year Day 309 (2 Maccabees 12, Wisdom 13-14, Proverbs 25: 11-14)

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Day 309:  Praying for the Dead 

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 309 The Day of the Crucifixion

CHALLENGE : “Jesus couldn’t have been crucified on a Friday. He rose Sunday morning, and he said he would be in the tomb “three days and three nights” (Matt. 12:40). There aren’t three days and nights between Friday and Sunday.”

DEFENSE: This fails to understand the modes of speech then used.

In the most literal sense, “three days and three nights” means seventy-two hours. The Gospels agree Jesus died in the afternoon and was buried in the evening, just before the beginning of the Sabbath at sunset (Matt. 27:57; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 19:42). If he remained buried for seventy-two hours, he also would have had to rise just before sunset.

This is not the picture indicated by the Gospels, which depict the empty tomb being discovered early in the morning on Sunday, the first day of the week (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1), which then became “the Lord’s day,” the Christian day of worship (Rev. 1:10; 1 Cor. 16:2), because that was when Jesus rose.

Therefore, “three days and three nights” should not be taken in a fully literal sense. So how should it be taken?

According to the modes of speech then used, parts were often reckoned for wholes, so “three days” could be one full day and parts of two others. This is the picture we get from the Gospels: Jesus died in the afternoon and was buried shortly before sunset on one day, he lay in the tomb on a second day (the Sabbath), and he rose early in the morning on the third day. This corresponds to the repeated biblical affirmation that Jesus was raised “on the third day” (Matt. 16:21, 17:23, 20:19; Luke 9:22, 18:33, 24:7, 46; Acts 10:40; 1 Cor. 15:4).

The “three days” are thus explained, leaving the “three nights.” Here is where another ancient mode of speech is relevant: Adding “three nights” to “three days” is a poetic flourish not meant to be taken literally. “Three days and three nights was a Jewish idiom appropriate to a period covering only two nights” (R.T. France, The Gospel According to Matthew, 213).

Finally, the Gospels are explicit that Jesus was crucified on a Friday, which was referred to as the “day of preparation” when people got ready for the Sabbath (Matt. 27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 19:14, 31, 42).

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist 

Bible In One Year Day 308 (2 Maccabees 11, Wisdom 11-12, Proverbs 25: 8-10)

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Judas Maccabeus 

Day 308: Little by Little 

Bible In One Year Day 307 (2 Maccabees 10, Wisdom 9-10, Proverbs 25: 4-7)

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Day 307: Courage In Battle

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 307 Devotional Use of Images

CHALLENGE: “God may permit the use of religious images (see Day 179), but we should not kneel before or kiss them. The Bible says, ‘you shall not bow down to them’ (Exod. 20:5; Deut. 5:9), and it condemns those who have bent their knees to or kissed Ba’al (1 Kings 19:18).”

DEFENSE: These prohibitions apply to idols.

If there is an idol—a statue of a pagan god—then you absolutely should not kneel before or kiss it! However, not all kneeling and kissing falls under this ban. Scripture contains innocent examples of kneeling (Judg. 7:5–6), bowing (Gen. 23:7, 12), prostration (1 Sam. 25:24), and kissing (Gen. 27:6).

These are physical acts that take their meaning from context. They are outward expressions of an attitude of the heart, but they can convey different things. Kissing your father and kissing an idol of Ba’al are different. The outward act may be the same, but they convey different attitudes of heart—one indicating filial affection and the other divine worship.

Even using these acts in divine worship is not wrong. People devotionally knelt (1 Kings 8:54), bowed (2 Chron. 7:3), prostrated themselves in God’s presence (Deut. 9:18), and devotionally kissed Jesus (Luke 7:38).

What makes such acts wrong is using them to reverence a god that does not exist, like Ba’al, or using them to reverence something that is not a god, supposing that it is (e.g., worshipping one of the Roman emperors—like Caligula or Nero—as a god).

If one recognizes in one’s heart that the thing is not a god, these outward acts are not misdirected divine worship and don’t fall under condemnation. In the ancient world, these actions may have been so closely associated with idolatry that they were to be altogether avoided in the devotional use of images, but we don’t live in the ancient world.

Today, Catholics who use such devotional practices (which, it should be pointed out, are voluntary, not obligatory) are in no danger of thinking that a statue or icon is a deity. It’s universally recognized that statues and icons are mere symbols of Jesus and the saints, and kneeling before or kissing them is a symbolic way of expressing affection, like kissing the photograph of an absent loved one.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist 

Bible In One Year Day 306 (2 Maccabees 9, Wisdom 7-8, Proverbs 25: 1-3)

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Wisdom of Solomon

A Daily Defense 

DAY 306 Evolution and Faith

CHALLENGE: “Faith and science are fundamentally opposed, as illustrated by Christians’ opposition to the theory of evolution.”

DEFENSE: The Catholic Church doesn’t have a problem with evolution.

Some Christians have read the early chapters of Genesis in a way that would preclude evolution, but the Church recognizes these chapters as using significant symbolism (see Days 90 and 290). 

The statement God created man from the dust of the ground is understood as an affirmation that “the human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual. The biblical account expresses this reality in symbolic language when it affirms that ‘then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being’ (Gen. 2:7)” (CCC 362).

Faith thus allows the view that the way God “formed man of the dust” was through a process of biological evolution, leading to the development of primates and eventually to man, whom God endowed with a soul. “If the origin of the human body comes through living matter which existed previously, the spiritual soul is created directly by God” (John Paul II, Message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, October 22, 1996).

Consequently, the Church is able to express appreciation for the “many scientific studies which have splendidly enriched our knowledge of the age and dimensions of the cosmos, the development of life-forms and the appearance of man. These discoveries invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator, prompting us to give him thanks for all his works and for the understanding and wisdom he gives to scholars and researchers” (CCC 283).

This doesn’t mean every version of the theory of evolution is compatible with the Faith. For example, one must recognize God as the Creator and Ruler of the universe, so the process of evolution would take place only as part of his providential plan.

On the other hand, the Church’s appreciation for scientific studies pointing to evolution doesn’t mean evolution is a doctrine of the Faith. Although the Church has concluded the biblical texts can be understood in a way compatible with evolution, beyond that the theory must stand or fall on its scientific merits, for it is a matter of science rather than faith.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist 

Bible In One Year Day 305 (2 Maccabees 8, Wisdom 5-6, Proverbs 24: 30-34)

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Peter Paul Rubens, The Triumph of Judas Maccabeus

Day 305: The Defender

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 305 Referring to the Deuterocanonicals

CHALLENGE: “If Jesus and the New Testament authors thought the deuterocanonical books were part of the canon, why doesn’t the Bible refer to them?”

DEFENSE: They do refer to them. The New Testament contains multiple allusions to the deuterocanonicals.

It does not contain clear quotations from them—or from many protocanonical books of the Old Testament (see Day 288)—but it does contain clear allusions.

One of Jesus’ most famous teachings is that God’s willingness to forgive us is linked to our willingness to forgive others. This is expressed, for example, in the Lord’s Prayer: “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt. 6:12).

And, too, in the verses that follow it: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:14–15).

The Old Testament contains many passages discussing divine forgiveness, but only one where it is linked to our willingness to forgive others. That passage is in the deuterocanonical book of Sirach: “Forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray” (Sir. 28:2). Jesus thus picks up and develops this teaching from Sirach the same way he picks up and develops other themes from Old Testament scriptures.

Not only does the New Testament allude to teachings found in the deuterocanonicals, it also refers to the historical events they record. Thus the book of Hebrews contains an extensive list of Old Testament figures who pleased God by their faith. In the course of listing them, the inspired author writes: “Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life” (Heb. 11:35).

This combination of torture and refusal of release to obtain a better resurrection is found in only one place in the Old Testament. It is a reference to the seven brothers who were tortured and martyred by Antiochus Ephiphanes in 2 Maccabees 7. The author of Hebrews thus appears to recognize 2 Maccabees as one of the books of the Old Testament.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist 

Bible In One Year Day 304 (2 Maccabees 7, Wisdom 3-4, Proverbs 24: 27-29)

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Antonio Ciseri's Martyrdom of the Seven Maccabees

Day 304: Life Beyond Death 

Bible In One Year Day 303 (2 Maccabees 6, Wisdom 1-2, Proverbs 24: 21-26)

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Day 303:  Eleazar's Martyrdom 

Martyrdom of Eleazar

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 303 The Church’s Infallibility

CHALLENGE: “Why should I think the Church can teach infallibly?”

DEFENSE: Reflection on Christ’s teaching reveals why.

Christ did not reserve teaching authority to himself but established a teaching authority (Latin, magisterium) in his Church (see Day 281). This authority was originally vested in Peter and the apostles, and when they passed from the scene it was inherited by their successors, the pope, and the bishops (cf. 1 Tim. 3:2, 2 Tim. 2:2; Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3:3:1; CCC 861–62).

Christ willed his Church to endure to the end of the world (Matt. 16:18), and teaching is one of its essential functions (Matt. 28:19; Acts 1:8). Since the pope and the bishops are the highest ranking teachers the apostles left in the Church, the ultimate exercise of the Church’s teaching authority fell to them.

Authority can be exercised in different degrees, placing different levels of obligation on those who are its subjects. This raised the question: What would happen if the Church’s Magisterium used its authority in the fullest manner, to oblige the faithful to believe a particular teaching in a definitive way? In that case, could the Church be wrong?

Theological reflection led to the conclusion this would be inconsistent with how Christ constituted “the church of the living God,” which is present in the world as “the pillar and bulwark of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). He also promised to be with his Church until the end of time (Matt. 28:20); he promised the Holy Spirit would lead its leaders “into all the truth” (John 16:13); and he told his appointed ministers, “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me” (Luke 10:16).

In view of the declarations of Christ and the mission he gave the Church in the world, it would be impossible for his Church’s Magisterium to bind the faithful in conscience to believe something false. Consequently, “in order to preserve the Church in the purity of the faith handed on by the apostles, Christ who is the Truth willed to confer on her a share in his own infallibility” (CCC 889).

This infallibility can be exercised in different ways—by the pope or by the bishops (either scattered or gathered in an ecumenical council; CCC 891). But when the Magisterium teaches definitively, it is infallible.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist