The following text is the transcript of our Youtube video How is Divine Revelation still preserved?.
This video is part of a series on “The Sources of Faith”. You can find all the videos in the series here.
Welcome to Catholic Hub. I’m David, and in this video, I’m going to explain to you how it is that the divine revelations made to God’s spokesmen, in particular His Son Jesus Christ, have been handed down and preserved until the present day.
When Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, He left His revelation as a most precious heritage to His faithful followers, the apostles. His last words to them were:
All power is given to me in heaven and on earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.
St. Peter and the other apostles diligently carried out their divine Master’s command. On the day of Pentecost, they were filled with the power of the Holy Ghost. Then they went forth to all parts of the world and preached to the Jews and the Gentiles what Jesus had taught them. Many believed and became Christians, that is, members of the Church that Jesus Christ had founded.
When the apostles died, they bequeathed the revelations of Christ to their successors; to the Pope, the successor of St. Peter as the visible head of the Church, and to the bishops, the successors of the other apostles. The popes and the bishops, who form the teaching body of the Church, guarded the teachings of the apostles as most precious treasures and continued to spread the knowledge of them over the whole earth.
At this point, one might object that it’s possible for the teachings of the Catholic Church to have diverged through the ages from the revelations made by Jesus Christ to the apostles. However, this is not the case since Our Lord Himself guaranteed that His Church should never fail and sent the second person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Ghost, to dwell in the Church and to keep it from falling into error.
As described in John 14:16-17:
I will ask the Father, and He shall send you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it seeth Him not nor knoweth Him. But you shall know Him because He shall abide with you and shall be in you.
In this way, the truths which Christ taught have come down to us undiminished and uncorrupted because Christ had pledged that His Church should never be led into error:
Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.
It is the Catholic Church that has faithfully guarded the divine revelations made through Christ and who continues to teach them infallibly to all men.
That’s it for this episode. Please don’t forget to give this video a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel to stay up to date with future videos. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you in the next one.
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