The church’s liturgy is the native habitat, the first home, of Holy Scripture. For Scripture is a document of devotion, the means of God’s gathered people hearkening to his voice and responding with thanks and praise. […]
Apart from ecclesial context, then, Scripture is not well understood. The reason is simple: Scripture has no existence apart from ecclesial context. Scripture is what it is within and in light of the church’s tradition. […]
The doctrine of Scripture begins with what we have, with the long-standing practices of using and relating to Scripture that have built up in the church’s life. Just as Tanakh was a given for the apostolic church, so the two-testament Bible is a given for the church after the apostles and church fathers. We rightly approach it in the faith of the church, under the teaching of the church, within the worship of the church, with the whole company of the church—that is to say, the communion of saints, past, present, and future. We open its pages with the words of the Shema and the Nicene Creed on our lips and in our hearts. Doing so will lead us into its depths, not obstruct our path.