The God-human relationship is fundamental to the Christian Faith. Often referred to as revelation and faith, the relationship founds and sustains the Judaeo-Christian Tradition. Because of this, our understanding of the various aspects of this Tradition like Christology, Ecclesiology, Morality and Spirituality are dependent on our grasp of this foundational relationship. It is therefore understandable that the document Dei Verbum [DV] of Vatican II, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, is regarded as one of the pivotal documents of the Council together with Lumen Gentium (Church), Gaudium et Spes (Church in the Modern World) and Sacrosanctum Concilium (Liturgy).

It is interesting to note that the Council itself considered Dei Verbum a proclamation of the Good News. Footnote 1 of the document states that "this Constitution is not intended merely as a theological document, but as a proclamation to the world. It is a fresh announcement of the gospel, of the 'kerygma' preached by the apostles." Dealing with such foundational reality, Dei Verbum can be considered as the most revolutionary document of the Council. A change in the perception of revelation and faith implies a concomitant alteration of views regarding the other aspects of the Christian Faith, unless inconsistency is preferred to integral understanding. This is why a good and an insightful reading of Dei Verbum is important.

More than a quarter of a century has passed since the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Through the years reflection on what the Council promulgated has continued. While Dei Verbum is likely to be remembered for what it said about the bible, I wish to focus my attention on its thoughts regarding the relationship between God and people which the bible presupposes.

The Constitution obviously considers the phrase "word of God" (DV # 1) to be central. It embodies and describes the biblical understanding of the God-human relationship. The imagery it employs is that of God "speaking" and people "listening". A word is spoken and received. To comprehend this way of speaking adequately, it is necessary to spell out the significance of the notion of "word" in the bible. To this end we need to examine "dabar", the Hebrew concept of "word".

Dabar has two characteristics. First, it makes no distinction between the person speaking and the word that is spoken by that person. Speaking was a mode of being of the person. Referring to what is spoken automatically indicates the person speaking. Conversely, the person speaking is known through the word uttered.

Secondly, dabar denotes both action and communication. As deed and word, dabar means an event in nature or history as well as a spoken or written word. Indeed, it can be described either as an active word or an eloquent deed. Deed and word combined constitute the reality of dabar. When reference is made, therefore, to someone speaking, we should think of something happening or being realized. Speech is communicative action.

If "word" is what dabar suggests, the phrase "word of God" is an idiom for the very self of God active on our behalf. The word of God is God. In John's prologue we read that "in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God" (Jn. 1:1). No distinction is made between the word spoken by the person and the person speaking. The phrase "word of God" also designates a God who is dynamically present in our lives and in our world for our sake. Dabar is deed or action. This manner of imaging God tells us of the divine word as not only communicative, but as effecting something as well. God's marvelous deeds are seen within this perspective as God's words.

The phrase "word of God" does not, therefore, refer primarily to scripture although this is the way it is popularly understood. This does not imply in any way that the designation is mistaken. The bible is also "word of God" insofar as it witnesses to God's deeds. Hence, we rightly say at the end of a reading from scripture in our Eucharistic celebration : "This is the word of the Lord." The word of God as bible is secondary and consequent to the first meaning of the phrase, that is, the very person of God offered unconditionally in relationship.

The faith experience

"Hearing the word of God with reverence and proclaiming its confidently" (DV # 1) contains a double reference. It describes, in the idiom of speaking and hearing, the faith experience (revelation-faith) as well as the Christian attitude towards the bible. It is the first reference which we shall discuss here. To hear God's word with reverence is really another way of saying that one experiences God's action in one's life. God is "speaking" (offering life and love) and we are "hearing" this initiative "with reverence" (accepting humbly and gratefully). We open ourselves to this gracious goodness reaching out to us in love.

In welcoming God's offer of life and love, we find ourselves gripped by this experience. As in the experience of falling in love, we feel so overwhelmed by an unmerited and unexpected manifestation of acceptance and goodness that we cannot but talk about this experience spontaneously. We are impelled by this experience from deep within to "proclaim" to others what has happened to us. We do so confidently because what we are communicating is not mere intellectually accumulated knowledge, but something we have personally experienced deeply. In the words of I John 1:1, what has been "heard", "seen", "looked upon", and "felt" is what is being announced. It seems to me that this is what mission is all about. It is not being given an external mandate, but experiencing an impulse from within. We are, as it were, "missioned" by this experience of God which has seized us. In this sense, being-in-mission is part and parcel of the faith experience.

But just what is the content of this experience? Dei Verbum answers this question by pointing us to the testimony of John : "We announce to you the eternal life which was with the Father, and has appeared to us. What we have seen and have heard we announce to you, in order that you also may have fellowship with us, and that our fellowship may be with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ" (1 Jn. 1:2-3). What has been experienced and is now being proclaimed is "eternal life". In biblical thought, "eternal life" is not equated with what is still to come. Eternal life is a reality which is already present here and now (cf., for instance, Jn. 6:54). Furthermore, the biblical understanding of eternal life does not limit such life within a so-called spiritual realm divorced from earthly, historical realities. Unlike the popularly held view arising from the Tridentine catechism, which put the heavenly and the earthly in opposition, eternal life in the bible concerns the quality of life in this world and beyond.

The Greek term used in the text of the First Letter of John for "life" is "zoe" rather than "bios". While the latter speaks of existence, the former means a positive quality of such an existence. "Zoe" refers to a life worth living, a truly good life. The same word is used in Jesus' announcement of what he brings : "I have come to bring life (zoe), life (zoe) in its fullness" (Jn. 10:10). Article 2 of Del Verbum repeats this thought as an offer of full humanness when it uses the idiom "to share in the divine nature" ; that is, to become fully human as God intends. Eternal life, then, can be described as the fullness of life which begins here on earth, to say the least, but is ultimately not totally experienced in this world. There is more to life than history can ever possibly manifest. This is so because eternal life is life rooted in The Eternal, who is the inexhaustible God. What ought to be paid attention to more carefully is that God's offer of life and love includes and, therefore, begins with the goodness of life in this world. We cannot just be lamenting that we are "mourning and weeping in this valley of tears" while we await true life in heaven. This would hardly be a compliment to our God who created the world and life to be delighted in. To live life to the full would be the better option, and it would surely be a grateful way of praising the God who made everything good.

The life which is spoken of is a life of solidarity, not one of individualism and isolation. The proclamation of life which God offers is envisioned as leading to fellowship with one another, with God the Father as well as Jesus Christ. Without explicitly saying so, Vatican II in Dei Verbum is broadening an earlier notion of revelation in Catholic theology. No denial is made of the Neo-scholastic understanding of revelation as the making known of truths by God for human salvation. But there is a redefinition of the divine initiative in terms of an offer of life and love. God offers life (zoe) out of love (cf. DV ## 1, 2). Consequently, we can state that "revelation" for Dei Verbum is God's offer of life and love. This is God's word (dabar): the offering of life and love to us. If we read the parable of the sower and the seed in Luke 8:4- 15 in the light of our discussion of dabar and Dei Verbum, it is clear that the word of God in the narrative signifies God acting for our sake, offering life and love to all.