Argument from Biblical Richness
Another Unorganized Argument
When Christ’s side is pierced following his execution, blood and water pours out. Before I encountered Catholic theology, I had only ever heard this used as evidence for the medical accuracy of the Gospels, and perhaps as fulfilling Psalm 22:14. But the theological significance of the event was totally neglected. Some Protestants have very astutely recognized in it a sign of Baptism, the beginning of the Christian life, and Communion, the summit of the Christian life. But this is a very rare observation to make, and still more rare is it to see that in these two, Christ has constituted his Church. This is standard fare for Catholics. Just read this passage from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
The Church is born primarily of Christ’s total self-giving for our salvation, anticipated in the institution of the Eucharist and fulfilled on the cross. “The origin and growth of the Church are symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of the crucified Jesus.” “For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth the ‘wondrous sacrament of the whole Church’” As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam’s side, so the Church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross.” (CCC, Paragraph 766)
Far from being mined simply for apologetic purposes, Catholics see here a deep resonance between the creation of New Humanity, Christians, and the creation of the first humanity. This passage is not a one-off. All over the Bible, Catholic interpretation is unlocking depths I was completely unaware of as a Protestant. All that remains is to connect the Protestant breadth of Scripture mastery with the Catholic depth, and we might uncover more in God’s Word than we have any present notion of.
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