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But, then, what does distinguish the witness of scripture? Primarily, its understanding of God – -- according to which the whole of creation, nothing and no one excepted, has always already been graced and claimed by God's unconditional love. The Bible functions as scripture within the church by shaping and nurturing this understanding of whose and who we are: women and men who ever live out of God's grace and are therefore ever called to lead faithful, grace-filled lives.

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Of course, apart from factual knowledge about an issue, nothing that the church teaches or does with reference to the issue will be credible or relevant. But in addition to what is credible and relevant, the church must always ask what is Christian. And for this it turns, above all, to the scriptural witness to the gift and claim of God's love, listening for the word that is most central to scripture and most definitive for the faith and witness of the church – -- which is the word that through Jesus Christ we are both graced and claimed by God's love.

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