What is the teaching of the Church about the inspiration of the Bible?. We will be exploring the Church’s understanding of Bible inspiration, what is meant by the phrase “God’s Word,” and how the human authors of Scripture fit into this picture.
Let’s start with what we mean when we say that the Bible is inspired. The Catholic Church teaches that the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit.
This means that the Holy Spirit worked through the human authors of Scripture, guiding, and directing them so that they would write what God wished to reveal to us.
Imagine a person going up a flight of stairs. As he climbs up, he can get a better view from the upper levels. God’s inspiration in the Bible works in a similar way. Gradually, God revealed himself and made known the plan of his loving goodness, a plan that culminates in the person and mission of his Son, Jesus Christ.
This view of inspiration is reflected in “Dei Verbum,” the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation from the Second Vatican Council. This document highlights the essential roles of Church’s Tradition and Holy Scripture in man’s search for truth and salvation.
Another important concept related to inspiration is the idea of God’s Word. The Catholic Church teaches that the Bible is not just a human book, but a divinely inspired one. This means that the words of the Bible are not merely human words, but words that come from God.
This is why the Church teaches that the Bible is without error in all that it affirms regarding matters of faith and morals. When the Bible speaks on matters of faith and morals, it is entirely trustworthy and reliable, because it is inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Of course, the Bible was written by human hands, and this raises some important questions about how the human authors fit into this picture of inspiration.
The Catholic Church teaches that the Holy Spirit worked through these human authors, using their unique gifts, personalities, and writing styles to convey God’s message.
At the same time, the Church recognizes that the human authors were not perfect, and that they wrote within the cultural and historical contexts of their time. This means that we need to be careful when interpreting Scripture, and that we need to consider the historical and cultural context of every book.
So, what does this mean in practice? Let’s look at a few examples of how the Catholic Church explains the inspiration of the Bible by the Holy Spirit.
Consider the creation of earth and the first human beings. Through scientific research we know that the earth was not created in six days, but the inspiration of the passage is that God created and sustains everything. God created humans as male and female, and they are complimentary to each other.
In the book of Exodus God asked Moses to make a bronze serpent and place it on a pole so that whoever looked at it would be healed from the effects of poison bites. This would later be viewed in New Testament light as an image of the salvation through the Crucified Christ.
To summarize, the Catholic Church teaches that the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and that the Bible is God’s Word. The human authors of Scripture wrote under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, using their unique gifts and writing styles to convey God’s message. The interpretation of Holy Scripture is a delicate process which needs to be done carefully, with constant consideration of the historical and cultural context of every book in the Bible.
