Theology 10 Sacred Scripture

Mr. Phillips
Dei Verbum Chapter 3 (Completed)

The following is taken from Dei Verbum, the Vatican II document on Sacred Scripture and revelation.

Summarize and Rephrase

11. Those divinely revealed realities which are contained and
The books of the Bible were
presented in Sacred Scripture have been committed to writing written under the inspiration
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For holy mother of the HS and are therefore

Church holds that the books of both the Old and New the word of God.

Testaments in their entirety, with all their parts, are sacred and
canonical because written under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, they have God as their author and have been handed on
as such to the Church herself.

The human authors are true

In composing the sacred books, God chose humans and, while
authors, and God acted
employed by God, they made use of their powers and abilities, through them.
so that with God acting in them and through them, they, as
true authors, consigned to writing everything and only those
things which God wanted.

Scripture is true in the sense

Therefore, since everything asserted by the inspired authors or
of giving us the truth
sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it necessary for salvation. This
follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as does not mean everything in

teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which the Bible is historically true.

God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation.
 Summarize and Rephrase
12. However, since God speaks in Sacred Scripture through
To interpret scripture well,
humans in human fashion, the interpreter of Sacred Scripture, we need to ask what the
in order to see clearly what God wanted to communicate to us, human authors intended to
should carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writers communicate.

really intended, and what God wanted to manifest by means of

their words.

The human authors used the

To search out the intention of the sacred writers, attention
literary genres and styles of
should be given, among other things, to "literary forms." For their day, and we must
truth is set forth and expressed differently in texts which are consider this when
variously historical, prophetic, poetic, or of other forms of interpreting Scripture.

discourse. The interpreter must investigate what meaning the

sacred writer intended to express and actually expressed in
particular circumstances by using contemporary literary forms
in accordance with the situation of his own time and culture.
Just as Jesus is truly God and
truly human, so Sacred
13. For the words of God, expressed in human language, have
Scripture is truly God’s word
been made like human discourse, just as the word of the and truly the word of human
eternal Father, when He took to Himself the flesh of human beings.

weakness, was in every way made like us.