Divine Inspiration of Sacred Scripture

Catechesis by Pope John Paul II on God the Father

General Audience, Wednesday, 1 May 1985 - in Italian & Spanish

"1. Today we repeat once again those beautiful words of the conciliar Constitution Dei Verbum:
"And thus God, who spoke of old, uninterruptedly converses with the bride of his beloved Son
[which is the Church]; and the Holy Spirit, through whom the living voice of the Gospel resounds
in the Church, and through her, in the world, leads unto all truth those who believe and makes
the word of Christ dwell abundantly in them (cf. Col 3:16)" (DV 8).

Let us take up again what it means "to believe." To believe in a Christian way means precisely
to be led by the Spirit to the entire truth of divine revelation. It means to be a community of the
faithful open to the word of the Gospel of Christ. Both are possible in every generation. The
living transmission of divine revelation, contained in Tradition and Sacred Scripture, remains
integral in the Church, thanks to the special service of the Magisterium, in harmony with the
supernatural sense of the faith of the People of God.

2. To complete this concept of the bond between our Catholic "creed" and its source, the
doctrine of the divine inspiration of Sacred Scripture and the authentic interpretation of Scripture
is also important. In presenting this doctrine we will follow above all (as in the previous
catecheses) the Constitution Dei Verbum.

The Council said: "Holy Mother Church, relying on the belief of the apostles, holds that the
books of both the Old and New Testaments in their entirety, with all their parts, are sacred and
canonical because, having been written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 20:31; 2
Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:19-21; 3:15-16), they have God as their author and have been handed on as
such to the Church herself" (DV 11).

God - as the invisible and transcendent author - "chose men and while employed by him they
made use of their powers and abilities, so that...they, as true authors, consigned to writing
everything and only those things which he wanted" (DV 11). For this purpose the Holy Spirit
acted in them and through them (cf. DV 11).

3. Granted this origin, it must be held "that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as
teaching firmly, faithfully, and without error that truth which God wanted put into the sacred
writings for the sake of our salvation" (DV 11). St. Paul's words in his Letter to Timothy confirm
this: "All Scripture is inspired of God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, correction, and
training in holiness so that the man of God may be fully competent and equipped for every good
work" (2 Tim 3:16-17).

In accordance with the teaching of St. John Chrysostom, the Constitution on Divine Revelation
expresses admiration for that special "condescension, "a stooping down" as it were by divine
Wisdom. "The words of God, expressed in human language, have been made like human
discourse, just as the Word of the eternal Father, when he took to himself the flesh of human
weakness, was in every way made like men" (DV 13).

4. Some norms concerning the interpretation of Sacred Scripture logically spring from the truth
of its divine inspiration. The Constitution Dei Verbum lists them briefly: A primary principle is
that "since God speaks in Sacred Scripture through men in human fashion, the interpreter of
Sacred Scripture, in order to see clearly what God wanted to communicate to us, should
carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writers really intended, and what God wanted to
manifest by means of their words" (DV 12).

For this end - this is the second point - it is necessary to take into consideration, among other
things, the "literary genres." "For truth is set forth and expressed differently in texts which are
variously historical, prophetic, poetic, or of other forms of discourse" (DV 12). The meaning of
what the author expresses depends precisely on these literary genres, which must therefore be
considered against the background of all the circumstances of a given era and a specific
culture.

Here, then, is the third principle for a correct interpretation of Sacred Scripture: "For the correct
understanding of what the sacred author wanted to assert, due attention must be paid to the
customary and characteristic styles of perceiving, speaking, and narrating which prevailed at
the time of the sacred writer, and to the pattern men normally employed at that period in their
everyday dealings with one another" (DV 12).

5. These sufficiently detailed indications, given for interpretation of an historical-literary

character, demand a deepened relationship with the premises of the doctrine on the divine
inspiration of Sacred Scripture. It must be "read and interpreted according to the same Spirit by
whom it was written" (DV 12). Therefore, "no less serious attention must be given to the content
and unity of the whole of Scripture...the living tradition of the whole Church must be taken into
account along with the harmony which exists between elements of the faith" (DV 12). By the
"harmony which exists between elements of the faith," we mean the consistency of the
individual truths of faith among themselves and with the total plan of revelation and the fullness
of the divine economy contained in it.

6. The task of exegetes, that is, researchers who study Sacred Scripture with appropriate
methods, is to contribute, in keeping with the above-mentioned principles, "to a better
understanding and explanation of the meaning of Sacred Scripture, so that through preparatory
study the judgment of the Church may mature" (DV 12).

Granted that the Church has "the divine commission and ministry of guarding and interpreting
the word of God," whatever concerns "the way of interpreting Scripture is subject finally to the
judgment of the Church" (DV 12). This norm is important and decisive for specifying the
reciprocal relationship between exegesis (and theology) and the Magisterium of the Church. It is
a norm that remains closely related to what we have previously said about the transmission of
divine revelation.

We must stress once again that the Magisterium makes use of the work of theologians and
exegetes and at the same time watches over the results of their studies. The Magisterium is
called to safeguard the whole truth contained in divine revelation.

7. To believe in a Christian way means to adhere to this truth by taking advantage of the
guarantee of truth which comes to the Church through its institution by Christ himself. This
holds true for all the faithful, and also for theologians and exegetes at the right level and in the
proper degree. In this field the merciful providence of God is revealed for everyone. God has
willed to grant us not only the gift of his self-revelation, but also the guarantee of its faithful
preservation, interpretation and explanation, entrusting it to the hands of the Church."