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Peace Father,
Is it heresy to say that the Bible contains mistakes?
Martin
Priest’s Answer
Dear Martin,
1. the Holy Scripture, having God as its main author, cannot contain errors because God cannot be deceived and cannot deceive.
Inerrancy is the direct consequence of divine inspiration.
2. Starting from this principle, the Second Vatican Council affirmed in the dogmatic constitution Dei Verbum:“Therefore, since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation. Therefore «all Scripture is divinely inspired and has its use for teaching the truth and refuting error, for reformation of manners and discipline in right living, so that the man who belongs to God may be efficient and equipped for good work of every kind»’’ (2 Tm 3,16)” (DV 11).
3. Let us now see what the Council’s statement means.
First of all, books of Scripture mean texts directly written by the author under the inspiration of God.
Therefore the versions participate in this prerogative only to the extent that they faithfully convey its meaning and form.
4. Secondly, the Council states that Sacred Scripture contains truths that GOD wanted to reveal for our salvation.
Any inaccuracies or gaps from a historical perspective are irrelevant to the purpose of Sacred Scripture, which is to lead men to eternal salvation. The same thing applies to the physical sciences, such as geology, astronomy, zoology.
The author’s intention is not to give scientific information on these sectors of knowledge.
This is why Saint Augustine wrote: “The Holy Spirit does not want to teach men things that have no use for eternal salvation… The Lord did not promise the Holy Spirit to instruct us about the course of the sun and the moon: he wanted to make Christians, not mathematicians.”(De Genesi ad litteram2,9-29). (t/n)
And Saint Thomas: “It should rather be considered that Moses was speaking to ignorant people, and that out of condescension to their weakness he put before them only such things as are apparent to sense.” (Summa theologiae, I, 68, 3).
5. Thirdly, since God revealed himself in human form and in such a way as to make himself understood according to the particular culture of the people he addressed, it is necessary to keep in mind what God wanted to reveal through the hagiograph and the way of expressing himself.
From this point of view, literary genres are of capital importance.
6. This is why the Council adds: “However, 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.
To search out the intention of the sacred writers, attention should be given, among other things, to “literary forms.” For truth is set forth and expressed differently in texts which are variously historical, prophetic, poetic, or of other forms of discourse. The interpreter must investigate what meaning the sacred writer intended to express and actually expressed in particular circ*mstances by using contemporary literary forms in accordance with the situation of his own time and culture. For the correct understanding of what the sacred author wanted to assert, due attention must be paid to the customary and characteristic styles of feeling, speaking and narrating which prevailed at the time of the sacred writer, and to the patterns men normally employed at that period in their everyday dealings with one another.” (DV 12).
7. Finally, it is wrong to say that the Holy Scriptures contradict each other and that one text corrects the other.
This was the erroneous opinion of some Orthodox Greeks according to whom St. John, who wrote his Gospel after the other evangelists, corrected their inaccuracies. St.Thomas expressed himself against this opinion: “ But it is heresy to say that there is anything false not only in the Gospels but anywhere in the canonical scriptures. Consequently, we have to say that all the Evangelists state the same thing and do not disagree.” (Commentary to the Gospel of John,13,1).
8.Before him the Holy Fathers agreed in the same statement.
Amongst these, we remember Saint Justin, who lived in the II century: “For I shall never dare either to imagine or to say this, but if a passage which seems to be such is adduced, and has the appearance of contradicting another I am so fully persuaded that no passage really does this that I would rather acknowledge that I do not understand what it is said and shall rather do my best to persuade those who suppose that the passages are contradictory to think the same as I.’’ (Dialogue with Trypho, 65).
Saint Augustine also expresses himself along the same lines. Writing to Saint Hieronymus he says: “For I confess to your Charity that I have learned to yield this respect and honour only to the canonical books of Scripture: of these alone do I most firmly believe that the authors were completely free from error. And if in these writings I am perplexed by anything which appears to me opposed to truth, I do not hesitate to suppose that either the ms. is faulty, or the translator has not caught the meaning of what was said, or I myself have failed to understand it.a” (Letter82,1-3).
While I thank you for your question, I bless you and assure you of my remembrance in prayer.
Father Angelo
