Apologeticae sive Theologiae Fundamentalis, Tomus II (Pars Altera): Demonstratio Catholica

Finally, the councils and the supreme pontiffs have authentically and infallibly defined that the inspiration of sacred Scripture of both Testaments is a revealed dogma. In truth, there was no need of a formal definition, since the unanimous tradition, taught through the ordinary magisterium of all the churches and ages, attributed Scripture to God as its author, as we have seen. Because, however, the Manichaeans, Gnostics, and other heretics excepted the books of the Old Testament or other parts of sacred Scripture from inspiration,¹ the Church the more often affirmed her faith by a formal and solemn proposition. This indeed happened especially in the "Ancient Statutes of the Church" and in the Councils of Florence, Trent, and the Vatican.

1. The "Ancient Statutes of the Church" are the name given to canons collected from certain early councils before the end of the sixth century.² Among other things they prescribe that this question be put to a bishop about to be ordained: "Whether he believes in one and the same author and God of the New and Old Testament, i. e. of the Law and of the Prophets and of the Apostles."³ The same profession of faith, according to the Roman Pontifical, was thereafter prescribed to be made by all bishops;⁴ the same profession is found in the symbol of Leo IX (1053);⁵ the same profession was imposed on the Manichaeans and Waldensians returning to repentance by Innocent III (1208);⁶ the same was proposed to the Greeks returning to the Church by Clement IV and was offered by the emperor Michael Palaeologus at the Council of Lyon (1274).⁷ Therefore in all ages the ecclesiastical magisterium publicly and formally professed the inspiration of sacred Scripture.

2. The Council of Florence (1441) in the decree of Eugenius IV for the Jacobites pronounces still more solemnly: "The Most Holy Roman Church ... professes one and the same God as author of the Old and New Testament, that is, of the Law and of the Prophets and of the Gospel: since the saints of both Testaments spoke by the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit: whose books it receives and venerates, which are contained under the following titles: Genesis, Exodus ..."⁸ By this decree that most ancient profession of faith is repeated, and moreover the concept of inspiration is set forth more earnestly, with the canon of all the inspired books of both Testaments added as well.

3. The Council of Trent (1546) "receives and venerates all the books of both the Old and the New Testament, since one God is the author of both, ... with an equal affection of piety and reverence. It thought that the index of the sacred books should be attached to this decree, lest any doubt could arise as to which are the ones received by the synod itself ... If, however, anyone does not receive the books themselves, whole with all their parts, as they have been accustomed to be read in the Catholic Church and are contained in the old Latin Vulgate edition, as sacred and canonical, let him be anathema."⁹ In this document the Tridentine fathers set forth the same judgment concerning inspiration as the Council of Florence, enumerate the same catalogue of inspired books, and moreover add that "the books themselves, whole with all their parts," are inspired. Finally:

4. The Vatican Council: "The books of the New and Old Testament, whole with all their parts, as they are contained in the old Vulgate edition, are to be received as sacred and canonical. The Church, however, holds them as sacred and canonical not because, having been composed by mere human industry, they were afterwards approved by her own authority, nor merely because they contain revelation without error; but because, having been written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author, and as such they were handed down to the Church."¹⁰

This Vatican definition not only, after the manner of the Council of Trent, proposes anew the fact of the inspiration of all the sacred books, but also sets forth the nature of inspiration.