What signs do we have that the Holy Scriptures are truly the inspired and written preservation of the Word of God?
Catechumens and professed Christians are given many signs that the Scriptures are indeed the inspired and written preservation of the Word of God, the first and foremost being the Lord’s own testimony to that effect: “have you not read what was spoken to you by God?” (Mat 22:31; see Q217); “scripture cannot be broken” (Joh 10:35; see Q217).
Other signs of the divine character of the Scriptures are these:
1. the sublimity of their doctrine, which witnesses that it is no invention of mere human reason;
2. the purity of their doctrine, which shows that it comes from the all-pure mind of God;
3. prophecies, many of which have been exactly fulfilled in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ;
4. miracles, many of which continue to be performed by God’s saints to this very day;
5. and the powerful effect of this doctrine upon the hearts of men, which is beyond all but divine power.
The inspiration of the Scriptures does not depend on scholarly conclusions about the human authors of each book or the date at which it reached its final form; the Church receives these books as inspired because she recognizes in them the voice of the one Spirit, and the faithful may weigh such historical questions with freedom and discernment.
