What is meant by “Holy Scripture(s)?”
The expression “Holy Scripture” refers to writings whose ultimate origin lies in the ministry of the Spirit of God, who revealed spiritual truths to men throughout the ages. The human authors, sanctified and illumined by God, are called prophets and apostles. As the Apostle Peter writes: “no prophecy ever came by human will: holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit” (2Pe 1:21; see Q025, Q029).
The same Apostle warns that the Scriptures can be difficult to understand apart from the life of the Holy Spirit in the Church: in the letters of St Paul “some things that are hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they also do with the other Scriptures” (2Pe 3:16; see Q023). Wisely, then, the Ethiopian eunuch, reading the prophet Isaiah, sought guidance: “‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ And the man replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ So, he invited Philip to come up and sit with him” (Act 8:30–31; see Q056, Q607). The Scriptures, the interpreting Church, and the illumining Spirit belong together.
Since human beings moved by God have proclaimed and written down divine revelation, the collection of these sacred books is commonly called “the Holy Bible.”
