Criterea - Bible is inspired by God

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What is the critera - a list if so, - employed by Catholic Church to declare that the texts of the Holy Bible are directly inspired by God, though written by human.
Provide website links if available… Tiny
 
Hi JMC

The inspired nature of the bible is not deduced from internal criteria. In other words the bible is not inspired because it is “inspiring”. It is inspired because it has been handed down as such from apostolic times to the Church. The Church is the judge of biblical inspiration.

Here from the Catechism of the Catholic Church :
105 God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit."69
"For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and the New Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author, and have been handed on as such to the Church herself."70
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Verbum
 
St. Augustine, writing right around or just after the time the canon of the Bible was formed, wrote this:Now, in regard to the canonical Scriptures, he must follow the judgment of the greater number of Catholic churches; and among these, of course, a high place must be given to such as have been thought worthy to be the seat of an apostle and to receive epistles. Accordingly, among the canonical Scriptures he will judge according to the following standard: to prefer those that are received by all the Catholic churches to those which some do not receive. Among those, again, which are not received by all, he will prefer such as have the sanction of the greater number and those of greater authority, to such as are held by the smaller number and those of less authority. If, however, he shall find that some books are held by the greater number of churches, and others by the churches of greater authority (though this is not a very likely thing to happen), I think that in such a case the authority on the two sides is to be looked upon as equal. (Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, II.12)
 
Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice”. The canon is a collection of books wherein the vast majority of Christians through the ages have heard the voice of Christ, made official by church councils. Christians still hear his voice in them. It was not like a school board determining what goes in a library.

There will always be critics of the canon, because there will always be those who do not hear his voice and want to discredit the overwhelming testimony of the church because they do not wish to obey Him.
 
Tiny_A_D said:
What is the critera - a list if so, - employed by Catholic Church to declare that the texts of the Holy Bible are directly inspired by God, though written by human.
Provide website links if available… Tiny
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If they are true.
 
MarcoPolo said:
St. Augustine, writing right around or just after the time the canon of the Bible was formed, wrote this:Now, in regard to the canonical Scriptures, he must follow the judgment of the greater number of Catholic churches; and among these, of course, a high place must be given to such as have been thought worthy to be the seat of an apostle and to receive epistles. Accordingly, among the canonical Scriptures he will judge according to the following standard: to prefer those that are received by all the Catholic churches to those which some do not receive. Among those, again, which are not received by all, he will prefer such as have the sanction of the greater number and those of greater authority, to such as are held by the smaller number and those of less authority. If, however, he shall find that some books are held by the greater number of churches, and others by the churches of greater authority (though this is not a very likely thing to happen), I think that in such a case the authority on the two sides is to be looked upon as equal. (Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, II.12)
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So catholicity and apostolicity seem to be major criteria in addition to inspiration. The view of the early church on inspiration was broader IMO than the exclusive NT documents that eventually made the cut. Clement’s letter to the Corinthians was thought to have been written under the inspiration of the HS. Councils decisions were thought to be inspired by the HS. Potentially a writing could have been thought of as inspired by the HS but not included in the canon for lack of other criterial being met. Most people i talk to have the opinion that inspiration was the decisive criteria for canonicty. This doesnt seem to be the case.
 
simspt said:
So catholicity and apostolicity seem to be major criteria in addition to inspiration. The view of the early church on inspiration was broader IMO than the exclusive NT documents that eventually made the cut. Clement’s letter to the Corinthians was thought to have been written under the inspiration of the HS. Councils decisions were thought to be inspired by the HS. Potentially a writing could have been thought of as inspired by the HS but not included in the canon for lack of other criterial being met. Most people i talk to have the opinion that inspiration was the decisive criteria for canonicty. This doesnt seem to be the case.
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Right. Plenty of writings are or can be considered “inspired” but being such is not the sole criterion for inclusion in the canon of Scripture. It seems to me if someone suggests otherwise they would be saying essentially that God stopped inspiring people almost 2000 years ago.
 
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