[16] All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
(CCC 111) But since Sacred Scripture is inspired, there is another and no less important principle of correct interpretation, without which Scripture would remain a dead letter. "Sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written" (DV 12 § 3). The Second Vatican Council indicates three criteria for interpreting Scripture in accordance with the Spirit who inspired it (Cf. DV 12 § 4). (CCC 112) 1. Be especially attentive "to the content and unity of the whole Scripture". Different as the books which compose it may be, Scripture is a unity by reason of the unity of God's plan, of which Christ Jesus is the center and heart, open since his Passover (Cf. Lk 24:25-27, 44-46). The phrase "heart of Christ" can refer to Sacred Scripture, which makes known his heart, closed before the Passion, as the Scripture was obscure. But the Scripture has been opened since the Passion; since those who from then on have understood it, consider and discern in what way the prophecies must be interpreted (St. Thomas Aquinas, Expos. in Ps. 21, 11; cf. Ps 22:14). (CCC 113) 2. Read the Scripture within "the living Tradition of the whole Church". According to a saying of the Fathers, Sacred Scripture is written principally in the Church's heart rather than in documents and records, for the Church carries in her Tradition the living memorial of God's Word, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives her the spiritual interpretation of the Scripture ("according to the spiritual meaning which the Spirit grants to the Church", Origen, Hom. in Lev. 5, 5: PG 12, 454D). (CCC 114) 3. Be attentive to the analogy of faith (Cf. Rom 12:6). By "analogy of faith" we mean the coherence of the truths of faith among themselves and within the whole plan of Revelation.
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