The Bible is a collection of books inspired by God, but written by man with man's understanding of God during the time when the books were written, so it is extremely complicated. In order for it to start making any sense, its interpretation should be contextual, not literal. The contextual approach attempts to go back to the original intent of its authors by analyzing and taking into account the time, place, culture, language, practices, mode of thinking, purpose in writing, the manners in expression, and other circumstances when the scriptures were written. God inspired the human authors of the Bible to write using their own talents, abilities and styles - He didn't merely dictate messages to them as stenographers or as a ventriloquist uses a dummy.
Scripture teaches the truths that God intends to reveal for the sake of our salvation, but it is expressed in different ways in various literary forms - history, prophecy, poetry, law, proverbs, myths, allegory, legends, fables, parables, etc. All of theses literary forms are capable of communicating truth in dramatic fashion. It is interesting that the more important a subject matter is to us, the more we tend to be more creatively abstract and poetic . The Bible deals with life and death, love and hate, good and evil, God and nothingness - subjects that dry, scientific or technical literary forms could not do justice.
Times were different when the scriptures were written. God communicated in a way that was understood for that time and guided people to the extent that they could accept divine revelation. Before Christ, people had a hard time discerning the difference between causing and allowing. They thought God caused everything, including evil. It was only after centuries passed and people grew in spiritual maturity that they could grasp more and more of God's truth. God didn't change, but we did in terms of our ability to hear what He was saying. It shows as things start becoming clearer to us as we go further into the Bible from the later books of the Old Testament and into the New Testament. We don't disregard the Old Testament, however, because we wouldn't have a full understanding of the New Testament without it. The Old Testament prepares us for Christ and the New Testament completes and fulfills the Old Testament.
So it is extremely important to not become so overly concerned and preoccupied with the individual words in the Bible and taking them at face value, but to look at the Bible as a whole and hear the message that those words are conveying to be understood in a better light. If we don't do this, it is probably possible for anyone to argue almost any position by quoting or citing certain parts of the Bible while excluding or dismissing others.
The Bible is without error in the truths of its message, but imperfect in the sense of its language and how it can be interpreted since it was written by humans. This would explain why there may be some confusion in scripture, which can appear to be contradictory or inconsistent. For example, we have two accounts of creation in Genesis. In Genesis 1:1 - 2:4, man was created after the animals, whereas, in Genesis 2:4 - 3:24, man was created before the animals. Obviously, we are not so concerned with such differences; both are included because each had been long treasured in the community, and it is merely emphasizing that God is the creator of all. We also see it in the book of Acts when Jesus appeared to Paul on his way to Damascus, and those who accompanied Paul "heard the voice but could see no one." (Acts 9:7), and then in another verse (Acts 22:9) Paul says "My companions saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who spoke to me."
We also need to look extensively at what was going on in history at that time, otherwise something that was translated may have a different meaning than what we may understand it to be today, especially if it is not easily translated into modern language. The human race is constantly changing and evolving in culture and language.
The Bible, which encompasses over 4.000 years of human history, is much too complicated and important for any individual to attempt to tackle alone, and is not meant for personal interpretation (Jn 24:45, 2 Pt 1:18-21). The Bible came from the church - not the other way around. "...the church is the pillar and foundation of truth" (1 Tim 3:15). Sacred written and oral tradition is what the Church uses to teach that truth via the Magisterium, the teaching authority of the Church. In addition to these traditions that Jesus handed down to the church, the Vatican Library, one of the oldest libraries in the world, holds hundreds of thousands of ancient documents that support Roman Catholic doctrine and are used to research and analyze the Bible in context with regard to all that surround the scriptures when they were written.
The Church is a living organism in which Christ lives. Catholics are encouraged to interpret the Bible according to objective principles endorsed by the Church within its living Tradition, which are based on, expand on, and are in harmony and consistent with sacred scripture.
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