Bible In One Year Day 292 (1 Maccabees 11, Sirach 28-29, Proverbs 23: 9-12)

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War Elephants Maccabees 

Day 292: Power of Words

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 292 Why Isn’t Everything Infallible?

CHALLENGE: “If the Church can teach infallibly, why doesn’t it go ahead and teach everything infallibly?”

DEFENSE: Because it is not God’s will.

Consider a parallel: The New Testament authors wrote under the charism of inspiration (2 Tim. 3:16), which is greater than and includes infallibility. If it was God’s will, he could’ve had them write a single, systematic theology textbook with every proposition he wished to reveal to man carefully explained, yet he chose not to. We can speculate on why, but it is clear he chose not to or it would have happened. If that was God’s will when he was still divinely inspiring authors, it is hardly likely he would wish the Magisterium to attempt a parallel task today. This is confirmed when we consider the challenges the Magisterium would face if it tried to do so.

First, infallibility is a negative protection. It means God won’t allow the Magisterium to define something false, but it doesn’t mean the Magisterium doesn’t have to do its homework. A large amount of work must be done to prepare for a definition. The subject must be carefully considered from all angles in light of the sources of faith, the arguments examined, God’s guidance prayerfully sought, and so on. Trying to define every point of theology would be a massive undertaking that would consume the Magisterium’s energies and prevent the Church’s pastors from fulfilling their duties.

Second, if the Magisterium tried to circumvent this by defining things in a slapdash manner, the result would be slapdash definitions. Infallibility guarantees that a teaching is not false, not that it’s well phrased or timely in its delivery. The effort to define everything would produce poorly phrased teachings that were not properly introduced to the faithful. The pastoral damage would be enormous.

Third, the Magisterium can’t answer questions that haven’t been asked, and new questions arise constantly. For example, questions about how original sin works could not be considered until the concept of original sin was formulated from the sources of faith. Theologians prior to that time did not have the ability to pose or answer such questions. In the same way, the Magisterium today can’t define the answers to unasked questions (many of which may be prompted by the moral implications of new technologies).

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist