In this blog I will lay out my foundation for the inerrancy of Scripture. I won’t claim that the work or ideas are my own. My presentation of this case is based on a series of resources that I would recommend to anyone interested in looking further into the issue. In no particular order, I recommend the following resources:
- R.C. Sproul, Scripture Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine
- Don Kistler, editor, Sola Scriptura! The Protestant Position on the Bible
- Matt Slick, http://www.carm.org/bible/word_in_bible.htm , http://www.carm.org/bible/no_originals.htm
- http://mb-soft.com/believe/text/inerranc.htm
What the Bible says about itself
First, Jesus declares that Scripture is the “word” of God:
But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Mt. 4.4).
“…he need not honor his father.” So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God (Matt 15:6).
“…thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do” (Mark 7:13).
But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:21).
But he said,“Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it” (Luke 11:28).
If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— (John 10:35).
If Scripture is not literally God’s word, can we trust anything that Jesus has told us? Furthermore, 2 Timothy 3:16 makes it clear that the inspiration of all Scripture is the same:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
In other words, all of Scripture is the word of God. So what does Scripture say about the word of God?
If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— (Jn. 10:35).
And now, O Lord GOD, you are God, and your words are true (2 Sam. 7:28a).
This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him (2 Sam. 22:31).
Every word of God is pure (KJV) Every word of God proves true (ESV) (Prov. 30:5a).
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever (Is. 40:8).
The Scripture cannot be broken; the word of God—every word of God—is true. The problem, of course, is that if Scripture isn’t completely true, then perhaps these statements aren’t completely true. If Scripture isn’t completely true, then Scripture can fail and be broken, and some words of God may not be true.
The inspiration of Scripture comes through the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:21 tells us that “no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit”. Jesus declares that the Holy Spirit would guide His followers into all truth (not just some or most truth). John 16:13a: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” Furthermore, Jesus promises that the Spirit will provide an accurate remembrance of all things. John 14:26: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”
Was Jesus’ promise less than completely true and accurate?
If a prophet attributes something to God that is not completely true, God commands that this prophet be put to death (Deut. 18:18-22. See also Deut. 15:1-5). In Deuteronomy 18:18–22 we read,
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. And if you say in your heart, “How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?”—when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.
Does God hold himself to a lower standard than He demands of the prophets? Notice also that Deuteronomy 18:18 clearly tells us that God will put His words in the prophets mouth. Adventists deny that Biblical inspiration works through God’s direct words, but this verse seems very straightforward!
Continuing with the logical reasons why Scripture must be without error, I want to mention one of the best arguments I have heard on this subject. It is from http://mb-soft.com/believe/text/inerranc.htm. Rather than try to summarize the argument and potentially reduce the impact, I will quote it directly:
“Scripture uses Scripture in a way that supports its inerrancy. At times an entire argument rests on a single word (e.g., John 10:34 – 35 and “God” in Ps. 82:6), the tense of a verb (e.g., the present tense in Matt. 22:32), and the difference between a singular and a plural noun (e.g., “seed” in Gal. 3:16). If the Bible’s inerrancy does not extend to every detail, these arguments lose their force. The use of any word may be a matter of whim and may even be an error.”
Sproul also makes the following straightforward argument:
- Do you believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God?
- Do you think God inspires errors?
- Is all of the Bible inspired by God?
The attack of Satan isn’t about God’s law, as Adventists have claimed, but about whether the word of God is completely true. For example, look at Genesis 3:1–4:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.”
Questioning the absolute accuracy of God’s Word is the foundation for sin entering our world.
Inerrancy of Scripture was basically accepted without question among theologians until the eighteenth century. With the so-called Great Enlightenment, questions about the absolute accuracy of God’s Word began to arise. A number of older, mainline churches rejected Scriptural inerrancy. The fruit of this theology can be seen among those churches today. Rejection of the creation account as literal, the ordination of homosexuals, and sermons that are entertaining stories or recaps of self-help books instead of the Word of God demonstrate the consequence of this low view of scriptural inspiration. The fruit of this theology is sufficiently widespread in our society that we can certainly judge the teaching by its outcome.
I conclude with this excellent statement by Matt Slick of Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry in which he articulates the consequence of disbelieving the inerrancy of Scripture:
When claims that the Bible contains the word of God but is not the word of God are made, it is done so usually because the critic of inspiration wants to assert that the original documents in the Bible contained errors. The problem is that this undermines the very trustworthiness of God’s Word. How are we to decide what is and is not inspired, and therefore true, if the very breath of God moving through a sinner results in documents with mistakes? Does this inspire trust in God’s Word? Does it promote security and rest in believing God’s Word? Obviously not.
This undermines the faith of Christians and is, naturally, a dangerous and false teaching (http://www.carm.org/bible/word_in_bible.htm).
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