When we speak of the inerrancy of the Bible, some object, saying: “The Bible contains material on doctrinal, ethical, and moral matters and is accurate in what it says about these things. Other material on incidental matters may be inaccurate but that does not interfere with the main message. Aren’t we in danger of losing our focus and majoring on minors? Does it really matter?”
Well, it does matter! If the Bible is not inspired and inerrant, the implications are serious and far-reaching.
Rejecting inspiration and inerrancy leaves us without a solid reference point from which to build. In fact it begs the question, “Why should we read the Bible at all?” Dr. James A. Borror says:
To the extent that you weaken inerrancy, to that extent you weaken inspiration. To the extent that you weaken inspiration, to that extent you have a garbled revelation. To the extent that you have a garbled revelation, to that extent you have a weakened authority. And when you weaken the authority of the Bible you launch upon a shifting sea of subjective uncertainty.
Rejecting inspiration and inerrancy overthrows the biblical idea of faith. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17). Faith is believing what God has said (e.g., Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3; Gal. 3:6). In the absence of certainty as to what the Word of God is, superstition prevails and not faith.
Rejecting inspiration and inerrancy is historically the first step down the path of departure. Students of history tell us that a denial of inerrancy inevitably leads to further departures from the truth and to a loss of vital interest in evangelism and missions.
Harold Lindsell observes:
From my perspective, God is glorified by the mind-set that attributes perfection to Scripture, rather than by the mind-set that attributes error to the written Word of God and always leads to further concessions until at last, if not halted, it leads to a full falling away from the holy faith.
With so much at stake it is important to ask: What do we mean by “inspiration” and “inerrancy,” and what does the Bible tell us about them?
SCRIPTURE IS INSPIRED
God took the initiative and was involved in the writing of Scripture. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Tim. 3:16). Literally, this means that Scripture is “God-breathed.” The breath of God elsewhere refers to that which emanates from God and is living and active and powerful. Just as He produced creation by His breath (Ps. 33:6), so He has produced Scripture—all of it. Paul may have had the OT in mind, but we need not limit his statement to the OT because in his earlier letter to Timothy he applied the term “scripture” to Deuteronomy 25:4 and also to Luke 10:7 (see 1 Tim. 5:18).
Peter agrees with Paul: “No prophecy is of any private interpretation” (2 Pet. 1:20). He refers to the origin of prophecy: it did not come about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things; it was not his idea. “For prophecy never came by the will of man; but holy men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” The verb translated “moved” was used of a ship driven along by the wind (Acts 27:15, 17). The prophets, so to speak, hoisted their sail and the Spirit of God bore them along, directing and controlling them as they wrote. And if that was the experience of the prophets, it is surely significant that Peter places the writings of NT apostles (2 Pet. 3:2), and those of Paul in particular (2 Pet. 3:16), on the same level as those of the OT prophets.
INSPIRATION IS NOT REVELATION
Sometimes the writers were aware that what was written had been revealed directly to them, but on other occasions they wrote about things they already knew or had experienced, and sometimes they used the writings of earlier authors. Luke obtained information from eyewitnesses (Lk. 1:1-2). Paul writes, “Concerning virgins I have no commandment from the Lord…” (1 Cor. 7:25), i.e., there was no previous teaching by the Lord and Paul was conscious of no revelation from the Lord on this particular point.
But whatever the source of the material, inspiration means that the Spirit of God assisted the writers and controlled what was written. “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Cor. 2:13). William Kelly renders the last part of that verse in this way: “communicating spiritual truths in spiritual words” so that the words they used were God’s words.
INSPIRATION DOES NOT MEAN DICTATION
The Scriptures were not dictated by God to writers who were no more than robots writing down what they received. If that were the case we would expect that the personal element would have been eliminated and that there would be consistency throughout in vocabulary, grammar, style, etc. Inspiration means that the Spirit of God so directed the writers that the finished product was precisely what God intended. God could say, as Augustine puts it, “Indeed, O man, what My Scripture says, I say!”
SCRIPTURE IS INERRANT
Since God is the source of Scripture, and since God does not and cannot lie (Heb. 6:18; Titus 1:2; Num. 23:19), and since He is not ignorant in any area but is all-knowing (e.g. Dan. 2:22; Heb. 4:13), it follows that Scripture is perfectly accurate in all that it communicates.
Does the Bible claim to be without error? An inductive study of Scripture confirms that it is inerrant. Peter describes how he had witnessed the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus and then adds: “We have the prophetic word confirmed” (2 Pet. 1:19, nkjv). In other words, his experience on the mount served to authenticate what Scripture said. The AV renders it, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy” (see 2 Pet. 1:19-21), i.e., the Word is more certain and more reliable than human experience. Whichever rendering we accept, Peter is surely affirming that the Word of God is reliable and therefore we should pay attention to it.
The Lord Jesus had a similar attitude to Scripture. He believed Scripture, including the stories about Adam and Eve, Jonah, Noah, Abraham, David, Solomon, Elijah, Isaiah, the Queen of Sheba, etc. And He expected others to believe Scripture too (e.g., Lk. 24:25). He obeyed and fulfilled Scripture (e.g., Mt. 4:3-4; 5:17; Lk. 4:21). And He taught Scripture (e.g. Lk. 4:16-21; Jn 5:39; Lk. 24:27).
Perhaps His view is best summarized in His own statements: “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail” (Lk. 16:17). He also declared, “The Scripture cannot be broken” (Jn. 10:35). In this passage the Lord Jesus appeals to Psalm 82:6, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, You are gods?’” Dr. S. L. Johnson writes:
There are two things to note. In the first place, the clause, “I said, you are gods,” is not a very important clause…And yet it is this incidental statement, and even its incidental form, that the Lord Jesus says cannot be broken!…In the second place, the essence of our Lord’s argument depends on one word: “gods.” The authority of Scripture attaches to a single word in a casual clause. If found in the “Law,” it is authoritative, and the authority extends to a single word in the Law. Is this not what is meant by verbal-plenary inspiration?
It might be objected that there are discrepancies in the Bible. However, many apparent discrepancies have, with the passing of time and the acquisition of further knowledge, been shown not to be discrepancies at all. There is good reason to suppose that difficulties that remain are difficulties only because of our lack of understanding.
We should look to the Lord to do for us what He did for the disciples when “He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures” (Lk. 24:45). Augustine’s conclusion on this matter:
I have learned to ascribe to those books which are of canonical rank, and only to them, such reverence and honor that I firmly believe that no single error due to the author is found in any one of them. And when I am confronted in these books with anything that seems to be at variance with truth, I do not hesitate to put it down either to the use of an incorrect text, or to the failure of the commentator rightly to explain the words, or to my own misunderstanding of the passage.
How should we respond? The International Council on Biblical Inerrancy in its Chicago Statement states:
Holy Scripture, being God’s own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it affirms; obeyed, as God’s command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God’s pledge, in all that it promises.