What is your opinion on the authority of the Bible? Do
you see it as the literal Word of God which commands our
obedience? Or do you view it as the humanly inspired words
of great men so that we are pretty much free to pick and
choose what we will accept or reject? Or do you see the
Bible as something in between, as a combination of divine
ideas and human beliefs?
In this multi-part series, we will seek to examine the
important subject of biblical inerrancy, i.e., the claim
that the Bible is without error.
The Importance of Inerrancy
Why do we think biblical inerrancy is such a crucial
subject? Because of its implications. The Bible is the
most important book in the world because it alone is God’s
Word. Its influence in history is incalculable. The Bible
has literally changed the world. Not just Western history,
but all of history.
The Bible claims to be inerrant and Jesus Christ
claimed the Bible was inerrant. If the Bible claims
inerrancy and this is wrong, then the Bible contains
errors and is wrong on a critical subject: its own
authority. But then Jesus was also wrong. Indeed, if the
Bible and Jesus were both wrong on this point, they could
have been wrong on any point. It seems logical that
granting a position of biblical errancy leaves one sinking
within a spiritual quagmire. Subjectivism and uncertainty
concerning divine revelation can only result in either
agnosticism or blind trust on any given Scripture, or
teaching of Scripture. In other words, if the Bible
contains errors, can we be certain we are capable of
determining where it speaks truth and where it speaks
error? If the answer is yes, then on what logical basis is
the judgment made?
On the other hand, if a rational defense of inerrancy
can be made, then, given the conditions under which it was
written, it is exceedingly difficult to reject the thesis
that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. The Bible was
written in Hebrew and Greek, two extremely different
languages (plus some Aramaic), by over 40 different
authors from many walks of life during a vast period of
1,500 years. It was not written by a single author over a
period of just a few years.
The Bible was laboriously hand copied on perishable
materials. It was not typed with a modern computer on high
quality reading paper. Over 3,000 years, from 1,500 BC to
1,600 A.D., biblical parchment was frequently subject to
the stresses of weather, human neglect, political and
military upheavals, and deliberate sabotage. It was not
protected in a modern climate controlled library.
Given these and other adverse conditions, if the Bible
were only written by men, it would necessarily
contain a good number of errors. But if it is actually
errorless, then given the thousands of details in its
contents, specific predictions of the future, etc., such
inerrancy cannot reasonably be accounted for apart
from divine inspiration and preservation.
Biblical Authority
Why do we think it is vital for everyone to investigate
the issue of the authority of the Bible? Because of its
teachings. Again, the Bible is the single most important
book the world has ever owned. To be ignorant concerning
its claims and contents constitutes an abdication of
personal responsibility.
If the Bible is the Word of God, then its
importance to every person and every culture is obvious.
Religious scripture that is obviously a human product or
false or mythic or fraudulent can hardly command our
attention as the inspired Word of God. And, despite what
anyone claims and no matter how offensive we are to some
for saying it, this is the lot of all non-biblical
scripture. This is the truth. So the only question is
whether or not this is also the case for the Bible. If the
Bible is the inerrant Word of God and if it
authoritatively answers the fundamental questions of life,
then who can ignore its message? If the Bible accurately
tells us who God is, who we are, why
we are here and what happens when we die, is there
a living soul anywhere who could fail to be impressed? If
the Bible gives us true absolutes in a world of relatives
doesn’t this have profound implications? Who wants to live
a life of uncertainty when they can actually know the
truth?
Indeed, isn’t the plague of the modern world its own
relativism—in ethics, law, politics, sexuality, education,
medicine, religion, business, and so on? If people live
only for themselves and do whatever they want—often in
disregard of others’ welfare—isn’t one reason for this
because they feel life is meaningless and that nothing
finally matters? If there is no final authority in
anything and if when you die you are gone forever, why not
live any way you please?
It would be difficult to deny that if people today
merely lived by most of the Ten Commandments, then most of
our social ills would be solved or greatly reduced. People
don’t because they do not really believe those words and
commandments came from God. And they certainly don’t
believe that God will hold them personally accountable in
the next life for the kind of life they lived here. But
what if they are wrong?
In essence, helping people to believe in the Bible and
live by its precepts is the single most important issue
for our nation’s direction and future. It is the one
single thing that would solve most of our problems
immediately, heal our nation, and prosper us again in
every way.
Non-Christians, of course, aren’t going to start
believing in the Bible through osmosis. It is only through
Gospel evangelism by Christians and personal discipleship
that this occurs. But with God’s blessing, it clearly is
possible to reach tens of millions with salvation and
discipleship and for Christianity to once again start
exerting such a cultural influence that even
non-Christians will, by choice, live according to general
biblical precepts.
But if only the church can save our nation from the
perilous direction it is headed, then the church must be
fully persuaded as to biblical authority and inerrancy.
Unfortunately, many in the church are no longer sure of
their spiritual moorings.
When God’s people again honor God and His Word, then He
will again honor our nation. In the meantime, as church
historian Dr. Harold Lindsell so clearly pointed out in
his book by the same title, The Battle for the Bible
will continue within and without the church. And as
always, the victors will be the diligent.
Whatever one’s view of the Bible, it stands as written
and can be frankly investigated and evaluated by anyone
who wishes. We think it is significant, given two thousand
years of the most intense scrutiny by critics and
skeptics, that millions of people in the modern era
continue to believe the Bible is the literal inerrant Word
of God and argue that it can be rationally defended as
such. Can members of any other religious faith in the
world logically defend such a claim concerning their own
scripture?
As sad (and ironic) as it is, the "battle" over
inerrancy lies primarily within the Evangelical
Church. This is not a result of any defect in the defense
of biblical inerrancy, but has occurred for a variety of
reasons. Much of it has to do with infection by liberal
theology, higher critical methodologies (source, form, and
redaction criticism), and the premises of secular culture;
not the biblical text itself. The battle lies between
those who maintain the complete inerrancy of Scripture and
those who limit the inerrancy of Scripture to matters of
faith and practice, leaving biblical history, geography,
and science open to the possibility of error.
A generation ago, when someone said, "I believe in the
inspiration of the Bible" the meaning was generally
understood. It meant this person believed the Bible was
inerrant. As the doctrine became increasingly questioned,
however, the list of descriptive adjectives needed to say
the same thing grew longer and longer.
Consider the chart below as an illustration:
If one were to accept the increasing qualifications on
the term inspiration, one would now have to say "I
believe in the verbal, plenary, infallible, inerrant,
unlimited, inspiration of the Bible" merely to declare
what was clearly understood a generation ago by "I believe
in the inspiration of the Bible."
(to be continued)
Notes:
