Inerrancy
Introduction
Inerrancy is the belief that the Bible is entirely inspired by God, such that each and every word proceeds from his mouth and is as truthful as God himself is truthful.
‘While the technical term inerrancy is of recent origin, the conviction that the Bible is “without error” is not.’ So state Greg Boyd and Paul Eddy in their essay on inerrancy in Across the Spectrum. The argument of this paper will be that such a view is not of recent origin because the Scriptures themselves teach that they are without error. And as Wayne Grudem writes, “to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.” To put it provocatively, to disbelieve inerrancy is to question the truthfulness of God.
Old Testament Use
The Old Testament reveals God as a speaking God. God’s word is powerful and authoritative, and is the means by which the earth and the heavens were made (Psalm 33:7). But God’s word is also written down and kept for his people. Referring to Deuteronomy 6, John Frame writes, “In Scripture God gives revelation that is to be preserved and passed from generation to generation.” But of what use would such revelation be if it were riddled with errors?
The Old Testament authors seem to know nothing of errors in God’s word, “The law of the Lord is perfect…the testimony of the Lord is sure” (Psalm 19:7), “the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether” (Psalm 19:9), and “Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens” (Psalm 119:89). Does this sound like a description of a word through which we must sift to discern truth from error?
New Testament Use
This same assumption is picked up by the New Testament, most notably in the teaching of Jesus himself. “Truly, I say to you, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished” (Matthew 5:18). Jesus seemed to not only believe the core truths of the Scriptures were inspired, but every detail - down to the smallest pen stroke!
The teachings of Jesus certainly were on the mind of Paul when he wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16 that, “All Scripture is breathed out by God.” It is logically necessary for the word of God to be utterly truthful if the words of Hebrews 4:12 are to make sense, that the word of God is “living and active.” Experientially we understand that merely human documents can have an inspiring and and even deeply formative function. But for that formation to have the authority of God behind it it must be from God himself, and if God is true (Romans 3:4) then we must agree with Jesus that his word is that which defines truth (John 17:17).
Theology and Conclusion
Boyd and Eddy make clear that no theological writer within the orthodox tradition questioned inerrancy before the modern period. Why would we now question this simple and basic doctrine, that God’s speech is true speech? Simply to accommodate other sources of authority. Louis Berkhof addresses this in his Introductory Volume to Systematic Theology, “Man can know God only because and in so far as God actively reveals Himself…Man cannot place himself above his object in theology; he cannot investigate God.”
Note that latter sentence. Man cannot place himself above his object in theology. Yet this is precisely what the modern man does when he seeks to subject Scripture to an outside standard and say, “well some of this - you know, the really important bits - is true. But other pieces must be left by the wayside.” Such an attitude is full of hubris, and not fitting for understanding the divine gift we have been given in the Scriptures. In his Concise Theology, J.I. Packer writes,
“What Scripture says, God says; for, in a manner comparable only to the deeper mystery of the Incarnation, the Bible is both fully human and fully divine. So all its manifold contents—histories, prophecies, poems, songs, wisdom writings, sermons, statistics, letters, and whatever else—should be received as from God, and all that Bible writers teach should be revered as God’s authoritative instruction. Christians should be grateful to God for the gift of his written Word, and conscientious in basing their faith and life entirely and exclusively upon it. Otherwise, we cannot ever honor or please him as he calls us to do.”
I said at the outset of this paper that to disbelieve inerrancy is to question the truthfulness of God. I say that knowing full well that many well-meaning believers hold to an infallibilist position, or simply haven’t thought through what they believe about the Bible’s truthfulness. But if we are to believe we have received anything from God in the Scriptures, then we must take the whole thing. Difficulties and all. We may never work out all of the details. But then, he didn’t ask us to (Deuteronomy 29:29).
Bibliography
Berkhof, Louis. Introductory Volume to Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1932.
Boyd, Gregory A. and Paul R. Eddy. Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009.
Frame, John M. Salvation Belongs to the Lord: An Introduction to Systematic Theology. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2006.
Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994.
Packer, J. I. Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1993.
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