Inerrancy

  Inspiration of Scripture by God
+Infallibility (God is incapable of failing or making a mistake)
=Inerrancy

IN-CLASS EXERCISE - Inspiration & Inerrancy

The doctrine of inspiration, especially verbal inspiration, leads naturally into the doctrine of inerrancy. Since the Bible is the Word of God, breathed-out by the Holy Spirit, it is only reasonable to conclude that it is without error. And yet, there are some passages which lead us to question if the Bible truly is without error.

• 2 Chronicles 4:2 – diameter was 10 cubits & circumference was 30 cubits (but pi = 3.14159)?
• 2 Samuel 10:18 & 1 Chronicles 19:18 – 700 or 7000 chariots?
• 2 Samuel 8:4 & 1 Chronicles 18:4 – 1700 horseman/20,000 soldiers or 7000 horseman/20,000 soldiers?
• 2 Samuel 24:9 & 1 Chronicles 21:5 – 800,000 men of Israel & 500,000 men of Judah or 1,100,000 men of Israel & 470,000 men of Judah.
• Mark 6:8; Matthew 10:9-10 & Luke 9:3 – Take the staff or not
• Matthew 21:9; Mark 11:9-10; Luke 19:38; John 12:13-15 – "Glory" in the highest or "Hosanna" in the highest?
• Matthew 27:37; Mark 15:26; Luke 23:38; John 19:19 – The sign on the cross?
• Genesis 11:26, 32, 12:1, 4 & Acts 7:4 – Abraham leaving Haran & Terah’s age.
• Matthew 27:5 & Acts 1:18 – Judas "hanged himself" and "falling headlong…"?
• Numbers 25:9 & 1 Corinthians 10:8 – 24,000 or 23,000 died?

*18 apparent discrepancies between Chronicles & Samuel/Kings
from Gleason Archer, "Alleged Errors and Discrepancies in Inerrancy, ed. Norman L. Geisler (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979), p. 61.

There are various ways in which inerrancy can and has been defined.

• Absolute/Full/Strict Inerrancy – The Bible is completely without error in all the things that it says. The authors not only intended to convey the teaching about God and salvation in a perfect way, but about intended to communicate scientific and historical details which are given in a precise way. The descriptions of theology were their specific area of "expertise" and these are completely without error. Since science or history were not their main reasons for writing God's inspired Word, these may not be 100% accurate to the detail as 21st century people might expect. Rather they are more like approximations or rounded-off numbers.
• Moderate/Partial/Limited Inerrancy – This view regards the Bible is completely inerrant in regards to its teaching about salvation (faith and practice). However, other forms of knowledge (ie. science or history) may be erroneous as they did not intend to teach on this topic, nor did they have sufficient knowledge of these topics. What they teach on "non-theological topics could be erroneous in some ways since they did not have advanced sciences like we do today.
• Inerrancy of Purpose – The purpose of the Bible is to lead people to a relationship with Christ. It does this. The purpose of the Bible is not to communicate truth, so other facts are not necessarily accurate. Proponents of this view of inerrancy usually prefer to describe the Bible as "infallible," meaning that the Bible does not make any misleading statements about matters of faith. It is "entirely trustworthy."

Definition

By inerrancy we mean that the Bible is fully truthful in all that it affirms when properly interpreted.

"Inerrancy means that when all facts are known, the Scriptures in their original autographs and properly interpreted will be shown to be wholly true in everything that they affirm, whether that has to do with doctrine or morality or with the social, physical, or life sciences."
from Paul D. Feinberg, "The Meaning of Inerrancy," in Inerrancy, ed. Norman L. Geisler (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979), pp. 265-304.

Some important points need to be made about inerrancy:

• Inerrancy applies to all that Scripture affirms or asserts, not necessarily to all that is reported.

• Inerrancy should be judged in light of the exactness or accuracy available when the Scripture was written.
Example: pi=3.14159 but approximately 3 is not too bad for the time period!
• The purpose of the writing does need to be considered in describing the degree of exactness.
Examples from Erickson: Salary = $25,000 – conversation or report to the IRS
• Important evidence may still come to light that shows the "problems" to be very resolvable.
Example #1: Judas – Gaussen’s original explanation – hung himself and then fell head over heals; 20^th century excavations of ancient papyri found that the word "falling headlong" (prenes) can also mean "swelling up;" medically, it is very possible that Judas could have "swelled up, burst open in the middle and his bowels gushed out."
Example #2: Calgary Herald, October 18, 1998 "Scholar says he's found Sodom, Gomorrah" article.

Conclusion
"The debate over inerrancy frequently comes down to choosing whether to tolerate such problems as "unanswered questions" or to transfer them to the category of "demonstrable errors."
Philip W. Comfort, The Origin of the Bible (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1992): 44.

Inerrancy and "Moral Errors"

Having looked at some reasonable explanations for the various historical or scientific facts that appear not to line up. Factors such as the accuracy available at the time, textual variants, and the like, all are reasonable ways of understanding how the Bible is still factually accurate in every matter. Thus we can still ascribe to inerrancy.

Today we want to look for a few moments at a potentially more serious matter. As we discussed last class, if the details are not accurate, it would be possible to raise questions about the ethical teaching. Still, however, just because a 700 is not 7000, does not really mean that the main point of the message is necessarily in doubt. However, when we find what some people call "moral errors" or "moral discrepancies" in the Scriptures, this could pose a serious problem to questioning if the moral teaching of the Bible, the Gospel message, is truly accurate. I want to again break into groups and look at some of these discrepancies:

• God or Pharoah hardened his heart (Exodus 7:13; 8:15, 32; 9:12, 34; 10:1, 20, 27, 11:10 & Romans 8:16-17)
• Joshua 6:17 vs. God’s teaching re: peace, love, not killing. (Does the NT contradict the OT?)
• Paul’s & James’ teaching re: salvation & works (Ephesians 2:8-9 & James 2:14)
• Rahab & lying (Exodus 20:16 & Joshua 2)

Again, I am convinced that good exegesis and hermeneutics leads us to the conclusion that the Bible does not have contradictions or errors. The apparent or potential discrepancies we may see really can be reasonably explained and do not constitute serious internal inconsistencies.

Other possible words instead of "inerrancy"

• Indefectability (Hans Kung) – abiding or remaining in the truth in spite of errors that touch even on the doctrine.
• Infallibility (Stephen T. Davis) – the Bible does not make any false or misleading statements on any matter of faith and practice.
• Indeceivability (eg. Berkouwer, Hubbard, Bloesch) – the Bible is free from errors which lead us astray from the will of God or the knowledge of His truth.

In conclusion, I believe the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God. That is, the Bible (in the original autographs) is completely free from error and fully trustworthy in all it affirms. There are some minor difficulties that appear, but proper interpretation of the Scriptures give reasonable explanations for each discrepancy that we may observe. Throughout church history, the Scriptures inerrancy has been ascribed to. Despite modern challenges to this doctrine, there are no compelling reasons I see to abandon this important doctrine. If God’s Word is truly inspired, that is breathed out by Him, we can only conclude that the Bible is without error. A perfect God would not make a mistake. And, if it is indeed God’s Word, completely inerrant, than it must have authority in our daily lives. Thus, in the next classes, we will look at the Authority of the Bible.

Bibliography
Philip W. Comfort. The Origin of the Bible. Wheaton: Tyndale, 1992.
Millard J. Erickson. Christian Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1985.
Paul D. Feinberg, "The Meaning of Inerrancy," in Inerrancy, ed. Norman L. Geisler. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

This page was last updated September 22, 2000.
© Copyright 1999-2000 Prairie Bible Institute & Steven C. Ibbotson
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