The Inerrancy of Scripture

1. The Inerrancy of Scripture Are there any errors in the Bible?

2. A. The Meaning of Inerrancy • 1. The Bible Can Be Inerrant and Still Speak in the Ordinary Language of Everyday Speech. • 2. The Bible Can Be Inerrant and Still Include Loose or Free Quotations. • 3. It Is Consistent With Inerrancy to Have Unusual or Uncommon Grammatical Constructions in the Bible.

3. B. Some Current Challenges to Inerrancy • 1. The Bible Is Only Authoritative for “Faith and Practice.” • 2. The Term Inerrancy Is a Poor Term. • 3. We Have No Inerrant Manuscripts; Therefore, Talk About an Inerrant Bible Is Misleading.

4. B. Some Current Challenges to Inerrancy • 4. The Biblical Writers “Accommodated” Their Messages in Minor Details to the False Ideas Current in Their Day, and Affirmed or Taught Those Ideas in an Incidental Way. • 5. Inerrancy Overemphasizes the Divine Aspect of Scripture and Neglects the Human Aspect. • 6. There Are Some Clear Errors in the Bible.

5. C. Problems With Denying Inerrancy • 1. A Serious Moral Problem Confronts Us: May We Imitate God and Intentionally Lie in Small Matters Also? • 2. We Begin to Wonder If We Can Really Trust God in Anything He Says.

6. C. Problems With Denying Inerrancy • 3. We Essentially Make Our Own Human Minds a Higher Standard of Truth Than God’s Word Itself. • 4. We Must Also Say That the Bible Is Wrong Not Only in Minor Details but in Some of Its Doctrines as Well.

7. Special Terms • autograph • faith and practice • ICBI • inerrant • infallible • textual variants

8. The Early Church: Inerrancy • As the Jewish people before them, the early Church accepted the complete truthfulness of Scripture • This was understood in two ways: • The affirmations of Scripture correspond to reality • Scripture does not contradict Scripture • Theological reason: • The Scriptures are the words of God, who cannot lie • The early church’s dealings with Scripture’s difficulties

9. The Church in the Middle Ages: Inerrancy • The Church overwhelmingly affirmed the truthfulness of all Scripture • Thomas Aquinas • Because it is derived from the certitude of God’s word, theology is more certain than any other discipline, including philosophy. • Salvation of man depends on inerrancy • Peter Abelard • An exception to the medieval consensus • The medieval church’s dealings with Scripture’s difficulties

10. The Reformation and Post-Reformation Church: Inerrancy • The truthfulness of Scripture was a cardinal issue agreed upon by both Protestants and Catholics • For Martin Luther, Scripture “never erred”and “cannot err.” • John Calvin’s conviction of a wholly truthful Scripture was founded on his belief that the Holy Spirit inspired its human authors. • Post-Reformation theologians and Socinianism • The Church’s response to supposed Scriptural errors

11. The Modern Period Church: Inerrancy • Scientific Revolution • Geocentric Theory vs. Heliocentric Theory • Displaced mankind from the center of the universe • Biblical Criticism • Isaac La Peyrere • Hugo Grotius • Baruch Spinoza • Influenced by Rene Descartes • Richard Simon — “the father of biblical criticism” • Jean LeClerc • Johann SalomoSemler • Edward Herbert of Cherbury — English Deism Spinoza

12. The Modern Period Church: Inerrancy (2) • Documentary Hypothesis • Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species • Inerrancy vs. Infallibility • Fuller Theological Seminary • Karl Barth • The errancy of the Bible • The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy • Paul Feinberg • “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 they affirm, whether that has to do with doctrine or morality or with the social, physical, or life sciences.”