The Inerrancy of Scripture

I feel that I must address a particular issue that has come to my attention recently, the issue at hand being the inerrancy of Scripture. Surprisingly, some of the most ardent opponents of this doctrine have come from within the church itself. Sometimes with fervor that makes the the most vicious atheists appear tame, these apostate Christians have sought to remove the absolute authority of Scripture and replace it with experience and rationalism – often completely abandoning logic in in process. Yet, if we do not hold Scripture to be inerrant, it has the potential to cause a great number of problems – in fact, a great deal of harm has been done by those who do not hold Scripture to be inerrant; far more than those that do. It is absolutely imperative that we hold Scripture to be inerrant, in spite of the difficulties that it may present. Here, I will attempt to give some of the reasons why this is so important.

Inerrancy Defined

Inerrancy simply means to be without error. To say that the Scriptures are inerrant means that Scripture as a whole, at least in regard to the original text, is completely without error. Naturally, this is seen as absurdity to the unbeliever. Yet, if we are to hold that Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, then it should been seen as absurdity to consider the Scriptures to be errant. Inerrancy is a critical foundation for all sound doctrine and truth and is the basis of literal interpretation.

When we say the Scriptures are inerrant, we say that they are completely accurate. Does that mean then that they are completely precise? Not at all. Precision and accuracy are two different things. While both do correspond, accuracy is not affected by precision unless the degree of imprecision becomes so large that it exceeds a defined level of tolerance at the desired level of accuracy. The higher level of accuracy demanded, the more precise a value must be. As an example, shots fired at a very large target will be accurate, even if imprecise, assuming the shooter has an accurate aim. A much smaller target demands a much more precise shot in order to be accurate, again assuming the shooter's aim is accurate. Another example is if I say that the sun both rose and set today, I would be completely accurate in my statement, although to a very imprecise degree. Yet my precision is sufficient enough to support the claim that the sun does in fact rise and set. Now, if someone wanted to know the exact times of the sunrise and sunset, the precision of my statement would be nowhere near sufficient. Thus, if I say the sun rose at 6:53am MST and set at 4:39pm MST in Colorado Springs, CO on the day of November 26, 2010, then I would have a very precise statement that would be sufficient enough to be accurate in regard to exact times. In the end, what really matters is that the precision of a statement is sufficient to render it accurate in a given context. Another example would be attendance at a sporting event. If I say that 80,000 people attended, that would be sufficient for general reporting, but not enough for statistical record keeping. Now, if 81,426 people actually attended, giving that data would now be sufficient for record keeping. It all depends on the context; for what purpose the information is going to be used.

In the context of Scripture, many statements may be rather imprecise, but they are sufficient in regard to the purpose for which they are used. For example, many measurements and population numbers are rounded, but the purpose of the Bible is to communicate the gospel, not be a statistical record book. Therefore, though the numbers may be imprecise, they are still accurate in regard to the purpose for which they were intended. And often the Bible goes far beyond the level of precision needed to maintain accuracy. Much of what is seen as error in Scripture is simply imprecision. For example, the accounts of the four Gospels have a degree of variation in them. If we were looking for absolute precision, we would say that these accounts would be in error. Yet, if we look only for enough precision in order to maintain the truths of Scriptures, we find that though there be imprecision, the accounts are precise enough to uphold the truth contained within them. As an example, Matthew records Jesus healing two demon-possessed men (Matthew 8:28-34). In Mark's and Luke's accounts, both record Jesus healing only one demon-possessed man (Mark 5:1-20, Luke 8:26-30). Many would see this as an error, yet whether there be one or two men, the truth still remains. Jesus still drove a large number of demons of this man (or men), that went into a herd of pigs that then drowned themselves. The locals were terrified and pleaded with Jesus to leave. In the end, the account of the miracle itself is accurate, though imprecise as to the number of men that had demons driven from them. What is important here, and the truth that is upheld, is the act of Jesus driving out demons. Here and in many other places, we can see that Scripture is imprecise, but still precise enough to uphold the essential truths contained within. As to the truth it professes, Scripture is completely accurate and thereby inerrant. All that matters is that the precision of Scripture is sufficient to uphold its claims, in which case it is.

Inerrancy vs Free Will

Does inerrancy preclude free will? Many have argued that if Scripture is truly inerrant, God would have had to literally possess the writers and take control of them. However, this argument has no sound basis. Had God done so, the text would have been immaculate, completely flawless and free from any human influence. Yet, when we look through Scripture, we see that God did in fact allow the writers to express their own unique individuality. The writers of Scripture were simply faithful scribes, writing down the word given to them by the Spirit. This is what we mean when we say the Word was inspired by God. Though the Bible is written by man, it is ultimately authored by God. While this means that God did not turn His writers into robots, it also means that He did not give His writers completely free reign over what they wrote. Although Calvinism holds a much more limited view of free will than Arminianism does, even most Arminians can agree that God did work in the heart of His writers, keeping them from introducing their own ideas or error into the text. Only those who hold to the view of existentialism would have trouble with this, for they see man as having a will completely free to do as he pleases, and in that they hold God to be powerless to have any sort of influence on man's will, which is simply not true and puts God's majesty in a very low view, if ascribing to it at all. The danger of putting too much value on free will is that it can lead to free will in itself becoming an object of idolatry. Holding free will too highly is to put man on the same level as God. This is the great error of existentialism, in that it seeks to remove man from under God's authority. Such belief led to the fall of Satan and his angels, it led to the fall of man and has led to countless millions being condemned to hell. If God holds no authority over man, then He could not have inspired inerrant Scriptures. Furthermore, it reduces God to a powerless figurehead, and not the ruler over all creation. Such a God is not the God of Israel, but the God of man's imagination, a mere idol that exists nowhere but in the mind. We cannot hold God to such a view. We must think rightly of God. Having said this, we can then conclude that by being inerrant, the inspiration of Scripture neither wholly denies free will, nor does it allow for it without limit.

The Infallibility of God and Inerrancy

Another issue with denying the inerrancy of Scripture is that it also denies the infallibility of God's nature. The Almighty is not One to have some kind of weakness. He is perfect in every way; His power is infallible. God has never failed in anything He has set out to do. Did God fail in creation? No, God saw that it was good (Genesis 1). Did God fail in creating mankind? Not at all, for it is written:

“What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?” - Romans 9:22-24

Rather, God allowed mankind to fall that he might reveal His wrath against those prepared for destruction, and to reveal mercy for those prepared for glory. Is then the Old Covenant a failure, since the Israelites rebelled? By no means. It instead laid the groundwork for Christ and was fulfilled in His coming. Should we then say that God set out to reveal His word to mankind, yet failed in bringing it to men without error? Such a claim is preposterous. All that God has ever done and ever will do will be done without failure. If God is not infallible in His nature, then He is not perfect in His nature either. A perfect God is not prone to failure, and He will not allow that be reflected in the Word He has revealed to us.

The Consequences of not Upholding Inerrancy

Unfortunately, there has been a great deal of fallout from those who do not hold the Scriptures to be inerrant. A great deal of heresies have emerged, especially from those in influential positions. One of the most significant of these has been denial of the deity of Christ, or the overall denial of the Trinity. This is especially prevalent in Mormonism and the Jehovah's Witness system. Yet John and the other apostles put a great deal of effort into making it clear that Jesus was both man and God. Another set of heresies has been salvation by works and the equally false doctrine of “easy believism” i.e., the notion that one can be saved and yet persist living in sin as before, with no change of life as evidence for salvation. Paul made much to speak against salvation by works, and James made much to speak against salvation that bears no fruit, or worse, bad fruit. Still others deny Jesus is the only way, and have brought forth the false doctrine of universalism, in which everyone is saved, even if they deny Jesus. Yet Jesus Himself says He is the only way (John 14:6). This is only a few; there are more examples than I can possibly count. Yet, if people held Scriptures to be inerrant, there would be none of the aforementioned heresies. Furthermore, this undermines the importance of literal interpretation. If we hold Scripture to be errant, then we are free to interpret it as we like. This is a major reason why there is so much division in the church. Charles Spurgeon once wrote:

“‎Do you think, dear brethren, there would be so many sects among Christians if all believers honestly wanted to know the truth and to know Christ’s will? I do not think there would be. I cannot think our Lord has written a book so doubtful and ambiguous in its expressions that men need differ in interpreting it upon plain points.”

We must hold to “as it is written”, not “well, this is what I think it says” or “this is what it means to me”. And we can only do so if we hold the Scriptures to be inerrant. Otherwise, we have no sound basis for literal interpretation. Someone who interprets how he pleases could simply say, “Well, the Bible is not very accurate, so taking it literally could be just as wrong.” We cannot allow such rationalizations to stand. We must hold firm to inerrancy. Otherwise, sound doctrine has no foundation upon which to stand, and is easily refuted. Therefore, in order to uphold all sound doctrine, we must uphold that Scripture is wholly inerrant.

If we do not uphold the inerrancy of Scripture, we invite all sorts of false gospels and false doctrines into the church. Those who hold Scripture to be errant often allow other institutions to hold authority over Scripture; when, in reality, Scriptures holds authority over all, as it is the infallibly inspired Word of God. As the fathers of the Reformation once stated, “Sola Scriptura”, by Scripture alone. If we are to say that God's Word is not inerrant, then not only do we deny the majesty and sovereignty of God, but we also deny the infallibility of God's nature and the authority of Scripture. To deny the inerrancy of Scripture is to open ourselves to heresy, damning many to hell and making a mockery of God. Let us be above such things. To God alone be the glory. Lastly, to those who have held to such heresies, I urge you to repent. Have you no remorse over reading this? Then I fear you may be lost. Pray for forgiveness and mercy. Put aside pride and self. Look to Christ and come before Him in repentance and humility. For God surely gives grace to the humble. And Christ has borne the penalties of even the most damnable of heresies. And He gives grace to even the worst of sinners. Repent and believe the gospel, all the Scripture testifies about Christ. For He will surely not turn away the genuinely humble and contrite of heart. Do not hold on to lofty thoughts and opinions, but give yourself freely to Christ, that you may be saved.