INTRODUCTION: The Historical Backdrop
Ever since the “intellectual movement” in the eighteenth century known as the enlightenment and/or the “age of reason,” the authority, authenticity, inerrancy, and infallibility of the scriptures have been undermined by the so-called “higher criticism” of human reason and “intellect.” [1] Unfortunately, the criticism of the scriptures has reverberated throughout Christian thought and has prompted many pastors, professors, and Bible teachers to embrace a neo-evangelical integrationist position on matters pertaining to the factual accuracy of the scriptures regarding the truth claims it makes.[2] The ramifications of this movement have left the average Christian questioning the total veracity of scripture and has left many individuals embracing the truthfulness of God’s word insofar as it pertains to faith and practice while functionally rejecting the authority of the scriptures when considering “history, science and cultural matters.” [3] This popular view is widely held among evangelicals today and is formally known as “Limited Inerrancy.” While this view might seem to harmonize “reason” with faith, it inherently undermines the inspiration of scripture and the character of God. The thesis of this paper is that biblical inerrancy must be affirmed to uphold the truthfulness of God's character. This paper will offer argumentation in defense of the inerrancy and infallibility of all scripture. In defending the thesis statement, four areas of importance will be explored: the character of God, inspiration, infallibility, and inerrancy.
Understanding Inerrancy
When understanding the inerrancy of the Bible, one must begin with the ultimate author of scripture, God Himself. (2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:21; Mt 4:4; Dt 8:3) The Bible provides a clear picture of God's nature and characteristics as it states that “[God] cannot lie” (Titus 1:2 LSB), “it is impossible for God to lie” (Heb 6:18), and that God is the truth. (Jn 14:6,7; 15:26; 16:13) Upon recognizing the reality of God's nature and character, it becomes vital to defend the inerrancy of the scriptures at all costs. Young, recognizing the seriousness of the issue, states, “To assume that God could speak a Word that was contrary to fact is to assume that God Himself cannot operate without error. The very nature of God is at stake.”[4] Indeed, if any part of scripture can be recognized as having a factual error, who’s to say that the whole could not be brought into question? On what basis and what authority will a critic appeal to in order to establish some scriptures as accurate and others as false? [5] Needless to say, the scriptures are themselves the authority since they have originated from God, the ultimate authority.[6] Yet the attack against the scriptures from those who hold to limited inerrancy would posit that they do not attack the infallible God in their criticism, but the fallible man, and we now turn to this objection.
Faulty arguments against Inerrancy
“To err is Human” is a saying that liberal theologians clung to so that they could justify the rejection of biblical inerrancy. The reasoning behind this ideology is: (a) God Inspired the Bible, (b) Man wrote the Bible, (c) Man is fallible, and (d) therefore the Bible may have errors in its content.[7] The fatal flaw with this reasoning is that it completely misunderstands biblical inspiration.
The Enscripturation of the Inspired Word
The process of scriptural composition is outlined in 2 Tim 3:16 and 2 Pet 1:20-21. As the passages reveal that although there is a human element involved in the process of enscripturation, the content is of divine origin and thus is divinely authoritative. Hodges outlines what inspiration is as he writes,
The Best definition of Biblical Inspiration
"Graphic (written) inspiration is the activity by which that portion intended by God of his special revelation was put into permanent, authoritative, written form by the supernatural agency of the Holy Spirit, who normally worked concurrently and confluently through the spontaneous thought processes, literary styles, and personalities of certain divinely selected men in such a way that the product of their special labors (in its entirety) is the very Word of God (both the ideas and the specific vocabulary), complete, infallible, and inerrant in the original manuscripts."[8]
It is upon the foundational understanding that God, being the divine author of scripture, superintended the process of enscripturation in such a way that would facilitate and bring about the complete accuracy and truthfulness of what was being written through human agents, thus making the scriptures the divinely authoritative word of God.
Furthermore, after coming to an accurate understanding of the process of enscripturation through inspiration having originated from God who is truth, the inerrancy and infallibility of scripture are “a reasonable and necessary conclusion based on the character of God.”[9] The inerrancy of scripture simply put states that no truth claim the Bible makes will ever be found contrary to fact.[10] On the other hand, infallibility refers to the reliability of scripture in “all that it addresses” and cannot fail and/or make a mistake.[11] With these two laws of scripture working in concert with one another, the Bible stands as the method of communication from God to man through human authors, which is the ultimate inscrutable source of truth. (Jn 17:17) Although not exhaustive in its contents, the Bible cannot be contradicted by any fact that has been or will be discovered.
Moreover, the Age of the Enlightenment ushered in a kind of critical thinking that can be beneficial in various spheres, including serious Bible study and theology. However, the Enlightenment led individuals to scrutinize the legitimacy of the Bible and its contents. All of which influence modern-day Christians in their pursuit of truth. In the context of an anti-supernatural and “science-based” culture, Christians, at times, feel forced to choose between science and reason or faith and religious texts. Still, this dichotomy is entirely artificial and unnecessary.
Theres no struggle between "Science" and the Bible
For if one is to concede the Bible will never disclose any matter that is contrary to fact, yet feels as though “science” contradicts the Bible, one should be inclined to ask the question: is this scientific “fact” that seemingly creates tension in my faith, testable repeatable and observable in its approach to assume the status of fact? Or is a supposed theoretical worldview superimposing itself and being asserted as fact without the legitimate process of testing, observing, and repeating?”
Nevertheless, God's word has been under assault to undermine the truthfulness of its content and, subsequently, the character of its source from the Garden of Eden. As the serpent asked Eve, “Has God said” (Gen 3:1). It is through doctrines like limited inerrancy that the truth is questioned and later outright denied.
The Stakes are High
In conclusion, to question the Bible and its inerrancy is to question God and his character. Since the Bible is, in fact, the word of God, which was enscripturated through human agents in accordance with the superintendence of the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s story and will, for anyone to affirm that there be any error in any part of its contents, is tantamount to denying the sovereignty and truthfulness of God himself. Ryrie notes, “Admittedly, one can affirm the truthfulness of God and deny the truthfulness of the Bible, but this does not accord with the evidence of 2 Peter 1:21.”6 Although individuals will continue to hold to this inherently contradictory position, it is important to note that any position that asserts the separation between infallibility and inerrancy, while affirming the truthfulness and supremacy of God, is logically bankrupt and has no basis in sound reason, exegetical interpretation, or orthodox faith. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for every Christian to defend the glory and character of God by recognizing that the accuracy of the Bible and the truthfulness of God are inseparable and must be defended.
[1] Roy A. Harrisville, “Biblical Criticism,” in Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (ed. David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid B. Beck; Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 183.
[2] “Neo-evangelicalism (“new evangelicalism”) was an uprising within the broader evangelical wing of Christianity that emphasized direct engagement with the culture and, in some cases, cooperation with other, more liberal Christian groups.” Got Questions Ministries, Got Questions? (vol 2 of Bible Questions Answered; Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2014–2021).
[3] Sproul, R. C., Can I Trust the Bible? (vol. 2 of The Crucial Questions Series; Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust: A Division of Ligonier Ministries, 2017), 28.
[4]Edward J. Young. Thy Word is Truth. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1957.) 165
[5] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (2nd ed.; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 68.
[6] John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, eds., Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), 79.
[7] Sproul, Can I Trust the Bible?,30.
[8] Hodges, Louis Igou, “Evangelical Definitions of Inspiration: Critiques and A Suggested Definition,” JETS 37, 1 (1994): 97-114.
[9] MacArthur and Mayhue, Biblical Doctrine, 111.
[10] Grudem, Systematic Theology, 85.
[11] Sproul, Can I Trust the Bible?, 27.
6 Ryrie, Charles C., “Some Important Aspects of Biblical Inerrancy,” BibSac 136 (1979): 16-24.
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