Inerrancy of Scripture

When all the 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 social, physical, or life sciences. (1)

This is the common definition among evangelical scholars on inerrancy.
Now here is the biblical grounds for it:
1) God cannot err or lie
• ‘God is not a man, that He should lie.’ –Numbers 23:19
• ‘…God, who cannot lie…’ –Titus 1:2
• ‘…it is impossible for God to lie…’ –Hebrews 6:18
2) The Bible is the Word of God.
• ‘…no prophesy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.’ -2 Peter 1:21
• ‘I received it (the gospel) through a revelation of Jesus Christ.’ –Gal 1:12
• '...you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God...' -1 Thess 2:13
• ‘All scripture is inspired by God and profitable…’ 2 Tim 3:16
(The evidence of its inspiration is through its uniqueness)

Therefore it follows that if 1) God cannot err or lie, and 2) the Bible is God's Word, then 3) the Bible cannot err.

---

STUMBLING BLOCKS TO INERRANCY:
1) Supposed 'myths' in the Old Testament
2) Wasn't it invented recently?
3) Doesn't the Bible contradict science?
Answer...
Jesus (who as God, cannot be mistaken) ‘fully accepted as factual even the most controversial statements in the Hebrew Bible pertaining to history and science.’(2) Here are some examples:
1. Jonah in the belly of a whale; Jonah being a type of Christ. Types/antitypes must both be historically factual (Matt 12:40).
2. The flood. ‘For in the days before the flood…’ Again, Jesus affirms Himself to be the antitype of Noah, giving certainty to the historicity of the event (Matt 24:37-39).
3. The exodus and the manna. Jesus accepted this as a historical fact when He said, ‘Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died’ (John 6:49)
4. The accounts of Adam and Eve. Jesus affirms what it says in Genesis 2:24, when He reiterates, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’ (Matt 19:5) Additionally, Adam is said to be a type of Christ, by Paul (Romans 5:14).

The doctrine of inerrancy was not invented recently. It has been a core belief of many influential church fathers. Hear what some of them have to say
• Augustine (A.D 354 - 430)
‘I have teamed to yield this respect and honor only to the canonical books of Scripture. Of these alone do I most firmly believe that the authors were completely free from error. (3)
• Aquinas (C. 1225 – 1274)
‘Nothing false can underlie the literal sense of Scripture.’ (4)
• Luther (1483 - 1546)
‘The Scriptures have never erred,’ and ‘the Scriptures cannot err.’ (5)
• Calvin (1509 – 1564)
‘Error can never be eradicated from the heart of man until the true knowledge of God [through Scripture] has been implanted in it.’ (6)
• Wesley (1703 - 1791)
‘Nay, if there be any mistakes in the Bible there may as well be a thousand. If there is one falsehood in that book it did not come from the God of truth.’ (7)

The Bible does not contradict science, but rather, it has been shown to affirm it.
For example, the Bible teaches facts thousands of years in advance before science affirmed them...
• Exact order of events in creation (Universe, earth, land & sea, life in sea, land animals, humans) -Gen 1
• Stars are countless – Jeremiah 33:22; Heb 11:12
• Human bodies made from the earth –Gen 2:7; Eccl 12:7
• Rain water returns to its source (Eccl 1:7; Gen 2:6-7)
• Earth is round and hangs in space (Isaiah 40:22; Job 26:7)
• Life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11)
• Sea with paths/boundaries (Ps 8:8; Proverbs 8:29)
• Laws of sanitation (Lev 12-15)

If the doctrine of inerrancy is so simple, why is the definition so complicated? Because humans are complicated. We tend to misunderstand these definitions, for example, when we apply inerrancy to
1) The copies (inerrancy only applies to the originals; the autographs (2 Tim 3:16 - All 'graphe' is God-breathed...)
2) Hermeneutics (When our interpretation errs)
3) What the text affirms, or what it simply states and records. (8)

Some additional misunderstandings about inerrancy include (9)
• Rules of grammar
• Figures of speech
• Techy scientific language (sunrise, sunset, sun stood still)
• Verbal exactness in citations or quotes (There are no quotation marks in Greek)
• Exhaustiveness in comprehensiveness (Partial accounts are permitable)

---

INERRANCY PART 2
'Errors and Contradictions'

‘If we are perplexed by any apparent contradiction in Scripture, it is not allowable to say, “The author of this book is mistaken;” but either the manuscript is faulty, or the translation is wrong, or you have not understood.’ (10)
-Augustine

HERE ARE A FEW SUPPOSED CONTRADICTIONS IN THE BIBLE. ALL OF THEM HAVE REASONABLE, LOGICAL SOLUTIONS. MOST OF THEM ARE ERRORS ON THE PART OF THE INTERPRETER OF THE PASSAGE...
• Two angels or one? (Matt 28:5; John 20:12)
Answer: 2 angels. Matthew only mentions one.

• Age of Ahaziah?; 2 Kings 8:26; 2 Chr 22:2
Answer: Copyist error. It happens.

• Was Jesus walking TO Jericho or AWAY from Jericho? Luke 18:35; Matt 20:29-34
Answer: A German archeologist, Ernst Sellin between 1907-1909 discovered that in Jesus’ day there were called the ‘twin cities of Jericho.’ The one destroyed by Joshua, and the newer version was the Roman one. Jesus was walking away from one Jericho, and towards another Jericho.

• What was Peter’s confession? The gospels record three different sayings...
1. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. (Matt 16:16)
2. You are the Christ (Mark 8:29)
3. The Christ of God (Luke 9:20)
Answer: The gospel writers paraphrased Peter's sentence (as was common and accepted in the first century), but maintained the truth of his message, that Jesus is the Christ. There is no error or contradiction.
Also...
-Peter spoke Aramaic, while the gospels were written in Greek. When languages get translated, they sometimes get jumbled in their grammar.
-Sometimes writers selected and abbreviated according to the theme of their book, or emphasis, BUT- they never created, only reported
-They were in accordance with journalistic standards of the day, and even today, for that matter
-Whenever there were multiple reports, they always gave the essence of what was told

• Jesus tells us not to call someone a 'fool,' yet does it later on (Matt 5:22; 23:17)
1. Words can have different meanings depending on the context (ex: dog)
2. Matthew 5 is in the context of someone who uses ‘fool’ in anger. Neither Jesus nor Paul said ‘fool’ or ‘foolish’ in anger.
3. In Matthew 5, Jesus only condemned calling a brother a fool, not an unbeliever. (A fool has said in his heart…-14:1)
Answer: Jesus did not sin, nor contradict His own specific command.

• How did Judas die? By hanging, or by his innards spilling out? (Matt 27:5; Acts 1:18)
These are partial accounts of the same event.
Answer: both.

• What was the time of the Passover meal? Matthew says the night before the crucifixion, John says the following night, the day of the crucifixion (Matt 26:18; John 18:28)
1. The Passover meal, historically, was eaten on two different days…because they disagreed on when a day began!
-Flavius Josephus tells us this.
-Mishna- compilation of writings of first/second century Jewish scholars tells us this also.
2. Northern Israelites believed that the day began with the rising of the sun (6am). Southern Israelites believed the day began at the setting of the sun (6pm). Romans had an even different calendar; they believed the day began at 12am!!

• When was the timing of Christ’s crucifixion? Mark leads us that Jesus was crucified at the third hour, when John tells us He was still before Pilate in the 6th hour!! (Mark 15:24; John 19:14-16)
1. Mark being from Northern Israel, started his day at 6am. So the 3rd hour would be 9am. Referring to Jewish time system.
2. Early church fathers (Eusebius) tell us that John wrote his gospel while he was in the city of Ephesus, the Roman capital of the province of Asia. So he would be referring to the Roman time system, which began at 12am.
Answer: John was using a different time system than Mark. No contradiction, only perfect harmony.

Works Cited
1- Feinberg, Paul D. Meaning of Inerrancy, in Norman L. Geisler’s Inerrancy. 294.
2- Archer Jr., Gleason L. Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties. pg 21.
3- Letters, LXXXII.
4- Summa Theologica, 1, 1, 10, ad 3.
5- Works of Luther, XV:1481; XIX:1073.
6- Institutes, Book 1, Chapter 6.
7- Journal VI, 117.
8- Feinberg, Paul D. Meaning of Inerrancy, in Norman L. Geisler’s Inerrancy. 296.
9- Feinberg, Paul D. Meaning of Inerrancy, in Norman L. Geisler’s Inerrancy. 298.
10- Augustine, Reply to Faustus the Manichaean 11.5 in Geisler, Norman. Systematic Theology, vol. 1. pg 512.