Implications of the Inspiration of Scripture – Part 3
We are currently looking at three key implications arising from the inspiration of Scripture. In the first two posts, we saw the because the Scripture is inspired it is authoritative and it is true. Today, we look at the final implication – inerrancy.
When we say that the Scripture is true, we are making the claim that it is inerrant. What do I mean by inerrant? Here is a working definition:
The original manuscripts of the Bible, when correctly interpreted in view of the purposes for which it was given, and taking into account the literary standards of the time in which it was written, does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact.
Note that there are several key parts to this definition:
- Original manuscripts – inspiration and inerrancy apply to authors – not to those who copied the manuscripts through the ages. Thus, differences between manuscripts do not undermine inerrancy.
- Correctly interpreted – the Bible is true – but my interpretation of Scripture may be wrong!
- Purposes – Do not treat peripheral statements in the Scripture (which are often generalizations and not specific) as central affirmations.
- Literary standards – we must pay attention to genre, and to the standards & methods of their time – not ours!
- Affirm anything – Scripture can report the errors of people in the Biblical without affirming them. If it reports someone telling a lie, that does not mean that the Bible is affirming the lie, but merely that the lie was told.
When we keep this nuance in mind, we can understand and affirm that the Bible is inerrant – without error in anything it affirms or denies. This is important because it means that when we come to the Bible we are not trying to determine if the passage under consideration is true or false, but rather what it actually is teaching – which is always true. What a firm foundation we have in the Word of God!
In Christ,
Bret