Concerning Biblical Inerrancy

What the Bible says about Itself

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
(2Ti 3:16-17)

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
(Heb 4:12)

Facts on the Bible as a Whole

• The Christian Bible consists of the Old Testament (OT) and New Testament (NT)
• "Bible" comes from Latin biblia, meaning "books"
• The word "testament" means "covenant"
• The Bible has 66 books
• The Bible was written by many different authors writing in many different times and places
• The Bible was written from about 1450 BC to 100 AD
• The Bible contains many literary genres - historical, poetry, wisdom literature, prophecy, letters, narratives
• The Bible was the first book to be printed, in 1454
• Miles Coverdale published the first English translation of the entire Bible in 1535
• The Bible has been translated into over 2,000 languages
• The longest book in the Bible is Psalms
• The shortest book in the Bible is 2 John

Facts about the Old Testament

• The OT is almost identical to the Jewish Tanakh
• The OT was originally written in Hebrew
• The OT has 39 books (not counting the Apocrypha)
• The names of OT books in Hebrew are based on the first prominent word or phrase in that book
• The names of OT books in Greek (and English) are based on the general topic of the book
• The books of the OT are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
• The first five books of the OT (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) are known as the Five Books of Moses, the Pentateuch, or the Torah. They are traditionally held to have been written by Moses, but modern scholars have proposed that there were four or five authors.
• The book of Esther is the only book of the Bible that never mentions God

Facts about the New Testament

• The NT was originally written in Greek
• The writers of the NT used a Greek translation of the OT known as the Septuagint
• The NT has 27 books
• The books of the NT are: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2 & 3 John, Jude, Revelation

Other Facts

• The Bible is the most translated book in the world. It has been translated into more different languages and dialects than any other book that has been written.
• The Bible continues to be the best seller in the world.
• More than 14,000 manuscripts and fragments of the Hebrew Tanakh exist, as do numerous copies of the Septuagint, and 5,686 manuscripts of the Greek New Testament, more than any other work of antiquity.

As we talked about in my last post on truth the Bible is the Christians standard for truth and as such we must be certain as we can as to its accuracy and authority. If we will govern our lives by this book then lets take a deeper look at it.

In his book "The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict Fully Updated To Answer The Questions Challenging Christians Today"Josh McDowell shows how the Bible is historically reliable, I will not reproduce what the book says but will rather comment on why I believe people still don't believe it to be the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God.

I also affirm the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, it can be read at:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Chicago_Statement_on_Biblical_Inerrancy


Based on the historical facts concerning the Bible it would be foolish to believe anything is historically reliable without first measuring it up to the Bible. But this statement doesn't mean much to the critics and I must ask myself why...Why do "they" reject the authority of the most reliable historical document known today.

No one having reasonably researched the Bible will find it to not be historically reliable, so like I said before I will Not deal with historic reliability in this article.

Having decided that the Bibles historic reliability is beyond any reasonable argument lets look at some other possible reasons to dismiss inerrancy.

this definition of inerrant will be used in this article and was taken from the "Chicago Statement" Article XII

inerrant: being free from all falsehood, fraud, or deceit.

{Also please note I will be dealing with why Christians reject inerrancy}

A Case for Inerrancy

If we believe that Jesus is God then we must ask ourselves how did He use the Bible?

Jesus recognized the authority of the Bible when He used it to refute satan's temptations and then again to say that He was the fulfillment of prophecy in the book of Isaiah.

Luk 4:1-21 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness (2) for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. (3) And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." (4) And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE.'" (5) And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. (6) And the devil said to Him, "I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. (7) "Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours." (8) Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'" (9) And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; (10) for it is written, 'HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU TO GUARD YOU,' (11) and, 'ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'" (12) And Jesus answered and said to him, "It is said, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'" (13) When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time. (14) And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. (15) And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. (16) And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. (17) And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, (18) "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, (19) TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD." (20) And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. (21) And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

Now if Jesus being God used the scripture as an authority how much more should we. He could have just said, " I am God; go away devil", but He chose to use the scripture. Why? Well Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.

Mat 5:17 "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.


And the New Testament is simply the accounts of Jesus' ministry and the teachings of the Apostles whom He appointed to feed His sheep, of Whom we are!

This is not to mention all of the other times that Jesus and the Apostles quote the Old Testament, using it to prove or give authority to what they were writing or speaking about. Maybe you have a good argument as to why we should take up another example than that of God Himself if so I would like to hear it. And if you will say that I use the Bible to prove the Bible, I would say that you use your logic to prove your logic, which is not very logical :)


Possible Reason to Refute Biblical Inerrancy

The critic has some philosophy or doctrine that doesn't line up with the Bible and rather than conclude that he could be wrong concludes that the Scripture is wrong. This seems rather arrogant or in the best case shortsighted or misled, to consider ones point of view of greater weight than a book that has stood the test of time and has never been proven wrong. Especially in relationship to doctrine (though not leaving out historical accuracy which the Bible is considered even among most septics of Christianity to be accurate) The Bible itself predicts this:

2Ti 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, (4) and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.


In Conclusion I Believe...

That the Bible is historically reliable and as such it is either true in its original form or false. If the Bible is false then how do we know the way to salvation, if it is true then why don't we just obey its teachings rather than trying to come us with something "new" and then trying to bend the Word of God around our beliefs.
I believe that if the Bible was good enough for God it is good enough for me!!!