Biblical inerrancy

Biblical inerrancy is the view that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and is in every detail infallible and without error in the original autographs. This view was ably expressed in 1978 in the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, an interdenominational statement of evangelical scholars and leaders to defend biblical inerrancy against the trend toward neo-orthodox conceptions of scripture. It proclaims: "The authority of Scripture is inescapably impaired if this total divine inerrancy is in any way limited or disregarded, or made relative to a view of truth contrary to the Bible's own; and such lapses bring serious loss to both the individual and the Church." Article XII states: "We affirm that Scripture in its entirety is inerrant, being free from all falsehood, fraud, or deceit."

Basis of belief

The doctrine underlying inerrancy is biblical inspiration, which teaches that God superintended the writers and editors of the Bible without marginalizing their respective concerns or personalities. This divine involvement is said to have preserved the biblical authors from error. Thus, it is very much (a rather subtle) supernaturalist doctrine. The argument for it then attempts to demonstrate that the Bible claims divine inspiration for itself.

Related Topics:
Doctrine - Biblical inspiration - Supernaturalist

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For example, advocates of inerrancy cite the authority of the New Testament's claims about Jesus himself's opinion in support of the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament). They argue

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• that Jesus apparently accepted the Bible as completely authoritative. He frequently settled a point with "It is written..." and cited scripture; and for him, what scripture said, God said. However, on many occasions, it appears that Jesus was referring to the Septuagint Greek translation rather than the Hebrew masoretic text, as some of the passages that Jesus used only exist in the Septuagint translation and not the Hebrew version that is the basis for modern Christian and Jewish Old Testament translations.
• Jesus even said, "scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35).
• that Jesus accepted many of the parts of scripture most frequently attacked by errantists — for instance, the creation of man and woman "from the beginning of creation" (Mark 10:5–9, citing Genesis 1:27 and 2:24); Noah's flood as a literal event, Noah as a real person and the ark as a real vessel (Luke 17:26–27); Moses as author of the Pentateuch (Luke 16:31; John 5:46–47); and Jonah and the great sea creature (Matthew 12:39–41).

Inerrantists deny the charge that this is an example of circular reasoning, since it is not circular to use the Gospels to prove the Old Testament. Inerrantists also state that if the words of Jesus had been altered his disciples and the early church would have protested.http://www.apologeticsinfo.org/papers/trustworthinessofthebible.html In fact, some inerrantists regard the notion of a "Christian errancy" as logically contradictory. However, some argue this argument does not itself serve to support the inerrancy of the New Testament.

Related Topics:
Circular reasoning - Gospel - Logically contradictory

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