WHAT IS INERRANCY?

Inerrancy and Literalism
Some people say, "If you believe in inerrancy, then you have to take every statement in the Bible literally. You have to believe that the sun actually 'rises,' that God has a 'heart,' perhaps even that God has 'wings' " (Psalm 17:8). This is foolish, of course. It is based on the error of supposing that for something to be true it must be expressed in non-figurative language. This is just not so. The bible uses poetic language at times, just as we do. We do not err just because we use it, nor does the Bible. Everyone understands the language to be poetic. In the same way, some biblical expressions are adaptations to the limits of human language as, for example, those parts of the Bible that refer to the emotions or parts of God. God is not like us because He is Spirit (John 4:24 - and please note that there is no article 'a' in the critical texts). He does not have a body, or a 'strong right arm'. But how can the Bible adequately tell us that we are deeply loved by God unless it tells us that his heart is moved, and uses other similar expressions?

Inerrancy and Jesus
Other people say, "If you believe in inerrancy (especially if you consider that idea worth contending for), then you are making the Bible more important than Jesus." But Jesus taught that the Bible is trustworthy. He is the one who said, "Until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished" (Matthew 24:35). He said, "The Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35). If we take a lesser view of the Bible, we are not making Christ more important. We are making him less important, for we are discounting his testimony. To confess his Lordship means to believe him and follow him in all he says, including his teachings about the Bible. He once asked the question, "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" (Luke 6:46).

Inerrancy and Christian Living
Another misunderstanding is by those who say, "Inerrancy makes doctrines more important than Christian living." anyone should be able to see the error in this. We only have to ask the question Francis Schaeffer has asked as the title of one of his books, "How Should We Then Live?" The only way we can know how to live is by the authoritative teaching of the Bible. God teaches us how to live in Scripture. So, far from undermining or lessening the importance of the Christian life, it is only the full authority of the Bible linked to its inerrancy that provides a standard for it.

Copies and Translations
Finally, there are people who say, "Since translations of the Bible differ and since both cannot be right, inerrancy is a mistaken notion." The misunderstanding here is to suppose that inerrancy applies to the copies of the original documents or to translations of these documents. Actually, it applies only to the original manuscripts, called autographs.

"But why didn't God see to it that we have error-free copies?" This question is a bit more substantial. It may be that in the final analysis we have to say that we simply do not know why God has seen fit to act as he did. We obviously do not understand much of what God does, and unless he has chosen to give us the answer to this question there is no reason why we should know it. Still, we may guess at an answer. Knowing human nature, it is reasonable to suppose that if we had supernaturally preserved copies of the biblical manuscripts (or perhaps even the originals themselves), men and women would tend to worship them rather than the God who gave them. We remember the bronze serpent that God gave in Moses' time. Later it was worshiped (2 Kings 18:4). How much more likely is it that people would end up worshipping the manuscripts of the Bible rather than God?

Inerrancy Defined
What does inerrancy mean then? It simply means that the Bible is wholly true. Paul Feinberg has written, "Inerrancy means that when all facts are known, the Scriptures in their original autographs and properly interpreted will be shown to be wholly true in everything they teach, whether that teaching has to do with doctrine, history, science, geography, geology, or other disciplines or knowledge." At the Chicago summit meeting of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy in October, 1978, several hundred key evangelical leaders signed this statement: "Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God's acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God's saving grace in individual lives."

Here is an even more concise definition:

The Word of God is the Will of God

God means what He says and He says what He means. God has a purpose for everything He says, where He says it, when He says it, why He says it, how He says it and to whom He says it.