Biblical Inerrancy

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Biblical Inerrancy

• Is the biblical record flawed or is it free from
  all error?
• If it contains mistakes, it cannot fulfill its
  intended purpose
• To convey will of God in truthful and trustworthy
  manner
• A confirmed mistake in one part implies
  possibility of mistakes in other parts.
  Herodotus
• If Bible is a mixture of truth and error, how
  does it differ from any other book? Koran

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What Does The Bible Claim For Itself?

• 2 Tim.316, God has revealed Himself in two ways
• Creation He spoke universe into existence,
  Ps.336
• Revelation He spoke Book into existence, 2
  T.316

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2 Pt.121, prophecies did not originate from will
of private men

• Not from mans own whim, or suggestion of his own
  spirit, but by Holy Spirit
• Dt.1818 2 Pt.315-16
• God speaks through the Bible
• Mt.154, God said
• Mk.710, Moses said
• What God says, the Bible says

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II. The Extent Of Gods Inspiration

• All Scripture (all that is written) 2 T.316
• Words of Scripture, Mt.2243
• Verb tenses of Scripture, Mt.2232
• Parts of words of Scripture, Mt.517-18
• ) b g d h w z x y k

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Holy Spirit would guarantee accuracy of apostles
message

• Mt.1017-20. (Cf. Ac.26)
• Jn.1425-26
• Jn.1613
• Explains 2 Pt.316

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III. What Is Inerrancy?

• Inerrant wholly true, w/o mistake
• Writers wrote no errors every-thing they
  affirmed was absolutely truthful and trustworthy
• Not just moral / religious truth
• Includes statements of fact (scientific,
  historical, geographical)
• Biblical writers were preserved from errors that
  appear in all other books. Ramsay. Josephus

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• Whether its writers speak of their own or of
  foreign lands, they always speak with faultless
  accuracy, so that their angus-eyed critics for
  two thousand years have not been able to detect
  them in an error. This accuracy extends not
  only to the relative location of places, and to
  the points of the compass, but to the most minute
  details, even to the relative elevations of
  places mentioned in the narratives

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Jn.1035

• Cannot be broken
• Explained away
• Be made to mean nothing
• Deprived of binding authority
• If writers made mistakes in matters of ordinary
  knowledge where uninspired men can check their
  accuracy, why believe them in other areas?

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• Inerrancy applies to the original copies of
  Scripture, not to copies of scribes after their
  time
• We can discover original words of inspired
  writers
• Copyists errors do not affect a single doctrine
  
• As a result, the doctrine of inerrancy also
  applies to the biblical text in our day, as long
  as the Bible is accurately translated
• LXX

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Luther

• It is impossible that Scripture should
  contradict itself it only appears so to
  senseless and obstinate hypocrites (Weimarer
  Ausgabe)
• Everyone knows that at times they the fathers
  have erred as men will therefore, I am ready to
  trust them only when they prove their opinions
  from Scripture, which has never erred (ib.)

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IV. Answering Misunderstandings

• 1. Inerrancy allows for variety in style.
  (God can say same thing in different ways)
• Ex.208-11 . . . Dt.512-15
• Mt.1616 Mk.829 Lk.920
• John...Luke...Paul...James
• Variations are compatible with inerrancy

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2. Inerrancy allows for variety in details in
explaining the same event

• Jesus sometimes spoke in Aramaic (Mk.541)
• Writers wrote in Greek (43)
• One writer might view the event from one
  standpoint, another from a different standpoint,
  though both are accurate. E.g. Jn.1926-27

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3. Inerrancy allows for supple-mentation and
abbreviation

• In Scripture, whatever is written is in accord
  with things as they are. Details may vary, but
  still reflect things as they are
• Mt.85-13 Lk.71-10
• It appears the elders first came and spoke to
  Jesus later the centurion himself

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4. Inerrancy allows use of non-biblical sources

• Nu.2417, Balaam, pagan prophet
• Nu.2228, his donkey
• Jn.1150, enemy of Christ
• All truth is Gods truth!