The Doctrine of Inerrancy Lecture 13a

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The Doctrine of InerrancyLecture 13a

• Lets examine your knowledge of inerrancy
• What is inerrancy?
• To what extent is the Bible inerrant?
• Can you prove it?

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The Doctrine of InerrancyLecture 13d

• The Bible is the only book that both claims and
  proves to be the Word of God. It claims to be
  written by prophets of God who recorded in their
  own style and language exactly the message God
  wanted to give to humankind. The writings of the
  prophets and apostles claim to be the
  unbreakable, imperishable, and inerrant words of
  God. The evidence that their writings are what
  they claimed to be is found not only in their own
  moral character but in the supernatural
  confirmation of their message, its prophetic
  accuracy, its amazing unity, its transforming
  power, and the testimony of Jesus who was
  confirmed to be the Son of God.
• Dr. Norman Geisler, Bakers Encyclopedia of
  Christian Apologetics

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Respond to this Argument

• 1. Jesus was a human being.
• 2. Humans beings sin.
• 3. Therefore, Jesus sinned.

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Respond to this Argument

• 1. The Bible is a human book.
• 2. Humans err.
• 3. Therefore, the Bible errs.

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Respond to this Argument

• The mistake is to assume that Jesus is simply
  human. Mere human beings sin. But, Jesus was
  not a mere human being. He was also God.
  Likewise, the Bible is not merely a human book
  it is also the Word of God. Like Jesus, it has
  divine elements that negate the statement that
  anything human errs. They are divine and cannot
  err. There can no more be an error in Gods
  written Word than there was a sin in Gods living
  Word.

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Considercan the Bible be infallible but not
inerrant?

• The Bible is infallible, as I define that term,
  but not inerrant. There are historical and
  scientific errors in the Bible, but I have found
  none on matters of faith practice.
• Robert S. Alley, Some Theologians Question
  Factual Truth of Gospels, The Richmond News
  Leader, 17 July 1978, 1.

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Considercan the Bible be infallible but not
inerrant?

• The Lausanne Covenant declared the Bible to be
  inerrant in all that it affirms.
• The phrase is flexible, since it may allow for
  errors in areas like Creation, where, according
  some interpreters, the Bible is not affirming
  historical facts.

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Consider these Questions

• What is error?
• Can the Bible use approximations and still be
  without error?
• Can a New Testament writer quote freely from the
  Old Testament and claim that the resultant
  quotation is without error?
• Can a biblical writer use the language of
  appearances without communicating error?
• Can there exist different accounts of the same
  event without involving error?
• If the Scripture includes approximations, free
  quotations, language of appearances, different
  accounts of the same occurrence, can that type of
  data support a definition of inerrancy as being
  without error?

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I. Definition of Inerrancy

• Inerrancy is the doctrine that when all the facts
  become known, they will demonstrate that the
  Bible in its original manuscripts and accurately
  interpreted is totally true and without error,
  whether cultural, doctrine, ethics, geography,
  social, physical, or life sciences.

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Definitions of Inerrancy

• the inerrancy of the Bible means simply that
  the Bible tells the truth. Truth can and does
  include approximations, free quotations, language
  of appearances, and different accounts of the
  same event as long as these do not contradict.
• Dr. Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology, 93.

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The Doctrine of Inerrancy

• Arguments for Inerrancy
• A. Deductive Biblical Support
• 1. Gods character
• 2. Scriptural Claims
• B. Correspondence (Prophets Messages)
• C. Jesus Use of Scripture
• D. Historical Support in Church History
• E. Epistemological Support
• F. Slipper Slope Argument

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A. Deductive Biblical Support for Inerrancy

• God cannot err (Gods Character)
• Logically, the argument is valid. So, if the
  premises are true, the conclusion is also true.
• If an infinitely-perfect God exists, then the
  first premise is true.
• Heb. 618 it is impossible for God to lie.
• 2 Tim. 213 He is a God who, even if we are
  faithless, remains faithful he cannot deny
  himself
• John 1717 Jesus said to the Father, Your word
  is truth.
• Psalm 11960 The entirety of Your word is
  truth.

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A. Deductive Arguments

• The Bible is the Word of God (Scriptural Claims)
• Jesus, who is God referred to the O.T. as the
  Word of God which cannot be broken (John
  1035).
• Jesus 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 (Matt. 518).
• Paul says, All Scripture is God-breathed (2
  Tim. 316).
• Scripture is from out of the mouth of God
  (Matt. 44).
• Although human authors recorded the messages,
  prophecy never had its origin in the will of
  man, but men spoke from God as they were carried
  along by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 120).

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A. Deductive Arguments

• The Bible is the Word of God.
• Jesus said to the religious leaders of his day,
  You nullify the word of God by your tradition
  (Mark 713). Jesus turned their attention to the
  written Word of God by affirming over and over
  again, It is written (e.g., Matt. 44, 7, 10).
  
• This phrase occurs more than 90 times in N.T., a
  strong indicator of divine authority.

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A. Deductive Arguments

• The Bible is the Word of God.
• Paul referred to Scripture as the word of God
  (Rom. 96).
• Author of Hebrews declared that the word of God
  is living and active. Sharper than any double
  edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul
  and spirit, joints and marrow it judges the
  thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Heb. 412).

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A. Deductive Arguments

• Therefore, the Bible Cannot Error.
• If God cannot err and if the Bible is the Word
  of God, then the Bible cannot err.
• The God of truth has given us the Word of truth,
  and it does not contain any untruth. Dr. Norman
  Geisler, 74.

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• B. Correspondence (prophets and truth)
• 1. Deut. 131-5 1820-22
• Israel is given criteria for distinguishing
  Gods message and messenger from false
  prophecies and prophets.
• 2. One mark of a divine message is total and
  absolute truthfulness.
• 3. A valid parallel can be made between the
  prophet and the Bible. The prophets word was
  usually oral, although it might be recorded
  and included in a book the writers of
  Scripture communicated Gods Word in written
  form. Both were instruments of divine
  communication, and in both cases the human
  element was an essential ingredient.

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• C. Christs Use of Scripture
• 1. Jesus rests an entire argument on a single
  word (e.g., John 1034-35)
• 2. The tense of a verb (the pres. tense in
  Matt. 2232).
• 3. Precision of words as spelled and in detail
• (Matt. 517-18)
• If the Bibles inerrancy does not extend to
  every detail, these arguments lose their force.
  Moreover, should I have a lower view of Scripture
  than Jesus Christ?

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• C. Christs Use of Scripture
• 1. Jesus rests an entire argument on a single
  word (e.g., John 1034-35)
• a. Jesus endorses written
  propositional statements, not merely
  concepts, thoughts, or oral tradition.

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• C. Christs Use of Scripture
• 2. The tense of a verb (Matt. 2232 Exod. 36)
• a. Jesus assumes the historicity of Gods
  appearance to Moses.
• b. Jesus assumes that Gods revelation came
  in a propositional statement.
• C. He assumes that every word could be
  trusted to be precisely accurate.
• D. He assumes that doctrinal truth has to be
  based on historical accuracy.
• E. He assumes that one could use even
  unlikely passages and trust their accuracy.

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• C. Christs Use of Scripture
• 3. Precision of words as spelled and in detail
  (Matt. 517-18)
• a. Single letters change words.
• b. A tittle is even more minute than a jot.
• b. Jesus promised that not one jot would
  fail. Every promise will be fulfilled just
  as it was spelled out.
• c. Promises involve more than just faith.

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• D. Historical Support from Church History
• 1. It has been the view of the church in
  every period of its history.
• St. Augustine
• I have learned to yield this respect and honour
  only to the canonical books of Scripture of
  these alone do I most firmly believe that the
  authors were completely from error.

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• D. Historical Support from Church History
• 1. It has been the view of the church in
  every period of its history.
• Martin Luther
• But everyone, indeed, 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.

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• D. Historical Support from Church History
• 1. It has been the view of the church in
  every period of its history.
• John Calvin
• The Spirit of Godappears purposely to have
  regulated their style in such a manner, that they
  all wrote one and the same history, with the most
  perfect agreement, but in different ways.

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• D. Historical Support from Church History
• 1. It has been the view of the church in
  every period of its history.
• John Wesley
• Nay, if there be any mistakes in the Bible
  there may well be a thousand. If there is one
  falsehood in that Book it did not come from the
  God of truth (Journal VI. 117).

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• E. Epistemological Argument
• 1. Epistemology is the discipline that is
  concerned with how we know that we know
  something to be true.
• 2. This argument has been formulated in at
  least two distinct ways

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• E. Epistemological Argument
• a. For some, knowledge claims must, to be
  justified, be indubitable or incorrigible
  (beyond doubt and question).
• - It is not enough that a belief is true and
  is believed on good grounds. It must be
  beyond doubt and question.
• - For such an epistemology, inerrancy is
  essential.
• - Inerrancy guarantees the incorrigibility of
  every statement of Scripture.
• - Therefore, the contents of Scripture can be
  objects of knowledge.

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• E. Epistemological Argument
• b. For some, knowledge claims do not require
  such a high standard of certitude as
  indubitability to have inerrancy
• - If the Bible is not inerrant, then any claim
  it makes is false.
• - This means not that all claims are false,
  but that some might be.
• - But so much of the Bible is beyond direct
  verification. Therefore only its inerrancy
  assures the knower that his or her claim is
  justified.

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• F. Slipper Slope Argument
• If the Bible contains some errors, however few
  or many, how can we be sure that the teaching on
  Christ, the Trinity, sin, salvation, adultery,
  homosexuality, etc. is correct? An errant
  approach opens the door of suspicion on other
  portions and teachings of Scripture

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• G. Manuscript Evidence
• We have more manuscripts than any other work or
  collection of ancient antiquity. We now have
  approx. 6,000 manuscripts. For example
• we have 7 copies of Platos work compared to
  6,000 N.T. manuscripts. Moreover, we have more
  copies closer to the original than any other work
  of antiquity. Finally, we have 99 accurately
  copied as opposed to any other work. Whose
  history can we better trust?

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• 1. COMPARISON OF ANCIENT MANUSCRIPT EVIDENCE
• Author Book Date Written Earliest Copies
  Time Gap Copies
• Homer Iliad 800 B.C. C. 400
  B.C 400 yrs. 643
• Herodotus History 480-425 B.C. C. A.D.
  900 1,350 yrs. 8
• Thucydides History 460-400 B.C. C. A.D.
  900 1,350 yrs. 8
• Plato 400 B.C. C. A.D. 900
  1,300 yrs. 8
• Demosthenes 300 B.C. C. A.D. 1100
  1,400 yrs. 7
• Caesar Gallic 100-44 B.C. C. A.D.
  900 1,000 yrs. 200
• Wars
• Livy History 59 B.C.-A.D. 17 C. 4th cent.
  400 yrs. 1 partial
• of Rome (partial) mostly
• 10th Century 1,000
  yrs. 19
• Tacitus Annals A.D. 100 C. A.D.
  1100 1,000 yrs. 20
• Pliny Secundus Natural A.D. 61-113 C.
  A.D. 850 750 yrs. 7
• History
• New Testament A.D. 50-96 C. 114
  (fragment) 50 years 5,700

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• 2. EARLY PATRISTIC QUOTATIONS OF THE NEW
  TESTAMENT
• WRITER Gospels Acts P. Epistles G.
  Epistles Rev. Total
• Justin 268 10 43 6
  3 330
• Martyr
• Ireneaus 1,038 194 499 23
  65 1,819
• Origen 9,231 349 7,778
  399 165 17,992
• Tertullian 3,822 502 2,609
  120 205 7,258
• Hippolytus 734 42 387
  27 188 1,378
• Eusebius 3,258 211 1, 592
  88 27 5,176
• TOTALS 19,368 1,352 14,035
  870 664 36,289

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• 3. Does the Gospels Pass Atheists David
  Humes Criteria for Determining Document
  Reliability
• A. Do the witnesses contradict each other?
• B. Are there a sufficient number of witnesses?
• C. Were the witnesses truthful?
• D. Were they non-prejudicial? (e.g., Consider
  Saul who was opposed but became Paul
  through evidence Thomas who doubted but
  touched the evidence scared apostles
  transformed into bold evangelists).
• Thus, according to the historiographical
  criteria of David Hume, the N.T. is reliable.

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• G. What about not having the original
  manuscripts?
• It doesnt matter that we have the originals
  God preserved it in copies to keep people from
• 1. Worshipping the Originals
• 2. Possible manipulative distortion
• 3. Potential authoritative exclusivity.
• God preserved the Originals in the copies!

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• Manuscript Evidence
• If we doubt the Bible, we doubt history for any
  record of any event. Consider the sources apart
  from the Bible itself
• 1. Writers outside of the Bible
• a. Papias (A.D. 130) records sayings of
  Johns remarks regarding Mark being the
  interpreter for Peter. Papias also
  comments on Matthew
• Matthew recorded the oracles in the Hebrew
  (i.e., Aramaic) tongue.

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• Manuscript Evidence
• b. Irenaeus (A.D. 180) was a student of
  Polycarp who was a disciple of the Apostle
  John stated
• So firm is the ground upon which these Gospels
  rest, that the very heretics themselves bear
  witness to them, and, starting from these
  documents, each one of them endeavours to
  establish his own particular doctrine (Against
  Heresies, III).

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I. Support for Inerrancy

• Manuscript Evidence
• c. Clement of Rome (C. A.D. 95) used Scripture
  as a reliable and authentic source.
• d. Ignatius (A.D. 70-110), a disciple of
  Polycarp, he knew all the apostles and was
  a disciple, gave credence to the Scripture
  to the extent that he was martyred for it.
• e. Polycarp (A.D. 70-156) was a disciple of
  John who succumbed to martyrdom at 86 yeas
  of
• age for his devout devotion to Christ and
  Scripture.

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I. Conclusion

• If Inspired, Then inerrant. Inerrancy is a
  logical result of inspiration. Inerrancy means
  wholly true and without error. And what God
  breathes out (inspires) must be wholly true
  (inerrant).
• Dr. Norman Geisler, 75.