Biblical Inerrancy
Concerning Biblical Inerrancy, let me explain to you what this means exactly. Biblical inerrancy is the belief that there are no errors in God’s word, namely the Bible. It is the “total truthfulness and reliability of God’s words…” (defendinginerrancy.com). With this said, is there some crazy and unbelievable things said or prophesied in the Bible? Sure! Look at the book of Revelation for example. The daunting and terrifying plagues that John describes, such as, all the water on earth turning to blood, or an earthquake that can be felt from all points of the world. Or another example of the aggressive yet accurate language we see in Ezekiel 16 about how the Church is treated and how they react. If you believe the Bible is used mainly for nuggets of truth, or all lovey-dovey language, you may not want to read the harsh truth in this passage. In Ezekiel 16, the church is described as a naked woman who was cast out and abhorred. Then it describes God coming along and beautifying the woman from her previous bloodied and ugly state, giving her gold and jewels and a very expensive dress. Then the woman catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and trusted in her own beauty rather than who beautified her, saying that she “trusted in your beauty and played the whore.” (Ezekiel 16:15) Now, this should shock us, because this is the harsh truth of how God treats us and we treat him back. My point of all this is there is some unbelievable and harsh things that the Bible has to say, but we are called to believe in God’s Word, for it was Jesus who said,
He who has ears to hear, let him hear -Mark 4:9
Now, how are we supposed to put our faith in this book of God’s Word if it doesn’t even tell us that these things it says are true? Well it does, in
Psalm 12:6 “And the words of the Lord are flawless…” and again in Psalms 19:7, “The law of the Lord is perfect…” and if you still aren’t convinced, in Proverbs 30:5, “Every word of God proves true…”
Another topic of conversation that comes up is the fact that the New Testament can be true because Jesus, the son of God was speaking, but what about the Old Testament? Well, the Old Testament is part of the Bible, correct? Then, by what we know, the WHOLE bible is God’s Word, not part of it, so it must have truth in it’s very core.
Here is a topic that I find interesting, the fact of oral translation. Parts of the Bible, mainly the Old Testament, were passed down generation to generation by vehicle of oral translation and recounting. What about human error? These could be hundreds of years between the actual pen to paper from the original story being told. It seems like a giant game of telephone, and someone is bound to mess up, right? Here is what I believe, and you can decide to agree with me or not, these are just my two cents. In John 10:34-35, the Jews were trying to accuse Jesus of blaspheme because Jesus claimed to be God. It says
Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came – and Scripture cannot be broken
That last statement Jesus makes in verse 35 is the point I am trying to make, God’s Word cannot be broken. Translations passed down, each generation, God had a plan and his Word would not be moved from what He wanted to get across to us. Yes, maybe one or two root words from the original language might be different in some translations, but those few root words do not get in the way of God’s Word. What he says reigns true. Theologian B.B. Warfield said it this way,
We believe the doctrine of the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures primarily because it is the doctrine which Christ and his apostles believed, and which they have taught us.
I leave you this to think about today. Where do you find yourself not fully believing in the true Word of God? Where can you apply this knowledge of all of God’s Word being true to your life? Thank the Lord that all the things he says are right and just.