Full Biblical Inerrancy - The Evangelical Debate

Although evangelicals believe God inspired the Bible, not all believe God’s word is fully inerrant. There are many viewpoints that argue for and against inerrancy within evangelicalism. Some think Scripture is fully inerrant while others believe it's limited or only partially inerrant. So what's the right answer?

Simply defined, “The inerrancy of Scripture is the doctrine that the Bible is fully truthful in all of its teachings.”[1] Inerrancy means the theological, scientific, and historical writings of the Bible are completely and equally true. I will first define my position in favor of the full inerrancy of Scripture by reviewing and clarifying article XII from the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. This is also referred to as "full inerrancy" Millard Erickson's Christian Theology book. Next, I will explain Howard Marshall’s objection to this position from his limited inerrancy perspective, which argues that God has indeed allowed factually incorrect statements into scripture. Finally, I will answer his objection through an analysis of the Trinity and by showing how God’s nature does not allow for any falsehood to enter His written Word. I will also mention potential consequences of limited inerrancy.

According to the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy article XII, “Scripture in its entirety is [without error], being free from all falsehood, fraud, or deceit.” [2] This means that not only does Scripture reveal true revelation about God and faith but that its statements on science and history are also true. Therefore, when modern science contradicts scripture about creation or some other historical theory, the Bible remains normative over science, and will not contradict the truth regardless of its theological or scientific nature. If we appear to find error in scripture, our understanding of the text is wrong, we have yet to learn how the theory doesn’t contract scripture, or the science itself is incorrect. Although scripture will not contain error, Christians must interpret the writings not as a scientific textbook but in the correct context. This includes understanding the historical setting, scriptural framework, and why the author wrote the passage. A thorough understanding of the author’s literary style and purpose will help the reader limit the meaning of inerrancy and make faithful theological statements about the content and meaning of the Bible. Therefore, we should not consider scripture from the absolute inerrancy perspective, which is rather abstract and makes the text do things it wasn't created to do, and we should not consider the text limited in its inerrancy, which makes us have to chose which parts are totally truthful and which aren't.

Within Evangelical Christianity, the opposing viewpoint of limited inerrancy claims the Bible is true when it teaches theological doctrine, but its “empirical” positions are false. Evangelical leader and theologian Howard Marshall supports this perspective. He argues that although the Bible is infallible and will accomplish its spiritual purpose; many passages in scripture contain errors that do not allow us to consider the text completely inerrant. Marshall argues that the real purpose of scripture is not to display a correct set of facts, but to redeem the reader. He maintains that historical errors have lead to minor but still false perspectives in the text. “If only one factual error is proved to exist, and when we further remember that many people find almost innumerable possibilities of factual error in the Bible, it is not surprising that they conclude the theory of inerrancy involves to many unlikelihoods.” [3]

Essentially, Marshall argues for the separation of inerrancy and inspiration by holding that inerrancy is not necessary to accomplish inspiration. In reference to Second Timothy 3:14-17 he argues that, “The stated purpose of Scripture is to provide the instruction that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, and this is then detailed in terms of teaching reproof, correction and training.”[4] Although Marshall’s limited inerrancy acknowledges that God used scripture to reveal salvation and seems to charitably agree that the Bible’s religious and spiritual affirmations are indeed correct, his perspective is incorrect because it has not fully taken into account the Triune nature of God and what this means for inerrancy.

God is one divine essence, or homoousios, which is made up of three distinct and holy persons, or hypostasis: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (John 10:30, Ezra 9:15). The Holy Spirit has several distinct impacts on the written Scriptures. Within his argument, Marshall references Second Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed.”[5] Although God did not dictate the Bible, He did ordain it and the Holy Spirit superintended the individuals to write the fully human text (2 Peter 1:20-21). If the Holy Spirit actively formed the truthfulness of scripture, it would also go against this spirit to allow falsehood, deceit, or illusion even in a few words. Though both Marshall and I agree that God inspired the scripture, he would not say the Holy Spirit gave the human writers the ability to write scripture without any factual error. Although we must maintain a firm distinction between God and His word, 1^st Corinthians 2:13 clearly describes the Holy Spirit speaking in and through scripture; “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.” In light of this work of the spirit, there is no reason to doubt the actual words of Scripture as God’s complete, true, and accurate revelation to humankind.

Jesus Christ is the second person of the Trinity and is also essential for the inerrancy of the Bible. Jesus, who is both fully God and fully man, revealed Himself as the word of God (John 1:1-3). Although all Evangelicals believe Christ is the inspiration and authority for all of the New Testament’s teaching, not all acknowledge that this divine revelation in Christ results in inerrant revelation in Scripture. If Christ’s testimony concerning Himself is not completely true, why would we believe anything He has revealed about life after death, the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies, and His promise to return? Inerrant revelation is equally important and Jesus Himself affirms His total belief in Scripture. In John 10:35b, Christ says, “The Scripture cannot be broken” and in Matthew 5:18, “not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” Jesus Christ the Incarnate Son of God who is both fully man and fully God verified the text is indeed the perfect revelation all down to the “smallest letter.” These scriptures testify of Him, and if we found the smallest letter or phrase to contain falsehood, than Jesus did not speak honestly about Himself.

God the Father has ordained both the Son and the Holy Spirit to reveal salvation and Himself to humankind (1 John 4:13-14). Scripture is the revealed word of God (Deut 12:32, Rev 22:18-19). If we believe that parts of scripture contain falsehoods, then we are indeed accusing God of falsehood and the inability to clearly reveal truth about Himself (Eph 1:17), which would contradict His perfect nature and sovereignty (Isaiah 5:16). Because God is fully true, and the Spirit is the author and authority, there is no reason to doubt when the Bible speaks on the origin of humankind, humankind’s history and destiny, and how God created the universe. Although God’s word is not complete, and does not fully reveal everything to us, it is sufficient (2 Tim 3:14-17). When Marshall claims that the words of Scripture contain falsehood, no matter how small, those fallacies suggest God’s word is not sufficient when it comes to historical and scientific facts. However, God has ordained the scriptures to portray an accurate and comprehensive picture of the world and life He created for us to enjoy (Psalms 19:1). God’s word assures us He can be trusted (2 Sam 22:31).

Although the inerrancy of scripture is complicated, we know God is both perfect and sovereign (2 Sam 22:31). God’s nature cannot ordain men to write lies in His book. Hodge and Warfield write, “[God] governs all his creatures and all their actions, working in men even to will and spontaneously to do his good pleasure.”[6] When God ordained His revelation, He ordained a pure message without error so that humanity can know God through truth, not lies. And if God’s revelation was not completely accurate, it directly impacts the sovereignty of the trinity because, “revelation is an extension of what is said about the triune God.”[7]

Inerrancy is essential because many evangelical doctrines are based on what the Bible has to say about science, history, faith, and God. However, if God’s word has any factually incorrect information then many doctrinal statements would be questionable. Fairbairn notes that the Holy Spirit brings us into the relationship God the Father and God the Son have.[8] As we get to know Christ through the Word and prayer, we participate in that relationship. A God of love would not invite us into that relationship through deceptive falsehood (James 1:13, 1 John 4:8). In fact, if we reject inerrancy, we are in danger of falling down a slippery slope that leads to rejection of participating in this relationship. Erickson warns that when a movement forsakes the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy, “It frequently goes on to abandon or alter other doctrines which the church has considered quite major, such as the deity of Christ or the Trinity.”[9]

*Please do not reference this article without proper citations. Want to purchase some of the books I used to research this essay? Check them all out on my Amazon.com storefront (aff link).

Footnotes

[1] Millard Erickson, “Christian Theology: Second Ed” (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1998), 247.

[2] R.C. Sproul, “Can I Trust the Bible?” (Orlando FL: Ligonier Ministries, 2009), xix.

[3] Howard Marshall, “Biblical Inspiration” (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 1982), 65.

[4] Marshall, “Inspiration,” 53.

[5] All Scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are from the New International Version of the Bible.

[6] Archibald Hodge and Benjamin Warfield. Inspiration (Eugene Oregon: Wipf & Stock Pub, 2007), pp. 9.

[7] John Webster, “Holy Scripture: A Dogmatic Sketch” (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2003), 9.

[8] Donald Fairbairn, “Life in the Trinity” (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2009), 59.

[9] Erickson, “Theology,” 252.

Image by: .:[ Melissa }:.