A Quick Look at What We Believe About Inerrancy
Inspiration, when speaking of scriptural text, means “to breath into” or “to fill.” 2 Timothy3:16 states, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” The word translated here as “breathed out” may also be translated as “spiration” or “God-Breathed.” This scripture simply says that scripture is God-produced. Biblical inspiration can be defined as God’s superintendence of the human authors, so that using their own personalities, they composed and recorded without error His revelation to man in the words of the original manuscripts.
[1] The Bible claims that it is God-breathed (2 Tim 3:16). God, is the source of all truth and cannot lie. Hebrews 6:18 states, “it is impossible for God to lie.” God, who is the source of all truth, breathed out truth and that truth is the basis for scripture. Men did not corrupt the truth in any way. The Bible testifies that the men who wrote down the truth breathed out by God were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:21b states, “men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” According to this passage, Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father in order to bear witness about Christ (John15:26) became a Coauthor with each human writer. With this “dual authorship” in view, we can expect to see varying writing styles and expressions that reflect the different personalities of the individuals authors. The Bible claims inerrancy for itself. Jesus believed the Bible was inerrant when He declared in Matthew 5:18, “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” The Lord was saying that every letter and every word in the scripture was of the highest importance. The Old Testament would be fulfilled exactly how it had been spelled out by the authors of the text. Jesus declared in John 10:35b, “Scripture cannot be broken.” The Bible is not only inerrant, but both Christ’s testimony and the scriptures themselves claim inerrantcy. The books that were included in the cannon of scripture needed to pass a number of test to evaluate their authenticity. The term canon refers to a rule or a measuring rod. The cannon of scripture refers to the collection of books that passed the test of authenticity. These authoritative books become the basis for the believers rule of life. Here are a few of those tests:
  • Authority of the writer: Old Testament scriptures were written by lawgivers, prophets or leaders in Israel. New Testament scriptures were written or backed by recognized apostles.
  • Evidence of inspiration: The content within the book itself proves to be of extraordinary origin as it communicates revelation that came clearly from the Holy Spirit.
  • Verdict of the churches: The early church was in surprising agreement over which books held Holy-Spirit-inspired content.
After each book passed tests for canonicity, the selection of the Holy Scriptures was complete, and the total number inspired books of scripture was 66 total books. This collection of scripture is sufficient in communicating God’s authoritative commands for mankind.
[1]              Charles C. Ryrie, A Survey of Bible Doctrine, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1972), pp 38