I should be able to assume that all in a gathering like this understand and hold dearly to the doctrine of inerrancy.

But I’m afraid that may not be the case. We may give lip service to it, but do we truly believe it?

Do we give it up easily by conceding to the world’s assumptions that it is not Truth?

Do we betray it by not holding steadfastly to it as our absolute authority, without which, there is no proper understanding of anything in this world?

Do we recognize that the very Word of God should be the lens through which we view everything in our lives?

Whether relationships or politics, finances or employment, news or entertainment, everything should be framed in light of God’s revelation.
Inerrancy required for sanctification John 17.17

How do you grow in faith and the knowledge of our Savior? It is through God’s revelation to man - his word, through the prophets, through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Mike Licona, while not denying the doctrine of inerrancy argues that “the truth of the Christian gospel does not hang on every word in the Bible being correct, the doctrine of biblical inerrancy is, at the very most, a secondary doctrine.”

Presuppositions

God is

God has spoken

God has spoken through his Word

Evangelicalism stands and falls on the doctrine of inerrancy.

What does inerrancy mean?

JM Boice - “What Scripture says, God says — Through human agents and without error”

2. Holy Scripture, being God's own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God's instruction, in all that it affirms: obeyed, as God's command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God's pledge, in all that it promises.

Acts 3.21 - God spoke through the prophets

2 Sam 23.2 - God spoke by me

Chicago Statement:

WE AFFIRM that inspiration, strictly speaking, applies only to the autographic text of Scripture, which in the providence of God can be ascertained from available manuscripts with great accuracy. We further affirm that copies and translations of Scripture are the Word of God to the extent that they faithfully represent the original.

WE DENY that any essential element of the Christian faith is affected by the absence of the autographs. We further deny that this absence renders the assertion of Biblical inerrancy invalid or irrelevant.

WE AFFIRM the propriety of using inerrancy as a theological term with reference to the complete truthfulness of Scripture.
WE DENY that it is proper to evaluate Scripture according to standards of truth and error that are alien to its usage or purpose. We further deny that inerrancy is negated by Biblical phenomena such as a lack of modern technical precision, irregularities of grammar or spelling, observational descriptions of nature, the reporting of falsehoods, the use of hyperbole

4. Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God's acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God's saving grace in individual lives.

5. The authority of Scripture is inescapably impaired if this total divine inerrancy is in any way limited or disregarded, or made relative to a view of truth contrary to the Bible's own; and such lapses bring serious loss to both the individual and the Church.

Article X.

Article XI.

WE AFFIRM that Scripture, having been given by divine inspiration, is infallible, so that, far from misleading us, it is true and reliable in all the matters it addresses.

WE DENY that it is possible for the Bible to be at the same time infallible and errant in its assertions. Infallibility and inerrancy may be distinguished, but not separated.

Article XII.

WE AFFIRM that Scripture in its entirety is inerrant, being free from all falsehood, fraud, or deceit.

WE DENY that Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes, exclusive of assertions in the fields of history and science. We further deny that scientific hypotheses about earth history may properly be used to overturn the teaching of Scripture on creation and the flood.

Article XIII.

and round numbers, the topical arrangement of material, variant selections of material in parallel accounts, or the use of free citations.

The Bible teaches its own inerrancy

2 Timothy 3.16 - All Scripture is God-breathed

The NT writers spoke of the Bible as the living voice of God - the

Scriptures speak as if they are God

Heb 3.7

Acts 4.24-25 Acts 13.34-35

God speaks as if he WERE the Scriptures

Gal 3.8

Rom 9.17

The apostles apply the NT as God’s Word

1 Thess 2.13

2 Peter 3.15-16 2 Peter 1.21

The Scriptures themselves quote as if all the writings are one whole

Hebrews 1.5f - Psalms, 2 Samuel, Deuteronomy

Romans 15.9-12 - Psalms, Deuteronomy, Isaiah Jesus believed in inerrancy

Matthew 4.1-11

Luke 20.37-38

Matthew 22.29f - READ what was SAID, TO YOU Mark 11.15-17

Matthew 26.53-54

Luke 4.18-19

Matthew 5.17

Mark 14.27

John 5.39

Luke 24.25-27
“That the scripture might be fulfilled”
John 10.34-35 - the Scripture cannot be broken
Matthew 12.40 - Jesus used the story treated most skeptically to demonstrate his belief in the truth of the Bible!

Examples of supposed error
Augustine in his reply to Faustus - If we are perplexed by any apparent contradiction in Scripture, it is not allowable to say the author of this book is mistaken. But 1 - the manuscript is faulty, 2 - the translation is wrong, or 3 - you have not understood.

Manuscript issues

1 Kings 4.26/2 Chronicles 9.25 - how many stalls?

These are rare issues, found only in copies, and they do not affect any doctrine, context usually tells us which is correct.

John 7.53-8.11

Mark 16 - long ending

Luke 2 - peace and good will toward all men?

Translation issues

What about translations?

Inerrancy is applicable only to the original

Thus it follows to all accurate copies and translations

Chicago statement on translations:

Transmission and Translation

Since God has nowhere promised an inerrant transmission of Scripture, it is necessary to affirm that only the autographic text of the original documents was inspired and to maintain the need of textual criticism as a means of detecting any slips that may have crept into the text in the course of its transmission. The verdict of this science, however, is that the Hebrew and Greek text appear to be amazingly well preserved, so that we are amply justified in affirming, with the Westminster Confession, a singular providence of God in this matter and in declaring that the authority of Scripture is in no way jeopardized by the fact that the copies we possess are not entirely error-free.

Similarly, no translation is or can be perfect, and all translations are an additional step away from the autographa. Yet the verdict of linguistic science is that English-speaking Christians, at least, are exceedingly well served in these days with a host of excellent translations and have no cause for hesitating to conclude that the true Word of God is within their reach. Indeed, in view of the frequent repetition in Scripture of the main matters with which it deals and also of the Holy Spirit's constant witness to and through the Word, no serious translation of Holy Scripture will so destroy its meaning as to render it unable to make its reader "wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 3:15)

Why didn’t God see to it that we have error-free copies? Didn’t he promise to preserve his word?

This is a question used by advocates of a particular translation or Greek text, but they encounter problems of their own, even in their search for certainty.

It would be reasonable to imagine that if we had one of the actual originals, it would become an object of worship.

John 20.17 - “touch” vs “cling”

The name of Satan - (not Lucifer) - Isaiah 14.12

ESV - ““How you are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, son of Dawn!”

KJV - “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning”
Matthew 23.24 the KJV says, “Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.” The Greek means “strain out a gnat.”

Interpretation issues

Cain’s wife

Sun not made until the fourth day, but there was already day and night Genesis 1/2 contradictory in creation accounts
Different gospel’s records of the inscription on the cross - an incomplete statement is not a false one

Matthew says 1 angel at the tomb, while John says there were 2 Wherever there are two, there is one!

Sun standing still, and sun rising

Not a problem, but an accommodation to everyday language and perspective

Mark 14.12 and John 19.14 - which day was he crucified?

“Day of preparation” is Friday in Greek, this is the preparation for the Sabbath

Luke 2 - Quirinius - Several possible explanations, but could it be that the historians were wrong?

Why is inerrancy important? (Boice) Because of Authority

This is the source of God’s revelation of himself

As such, if it contains error, it cannot be authoritative

Because of Preaching

Without inerrancy, sermons will be shallow and man-centered

Hebrews closes with what results when we obey the Inerrant Word of God: “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

If we are not convinced that God has spoken, this will be the natural result.

Martin Lloyd-Jones - “I would not hesitate to put in the first position (for the decline in preaching): the loss of belief in the authority of the Scriptures, and diminution in the belief of the Truth.”

An inerrant Bible demands expository preaching - John MacArthur

Because of the health of the church

The church is not healthy because it is not holy. It is holy only as God works through the power of the Holy Spirit speaking in the written Word.

If we begin with the presupposition of inerrancy, we will be much more inclined to take God’s instructions to us very seriously, not looking for loopholes, but seeking to glorify God with our lives.

Inerrancy in evangelism

We are not obligated to prove inerrancy to the blinded unbeliever!

This means that our job is to proclaim the inerrant gospel from the inerrant Word. We do not have to prove it - it is powerful.

It is not simply a position for the church to hold, but a matter of practical obedience.

“Inerrancy: A Place to Live” was the title of John M. Frame’s presentation on the 2013 Evangelical Theological Society annual conference. In it, he argues that even though inerrancy is a biblical doctrine, a propositional truth, it is more than simply a test of orthodoxy; “[inerrancy] is a place to stand, a way to live.”

“But those within the community who confess inerrancy know that this doc- trine encourages us most in the big themes. The inerrancy of the word of God en- ables us to state with confidence the most extraordinary fact— that the whole world is God’s, and displays his glory. It enables us to say that Jesus is really Lord, that he really saved us from sin and its consequences, and that he is coming again to re- store the whole universe to something pure and even more beautiful. And inerrancy assures us that we have a God who speaks to us in our own experience—the Lord of language who knows how to use symbols to talk to human beings.”

Hebrews 1 - God has spoken by his son.

Recommended books

Warfield and Hodge - Inspiration

Warfield - “The Inspiration and Authority of the Scriptures”

Michael Kruger “Canon Revisited”

James Montgomery Boice “Does Inerrancy Matter?”