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Inerrancy has been a claim by many who seek to defend the credibility of the Bible, but the Bible itself does not make such a claim. The Bible does, however, claim to be TRUE. "The sum of your word is truth; and every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever." (Psalm 119:160 NRSV) It is critical to note that TRUE does not mean INERRANT. (See BIBLE - Does it contradict itself?, and BIBLE - Is it Inspired by God?).

ALL CORRECT OR NOT CORRECT?

The all or nothing position is not a Biblical one, even if it has been proclaimed by great men and spiritual giants. John Wesley, for example, wrote in his journal of 8/24/1776: "Nay, if there be any mistakes in the Bible, there may as well be a thousand. If there be one falsehood in that book, it did not come from the God of truth." Paul tells us, "But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless." (Titus 3:9 NIV) and not "to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work—which is by faith." (1 Timothy 1:4 NIV)

Once we get over our need to harmonize all the details, fear disappears and we can turn to the all-important task of listening to the essential message of Scripture, seeking to understand His will so that His truth can live in us. What contradictions may seem to exist in the Bible God has apparently let creep in. However, Jesus said when here on earth, He came to fulfill the law and that heaven and earth would pass away before any of it would fail (Matthew 5:17,18).

Over the centuries God has had faithful witnesses to whom He has committed the truth and who have preserved the Word of God. The manuscripts of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures have been preserved through the ages by miracles of God.

IMPERFECT YET TRUSTWORTHY?

The common conclusion of many Bible readers when they think they find an inconsistency is to take the position that if we cannot trust the Bible record here, can we trust it elsewhere? The basic question is whether or not trustworthiness requires absolute perfection. If scripture is viewed as a philosophical treatise, a scientific document, or a transcript of matters purely divine, then perhaps one could speak of the one fatal flaw. But if Scripture is more like a family letter or a letter from a dear friend and if we determine the trustworthiness of Scripture in much the same way as we do a trustworthy person, then absolute perfection is not required. The Bible is not given to us in grand superhuman language, but in the language of humans. In order to reach man where he was, Jesus took on the form of humanity. Everything that is human is imperfect.

We need to come to the point where we can take the Bible just as it is…as the Inspired Word. We need to let God take care of His own Book, His living oracles, as He has done for ages. I would appeal to those who pick at what may be errors, and urge that they cling to the Bible and stop their criticisms in regard to its validity; that they obey the Word. If they would do this, not one of them would be lost.

HUMAN AND DIVINE UNITE IN THE WORD

For nearly a century liberal, critical scholars have stressed the diversity in the documents of the Scriptures, but in present-day theological thinking there is a renewed emphasis on the essential unity of the Bible. Its great unifying principle, its central theme, is the redemptive plan and the working out of that plan in human history. However, the unity of the Bible must not be interpreted as uniformity. In the various books of the Scriptures the redemptive plan is viewed from various angles, and stress is laid on various aspects, with varying emphasis.

The Bible, like the person of its Author, Jesus Christ, is the result of a mysterious combination of the divine and the human. As the human mind is incapable of fully explaining the incarnation, so it cannot fully explain the Bible. In writing the various books of the Bible, the author's own personalities had full play, and their own style and vocabulary are reflected in the finished product. Yet the Bible, is nevertheless, "inspired by God" (2 Timothy 3:16,17). While men did the speaking, they did so as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). The Bible is, therefore, in a special sense the Word of God.