Biblical inerrancy

This article is about the conservative Christian doctrinal position. For Jewish doctrinal positions, see Rabbinic literature.

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Biblical inerrancy is the doctrinal position that, in its original form, the Bible is totally without error, and free from all contradiction; “referring to the complete accuracy of Scripture, including the historical and scientific parts.”[1]
Contents

* 1 History of the Doctrine of Inerrancy
* 2 Textual tradition of the New Testament
o 2.1 Inerrantist response
+ 2.1.1 Evangelical inerrantists
+ 2.1.2 King James Only inerrantists
+ 2.1.3 Textus Receptus
* 3 Logic for arriving at the doctrine of inerrancy
o 3.1 Deductive Reasoning to arrive at Inerrancy
o 3.2 Inductive Reasoning to arrive at Inerrancy
o 3.3 In Lutheranism
+ 3.3.1 Inspiration
+ 3.3.2 Divine authority
+ 3.3.3 Sufficiency
* 4 Some Clarifications of the Doctrine of Inerrancy
o 4.1 Inerrancy as Accurate v. True
o 4.2 Limitations of inerrancy
* 5 Criticisms of biblical inerrancy
o 5.1 Scientific and historical criticism
o 5.2 Theological criticisms
+ 5.2.1 Meaning of “Word of God”
o 5.3 Practical objections
+ 5.3.1 Translation
* 6 See also
* 7 Notes
* 8 References
* 9 External links
o 9.1 Classification
o 9.2 Supportive links
o 9.3 Critical links

History of the Doctrine of Inerrancy

According to an article in Theology Today published in 1975, “There have been long periods in the history of the church when biblical inerrancy has not been a critical question. It has in fact been noted that only in the last two centuries can we legitimately speak of a formal doctrine of inerrancy. The arguments pro and con have filled many books, and almost anyone can join in the debate.”[2]

In the ’70s and ’80s, however, the debate in theological circles, which centered on the issue of whether or not the Bible was infallible or both infallible and inerrant, came into the spotlight. Some notable Christian seminaries, such as Princeton Theological Seminary and Fuller Theological Seminary, were formally adopting the doctrine of infallibility while rejecting the doctrine of inerrancy.

The other side of this debate focused largely around the magazine Christianity Today and the book entitled The Battle for the Bible by Harold Lindsell. The author asserted that losing the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture was the thread that would unravel the church. Conservatives rallied behind this idea, agreeing that once a man disregards the ultimate truthfulness of the Bible, then anything can become justifiable.[1]
Textual tradition of the New Testament
See also: Biblical canon, Bible translations, and Textual criticism

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There are over 5,600 Greek manuscripts containing all or part of the New Testament, as well as over 10,000 Latin manuscripts, and perhaps 500 other manuscripts of various other languages. Additionally, there are the Patristic writings which contain copious quotes, across the early centuries, of the scriptures.

Most of these manuscripts date to the Middle Ages. The oldest complete copy of the New Testament, the Codex Sinaiticus, which includes two other books[3] not now included in the accepted NT canon, dates to the 4th century. The earliest fragment of a New Testament book is the Rylands Library Papyrus P52 which dates to the mid 2nd century and is the size of a business card. Very early manuscripts are rare.

The average NT manuscript is about 200 pages, and in all, we have about 1.3 million pages of text. No two manuscripts are identical, except in the smallest fragments, and the many manuscripts which preserve New Testament texts differ among themselves in many respects, with some estimates of 200,000 to 300,000 differences among the various manuscripts.[4] According to Ehrman,[5]

Most changes are careless errors that are easily recognized and corrected. Christian scribes often made mistakes simply because they were tired or inattentive or, sometimes, inept. Indeed, the single most common mistake in our manuscripts involves “orthography”, significant for little more than showing that scribes in antiquity could spell no better than most of us can today. In addition, we have numerous manuscripts in which scribes have left out entire words, verses, or even pages of a book, presumably by accident. Sometimes scribes rearranged the words on the page, for example, by leaving out a word and then reinserting it later in the sentence.

In the 2008 Greer-Heard debate series, noted NT scholars Bart Ehrman and Daniel B. Wallace discussed these variances in detail. Wallace mentioned that understanding the meaning of the number of variances is not as simple as looking at the number of variances, but one must consider also the number of manuscripts, the types of errors, and among the more serious discrepancies, what impact they do or do not have.[6]

For hundreds of years, biblical and textual scholars have examined the manuscripts extensively. Since the eighteenth century, they have employed the techniques of textual criticism to reconstruct how the extant manuscripts of the New Testament texts might have descended, and to recover earlier recensions of the texts. However, King James Version (KJV)-only inerrantists often prefer the traditional texts (i.e., Textus Receptus which is the basis of KJV) used in their churches to modern attempts of reconstruction (i.e., Nestle-Aland Greek Text which is the basis of Modern Translations), arguing that the Holy Spirit is just as active in the preservation of the scriptures as in their creation. These inerrantists are found particularly in non-Protestant churches, but also a few Protestant groups hold such views.

KJV-only inerrantist Jack Moorman says that at least 356 doctrinal passages are affected by the differences between the Textus Receptus and the Nestle-Aland Greek Text.[7]

Some familiar examples of Gospel passages in the Textus Receptus thought to have been added by later interpolaters and omitted in the Nestle Aland Greek Text include the Pericope Adulter?¦ (John 7:53 – 8:11), the Comma Johanneum (1 John 5:7-8), and the longer ending in Mark 16 (Mark 16:9-20).

Many modern Bibles have footnotes to indicate areas where there is disagreement between source documents. Bible commentaries offer discussions of these.
Inerrantist response
Evangelical inerrantists

Evangelical Christians generally accept the findings of textual criticism, and nearly all modern translations, including the popular New International Version, work from a Greek New Testament based on modern textual criticism.

Since this means that the manuscript copies are not perfect, inerrancy is only applied to the original autographs (the manuscripts written by the original authors) rather than the copies. For instance, the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy says, We affirm that inspiration, strictly speaking, applies only to the autographic text of Scripture

Less commonly, more conservative views are held by some groups:
King James Only inerrantists

A faction of those in the “The King-James-Only Movement” rejects the whole discipline of textual criticism and holds that the translators of the King James Version English Bible were guided by God, and that the KJV thus is to be taken as the authoritative English Bible. However, those who hold this opinion do not extend it to the KJV translation into English of the Apocryphal books, which were produced along with the rest of the Authorized Version. Modern translations differ from the KJV on numerous points, sometimes resulting from access to different early texts, largely as a result of work in the field of Textual Criticism. Upholders of the KJV-only position nevertheless hold that the Protestant canon of KJV is itself an inspired text and therefore remains authoritative. The King-James-Only Movement asserts that the KJV is the sole English translation free from error.
Textus Receptus

Similar to the King James Only view is the view that translations must be derived from the Textus Receptus in order to be considered inerrant. As the King James Version is an English translation, this leaves speakers of other languages in a difficult position, hence the belief in the Textus Receptus as the inerrant source text for translations to modern languages. For example, in Spanish-speaking cultures the commonly accepted “KJV-equivalent” is the Reina-Valera 1909 revision (with different groups accepting, in addition to the 1909 or in its place, the revisions of 1862 or 1960). It should also be noted that the New King James Version was also translated from the Textus Receptus.
Logic for arriving at the doctrine of inerrancy

A number of reasons are offered by Christian theologians to justify Biblical inerrancy.

Norman Geisler and William Nix (1986) claim that scriptural inerrancy is established by a number of observations and processes, which include:[1]

* the historical accuracy of the Bible
* the Bible’s claims of its own inerrancy
* church history and tradition
* one’s individual experience with God

Daniel B. Wallace, Professor of New Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary, divides the various evidences into two approaches – deductive and inductive approaches.[8]
Deductive Reasoning to arrive at Inerrancy

The first deductive justification is that the Bible claims to be inspired by God (for instance “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV), and because God is perfect, the Bible must also be perfect, and hence free from error. For instance, the statement of faith of the Evangelical Theological Society says, “The Bible alone, and the Bible in its entirety, is the Word of God written and is therefore inerrant in the autographs.”[9]

A second reason offered is that Jesus and the apostles used the Old Testament in a way which assumes it is inerrant. For instance in Galatians 3:16, Paul bases his argument on the fact that the word “seed” in the Genesis reference to “Abraham and his seed”, is singular rather than plural. This (as claimed) sets a precedent for inerrant interpretation down to the individual letters of the words.[10]

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as (referring) to many, but (rather) to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.
– Gal 3:16, NASB

Similarly Jesus said that every minute detail of the Old Testament Law must be fulfilled (Matthew 5:18), indicating (it is claimed) that every detail must be correct.[10]

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
– Matthew 5:18, KJV

Although in these verses Jesus and the apostles are only referring to the Old Testament, the argument extends to the New Testament writings, because 2 Peter 3:16 accords the status of Scripture to New Testament writings also: “He (Paul) writes the same way in all his letters… which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16, NIV).[11]

Another deductive argument would be the strength of falsifiability. The argument is that Biblical inerrancy is a falsifiable stance (it can be proven false), therefore if it were false it would be proven false. If Biblical errors are proven, the Bible is false.
Inductive Reasoning to arrive at Inerrancy

Wallace describes the inductive approach by enlisting the Presbyterian theologian Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield:

In his Inspiration and Authority of the Bible,[12] Warfield lays out an argument for inerrancy that has been virtually ignored by today’s evangelicals. Essentially, he makes a case for inerrancy on the basis of inductive evidence, rather than deductive reasoning. Most evangelicals today follow E. J. Young’s deductive approach toward bibliology, forgetting the great articulator of inerrancy. But Warfield starts with the evidence that the Bible is a historical document, rather than with the presupposition that it is inspired.[citation needed]

In Lutheranism

Lutherans traditionally hold the Bible as without error because of what they hold about its inspiration, authority and sufficiency.[citation needed]
Inspiration

People who believe in inerrancy think that the Bible does not merely contain the Word of God, but every word of it is, because of verbal inspiration, the direct, immediate word of God.[13] As Lutherans confess in the Nicene Creed, the Holy Spirit “spoke through the prophets”. The Apology of the Augsburg Confession identifies Holy Scripture with the Word of God[14] and calls the Holy Spirit the author of the Bible.[15] Because of this, Lutherans confess in the Formula of Concord, “we receive and embrace with our whole heart the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the pure, clear fountain of Israel.”[16] The apocryphal books were not written by the prophets, by inspiration; they contain errors[17] and were never included in the Palestinian Canon that Jesus used,[18] and therefore are not a part of Holy Scripture.[19] The prophetic and apostolic Scriptures are authentic as written by the prophets and apostles. A correct translation of their writings is God’s Word because it has the same meaning as the original Hebrew and Greek.[19] A mistranslation is not God’s word, and no human authority can invest it with divine authority.[19]
Divine authority

For a believer in biblical inerrancy, Holy Scripture is the Word of God, and carries the full authority of God. Every single statement of the Bible calls for instant and unqualified acceptance.[20] Every doctrine of the Bible is the teaching of God and therefore requires full agreement.[21] Every promise of the Bible calls for unshakable trust in its fulfillment.[22] Every command of the Bible is the directive of God himself and therefore demands willing observance.[23]
Sufficiency

According to some believers, the Bible contains everything that they need to know in order to obtain salvation and to live a Christian life[24], and there are no deficiencies in Scripture that need to be filled with by tradition, pronouncements of the Pope, new revelations, or present-day development of doctrine.[25]
Some Clarifications of the Doctrine of Inerrancy
Inerrancy as Accurate v. True

Harold Lindsell points out that it is a “gross distortion” to state that people who believe in inerrancy suppose every statement made in the Bible is true (as opposed to accurate).[26] He indicates there are expressly false statements in the Bible which are reported accurately[26] (for example, Satan is a liar whose lies are accurately reported as to what he/she/it actually said).[26]
Limitations of inerrancy

Many who believe in the Inspiration of scripture teach that it is infallible but not inerrant. Those who subscribe to infallibility believe that what the scriptures say regarding matters of faith and Christian practice are wholly useful and true. Some denominations that teach infallibility hold that the historical or scientific details, which may be irrelevant to matters of faith and Christian practice, may contain errors. Those who believe in inerrancy hold that the scientific, geographic, and historic details of the scriptural texts in their original manuscripts are completely true and without error, though the scientific claims of scripture must be interpreted in the light of its phenomenological nature, not just with strict, clinical literality, which was foreign to historical narratives.[1]

Proponents of biblical inerrancy generally do not teach that the Bible was dictated directly by God, but that God used the “distinctive personalities and literary styles of the writers” of scripture and that God’s inspiration guided them to flawlessly project his message through their own language and personality.[27]

Infallibility and inerrancy refer to the original texts of the Bible. And while conservative scholars acknowledge the potential for human error in transmission and translation, modern translations are considered to “faithfully represent the originals”.[28]
Criticisms of biblical inerrancy
Scientific and historical criticism
See also: Criticism of the Bible, Internal consistency of the Bible, Science and the Bible, and The Bible and history

Biblical inerrancy has been criticized on the grounds that many statements, including, but not exclusively, history or science that are found in Scripture, if taken literally, rather than phenomenologically, are untenable or contradictory. Inerrancy is argued to be a falsifiable proposition: if the Bible is found to contain any mistakes or contradictions, the proposition of strict inerrancy has been refuted. Many inerrantists have offered explanations of why these are not errors[citation needed].
Theological criticisms

Theological criticisms refers to criticisms which are that the Bible does not teach, or require, its own inerrancy.

Proponents of biblical inerrancy often prefer the translations of 2 Timothy 3:16 that render it as “all scripture is given by inspiration of God,” and they interpret this to mean that the whole Bible is inerrant. However, critics of this doctrine think that the Bible makes no direct claim to be inerrant or infallible. C H Dodd argues the same sentence can also be translated “Every inspired scripture is also useful…” nor does the verse define the Biblical canon.[29] In context, this passage refers only to the Old Testament writings understood to be scripture at the time it was written.[30] However there are indications that Paul’s writings were being considered, at least by the author of the Second Epistle of Peter (2 Peter 3:16), as comparable to the Old Testament.[31]

The idea that the Bible contains no mistakes is mainly justified by appeal to prooftexts that refer to its divine inspiration. However, this argument has been criticized as circular reasoning, because these statements only have to be accepted as true if the Bible is already thought to be inerrant. None of these texts say that because a text is inspired, it is therefore always correct in its historical statements.[citation needed]
Meaning of “Word of God”

Much debate over the kind of authority that should be accorded biblical texts centers on what is meant by the “Word of God”. The term can refer to Christ himself as well as to the proclamation of his ministry as kerygma. However, biblical inerrancy differs from this orthodoxy in viewing the Word of God to mean the entire text of the Bible when interpreted didactically as God’s teaching.[32] The idea of the Bible itself as Word of God, as being itself God’s revelation, is criticized in neo-orthodoxy. Here the Bible is seen as a unique witness to the people and deeds that do make up the Word of God. However, it is a wholly human witness.[33] All books of the Bible were written by human beings. Thus, whether the Bible is – in whole or in part[34] – the Word of God is not clear. However, critics argue that the Bible can still be construed as the “Word of God” in the sense that these authors’ statements may have been representative of, and perhaps even directly influenced by, God’s own knowledge.

There is only one instance in the Bible where the phrase “the Word of God” refers to something “written”. The reference is to the Decalogue. However, most of the other references are to reported speech that is preserved in the Bible. The New Testament also contains a number of statements which refer to passages from the Old Testament as God’s words, for instance Romans 3:2 (which says that the Jews have been “entrusted with the very words of God”), or the book of Hebrews, which often prefaces Old Testament quotations with words such as “God says.” The Bible also contains words spoken by human beings about God, such as Eliphaz (Job 42:7) and the prayers and songs of the Psalter. That these are God’s words addressed to us was at the root of a lively mediaeval controversy.[35] The idea of the word of God is more that God is encountered in scripture, than that every line of scripture is a statement made by God.[36]

While the phrase “the Word of God” is never applied to the modern Bible within the Bible itself, supporters of inerrancy argue that that is simply because the Biblical canon was not closed. In I Thessalonians 2:13, the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica “when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God.”
Practical objections

Practical objections refers to arguments which do not seek to disprove inerrancy per se, but which attempt to demonstrate that the Bible is irrelevant or meaningless.
Translation
See also: Bible errata, Bible translations, and English translations of the Bible

Translation has given rise to a number of issues, as the original languages are often quite different in grammar as well as word meaning. While the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy states that inerrancy applies only to the original languages, some believers trust their own translation to be the accurate one. One such group of believers is known as the King-James-Only Movement. For readability, clarity, or other reasons, translators may choose different wording or sentence structure, and some translations may choose to paraphrase passages. Because some of the words in the original language have ambiguous or difficult to translate meanings, debates over the correct interpretation occur.

Criticisms are also sometimes raised because of inconsistencies arising between different English translations of the Hebrew or Greek text. Some Christian interpretations are criticized for reflecting specific doctrinal bias[37][38] or a variant reading between the Masoretic Hebrew and Septuagint Greek manuscripts often quoted in the New Testament.

‘Translation of Almah as Virgin ‘: Matthew 1:22-1:23 reads: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’- which means, ‘God with us.’ ” From the earliest days of Christianity, Jewish critics have argued that Christians were mistaken in their reading of the word almah (-“) in Isaiah 7:14.[39] Jewish translations of the verse from Isaiah read: “Behold, the young woman is with child and will bear a son and she will call his name Immanuel.” Moreover, it is claimed that Christians have taken this verse out of context (see Immanuel for further information).[37]

The Greek text of Matthew 1:23 uses the term “parthenos,” which is the usual Greek word for virgin:

[…] ?· ±??½ ½ ?³?±? ± ± ½ ± ±?»?½ ½?± ?± ±?½?·?» ?½ ?·?½½½ ?·?½ “. (Matthew 1:23 1881 Westcott-Hort)[40]

However, the Hebrew text at Isaiah 7:14 uses the word almah:

??²?  , ? –?: ?  ·°, ?¨ ° , °?§¨ ?©?°?,   ?. 14

Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.[41]

The Jewish translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek that was in use during the first century, the Septuagint, uses the word “parthenos” (“virgin”) in Isaiah 7:14 rather than the usual Greek word “neanis” for “young woman”.[42] The Septuagint’s Greek term ±?­?½ (parthenos) is considered by many to be an inexact rendering of the Hebrew word `almah in the text of Isaiah.[43]

The use of the Hebrew word “almah” in the Hebrew Masoretic Text of Isaiah has stirred debate among translators and has resulted in variations between Bible translations, with some translations using “young woman” as does the New English Translation or NET Bible:

For this reason the sovereign master himself will give you a confirming sign. Look, this young woman is about to conceive and will give birth to a son. You, young woman, will name him Immanuel.[44]

The text from the Luther Bible uses the German word “Jungfrau”, which is composed literally of the words “young” and “woman”, although it is common to use this word for “virgin”. This ambiguity results in a similar reading to the original Hebrew in the text of Jesaja (Isaiah) 7:14. “Darum wird euch der HERR selbst ein Zeichen geben: Siehe, eine Jungfrau ist schwanger und wird einen Sohn gebren, den wird sie nennen Immanuel.”[1] in English: “For this reason, the LORD himself will give to you (plural) a sign: See, a virgin/young woman is pregnant and will bear a son, whom she will name Immanuel.”

Some scholars contend that debates over the precise meaning of bethulah (-?”-virgin) and almah (young woman) are misguided because no Hebrew word encapsulates the idea of certain virginity.[45] Martin Luther also argued that the debate was irrelevant, not because the words do not clearly mean virgin, but because almah and bethulah were functional synonyms.[46]

(For more information, see the articles on the Virgin birth of Jesus and Isaiah 7:14.)

The Nazarene prophecy:

Another example is Matthew 2:23: “And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, ‘He shall be called a Nazarene.'” The website for Jews for Judaism claims that “Since a Nazarene is a resident of the city of Nazareth and this city did not exist during the time period of the Jewish Bible, it is impossible to find this quotation in the Hebrew Scriptures. It was fabricated.”[37][47] However, one common suggestion is that the New Testament verse is based on a passage relating to Nazirites, either because this was a misunderstanding common at the time, or through deliberate re-reading of the term by the early Christians. Another suggestion is “that Matthew was playing on the similarity of the Hebrew word nezer (translated ‘Branch’ or ‘shoot’ in Isaiah 11:1 and Jeremiah 23:5) with the Greek nazoraios, here translated ‘Nazarene.'”[48] Christians also suggest that by using an indirect quotation and the plural term prophets, “Matthew was only saying that by living in Nazareth, Jesus was fulfilling the many Old Testament prophecies that He would be despised and rejected.[49] The background for this is illustrated by Philip’s initial response in John 1:46 to the idea that Jesus might be the Messiah: “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”[48]
See also
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Part of a series on The Bible
* Biblical hermeneutics
* Biblical infallibility
* Biblical literalism
* Biblical preservation
* Bibliolatry
* Calvin’s view of Scripture
* Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
* Higher criticism
* Internal consistency of the Bible
* Religious skepticism
* Textual criticism
* What the Bible Really Teaches: A Challenge for Fundamentalists
* An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture

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