Scriptural Inerrancy as the Cornerstone of a Right Theology RESEARCH PAPER

THEO 525 LUO (spring D 2011) Systematic Theology I

Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary

Gabriel J Skypala (ID# 23522713) May 13, 2011

Thesis Statement

If we do not hold to the doctrine of Inerrancy then our theology will inevitably stray from truth which leads to orthopraxy that is not right if not blatantly wrong and sinful. Holding to the Inerrancy of Scripture is the essential foundation a Christian must have to live a life that is pleasing to God.

Contents Title Page Thesis Statement Body PART I What is inerrancy Part II Negative Higher Criticism PART III Applying Inerrancy to our Theology PART IV The Danger of Theology without Inerrancy Conclusion Bibliography

Introduction Ruling out natural theology the Bible is the primary and some would say sole source of all of our theology and as such if we do not hold to the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture then every subsequent doctrine we hold is open to dismissal. Second Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. If Christians do not believe that the Bible is truly God speaking to us and that it is Inerrant they will not seek to align their life in accordance with what it teaches. This will lead to nominal Christianity if not apostasy. Recent generations have become skeptical of Christianity and those associated with it. Ideas and beliefs that were held by earlier generations are abandoned. Why is this? The Christian life looks so simplified and constricted that a new generation no longer recognizes it as a sophisticated, livable response to a complex world. Young outsiders are exposed to and can choose from virtually limitless options in life; from their perspective, why would they need Jesus?1 The lives of Christians are depressingly dull to many of the new generations. Christians, namely American Christians, have become comfortable in an atmosphere of religious freedom and lost the passion for Christ that marked the first generation of Christians. The Christian faith has become markedly un-Christian according to Gabe Lyons. The unChristian faith-hypocritical, judgmental, and full of empty moral striving-is what Paul warned us about (Gal. 3:3, 5:1, 13-15)! And that is part of the reason why we are known as hypocrites.2 Christians model themselves after those that they find in their local churches and sadly the majority, not excluding myself, are poor examples. So instead of passing on the passion of discipleship from the first generation we
1 2

Kinnaman and Lyons, Unchristian, Kindle edition location 40 Ibid, 51

have slowly become irrelevant. Why is this? It is my belief that the Christian faith in America has become so markedly un-Christian because we have allowed tradition and a watered down theology to guide us in our spirituality. According to Grenz and Olson everyone is a theologian and as such it is important, especially for those of us who call ourselves Christians that we are as accurate as possible in our theology. Our orthopraxy is amiss because our orthodoxy is shallow because our theology is thoughtless. The subject of inerrancy of Scripture and the closely related doctrines of Inspiration, Infallibility and Authority must be solidified in our theology because if we are tossed to and fro on these points then everything else we say to believe is on shaky ground and will inevitably lead to major fallacies. There is evidence that where a theologian, a school, or a movement begins by regarding biblical inerrancy as a peripheral or optional matter and abandons this doctrine, it frequently then goes on to abandon or alter other doctrines which the church has ordinarily considered quite major, such as the deity of Christ of the Trinity.3 Every Christian should desire to live a life that is wholly pleasing to God. Scripture is the Inerrant and infallible Word of God that teaches us how to live this life. If we do not believe it as true we turn our back on Christ. PART I What is Inerrancy? Without precise definition of the word inerrancy and of the related doctrine of inerrancy, it is difficult to answer the question as to whether or not the Bible is inerrant.4 Briefly, the Inerrancy of Scripture is the doctrine that the Bible is fully truthful in all of its teachings.5 It Erickson, Christian Theology, 252 Feinburg, Paul D. The Meaning of Inerrancy From Inerrancy edited by Geisler 5 Erickson, Christian Theology, 247
3 4

seems simple enough but as scholars have sought to look deeper into what makes up our Bible there seems to be many issues that cast doubt on this belief. The Bible was written by humans and there is nothing more human than to err.6 But if God is the ultimate author of Scripture and He is perfect then it would seem that what He has written is perfect. These two ideas seem to pose a problem. A perfect God used erringly human authors to write the Bible so we would assume that the Bible contains errors. Let us say that God perfectly wrote the Scriptures using humans and caused them to write only what is true. We would call these original writings the autographa.7 Unfortunately the Bible we have was composed from copies of copies of these autographa. Centuries of copying and sometimes even editing have allowed changes, or variant readings, to be introduced into the text.8 So how can we hold that the Bible we have is Inerrant? We must understand that whatever statements the Bible affirms are fully truthful when they are correctly interpreted in terms of their meaning in their cultural setting and the purpose for which they were written.9 So we find that Inerrancy is tied to hermeneutics. We have to understand that Inerrancy is not measured by modern standards but by the standards of literature of the times in which Scripture was written. Inerrancy is unless properly defined is easily misunderstood and is best understood in terms of the truth of what it says.10 An example would be the words of Jesus as recorded in the Biblical translations that we have. The term Ipissima Verba means the exact words as spoken by Jesus. This would be how modern journalism would transcribe exactly what a person might say. But even if they record a persons words exactly they can still take them out of context and toy with them enough to make them say any number of things which were not the intention of the speaker to communicate. It is Feinburg, Paul D. The Meaning of Inerrancy From Inerrancy edited by Geisler LaSor, et al, OT Survey, 611 8 Ibid 9 Erickson, Christian Theology, 263 10 Feinburg, Inerrancy
6 7

understood that we do not have the Ipissima Verba of Jesus. What we do have is the Ipissima Vox of Jesus. This means that while we do not have his exact words we do have his exact meaning.11 This concept is the easiest way to understand the doctrine of inerrancy. We have the exact meaning of what God intended to say. While copiers and editors have inevitably changed the verba of the autographa we know that God has divinely preserved His intention so that we have the Vox of Gods intent. Thereby we can hold the doctrine of Inerrancy and know that all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. PART II Negative Higher Criticism At the heart of todays trend among some conservative Christians to give up belief in the full, inerrant authority of Scripture lies negative higher criticism.12 Higher Criticism seeks to use modern scientific methods to interpret the text and understand what we have in our hands in comparison with what was originally written. This takes many forms and it is so boring that I dont want to get into it. It is good and necessary to take a good look at Scripture and seek to understand how we have what we have in the modern Bible. We need not shy away from critical methodology of the Bible as it will only help us to strengthen our position. We can still hold the doctrine of full inerrancy and still fully engage the questions that modern criticism raises.13 From my perspective when negative higher criticism is used the critic starts with a preconceived theory that Scripture is not divinely inspired and seeks to prove it. Whereas if one were to start with the Lea and Black, New Testament, 124-125 Payne, J.Barton, Higher Criticism and Biblical Inerrancy, From Inerrancy edited by Geisler 13 Beilby, James book review of INERRANCY AND THE SPIRITUAL FORMATION OF YOUNGER EVANGELICALS in Religious Studies Review VOLUME 35 NUMBER 1 MARCH 2009
11 12

goal to simply understand whether or not Scripture is Gods Word and divinely inspired one would come to the conclusion that it indeed was. PART III Applying Inerrancy to our Theology It seems to me that while everyone is a theologian not everyone makes a conscious effort to formulate the best theology that they can. Our theology is a mishmash of ideas that have bombarded us over our life and it is not something that we make an effort to organize, understand and be able to communicate. While this might be understandable for a non-believer it is unacceptable for the believer. Howard Hendricks, a teacher of Bible study methods for many a year at Dallas Theological Seminary, says that you are either in the Word and the Word is conforming you to the image of Jesus Christ, or you are in the world and the world is squeezing you into its mold.14 How can we have the motivation to get into the Word if we do not believe that it is true? This is where it is imperative for the Christian to formulate a right theology. A right theology starts with the belief in God and that He has revealed Himself to us and given us a means to salvation. This revelation is Jesus Christ. Modern people do not have a way to know Jesus in the flesh. What we do have is Scripture. The Bible is the document of Revelation by which we can know Christ and be saved.15

PART IV The Danger of Theology without Inerrancy As we have noted already a theology that strays from Inerrancy inevitably strays in other areas as well. If we do not hold to Inerrancy we inevitably will not see the Bible as Authority
14 15

Hendricks, Living by the Book, 9 Dulles, Models of Revelation

and if it has no authority for us then why would we ever feel like we really need to do what it says? This is why a right understanding of inerrancy is so crucial. I believe that if one understands the doctrine then one would hold it firmly. And if one does not hold to it as they see perceived errors in the Bible then they inevitably will not do what it says. The Scriptures are the source of our understanding of how God wants us to live and how one is to be saved. It is profitable for teaching, for rebuke, for correction and for training in righteousness. If we are truly saved and the Spirit of Christ is in us then we will want to walk righteously. A theology without inerrancy is a theology that inevitably steers us far off course.

Conclusion In order to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord it is imperative that we as Christians form a right theology. In order to form a right theology we must base it on the Word of God that we find in Scripture. To base it on Scripture we must be convinced of the authority of Scripture to teach us what is best for orthodoxy and orthopraxy. This belief is rooted in our belief of the doctrine of Inerrancy. We must hold to the belief that the Bible is inerrant and speaks to us authoritatively as the Word of God. Imagine with me we are in the presence of God. We are lying prostrate on the ground like dead men as the God of the universe, Creator and Sustainer of all things speaks to us. How would we respond to those words? These are the exact words we find in Scripture but how quickly do we forget and we dismiss Scripture. Do the Scriptures hold less weight because we do not experience them coming directly from the mouth of God? Absolutely not. Believing in Inerrancy will help us to hold these words above all others as the Word of God and to respond to

them as such. If we truly believed that would we not seek to live out what it says with passion, creativity, and an endless zeal? If I do not do what Scripture says then I am disobeying God. Someone once told me that there is no such thing as delayed obedience only disobedience. All of us will be judged by God one day and if we are given His instruction would it not be best to follow it?

Bibliography Beilby, James book review of INERRANCY AND THE SPIRITUAL FORMATION OF YOUNGER EVANGELICALS in Religious Studies Review VOLUME 35 NUMBER 1 MARCH 2009

Carson, D.A. and Moo, Douglas J., An Introduction to the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005) Dulles, Avery S.J., Models of Revelation, (Maryknoll, NY:Orbis Books, 1992) Elwell, Walter A., Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academics, 2001) Erickson, Millard J., Christian Theology, (Grand Rapids, MI:Baker Academic, 1998) Geisler, Norman L., Inerrancy (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing,1980) Collection of Articles Grenz, Stanley J., Guretzki, David and Nordling, Cherith Fee, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms, (Downers Grove, IL:IVP, 1999) Grenz, Stanley J. and Olson, Roger E., Who needs Theology, (Downers Grove, IL:IVP, 1996) Hendricks, Howard G. and Hendricks, William D., Living by the Book, (Chicago:Moody, 1991) Kinnaman, David and Lyons, Gabe UnChristian, (Grand Rapids, Baker Books, 2007) Lasor, William Sanford, Hubbard, David Allan, and Bush, Frederic William, Old Testament Survey, (Grand Rapids, MI:Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996) Lea, Thomas D. and Black, David Alan, The New Testament: Its Background and Message, Nashville, TN:B&H Academic, 2003) MacArthur, John, The MacArthur Study Bible, (Nashville: Word, 1997) Scott, J. Julius Jr., Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament, Grand Rapids, MI:Baker Academic, 1995)