The Doctrine of the Word of God (2)

B. Therefore, to Disbelieve or Disobey Any Word of Scripture Is to Disbelieve or Disobey God

C. The Truthfulness of Scripture

1. God cannot lie or speak falsely.

• Titus 1:2
• Hebrews 6:18
  

2. Therefore, all the words in Scripture are completely true and without error in any part.

• Since the words of the Bible are God's words, and since God cannot lie or speak falsely, it is correct to conclude that there is no untruthfulness or error in any part of the words of Scripture.

3. God's words are the ultimate standard of truth

• John 17:17

4. Might some new fact ever contradict the Bible?

• If any supposed "fact" is ever discovered that is said to contradict Scripture, then that "fact" must be fale, because God, the author of Scripture, knows all true facts.
• No fact will ever turn up that God did not know about ages ago and take into account when he caused Scripture to be written.

D. The Inerrancy of Scripture

1. The meaning of inerrancy

• The inerrancy of Scripture means that Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anthing which is contrary to fact.

a. The Bible can be inerrant and still speak in the ordinary language of everyday speech.

b. The Bible can be inerrant and still include loose or free quotations

c. It is consistent with inerrancy to have unusual or uncommon grammatical constructions in the Bible.

2. Some current challenges to inerrancy

a. The Bible is only authoritative for "faith and practice"

• The Bible repeatedly affirms that all of Scripture is profitable for us and that all of it is "God-breathed."
• Luke 24:25
• Acts 24:14
• Romans 15:4

b. The term inerrancy is a poor term

• The word has been used by scholars for more than a hundred years, and they have always allowed for "limitations" that attach to speech in ordinary language.
• Also we often use nonbiblical terms to summarize a biblical teaching. The word Trinity does not occur in Scripture, nor does the word incarnation. Yet both of these terms are very helpful because they allow us to summarize in one word a true biblical concept.

c. We have no inerrant manuscripts; therefore, talk about an inerrant Bible is misleading

• Think about it like this. The original copy of the United States Constitution is housed in a building in D.C. If that building were destroyed and the original copy of the Constitution lost, could we ever find out what the Constitution said? Of course, we would compare hundred of copies, and where they all agreed, we would have reason for confidence that we had the exact words of the original document.

d. The biblical writers "accommodated" their messages in minor details to the false idea current in their day and affirmed or taught those ideas in an incidental way

• God is Lord of human language who can use human language to communicate perfectly without having to affirm any false ideas that may have been held by people during the time of the writing of Scripture.

e. There are some clear errors in the Bible.

• Where?

3. Problems with denying inerrancy

a. If we deny inerrancy a serious moral problem confronts us: May we imitate God and intentionally lie in small matters also?

• Ephesians 5:1 tells us to be imitators of God.
• But a denial of inerrancy that still claims that the words of Scripture are God-breathed words necessarily implies that God intentional spoke falsely to us in some of the less central affirmations of Scripture.

b. Second, if inerrancy is denied, we begin to wonder if we can really trust God in anything he says.

• Once we become convinced that God has spoken falsely to us in some minor matters in Scripture, then we realize that God is capable of speaking falsely to us.

c. Third, if we deny inerrancy we essentially make our own human minds a higher standard of truth than God's Word itself.

• We use our minds to pass judgment on some sections of God's Word and pronounce them to be in error.

d. Fourth, if we deny inerrancy, we must also say that the Bible is wrong not only in minor details but in some of its doctrines as well.

• A denial of inerrancy means that we say that the Bible's teaching about the nature of Scripture and about the truthfulness and reliability of God's words is also false.

E. Written Scripture is Our Final Authority

• It is important to realize that the final form in which Scripture is authoritative is its written form.