Intro:
I really wanted to
get someone with more expertise on the subject to write on the inerrancy of
scripture, but life has a way of
consuming time. So I’m afraid you’ll get
my take on the subject. It’s probably
not going to be my best post due to my lack of formal education on the
subject. However, I think I can put a
few words together to help us continue in our journey. Just so we’re all on the same page, my goal
in this blog is to be as thorough as possible while not losing your attention,
so I’ll keep it short and sweet. I want
to provide a comprehensive series of posts that take us through as many of the
facets of basic apologetics as I can. It’s
meant to be applied, not just read. So
if you’re going to defend your faith then it’s important to grow in confidence.
Confidence in any discussion is always a
byproduct of knowledge and experience.
So I plead with you to soak in as much scripture as you can. Make Bible study a priority. While I
might not do this post justice, I hope that you can at least take away one
thing from this entry. Scripture is
without error.
Scripture is our anchor:
There might be a
time where I go more in depth on this subject, but for now I wanted to tie this
back into relativism. As we have
established, the relativist has no truth.
Their desire is to claim a level of moral neutrality that simply can’t
exist if you follow that logic out to conclusion. For the believer, truth comes from an
external source, the Bible. Before
we can use scripture for our anchor, we must have confidence that it’s inerrant. So as quickly as possible I want to build my
case. The case I’m presenting is not
meant to be sold to the non-believer. My
goal is to help believers have confidence that we aren't planting our eternal
security in soft ground.
So the big question
is this…. How do we know that the Bible
is the word of God himself? The answer
is so simple that my 4 year old understands it to some degree. The Bible is inerrant, factually inerrant,
for one reason alone. Jesus said it
was.
Old Testament:
Most of the secular
world finds their disbelief in Christianity because of the information recorded
in the Old Testament. I think if you
probed a bit, you’ll find that most non-believers get stuck in the first two
chapters. They simply can’t reconcile the Bible’s explanation on creation back
to the ever changing theories offered by the science of the day. My contention is simple. They’re starting in the wrong place. To me, the beginning actually starts in the
middle with the birth of Christ. As a believer, if
you know that Christ is who He said He was, and did what He said He would, then
your doubts of the Old Testament should disappear. Jesus
himself spoke of the Old Testament with divine authority. Some of the things that non-believers (and some professing Christians) find
hard to believe were talked about by Jesus. He validated the Biblical account of the creation
of man in Matthew 19:4. He validated the
flood in Matthew 24:37. He validated the
story of Jonah in Matthew 12:40(while simultaneously
predicting his death, burial and resurrection). He essentially canonizes the entire Old
Testament in one phrase in Matthew 4:4, “It is written.” The Old Testament is never open for a debate
on accuracy for the Christian. Many of
the books of the Old Testament are considered by the secular world to be
myth. Since we are still dealing with
the topic of relativism, I will spare you from the archaeological and historical
data to support the text. For now, just
rest in knowing that Jesus didn't consider it to be myth or fable. So the next time you find yourself in doubt
about a man that was swallowed by a fish, or animals in a big wooden boat, just
remember….“ It is written.”
New Testament:
The New Testament is
often referred to by non-believers as an inaccurate account of a man named
Jesus of Nazareth. Again, I will go more
in depth on all of this in a later series.
In that series I will deal with the atheists’ claims about how it came
to be and how they don’t feel it meets their criteria for an accurate account
of the birth and ministry of Jesus. For
now I think it’s important to know a few quick things about the New Testament. The most valuable tool in validating the New Testament is the same as we used for the Old Testament. So again we use Jesus as the constant in this equation. While Jesus clearly didn't quote from the New Testament, He did promise us that we would have one in John 14:25-26. Here He promises that the Holy Spirit will be sent by the Father and that the Spirit would teach the Apostles and bring them remembrance of all that He said. Now all of this would have been irrelevant had Jesus died and remained in that state. The key is, He didn't remain dead after his execution. He arose from death, thus fulfilling every prophecy that was written about Him in the Old Testament and also establishing the accuracy of the New Testament to come. There are questions about how each of the books in the New Testament were qualified to make the cut as scripture. Below I will list the five qualifications
that each book had to meet before being included.
Was
it written by a prophet of God? This
was the way that God revealed Himself to man. 2 Peter 1:20-21 tells us that
scripture is ONLY written by men of God.
Was
he confirmed by an act of God?
Hebrews 2:3-4 tells us that we should literally expect to see miraculous
confirmation from a man that spoke for God. Examples include Moses turning his staff into a snake, Jesus and the resurrection, etc. Prophets didn't just
make predictions.
Does
it tell the truth about God?
Galatians 1:8 explains that if anyone, even an angel from heaven proclaimed a
Gospel different that the one presented in scripture, then let him be accursed.
Does
it have the power of God? If
the book doesn't give an account of the transforming power of God when applied
to the lives of believers then it is not from God.
Was
it accepted by the people of God? It
is normative that the people of God will receive scripture as authoritative.
Not just a small group of believers, but the vast majority. This can be
illustrated in 2 Peter 3:16 where Peter is essentially referring to Paul’s
letters as scripture. Another example is in 1 Timothy 5:18 where Paul is
quoting Luke.
Going Forward:
I have a few more
things to touch on before I put relativism in the rear view. So we will get back to that subject. I hope that this helps you see why the
Bible is the inerrant word of God himself.
I’ll admit that my effort to prove inerrancy was largely Christocentric
in nature, but that doesn't make it less accurate. There are many, many great sources that go
way above my pay grade on the inerrancy of scripture. Unfortunately this was the best I could do with my
limited knowledge and time. What I
wanted to accomplish is not to discuss all of the aspects of scripture, but
rather why believers should have no need to second guess the Bible. It’s our standard for truth in morality. As a believer you should start to develop an
insatiable thirst for scripture. And
while you drink it all in, you can recline in the knowledge that it’s accurate. We don't need to be intimidated when presenting scripture to non-believers. We have the truth in our corner, and we know it's truth because "it is written."