I recently read an article titled “5 Bible Verses that estroy Biblical Inerrancy”. These types of articles always interest me for their entertainment value. What do I mean? Let me explain.
Does this author really think that after thousands of years of having God’s Word that he somehow came across the golden nugget that will finally show the Bible has errors?
Really?
With almost 2,000 years of brilliant Bible scholars and thinkers having scrutinized every word of the Bible, you think they missed this. I don’t think so! I mean, thank goodness they have FINALLY found the proof they have all been looking for! Enough of my dry sarcasm.
In all seriousness, the Bible is the most read book ever created. If there were any serious issues, we would know about them by now. People are viewing the Bible through a modern lens. Society changes, the Bible does not.
What all these sensational headlines and claims really are is a wishful hope. This author and many like him want the Bible to be full of errors so they can ignore it and live however they want to. They want the Bible to be “a guide” to be interpreted by the individual.
The problem with people who espouse this type of garbage is simple: they come to the Bible with the idea that it is morally dubious, so they interpret it that way. They suggest you must sift through the Bible to find what works for you. But when they find verses such as these pointed out by the author, they want to use the most rigid interpretation to try and disprove the Bible!
Bible doubters are intellectually dishonest when it comes to how they read and use the Bible.
Biblical Inerrancy
The author is partly correct in his stated doctrine of inerrancy but is mixing terms. There are three “in’s” when it comes to scripture. All three are an integral component of the truth of the Bible.
- Inspiration which deals with the origin of the Bible.
- Infallibility which deals with the authority and enduring nature of the Bible.
- Inerrancy which simply means the Bible is without error.
The concept of inerrancy is often misunderstood or intentionally misstated by critics of the Bible like this author.
- They do not want the Bible to be true.
- They misrepresent verses and change meanings to fit their agenda.
If they fail on those attempts, then they do what this author has done which is throw out a bunch of garbage and provide nothing to substantiate their claim. If you make a claim regarding scripture, you need to provide evidence to back it up. Your opinion really does not matter.
What Do Christians Think About Inerrancy?
What Bible-believing Christians affirm is that the original transmission of Scripture was inerrant in the original documents. God has nowhere promised an inerrant transmission of Scripture. Human beings are fallible and capable of making mistakes. That is why textual criticism is used as a means of detecting any mistakes that may have crept into the text during its copying and transmission.
Scribal errors and additions are well-known and have been shown to have not altered or changed a single doctrine in the Bible. In other words, these issues are blown out of proportion by people like this author. Scribal errors are inevitable for many reasons. Just think about the changes in the English language between the first English translation and today. If you were to read the earliest full translation into English (Coverdale Bible in 1535), you would not understand it because our English is nothing like that English. This may be a shock to some of you, but the Bible was not written in English.
The Jewish religious culture zealously guarded their scripture and treated it with extreme care and precision. God’s Word was holy, and it was revered and protected. Jews would not say the name of God. If they wrote the name of God, they would use a new pen and then would change it out to continue writing. They revered God’s Word and His Name. The Jewish scribes had rules to ensure the scripture was accurately copied. These rules were followed meticulously.
But mistakes were made. It cannot be avoided. Like I said, not a single doctrine has been shown to be altered by a scribal error. A quick example shows what I mean that the biblical meaning of a passage is not changed by scribal errors or grammatical issues. This is taken from the book, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek.
Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” Here are the hypothetical copies with scribal errors (the pound sign represents a missing letter):
- I can do all t#ings through Christ who gives me strength.
- I can do all th#ngs through Christ who gives me strength.
- I can do all thi#gs through Christ who gives me strength.
- I can do all thin#s through Christ who gives me strength.
Is there any mystery to what the original said? Of course not. Textual critics check and cross-check all the manuscripts to determine the original meaning and it is done with great accuracy. Why? Because we have an unbelievable number of manuscripts.
In 1978, the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy met in Chicago, Illinois and produced the “Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy” (CSBI). The Chicago Statement was signed by nearly 300 noted evangelical scholars. I would recommend the reader visit this website to see the CSBI and its supporting documentation to fully understand this doctrine of inerrancy.
The Five Passages
The article claims there are five “overlooked” passages that diminish scripture. Let us look at an example to see the silliness of the authors idea of ‘inerrancy’ being present.
The first attack involves the Book of Jeremiah. Actually, it is against Old Testament prophets in general. If you are not careful, you may miss the modern language used by the author regarding Marxist concepts of power.
The Book of Jeremiah is an incredible historical document as well as a prophetic one. The article makes an underhanded remark about Biblical authors being “entranced”, which they were not if you know anything about the inspiration of its authors. The author has watched too many movies of demonic inspiration!
Of course, Biblical authors brought their own personalities into the writing, but not their own purposes and contexts. The Bible is God’s Word written by men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Jeremiah was very concerned about his nation and his fellow Israelites. Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet because of his concern for them.
Jeremiah did provide prophecy. The whole point of the book is the coming judgment of God which Jeremiah preached. Jeremiah ended up being the most persecuted of all the prophets because of his preaching the coming judgment. And the judgment came true because it came from God. How do people today get treated for preaching the truth of God’s Word?
Jeremiah was told by God to record all that God had told him. This first scroll was destroyed by Judah’s ungodly king Jehoiakim. Do you really think this would stop God? Please. God told Jeremiah to make a new scroll with all he had been told by God. It is the last sentence in Jeremiah 36:32 that seems to bother the author. He seems to insinuate that something nefarious is going on. Some reasonable logic is in order here.
The Bible does not say Jeremiah added to God’s Words, only that he added more information. What kind of information? Well, let us start with the easiest thing to see.
The first scroll was written, read, and subsequently destroyed. How would we have known this if the second scroll was not written? I mean, everyone in Jerusalem knew Jeremiah wrote the scroll because it was read to them, so would they not wonder what happened to it?
So, Jeremiah had to add to the scroll information about what happened to the first one. Most scholars also state additional curses were added to keep it from being destroyed. It is also possible he added more historical data to help readers understand the context of the book, what had happened to it, and the people who played a role in Judah’s history at this time.
Remember that Jeremiah was documenting his preaching of the coming judgment to the nation of Judah. Would it not be important to document the evil of king Jehoiakim in destroying the original scroll? Would this not be a perfect example of why God was judging the nation? So yes, words were added so future generations would know how evil and deserving Judah was of God’s judgment. Context is key.
What are the false claims or misstatements made by the author here?
- Old Testament prophets did not predict the future. Of course not, but God knew it, and they accurately recorded what God intended to do.
- Old Testament prophets did not speak truth to power on behalf of God! They spoke the very Words of God who is truth.
- The author fails to note God’s purpose in having Jeremiah write the scroll (Jeremiah 36:3). It was not to just record the words God had spoken against Judah. It was to lead them to repentance and forgiveness.
- Jeremiah added to God’s Word in writing the second scroll. This is a blatant false accusation! Jeremiah was very aware of God’s law and the warning against adding to His Word in Deuteronomy 4:2. Jeremiah spent his entire ministry suffering for his preaching of God’s coming judgment, do you think he would do something against God?
- Biblical authors were in a ‘trance’ when they wrote the Bible. This is absolutely silly and shows the authors complete lack of understanding of Biblical inspiration. The effect of inspiration was to move the writers through the work of the Holy Spirit to produce the words God wanted. God used the human writers’ individual backgrounds, personal traits, and literary styles, but they were providentially prepared by God for use as his instrument in producing Scripture.
The authors remaining examples are full of the same false accusations, misrepresentations, and misunderstandings. He presents no reasonable evidence for any of the claims he makes.
Summary
After the so-called examples of inerrancy, we get to the real problem of this author — morality. He claims ‘inerrancy’ is all about fear and control over peoples’ morality. Ridiculous. God’s Word is all about His love for His creation. God wants a relationship with all people, but He is a holy God and cannot be around sin. God is not one dimensional.
The author’s opinions about the purpose of the Bible are only that, his opinions. The Bible is not a rule book, but it has rules. It is an instruction manual for life, but you do not have to use it. You can go your own way, but like the nation of Judah, God will judge us all.
The Bible is nothing like this author describes it to be. How does he know what the writers of the Bible were doing when they wrote the books? How does he know they reinterpreted scripture? Where is the scripture that was reinterpreted? Where is the proof of his accusations? As usual, there is none.
God’s Word is accurate and enduring for all people in all times. God is unchanging and so is His Word.
Do you know Jesus as your personal savior? If you want to learn more, see this article.
