Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro/Review

Good morning.

Welcome back to our class on Bibliology, the Doctrine of the Bible.

It’s been two weeks since we were last together.

So let’s pray and we’ll begin.

(Pray).

When we last left off, we talked about the doctrine of Inspiration.

And we said:

Inspiration: ‘the act of God “breathing out” Scriptures through human writers so as to ensure its authority and perfection.’

We said that the Bible itself teaches that it is inspired by God.

And we said that by ‘inspired’ we don’t mean it like when someone is inspired to paint, or inspired to write a poem.

Instead, ‘inspired by God’ really means ‘breathed out by God’, or originating from God.

In other words, the Bible was written by God, through human authors.

It is a divine book.

And God guided the human authors to write what he wanted to have them written.

And so, in this doctrine, the Bible is making a claim about itself that cannot be said about any other book.

Where does this idea of inspiration come from?

Two main passages that we talked about:

and...

So you see, in both of these passages, it is telling us that all Scripture - all of the Bible - is more than just a history book, or a book of morals, or a record of Jesus’ life & teachings.

All Scripture is breathed out by God.

It is unique, it is revelation, it is perfect.

And it is this idea of perfection that leads to today’s topic of Inerrancy.

If we look back in the Old Testament, to , we read the following important truth about God:

This is important, because if the Bible really is ‘breathed out by God’ (), and God cannot lie (), then it logically follows that the Bible must be inerrant.

It must be perfect.

For it is a reflection of God’s character.

This week’s lesson:

Inerrancy: the condition of Scripture being free from error in all that it teaches.

The Doctrine of Inerrancy as Taught By the BFC

This is in fact is a doctrine that the Bible Fellowship Church holds to.

Let’s look once again, at Article 1 of the BFC ‘Articles of Faith’, the official Belief Statement of our denomination.

And as we do so, watch for the words that speak to this doctrine of inerrancy.

“The Articles of Faith” - Article 1 – The Holy Scriptures

1-1  The Holy Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, are the inspired (), infallible Word of God (, , ), a divine revelation, the original writings of which were verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit (; ,; ).

They are the supreme and final authority of faith and conduct (; ,; ).

1-2  Inspiration is a special act of the Holy Spirit by which He guided the writers of the Scriptures so that their words would convey the thoughts He wished conveyed, would bear a proper relationship to the thoughts of the other inspired books, and would be kept free from error of fact, doctrine, and judgment ().

1-3 The Holy Scriptures, the written Word of God, are composed of all 66 books of the Old Testament and New Testament.

*Again, that is what our church teaches about the Bible.

And as I read that, you would have seen that we declare the Bible in article 1-1 to be ‘the inspired, infallible Word of God’ (in other words, incapable of making mistakes or being wrong), and also in 1-2, we say that God authored the Bible in such a way that it ‘would be kept free from error of fact, doctrine, and judgment’.

This is important, and it also is a position that is affirmed by many other major denominations in the United States and around the world.

Challenges to Inerrancy & The Chicago Statement of 1978

The doctrine of inerrancy is not new.

Even the Early Church Fathers of the first few centuries after the time of the apostles affirmed the Bible to be authoritative and trustworthy.

But if you look at some of the early creeds, such as the so-called ‘Apostle’s Creed’, you do not find many statements about the doctrine of the Bible.

And that is because doctrine statements often arise in response to the heresies of the day.

In the first centuries, heresies were often focused on the person of Christ (either denying his humanity or his deity).

But in modern times, in the 20th and 21st centuries, the doctrine of the Bible has come under attack, and this has led to clearer statements on what we believe about the Bible.

In the 19th and 20th centuries especially, liberal theologians began to question the Bible and its reliability.

Some liberal theologians, like Joseph Henry Thayer said that while ancient civilizations, who were ignorant of science, could accept the Bible as the Word of God, we who live in a more educated time, know better.

Well, contrary to what some may say, I don’t believe that science disproves the Bible, or that trusting in the Scriptures is somehow, antiquated.

The Bible is true and trustworthy throughout all generations.

To answer these kinds of liberal challenges to the Bible, a group of over 200 Christian leaders came together in October 1978, in a conference sponsored by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy.

The people who gathered were some of the most famous and influential Christian leaders of the time, including Jay Adams, James M. Boice, D.A. Carson, Wayne Grudem, Walter Kaiser, Josh McDowell, John MacArthur, J.I. Packer, Charles Ryrie, and R.C. Sproul.

And for those of you who know Pastor Dan Allen, who used to pastor our Ephrata BFC, and also was director at Pinebrook for a time, his father, Rev. Russell T. Allen, was also one of leaders at the conference.

Together, they created a document known as the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy.

This served as one of the clearest defenses of biblical inerrancy ever produced.

I’ve included it in your handout, at the end.

We won’t read it all here, but I will just give you a brief excerpt.

Signed by some of the most famous theologians at the time: Jay Adams, James M. Boice, D.A. Carson, Wayne Grudem, Walter Kaiser, Josh McDowell, John MacArthur, J.I. Packer, Charles Ryrie, R.C. Sproul, and Dan Allen’s father, Rev. Russell T. Allen,

(See the complete Statement at the end of this handout)

An Excerpt - Article IX

We affirm that inspiration, though not conferring omniscience, guaranteed true and trustworthy utterance on all matters of which the Biblical authors were moved to speak and write.

We deny that the finitude or fallenness of these writers, by necessity or otherwise, introduced distortion or falsehood into God's Word.

So you can see that there is a pattern that is repeated throughout the document (‘We affirm..’, ‘We deny...’), that helps to clarify the doctrine better.

You can look at the full document later.

Helping Skeptics With the Question of Inerrancy

But… with that being said, understand that they are rarely sufficient for our conversations with those outside of the church.

Church historian Mark Noll has said in the book, “The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind”, that while “Statements give short answers; they don’t engage deep questions.”

But… with that being said, understand that they are rarely sufficient for our conversations with those outside of the church.

Church historian Mark Noll has said in the book, “The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind”, that while “Statements give short answers; they don’t engage deep questions.”

In other words, if we want to be able to dialogue with others about this notion about the Bible being inerrant, we’ll need more that just a doctrine statement.

In other words, if we want to be able to dialogue with others about this notion about the Bible being inerrant, we’ll need more that just a doctrine statement.

Answering the Emotional Question of Inerrancy

Answering the Emotional Question of Inerrancy

But I want to leave doctrinal statements behind for a moment.

Understand that these statements (the BFC Articles of Faith, and the Chicago Statement, and others) are meant for the church.

They are written for believers, to help us articulate what we believe.

But they often are not very helpful for unbelievers.

But… with that being said, understand that they are rarely sufficient for our conversations with those outside of the church.

Church historian Mark Noll has said in the book, “The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind”, that while “Statements give short answers; they don’t engage deep questions.”

Christian author Mark Noll has said, “Statements give short answers; they don’t engage deep questions.”

Therefore, you will need to be willing to engage in deep conversations with someone who struggles with the authority of the Bible.

Therefore, you will need to be willing to engage in deep conversations with someone who struggles with the authority of the Bible.

In other words, if we want to be able to dialogue with others about this notion about the Bible being inerrant, we’ll need more that just a doctrine statement.

Because let’s face it: Inerrancy is a tough doctrine to grapple with.

I mean, if you are a believer and you trust the Bible, I imagine you would say, ‘yes the Bible is true.’

But for someone who is not a Christian, that might be really hard for them to accept.

Because

I will say that a similar statement has been created just this year, not on inerrancy, but on the Bible’s position on Human Sexuality and Gender Identity.

A new group of pastors and theologians have put together what is known as the ‘Nashville

Why do non-Christians often struggle with the concept of the Bible’s authority/inerrancy?

People in today’s culture are naturally skeptical of claims of authority.

people assume that the Bible is filled with errors.

In fact, if you tell someone that the Bible is inerrant, that will likely be what they say - “Isn’t the Bible full of contradictions?”

Because so often in today’s secular culture, people are naturally skeptical of claims of authority.

“You believe the Bible is perfectly true?

Well a Muslim would say the same thing about the Koran.

All religions say something like that.”

And the assumption is that any claim of authority is ridiculous.