· Bibliology ·

Lecture Thirteen:  The Inerrancy of Scripture III

TH330 Systematic Theology I · Moody Bible Institute · Dr. Richard M. Weber

I. Objections To Biblical Inerrancy (continued)

A. Objection:  “The Bible is infallible in matters of faith and practice, but not mundane matters.”

Luke 24:25.  “[Jesus said to the disciples], ‘How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”

Rom 15:4.  “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

1 Cor 10:11.  [Speaking of a number of minor historical details in OT]:  “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us…”

Ps 12:6.  “And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times.”

· Matt 12:40

· Luke 17:29

· Luke 17:32

· John 3:14

· Rom 9:10-12

· Heb 7:1-2

· Heb 11:3

· James 2:25

· 1 Pet 3:20

· 2 Pet 2:6

· 2 Pet 2:16

Deut 4:2.  “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I give you.” (Cf. Deut 12:32)

Rev 22:18:19.  “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book:  If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.  And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”

“Everything stated in Scripture is there because God intended it to be there:  God does not say anything unintentionally!”  (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 95)

B. Objection:  “Inerrancy applies only to the original manuscripts.  We cannot trust our Bible to be inerrant, since we have none of the original manuscripts.”

“For most practical purposes, then, the current published scholarly text of the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament are the same as the original manuscripts.”  (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 96)

C. Objection:  “The doctrine of Inerrancy is a recent teaching.  The Church was not concerned with this teaching earlier in history.”

· Augustine:  “[M]ost disastrous consequences must follow upon our believing that anything false is found in the sacred books.  That is to say that the men by whom the Scripture has been given to us and committed to writing put down in these books anything false.  If you once admit into such a high sanctuary of authority one false statement, there will not be left a single sentence of those books, which, if appearing to anyone difficult in practice or hard to believe, may not by the same fatal rule be explained away as a statement, in which intentionally, the author declared what was not true.”  (Augustine, Epistula)

· Thomas Aquinas:  “[N]othing false can underlie the literal sense of Scripture.”  (Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I.1, 10 ad 3).

· Martin Luther:  “The Scriptures have never erred.”  (Martin Luther, Works of Luther, XV.1481)

·  John Wesley: “Nay, if there be any mistakes in the Bible there may we be a thousand.  If there is one falsehood in that Book it did not come from the God of truth.”  (John Wesley, Journal, VI.117)

D. Objection:  “Inerrancy overemphasizes the divine aspects of Scripture, while minimizing the human aspects of Scripture.”

“The divine must not be so emphasized as to obliterate for all practical purposes the human, and the human must not be allowed to be so human as to permit errors in the text.”  (Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology, 95)

“Just as in the Incarnation, Christ took humanity but was not tainted in any way with sin, so the production of the Bible was not tainted with any errors.”  (Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology, 94)

“There is an orthodox doctrine of the person of Christ, and there is an orthodox doctrine of the Bible.  Both involve God and man, and each results in a sinless product.”  (Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology, 96)

II. The Importance of the Doctrine of Inerrancy

A. The Significance of the Doctrine of Inerrancy

“[A]ny error opens the Bible to suspicion on other points that may not be so ‘minor.’  If inerrancy falls, other doctrines will fall too.”  (Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology, 88)

B. The Dangers of Denying the Doctrine of Inerrancy

1. The Ethical Dilemma

2. The Confidence Dilemma

3. The Authority Dilemma

4. The Doctrinal Dilemma