Bible Doctrine

Nevertheless, our hypothetical reconstructions of these words or situations can never replace or compete with Scripture itself as the final authority, nor should we ever allow them to contradict or call into question the accuracy of any of the words of Scripture. We must continually remember that we have in the Bible God’s very words, and we must not try to “improve” on them in some way, for this cannot be done. Rather, we should seek to understand them and then trust them and obey them with our whole heart.

Written Scripture Is Our Final Authority

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

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

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

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

Of course, our understanding of Scripture is never perfect, and this means that there may be cases where we will be unable to find a solution to a difficult passage at the present time. This may be because the linguistic, historical, or contextual evidence that we need to understand the passage correctly is presently unknown to us.

In a few passages, no solution to the difficulty may be immediately apparent from reading the English text. At that point it is helpful to consult some commentaries on the text. There are a few texts where a knowledge of Hebrew or Greek may be necessary in order to find a solution, and those who do not have firsthand access to these languages may have to find answers either from a more technical commentary or by asking someone who does have this training.

To this objection to inerrancy we can reply that 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. Furthermore, such “accommodation” by God to our misunderstandings would imply that God had acted contrary to his character as an “unlying God” (Num. 23:19; Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18). Although God does condescend to speak the language of human beings, no passage of Scripture teaches that he “condescends” so as to act contrary to his moral character. This objection thus at root misunderstands the purity and unity of God as they affect all of his words and deeds.

For most practical purposes, then, the current published scholarly texts of the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament are the same as the original manuscripts. Therefore, the doctrine of inerrancy affects how we think not only about the original manuscripts but also about our present manuscripts as well.