Different Ideas of Inerrancy
The word inerrancy means different things to different people, even those within the same cultural or church context. Before we can proceed to concern ourselves with answering those who debate against the inerrancy of the Bible, we first need to ascertain what the three different viewpoints of the matter are.
1) Limited Inerrancy
Limited Inerrancy holds to the teaching that the Bible is inerrant and infallible in all matters relating to salvation. There is however a line drawn between those things that are revealed by God, and those things that are not. Historical and scientific references are not those things revealed by God and are therefore subject to cultural bias and limitations of the writers' knowledge at the time. Since these things were not revealed to them by God, they are therefore subject to errors.
Their position therefore is that the Bible is not a science or history text book, therefore if there are errors in these areas, it is of no concern to us. What is more important is the issues that are related to salvation, and it is in these areas that the Bible is inerrant.
2) Full Inerrancy
Full Inerrancy goes a little further with the above argument. This teaching also holds to the fact that all things related to salvation are 100% true, and also that the Bible is not a scientific or historical text book, at least for today. According to this idea, the teachings of history and science in the Bible are more like popular descriptions of the time of the writers and are more like general references or approximations. Something like an early experiment in science that is rather rudimentary compared to the sophisticated manner in which the same experiment may be done today.
This idea therefore says that the scientific and historical references are correct, for the time of the writers and initial readers, but are not correct and do not tie in with more modern discoveries.
3) Absolute Inerrancy
Absolute Inerrancy holds to the idea that the Bible is 100% true. This includes those things that relate to science and history. Everything is absolutely true and there are no contradictions or discrepancies to be found anywhere in the Bible.
Those that hold to this idea believe that even though what may seem to be incorrect when we read it at first, a closer and more careful inspection of the text and other data available will actually prove it to be true.
Example:
There is no example better than that of evolution.
Those that hold to Limited Inerrancy say that a literal understanding of the creation account in the Bible is wrong. It is not a scientific account therefore we need to place our new understanding of the origins of the world into the account in order to come to a full understanding of the event. What often happens in this regard is that the idea of God creating things in six days is denied and that they were actually not a literal 24-hours but rather millions or even billions of years in length. A marriage between the secular evolutionary model and the Bible is then explored and followed.
Those that hold to Full Inerrancy say that the writer of the creation account was writing from their understanding at the time and that it is not necessarily true to say the world was created in six days. These people seem to sit on the fence as they are waiting for all the evidence to come in to convince them one way or the other. Often there is no conviction as to their beliefs.
Those that believe in Absolute Inerrancy say that the literal six day creation is 100% true and that no scientific discovery could ever prove otherwise. They may look at all the new scientific information available, but still return to the Bible and test the information according to what it says.
The Importance of Inerrancy
From the example above it becomes easy to see therefore why we need to be concerned with the matter of inerrancy of the Bible. But before we go there, let us look at some of the reasons why people say that it is not an important issue:
- Inerrant is a negative word and we rather need to use more positive words to describe the Bible.
- It is not a Biblical concept as the Bible deals rather with the spiritual or moral errors we make rather than those related to intellect.
- Inerrancy detracts us from the more important issues. By focussing on the minute details we miss the bigger picture about our relationship with God.
- The matter is harmful to the church in that it causes disunity among those who would normally have more in common.
The best way to to show the importance is through the words of a seminary student who was serving as a student pastor in a rural church: “My people ask me, 'If the Bible says it, can I believe it?'” This summarises the core issue of the problem, but let us go into it in more depth.
1) Theological Importance
Jesus, Paul and the other New Testament writers all regarded the historical and scientific facts that they referred to in the Old Testament as being correct. They did not split hairs about what was true and what was only true in the writers' eyes. As far as they were concerned, the whole of Scripture was given by God and was therefore completely true. If this is the case, then certain implications follow:
- God as omniscient, knows all things. He therefore cannot be ignorant of any error and would have to correct it. There is no indication anywhere of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit or the New Testament writers ever doing that. If anything they confirmed what was already written.
- God is also omnipotent and as such, He has the power to correct any errors to make sure that they line up to the truth. He would also have worked through the writers to make sure that they did not include anything erroneous. He could even change the very laws of nature or make certain events happen to confirm His Word. But nothing like that has ever happened, so what stands has to be true.
- Thirdly, God is a God of truth, absolute truth. And therefore, in giving us His Word, He made sure that it contained absolute truth. If there is any error, it would not be a testimony of Him. Therefore, what is in the Bible has to be absolutely true.
Because our understanding of the two are interlinked, the theological importance becomes paramount. To have a chink in our armour here would therefore inevitably lead to errors in our theology later.
2) Historical Importance
Though no formal declarations have historically been made concerning the inerrancy of Scripture, the church has historically held to the fact. This is seen simply in the manner in which the church down the ages has tested science with the Bible instead of testing the Bible to science.
It is only in the last 150 years since Charles Darwin published his Origin of the Species that man has begun to really question the inerrancy of Scripture. As a result, many issues that have been held steadfast within the historical church are starting to be shaken and there is an increase in immorality and false teachings entering the church. It has been shown historically that when the church has clung to the inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible as primary matters, the church has been strong.
Therefore we must conclude that in the laboratory of history in which theology tests its ideas, a departure from the belief of the inerrancy of the Bible has resulted in damage to the church and its doctrines. We need to make sure that the church does not fall into the same trap again and continue to hold on to this most important doctrine.
3) Philosophical Importance
By philosophical here I mean being able to answer the question: “How do I know for sure?”
If we truly believe that the Bible is 100% true, then the answer is easy, “Because the Bible tells me so.”
However, if we do not believe the Bible to be 100% true, there is no way of knowing for sure whether what we believe is true. This then reduces our position before the world and weakens our testimony.
If we want to be ready in and out of season to give answers to the questions of the world and to give an answer for the hope that we have in Christ, then we need to ensure that we know what we believe in terms of this doctrine.
Examples
Let's now look at a few examples from the Bible where discrepancies and errors seem to be evident:
2 Samuel 10:18 and 1 Chronicles 19:18
“But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobach the commander of their army, and he died there.” (2 Samuel 10:18)
“But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven thousand of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers. He also killed Shophach the commander of their army.” (1 Chronicles 19:18)
The above verses are taken from the NIV and as a result seem contradictory. However, when you read them in a more literal translation from the Hebrew, a different picture emerges:
“And the Syrians fled before Israel. And David killed from Syria men from seven hundred chariots, and forty thousand horsemen. And he struck Shobach the commander of the army, and he died there.” (2 Samuel 10:18)
“and Syria fled before Israel, and David killed seven thousand charioteers of Syria, and forty thousand footmen, and he killed Shophach, the army commander.” (1 Chronicles 19:18)
To understand the historical context we need to bear in mind how chariot teams worked. There was a team of ten soldiers assigned to a chariot. When a soldier was killed in the chariot, the driver would go back to the team and fetch another. If the driver was killed, the soldier would take over as the driver and go back to the team for another. If soldiers became tired, they would also swap with those still energetic enough to fight. There were also teams of ten horses assigned to each chariot and were swapped out in the same manner. Only once the whole team was wiped out was the chariot deemed destroyed.
Therefore, 10 people times 700 chariots equals 7 000 charioteers – no more discrepancy.
The Molten Sea
“He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line of thirty cubits to measure around it.” (2 Chronicles 4:2)
Here we are told that the molten sea had the following dimensions:
- Diameter: 10 cubits
- Height: 5 cubits
- Circumference: 30 cubits
However, read on: “It was a handbreadth in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held three thousand baths.” (v5)
So here we are given an image of what it looked like. The top edge had a lip on it.
Therefore, the diameter would be 10 cubits from lip to lip, but the circumference, not taken at the lip but on the body of the bowl itself would be 30 cubits (diameter of ±9.5 cubits).
But what about the same passage in 1 Kings 7 where it says the bowl only held 2 000 baths (v26)?
To solve this we need to look at the Hebrew. The Hebrew word for “held” is kûl which means “able to contain”.
If I tell you that a glass is able to hold 500ml of liquid does not make the statement that it is able to hold 300ml of liquid false. Both are equally true. Therefore, the molten sea was able to hold 3 000 or 2 000 baths of water. Both are true. It is not telling us that it actually was holding that amount of water, only what it was able to hold.
All discrepancies are once again removed.
The Death of Judas
According to Matthew 27:5, Judas committed suicide by hanging himself.
Acts 1:18 however states that “he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out.”
Some have tried to reconcile the two by saying that the rope snapped after he hung himself and fell headlong, etc. However, when you look at the Greek, there is a word that has caused some difficulty, prēnēs.
For many years this word was only understood to mean “falling headlong”, however twentieth-century investigations of papyri have revealed that this word has another meaning, that being “swelling up” (See A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament by G. Abbott-Smith).
Therefore Judas' death would be as follows: Judas hung himself as in Matthew 27, but his body was not discovered until some time later. In such a situation, the internal organs would begin to deteriorate first, causing a swelling of the abdomen. This is seen in cases when cadavers have not been properly embalmed. And so, swelling up, Judas burst open and all his intestines spilled out as per Acts 1:18.
Though this may not be a full explanation, it is a far more workable solution to the original attempt, and once again the discrepancy is removed.
Other Supposed Discrepancies to Investigate in Your Own Time:
- 1 Kings 4:26 - 2 Chronicles 9:25
- Numbers 25:9 - 1 Corinthians 10:8
- 1 Kings 9:26-28 - 2 Chronicles 8:17-18
- 2 Samuel 24:24 - 1 Chronicles 21:25
Conclusion
In a world where there are so many erroneous misconceptions and so many opinions, the Bible is a sure source of guidance. When correctly interpreted it can be fully trusted and followed, without error. This then forms another part of the foundation of our theology, and without it we open ourselves to many errors infiltrating our theology.
Baruch atem b’Shem Yeshua! (Blessings in the name of Jesus!)
GW
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