Biblical Inerrancy I: What Inerrancy Is Not

Within this awful volume lies
The mystery of mysteries;
Happiest he of human race
To whom God has given grace
To read, to fear, to hope, to pray.
To lift the latch, and learn the way;
And better had he ne’er been born
Who reads to doubt, or reads to scorn.
- Sir Walter Scott

(Intro and Ground Rules are here)

Before I define inerrancy, I will first set out to reduce the confusion that exists over the term by defining what it is not. There are essentially two types of misunderstandings about inerrancy: the first, which will comprise this post, are confusions with other spiritual terms often applied to Scripture, and the second, which will comprise the next post, are intentional “straw man” mischaracterizations used for ease in attacking inerrancy. While the first type can also be intentional, they are the ones most likely to be unwittingly confused, and thus we address them first - inspiration, authority, interpretation and importance.

1) Inerrancy is not inspiration.

“All scripture is breathed out by God…”(2 Timothy 3:16a)

The inspiration of the scriptures is an issue that has many academic angles – how were they inspired? What role was played by the Holy Spirit, and what role by the human authors? When we discuss the inspiration of the Scriptures, we are speaking of the source of the Scriptures. As with the rest of these misunderstandings of inerrancy, there is a relationship between the terms. Divine inspiration is a requirement for the Bible to be inerrant, yet it is not entirely true that “if it is inspired, it is inerrant”. The understanding of the meaning of “God-breathed” scriptures is a key component to inerrancy – but inerrancy is not inspiration.

2) Inerrancy is not authority

“…and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Timothy 3:16b-17)

The authority of Scripture is also a separate issue from inerrancy. Specifically, authority is drawn from a view that includes the sources of revelation, both general and specific, the relevancy of different types of revelation, and the relationship between human experience, the church, history and Scripture. Authority and inerrancy are related in nearly the opposite manner that inspiration and inerrancy are – one’s view of inerrancy determines a large portion of their view of Biblical authority. Authority is the level of rule that we give the Scriptures over our theology and worldview, and is largely based upon the presence or absence of inerrancy – but inerrancy is not authority.

3) Inerrancy is not interpretation

“no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:17)

“That’s just your interpretation” we often hear. Of all the possible ideas confused with inerrancy, this is the most common – that inerrancy is merely just a description of one’s interpretation. However, like authority, interpretation will be driven in large part by inerrancy, and indeed, by authority. Someone who rejects inerrancy will interpret the Scriptures in any way to make their current thoughts and behaviors seem justified. On the other hand, someone who believes in an inerrant Bible is forced to confront a greater breadth of challenges from an uncompromising word of God. Inerrancy is a limiter to interpretation, because an inerrant word of God cannot be interpreted in any way we want, but only within the reasonable bounds of the words chosen in their literary and cultural context. On the contrary, a lack of inerrancy opens interpretation to the full bounds of human imagination. Clearly, inerrancy is not interpretation.

4) Inerrancy is not importance.

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:28-31)

To those who already believe in Biblical inerrancy, it may sound sacrilegious to say that “All Scripture is not equally important”. However, it is clear that Jesus himself recognized what should be easily seen – after all, his questioner saw it. Some Scriptures are more important than others, despite being equally inerrant. Confusion with importance can be a stumbling block to those considering the question of inerrancy, because they can’t see how the genealogies of Chronicles are equally as important as the resurrection. Simply put, they aren’t! Furthermore, all Scripture is not equally applicable. Try teaching a group of 1^st graders about the Levitical code for priests! Instead, teaching them the Biblical precepts that God made them, loves them, and that Jesus wants to be their friend forever will be far more applicable to them. It is important that we recognize that not all of Scripture is equally important or equally applicable – but inerrancy is not importance.

Hopefully we have clarified some of the possible confusion surrounding inerrancy by showing that it is more restricted in definition than some think it to be – although it may be less restricted in impact on our faith and our lives. The next post will discuss the false depictions of inerrancy given by those who will not accept it called "Straw Men", followed by “Inerrancy Defined.”