Understanding Scripture: Inspiration, Infallibility, and Inerrancy

Devotional

Sermon Summary

Sermon Clips


anytime the subject of the authority of scripture is raised and people engage in discussions about it, there are three pivotal concepts that inform the conversation. those concepts i'll write on the board and then we'll take some time to define them. they include the concept of inspiration, the concept of infallibility, and the concept of inerrancy. [00:00:08]

there is a tremendous amount of emotion that casts a appall over each and all of these terms and sometimes i find it in theology somewhat difficult for people to get past the emotion to examine carefully the content that is contained in these words. [00:01:15]

this issue became so severe that in the late 70s an organization was formed in america that included scholars from around the world, several hundred of them as a matter of fact but under the leadership of an executive committee of 15 or 16 of them to study the question of the authority the inspiration the infallibility the inerrancy of the bible. [00:02:33]

in theology the term inspiration does not simply refer to somebody who is extraordinarily gifted or insightful or has a certain engaging charisma where we might hear a trumpet player play a triple tongue riff and jazz and when he's done we'll say wow that was an inspired performance. [00:06:16]

when we're talking about inspiration in theology, we're talking about an activity that takes place through divine and supernatural help or the term that we use is superintendent, by which the human author is enabled to be a vehicle for god's word to be set forth. that's what we mean by inspiration. [00:07:08]

some people when they hear that word inspiration or verbal inspiration of the bible, what immediately comes into their mind is the idea that the human authors as they set about the task of writing the gospel of luke or john or whatever that they were virtual automatons. [00:08:03]

another theory that is rejected in orthodoxy with respect to verbal inspiration is what is called the dictation theory. again if you hear the term inspiration, maybe you're thinking that what inspiration means or what it suggests to you is that while luke was at his desk writing on the parchment, preparing the scroll of his book, god was dictating what he was to write down in his ear. [00:10:09]

in fact i know of one institution that wanted to soften their doctrine of scripture to accommodate certain forms of criticism and that their old creedal statement declared that they believed in the inerrancy of scripture. they changed that to mean they believed in the infallibility of scripture. [00:13:48]

the term infallible means unable to fail, incapable of making a mistake, whereas the term inerrancy simply says mistake is not made. now, is it possible for human beings without the help of divine superintendents, without the assistance of god the holy spirit, to do anything inerrantly? [00:14:38]

inerrancy means no errors of truth, no deceit, no fraud, no lies, but it allows for example the use of round numbers when the bible says that jesus fed 5 000 people he there may have only been 4978 there, but we would not call a report of a historical incident that rounds off things like that saying five they would not say that that's an error. [00:24:36]

the bible's inspired, it's infallible. let me back up it's inspired therefore it's infallible, and it's infallible therefore it is inerrant it is inerrant therefore it is altogether true and trustworthy. [00:26:46]

finally before i finish this little time of definition, the other problem with inerrancy is inerrancy must be carefully defined to mean what it does not mean is that does not mean that there aren't grammatical crudities to be found in the bible or does it mean that the bible speaks with absolute scientific precision. [00:24:18]

Ask a question about this sermon