The subject of the inerrancy of Scripture has been hotly debated in Christian circles, particularly during the past century. Christians have been all over the map on this issue. As the word “inerrancy” implies, it has to do with whether the Bible is without error and is merely another way of asking whether the Bible is inspired of God. Because, if it is indeed so inspired, then it is axiomatic that it must be inerrant lest we charge God with being an error-prone deity. Viewing God as being subject to error is a contradiction in terms.
It ought, then, to be intuitively obvious that a revelation God would provide of Himself and this world would be an accurate revelation in all it affirms. An error lurking in the Bible anywhere constitutes potential errors everywhere.
Christ said the Word of God cannot be broken, in John’s gospel, chapter 10, meaning God’s Word cannot be compromised or neutralized. What mere man among us could say something is error and something else is not? Such would then make man the judge of Scripture rather than Scripture the judge of man. The folly of declaring the Bible to “contain” the Word of God but not “be” the Word of God is to make man the arbiter of what is or is not God’s Word. Apart from the doctrine of inerrancy, the Bible must necessarily surrender its authority. An unauthoritative Bible is of no value. The very most that could be ascribed to an errant Bible is that it contains portions that seem to be credible, but we really can’t be certain. A Bible that lacks inerrancy can afford no comfort and no direction, because its very words and the message they convey are, at best, possibly true, but also possibly untrue. Who wants to build their life or direction for it upon that? Who wants to build their life and afterlife upon what may or may not be true?
Thankfully, we have an inerrant Bible, one containing a message worthy of being trusted, one eminently qualified to convey truthful and accurate information, one upon which we may stake our very life and death. Mankind desperately needs such a revelation. With but one life to live and no ability to do it over, one life to live and a need to know how best to invest it, only an accurate, inerrant revelation from a trustworthy God will suffice. This is precisely what we enjoy in the inspired, inerrant Word of God. The Bible is a Book such as man would not write if he could, and could not write if he would.
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