It’s been recorded that the wife of Czar Alexander III, Maria Fedorovna, once used a comma to save a prisoner from the horrors of Siberian exile. The warrant from Alexander had read: “Pardon impossible, to be sent to Siberia.” Moved by compassion instead, the Empress of Russia relocated the comma as follows: “Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia.” The prisoner was released, or so say some historians. As a language nerd, I like stories like that! Or perhaps you’ve heard of the wealthy woman who in 1900 was traveling overseas when she came across an irresistible bracelet in a jewelry store. She sent a cable to her husband: “Have found wonderful bracelet. Price $75,000. May I buy it?” Her husband replied quickly: “No, price too high.” But the cable operator omitted the comma: “No price too high.” The rest is history. I’ve also read another funny account that makes a similar point … There was a sign posted on the gate of a swimming pool: “PRIVATE NO SWIMMING ALLOWED.” With just a few strokes of paint, some eager kids changed the message entirely: “PRIVATE? NO! SWIMMING ALLOWED.”
Sometimes the small details make all the difference. And, when it comes to the veracity and integrity of the Word of God, you and I are building our entire worldview upon the conviction that the Bible is entirely true and trustworthy. That’s what we mean when we say that the Bible is inerrant. Just to be perfectly clear, when we refer to the “inerrancy” of Scripture, we mean simply this: Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact.
We expect unbelievers to question the truthfulness of Scripture. But the Enlightenment, as well as the more recent ramifications of textual “hyper-criticism” and postmodernism, have caused many professing believers to reject (practically if not formally) the historic understanding of inerrancy. Some hold to what is often referred to as “limited inerrancy,” which negates the truthfulness of the Bible in certain key places (or regarding certain key topics). Others deny the trustworthiness of Scripture in wholesale fashion. They may have fond feelings towards the Bible, but they do not live under the conviction that the Bible is perfect, infallible, and sufficient. I don’t have to tell you that such a dangerous position (whether practical or formal) is a slippery slope which we should avoid. Just because you and I can’t understand everything about the Bible does not give us a license to regard it as anything less than God’s authoritative Word.
So, regarding the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy proper, I’ll draw upon the wisdom of Dr. Wayne Grudem, who offers three important points of clarification which I find particularly helpful (and which I’ve attempted to summarize here) …
1. The Bible can be inerrant and still speak in the ordinary language of everyday speech. It was written by real people within the confines of human language, including their peculiar and particular figures of speech. Inerrancy allows for anthropomorphic language, for example, like when the Bible speaks of the sun “rising” and “setting” – though we know from science that it’s actually the earth’s movement that causes those gorgeous “sunrises” and “sunsets” which we enjoy. (Said another way, we all know what those terms mean, and we don’t regard them as deceptive in any way.) Inerrancy also allows for latitude when it comes to the Bible’s inclusion of numbers, measurements, and the like – where exact precision is neither expected nor implied. Inerrancy is all about truthfulness.
2. The Bible can be inerrant and still include loose or free quotations. For example, written Greek at the time of the New Testament did not make use of quotation marks or equivalent punctuation, and the goal of a quote was a correct representation of its content. Finding an inconsistency in this regard does not take away from the Bible’s veracity. By the way, friends, if Christ is the Creator of human language – and He is – then He can certainly utilize human language to communicate perfectly what He desires to communicate. Summarized my way, if you’ll allow me: the word is no problem for the Word!
3. It is consistent with inerrancy to find unusual or uncommon grammatical constructions in the Bible. The Word of God describes all kinds of scenarios and situations, and some of the descriptions are rather rough-hewn linguistically – and may not have passed the inspection of some of our high school English teachers. There are times, for example, when a verse includes a plural verb where the precise rules of grammar would dictate otherwise. This is simply because the Bible (as was pointed out in #1) records real speech by real people. But this makes it no less true. Scripture is pure (Psalm 12:6), perfect (Psalm 119:96; btw stay tuned for our next exciting sermon series!), and utterly true (Proverbs 30:5) – and we’re foolish not to take it at face value (Luke 24:25). I’ll include a direct quote from Grudem: “The Bible itself does not make any restriction on the kinds of subjects to which it speaks truthfully.” Dr. Grudem urges us not to give up the term “inerrancy” simply because some people charge that it denotes an absolute scientific precision that the Bible never claims for itself. He reasons that such challenges to inerrancy result from a lack of understanding the term as it’s been used for well over a century.
Please allow me to share just two more technical terms which will serve us well as we sharpen each other when it comes to the authority of Scripture: we affirm both the “plenary” and “verbal” inspiration of Scripture. Second Timothy 3:16 guides us in this regard. Not just some of the Bible is true – but all of it. (That’s the plenary part.) And the words of the Bible are not just words about God, but they are “God-breathed.” (That’s the verbal part.) As such, every part of the Bible is ipso facto inspired from start to finish. So, when we stand on the Bible, we stand on solid ground.
As a pastor, let me say this to you: I think it’s perfectly O.K. when you and I come to places (or even seasons) in our Bible study that leave us scratching our heads. That’s as it should be when you think about what we’re doing: we’re plumbing the depths of the wisdom of Almighty God! Some of our confusion will be resolved in due time. Some of our confusion may remain unresolved until heaven. It is O.K. to hold certain truths in tension. It is O.K. when there is some unexplainable mystery in the ways of our great and good God. Our job is to remember that the problem is not the Word itself. It’s still perfect.
William Bridge, a seventeenth-century Puritan, wrote extensively on how the serious student of the Bible approaches what appear to be inconsistencies in the text of Holy Scripture. I think his observations are rather timeless: “For a godly person, it should be as it was with Moses. When a godly man sees the Bible and secular data apparently at odds, he does as Moses did when he saw an Egyptian fighting an Israelite: he kills the Egyptian. He discounts the secular testimony, knowing God’s Word to be true. But when he sees an apparent inconsistency between two passages of Scripture, he does as Moses did when he found two Israelites quarreling: he tries to reconcile them. He says, ‘Aha, these are brethren. I must make peace between them.’ And that’s what the godly person does.”
Plumbing with you,
Pastor Charles
I’m saving this. Great message on inerrancy x