Is God limited?
The answer is obvious: NO! Yet, this is the question we are asked to consider when someone questions the trustworthiness of the Bible. Critics of the Bible deny the truthfulness of the Bible because God used people to write it: weak, fallible, error prone humans. To them God is too limited to overcome people’s fallenness to write a completely truthful and faithful message. Yet, they miss the major point: it is God who is created Scriptures, His message to us. They speak as if God is an empty box: God of the universe but empty of power. God is powerful and He is without error, and He is NOT limited! (Ps 145:3)
Let us remind ourselves of what we have covered already in previous posts. We affirmed the words of the Bible are God’s words as if we had seen Him write them or heard Him say them. Yet at the same time, each writer was writing his own thoughts, using his own words and putting them down in his own style. This view of inspiration is called the Synergistic Verbal Plenary Theory of Inspiration The gist of this view is God inspired the whole Bible; all of it, from the genealogies to Psalm 23 and John 3:16. All of it is His Word. Along with this is the assertion the very words used were His Words. God didn’t dictate to the writers what to say but moved them in a way that what they wrote was God approved!
The natural result of this inspiration is the Scriptures are inerrant and infallible. Inerrancy is simply having no errors, while infallible goes even further to assert the Bible cannot have errors: it is incapable of error as God Himself is incapable of error. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16–17 (NASU)
16All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
Clearly, since God has given Scripture to us for “reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” that we can be “adequate, equipped for every good work,” it must be error free. Otherwise, how would we know what to follow and what to ignore, which teaching was right and which was wrong? It is interesting that those who see errors in the Bible tend to find those errors in the areas they already disagree with. Their “errors” tend to pop up in uncomfortable area like eternal judgement or sex outside a married relationship of one man with one woman being sinful. Heck, many critics don’t even like the idea people are considered sinful.
Jesus, while not using the term infallible, does endorse the concept. Jesus goes beyond calling God’s Word true; He calls it TRUTH itself! John 17:17 (ESV) “Sanctify them in the truth; your Word is truth.” (Emphasis mine)
Can God lie, can He make a mistake? NO! So how could it be possible for His Word to contain anything less then what is true; completely and wholly true! There is no variation or shadow in God; all is pure light (James 1:17).
At this point we need to specify some points of clarification in order to be prepared for those who come against the complete trustworthiness and truthfulness of the Bible (this is not an exhaustive list).
Inerrancy Applies to the Originals
When we speak of the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture, we are talking about the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek text of the Bible. The originals—also known as the autographs—no longer exist. Time has worn them out: they are but dust. What we have today are handmade copies of copies made up until the late 15th century when printed versions started to be produced. The inerrancy, infallibility of the copies is in direct relationship to their faithfulness to the originals.
We will be covering the issues with the copying of the biblical text (known as Transmission) in a future series of posts. You need to be aware there are over 400,000 variants (differences) in the copies of the NT we have today. This may surprise you, but this is a good thing! You will have to wait for the future posts to find out why. For now, know over 99% of the variants are just plan meaningless! The correct reading is clearly known; there are no questions raised. More important is the number Zero. Yes, Zero! There are ZERO issues with doctrine or biblical teaching hanging on which copy has the correct reading. NONE!!!
Inerrancy Doesn’t Require Technical Precision
The writers of Scripture speak as people of their day. They said sunrise and sunset even though technically the earth rotates on its axis bringing the sun into view each day. You know, the same way we say it without being told we are technically wrong. The writers would also use rounded numbers. If there were 8,923 men in a battle, the biblical writer may say 10,000. We would never say Jesus was in the tomb three days. We are so exacting about time; we need to be at least close to 72 hours to count as three days. But in the culture of the ancient near east, part of one day, a second day, and part of a third day was counted as three days, even to the point of being called “three days and three nights.” They wouldn’t even understand our issue. Remember, we are talking about a period in history that did not count minutes, or seconds. They didn’t even have words for these measurements of time.
Another issue of precision is quotations. Neither Greek nor Hebrew language had quotation marks. But just as we do, they used direct quotes or summarized what was said. At other times they would combine several passages. It needs to be understood that many of Jesus’ words are summaries of what He said. Look at the third chapter of John. You can read the first part in about five minutes. Certainly, Jesus and Nicodemus talked for longer than five minutes.
Related to these points is that the writers sometimes use bad grammar or spelling. But remember in a less formal culture, these issues were much freer just like early Modern English was much more open in issues of spelling and grammar than we are today.
In all of this, is the Bible lacking? NO! The writers were writing in the normal style and level of precision expected in their culture. We should not expect them to be 21st century writers.
Inerrancy Applies to What it Reports
A final point to consider, inerrancy applies to the information reported, not every word said or all actions. When someone like Jezebel proclaimed, “Baal is god,” the Bible is not affirming the truth of this statement. What is inerrant is that Jezebel said it. In the same way, someone in the Bible having multiple wives is not endorsing polygamy but reporting a true situation. What was reported to have been said or done is true. We must look at what is being asserted to understand the truth being expressed.
These points of clarification are meant to help us be precise about what we are affirming when we use the terms inerrancy and infallibility. God can speak through fallen humans and still give us a completely accurate and faithful message. The Bible does not just “contain the truth” or is only trustworthy in what it teaches on spiritual issues. When it speaks of geography, history or science, it is just as true as what it says about heaven, hell, and God! The truth about the writing of the Bible is God was not limited by the writers’ limitations but produced an infallible Bible through fallen people. Only an Unlimited God could do that!
Until the next time we see you here at CultivatingFaith.org, God Bless! #CultivatingFaithOrg
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