Should our
faith weaken if the Bible is proven to be with errors? Isn’t the Bible the core
of Christianity? If the core of Christianity is erroneous, shouldn’t
Christianity crumble?
If these
thoughts resonate in you, you are not totally off the mark.
To
relentlessly assault the Bible is the fervent passion of many. To rattle the
faith of the Christians is their vocation.
As if to
add to this predicament, quite a few evangelical Christian scholars and
institutions are migrating away from committing to inerrancy i.e. the Bible is
without errors. But interestingly, they commit to Bible’s infallibility i.e.
the Bible is incapable of failing.
Broadly
there are two categories of Christians in the context of Historic Christianity
and biblical inerrancy. The biblical inerrantists defend the view that the
Bible is without errors with all their intellect and might.1 The
other group, the non-inerrantists, is rather lenient in this position. They
consider the Bible as a document that is susceptible to errors, but not in the matters
pertaining to the redemptive (salvation).
For
instance, the National Association of Evangelicals, in their statement of
faith, do not commit to inerrancy of the Bible, “We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible,
authoritative Word of God.” 2 In this view, biblical inerrancy
is limited to matters pertaining to salvation and not the entire content of the
Bible.
The limited
inerrancy view offers room for the Bible to err in non-redemptive matters – matters
that are not salvific by nature e.g. geographical, historical, scientific etc. The
proponents of this view state that the main purpose of the Bible is “spiritual
transformation” – to bring the lost man into a saving relationship with God.
They then affirm that “If the Bible
contains some errors, some discrepancies, that do not affect its power to
transform lives through faith-filled communion with God, that is not
important.” 3
But the unlimited
or total inerrancy view does not offer any room for the Bible to err. The
unlimited inerrancy view affirms that the Bible is true in all its content, be
it redemption, history or science.
Those who
defend total inerrancy state, We deny
that Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to spiritual, religious,
or redemptive themes, exclusive of assertions in the fields of history and
science” (Art. 12). It further declares that: “The authority of Scripture is
inescapably impaired if this total divine inerrancy is in any way limited or
disregarded, or made relative to a view of truth contrary to the Bible’s own (A
Short Statement, 5, emphasis added).”4
The picture
becomes rather clear now.
Those who
believe that the Bible contains no errors or the biblical inerrantists or those
subscribing to the unlimited inerrancy view hold the doctrine of biblical
inerrancy as an essential doctrine of Historic Christianity.5 The non-inerrantists or those who hold to the
limited inerrancy view do not consider the doctrine of inerrancy as a core
tenet of Historic Christianity.
If the
Bible is proven to be with errors, you and I could respond in two broad ways.
These options are predicated on whether we hold the doctrine of inerrancy as an
essential doctrine to Christian faith or not.
If you
consider inerrancy as an essential doctrine, and, if the Bible is proven to be
with errors, then your faith could weaken. But if you consider inerrancy as a
non-essential doctrine, and, you consider the Bible as a document that is not erroneous
in the redemptive but otherwise susceptible to errors, then your faith would
not weaken.
Easier said
than done!
Those who
consider the Bible to be without any errors (biblical inerrantists) argue
against the argument that the Bible has errors but is infallible (biblical
non-inerrantists).6 Their argument is predicated on two very strong
facts:
A. God
cannot lie either intentionally or unintentionally. If the Bible is God’s Word,
and if God cannot lie, then the Bible ought to be without error.
B. Christ
(God-incarnate) proclaimed that God’s Word is without any errors (cf. John
10:35 & Matthew 5: 18).
So it is
quite plausible that the Bible cannot or should not err.
But think from
another vantage point.
Would an
erroneous Bible entail the non-existence of God? No, not by any chance!
God exists
necessarily. God’s existence is not predicated or intricately linked to the veracity
of the Bible. In other words, God will not cease to exist if the Bible is
erroneous.
In fact,
God existed even before the Bible was written. It was God who inspired the
human authors to write the Bible. Bible reveals God. However, the Bible is not
the only source that reveals God (cf. Romans 1: 19-20).
The Lord
Jesus Christ, the means to salvation of mankind, existed independent of the Bible’s
veracity. For instance, history affirms Christ’s existence and resurrection.
Dr. Gary
Habermas asserts that Jesus death by crucifixion, HIS postmortem appearances to
HIS disciples, and Paul’s vision of the resurrected Christ, are the most
affirmed historical facts by both Christian and non-Christian scholars. 7
Therefore, if
the Bible is proven to be with errors, neither would God cease to exist nor
would Christ. If history affirms Christ’s resurrection, then salvation through
Christ is also a fact that remains independent of the Bible.
This is not
an exercise to undermine Bible’s authority. This is a mere exercise to affirm
the independent existence (apart from the Bible) of God, the Lord Jesus Christ
and salvation of mankind through Christ.8
Therefore,
even if the Bible is proven to contain errors, it would not and cannot
undermine God, Christ and salvation of mankind. In other words, Christianity
would not crumble if the Bible is proven to be with errors.
God is at
the core of Christianity. Christ and the salvation that HE offered to mankind
are at the core of Christianity.
But inerrancy
of the Bible need not be at the core of Christianity. If inerrancy of the Bible
is to remain at the core of Christianity, then it would presuppose that
inerrancy of the Bible is far superior in value to God, Christ and salvation.
However, since God is the source of the Bible, God ought to be at the core of
Christianity and not the inerrancy of the Bible. Inerrancy is the corollary of
God’s nature.
Unfortunately,
this is not what Bart Ehrman thought. Bart Ehrman, the James A. Gray
Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
lost his faith in Christ because he apparently discovered one minor error in
the gospels. It seemed Professor Ehrman held the doctrine of biblical inerrancy
as the core of Christianity.
When a
particular passage in the Gospel of Mark befuddled Bart Ehrman, his strong
belief in inerrancy of the Bible was shaken. He became a liberal Christian and
then ended up as an agnostic atheist after being unable to reconcile the
philosophical problems of evil and suffering.9
So should inerrancy
be an essential doctrine of Christianity? Maybe so. However, God who is the
source of the Bible ought to be at the core of Christianity and not the
inerrancy of the Bible. Disputing inerrancy would not and cannot damage God or
Christ or salvation of mankind.
The theme
of this article is intended to touch the scores of ordinary Christians. By ordinary
Christians, I refer to Christians who are not into serious Christian pedagogy
or academics.
The full blown
wrath of Christianity’s detractors, such as the New Atheists, is aimed to
rattle the faith of these ordinary Christians. At the first instance, when you
hear the relentless tirades of these detractors, your faith in Christ may
shake.
The scope
of this article is only to emphasize that the inerrancy of the Bible is not the
beginning and the end of Christianity. The scope of this article excludes a defense of inerrancy.
So, fear
not!
God is at
the core of Christianity. Christ and the salvation offered to mankind are at
the core of Christianity. The Bible reveals our triune God. The Scripture
cannot be broken. Let us continue to totally trust and study God and HIS Word.
Amen.
Endnotes:
1 http://defendinginerrancy.com/
2 http://nae.net/statement-of-faith/
3 http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2015/11/is-the-bible-inerrant-or-infallible/
4 http://defendinginerrancy.com/unlimited-vs-limited-inerrancy/
5 http://defendinginerrancy.com/why-is-inerrancy-important/
6 http://defendinginerrancy.com/roger-e-olsen-is-the-bible-inerrant-or-infallible/
7 http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/southeastern_theological_review/minimal-facts-
methodology_08-02-2012.htm
&
http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/J_Study_Historical_Jesus_3-2_2005/J_Study_Historical_Jesus_3-2_2005.htm#ch5
8 I personally subscribe to the 3-ins –
inspiration, inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible.
9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_D._Ehrman
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