Introduction
Nowadays, I keep up with the NFL, MLB, and College Basketball via the ESPN app or website. However, when I was in middle or high school, I religiously watched ESPN News every morning before school. I liked ESPN News over Sports Center because it summarized the latest sports highlights in thirty minutes instead of an hour.
I always anticipated and enjoyed watching the Sports Center Top Ten. Beginning with number ten, they would show the top ten plays made by athletes the day before across the athletic world. As a baseball player, I thoroughly enjoyed the baseball plays that made the countdown. I tried to envision myself making a diving catch, hitting a home run, or causing chaos and confusion when running bases to score the winning run. While I never mounted a collegiate career on the diamond, I never got tired of watching guys make odds-defying plays that helped their team win or earn themselves all-star status as professional baseball players.
While countless kids like myself dreamed of making a play in our respective sports worthy of a Sports Center Top 10, there was another countdown assembled of plays all athletes hoped not to make. The Sports Center Not So Top 10 Countdown showcased athletes’ mistakes and blunders. No matter what sport one plays, highs and lows will mark an athlete’s career if one plays long enough. In baseball, when players miss a ball they should have caught or make a terrible throw, allowing runners to advance or remain on base, they are credited with making an error.
Because of the difficulty of baseball, we can expect, on average, at least one error to be made in half of all MLB games. These mistakes make it harder for the team who makes a terrible play to win. Historically, the team that commits fewer errors wins approximately 70–75% of the time. While errors are an expected part of baseball, there can be no contained errors within the Bible.
The Bible, in a league of its own
Just like the famous line in A League of Their Own, “There is no crying in baseball,” there are no errors in the Scriptures. In other words, the Bible is inerrant. The Bible is free from affirming anything that is untrue or contrary to fact (Psalm 12:6; Proverbs 30:5). Psalm 18:30 (ESV) says,
“This God—his way is perfect;
the word of the Lord proves true;
he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.”
Even though the Bible was written over a 1,500-year span by 40 different authors of various backgrounds, in three languages, and across three continents, it has been found truthful in all it contains. Should it surprise us when we see Scripture stand up to and pass every test given to it by skeptics and sincere theologians alike? While the Bible conquering every challenge it has faced shouldn’t surprise us because of who its author is, its perfect record should cause us to be in awe of its author.
God cannot lie or speak wrongly
It is popular but theologically incorrect to say that God can do anything. He can do anything that is perfectly aligned with Who He is and His righteous standards. Yet, God cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18); lying is morally wrong and goes against His holy nature.
Numbers 23:19 (NLT)
God is not a man, so he does not lie.
He is not human, so he does not change his mind.
Has he ever spoken and failed to act?
Has he ever promised and not carried it through?
God is the Bible’s Author
God always speaks the truth, unlike Satan (John 8:44), and with the Bible being the very Word of God, it is truth (John 17:17). The most straightforward teaching of God authoring the Bible is found in 2 Timothy 3:16.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
Paul tells Timothy that all Scripture is inspired by God. Theopneustos (inspired by God) literally means “breathed out by God” or “God-breathed.” At times, God breathed out His words to a writer of Scripture, and they wrote them down much like we might speak to type today; we speak, and our computer generates what we say (Jeremiah 1:9). However, as seen throughout the pages of the Bible God’s truth more often flowed through the minds, souls, hearts, emotions, and experiences of His chosen human instruments. In many ways (Hebrews 1:1-2), God communicated His Word in human words so that we can know Him, understand ourselves and the world we live in, and know how to live until we are with Him for all eternity (2 Timothy 3:15-17).
Since God cannot lie and the Bible is God’s words recorded for us, it is without error in what it says.
How did God use human authors to write His words?
2 Peter 1:20-21
Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, 21 or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.
God, through His Spirit, inspired every word written by the human authors of the sixty-six books of the Bible in their original documents (the autographs). The term “inspiration” describes the divine process behind the authorship of Scripture. It refers to God’s direct action on the human authors, creating perfectly written revelation. This process was a mysterious work of the Holy Spirit, who used each writer’s unique personality, language, style, and historical context to produce both human and divinely authoritative writings.
Peter tells us that no Scripture (prophecy) was its origin in human reason or imagination. Instead, those who wrote Scripture throughout the ages were “moved” or “carried along” by the Spirit. Pheromenoi (moved) is a present passive participle that means “continually carried,” or “borne along.” Luke uses this same verb twice to describe how the wind blows a sailing ship across the sea (Acts 27:15, 17). Using this imagery, Peter sees the writers of Scripture raising their metaphorical sails and allowing the Spirit to blow them (direct them) as they penned the words of God, revealing Himself to people. Knowing that the only One who can know the mind of God is the Spirit of God, the process which God used to guide man in recording His words makes sense (1 Corinthians 2:10-13).
Takeaways from both these passages include that the biblical claim of inspiration emphasizes divine superintendence—God influenced the thoughts of human authors to produce authoritative and inerrant words in the original manuscripts by His Spirit. Secondly, the Bible is God’s word, and He cannot lie. These truths tell us that the Bible must be valid in everything it says and conveys. Finally, the doctrine of inerrancy pertains only to the original writings of the Scriptures.
How did the Scriptures come to us as we have them today?
Each of the 66 books found in our Bible was first composed by the Holy Spirit through a human author. These original writings or manuscripts are called “autographs.” The autographs were completely without error as the result of the Holy Spirit’s work in making sure the human author wrote down the very words of God. Today, we do not have any surviving autographs, though we have copies of the original writings that have been produced throughout the centuries.
Unlike autographs, copies of biblical texts are prone to errors due to error-prone human involvement. It is important to note that the Bible never speaks of the Holy Spirit overseeing and guiding the work of copyists. Without any original manuscripts today, it may seem as if the doctrine of inerrancy doesn’t have a leg to stand on. How can we entirely rely on Scripture if we don’t have the autographs? How do we know that we have today what God initially gave the prophets centuries ago?
We can be confident that we have accurate reproductions of the autographs and their content because God preserved numerous copies and translations of the originals! The New Testament has more preserved manuscripts than any other ancient work of literature. Today, we have nearly 6,000 complete or fragmented Greek manuscripts cataloged, over 10,000 Latin manuscripts, and over 9,300 manuscripts in various other ancient languages.
Not only do we have numerous copies, but we also have manuscripts written not long after the actual events of the life and ministry of Jesus took place. The earliest New Testament copy we have is one of John’s gospel from around 125 A.D., which is barely one generation after the 90s A.D., the decade in which the autograph of John was written. By comparison, the earliest copy of Homer’s Odessy (an epic poem from Greek antiquity) comes from the Middle Ages (500 A.D. – 1400 / 1500 A.D.).
Because of the number of copies we possess today and the nearness of time to the original events in which the copies of the New Testament were written, we can be confident that God has, through His providence, preserved His Word of truth for us today!
Concluding Thoughts
Since the Author of the Bible cannot lie and he breathes out all Scripture, we can know without a doubt that we have in our possession the inerrant Word of God. Through this written means of God’s special revelation, we have the facts of how everything came into being, why the world and we ourselves are broken, how we can know God, how to live in this life, and are aware of what happens after this life and for all eternity.
In an ever-changing world that makes it harder to discern what is real or fake as people and organizations spread their narratives, preferences, or understanding, God’s Word remains true for every generation. It is unshakable and thus safe to build our lives upon it, to allow it to direct our lives. The Bible allows us to hear the voice of truth in a world of competing voices. I find comfort and strength in knowing that while leaders, nations, people, finances, health, security, moods, success, movements, agendas, narratives, and other things come and go, God’s Word remains firm. In it, my soul can find all it needs to live and thrive in a culture of confusion and emotion (2 Timothy 3:15- 17)!
Howard Hendricks (1924–2013) was a renowned American author, speaker, pastor, and professor. I’ll conclude our time with his thoughts concerning the truth of God you and I have in our hands and his question as our reflection.
“God wants to communicate with you in the 21st century. He wrote His message in a book. He asks you to come and study that book for three compelling reasons: it’s essential for growth. It’s essential for maturity. It’s essential for equipping you, training you, so that you might be an available, clean, sharp instrument in His hands to accomplish His purposes. So the real question confronting you now is: How can you afford not to be in God’s Word?”
Related Resources
- Related Posts
- Related Sermons
- Related Media
- Related Books for Further Reading
- Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Biblical Truth (John MacArthur & Richard Mayhue)
- Christian Beliefs, Revised Edition: Twenty Basics Every Christian Should Know (Wayne Grudem)
- 2 Peter and Jude MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Volume 30) (MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series)
- 1 & 2 Timothy MacArthur New Testament Commentary Set (MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series) Kindle Edition
- 1 & 2 Peter and Jude MacArthur New Testament Commentary Set (MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series) Kindle Edition
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