Muslims believe that the angel Gabriel came to Mohammad in a dream or trance and presented him with a perfect Holy book called the Koran right out of paradise. In contrast the Bible has a long history written across many centuries by different inspired authors. Some hold that the Bible, like the Koran, is a perfect book, that is without error and speaks inerrantly on science and all reality. There follows a brief summary of my understanding of the term inerrancy as applied to Holy Scripture.

1. Inerrancy is an inappropriate term to apply to the whole Bible. Inerrancy means freedom from all error and cannot apply to the Bible where it has errors and contradictions. (Compare, for example, Matthew 27:3f. with Acts 1:15f.) The two accounts of Judas’ death are well known: in Matthew he hangs himself and in Acts he dies as a result of a fall. Also in the Matthew account the chief priests purchase a burial plot for Judas and in Acts Judas purchases the plot. These and many other discrepancies appear in The Scriptures so that the term inerrancy must not be applied. The committee that revised The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 wisely left out the word inerrant, an absolute adjective, with reference to the Bible. Left in were the statements “It (Bible) is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter.” All of these affirmations refer to faith, “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” This faith is not an abstract of theological propositions, denominational dogma or convention creeds. It is this faith that is inerrant not the Bible. It is the good news of the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, the presence of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit and his coming again at the end of the age.

2. The Bible is a book of faith not science. As Dr. E. Y. Mullins, a theological giant and sometime President of Southern Baptist Seminary, noted “The Bible was not meant to teach us how the heavens go, but how to go to heaven.” (Baptist Beliefs, p. 15) Let me add: the Bible is a book about zoe, the abundant life (John 10:10) not bios, biological life; the Bible is a book about theology, not technology; the Bible is a book about conduct, not chemistry; the Bible is a book about soteriology, not geology; and the Bible is a book about eschatology, not electrons.

3. Finally, it is not only wrong to apply the word inerrant to Scripture it is irrelevant. It is not a biblical term. Nowhere does the Bible claim inerrancy for itself; nor do the prophets, Jesus or the Apostle Paul teach it. And it is not essential to salvation. We are saved by faith alone by the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

As a matter of fact the concept of inerrancy was concocted by fundamentalists as a political tool to take over the Southern Baptist Convention. They knew that intellectually honest professors would not buy it and that they could by deception sell it to the theologically uninformed. When challenged by the theologically informed, proponents of inerrancy run behind the autograph bush (autographs are the original manuscripts which we do not possess). Jesus the Christ is the Word, the living Word, the criterion by which the Bible is interpreted. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) God is more than a book or a Bible. It is our joy to discover the Word within the words of the Bible. But most studies show that Southern Baptists have Bibles, but they do not seriously read them.

I believe the Bible to be authoritative for faith and practice not because it is inerrant, but because it has enduring power. It is the most abused book in history and has survived despite so much puny preaching, hermeneutic gymnastics and exegetical eisegesis. Any other book so treated would have been tossed on the rubbish heap of history. I believe in the Bible because of its transforming power. Augustine, Luther, Wesley and Barth read the book of Romans and it changed their lives forever. And the Bible has pointed multitudes through the ages to the living Christ who redeemed them. The Bible is a witness to Christ who saves and transforms the saved by His grace.

I believe in the Bible because of its spiritual power. It is not just great literature but great literature that is inspired (Theopneustos) by God, that is, “God-breathed.” (2 Tim. 3:16) God breathes life into Scripture as well as in humankind (Gen. 2:7). Thus God’s message comes through the written word and it will endure forever: “The grass dries up, the flowers drop off but the Word of the Lord lives on forever.” (1 Pet. 1:25, Wms) God’s word is alive and abiding because God is alive and provides us power to do His will through the dynamism of His Word.

Henlee Barnette is emeritus professor, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and ret. clinical professor University of Louisville, School of Medicine

October 2003