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The Bible
Biblical canon and books
Tanakh: Torah · Nevi'im · Ketuvim Old Testament · Hebrew Bible · New Testament · New Covenant · Deuterocanon · Antilegomena · Chapters & verses
Apocrypha: Jewish · OT · NT
Development and authorship
Panbabylonism · Jewish Canon · Old Testament canon · New Testament canon · Mosaic authorship · Pauline epistles · Johannine works
Translations and manuscripts
Septuagint · Samaritan Pentateuch · Dead Sea scrolls · Targums · Peshitta · Vetus Latina · Vulgate · Masoretic text · Gothic Bible · Luther Bible · English Bibles
Biblical studies
Dating the Bible · Biblical criticism · Higher criticism · Textual criticism · Novum Testamentum Graece · NT textual categories · Documentary hypothesis · Synoptic problem · The Bible and history‎ · Biblical archaeology
Interpretation
Hermeneutics · Pesher · Midrash · Pardes · Allegorical · Literalism · Prophecy
Views
Inerrancy · Infallibility ·
Criticism · Islamic · Qur'anic · Gnostic · Judaism and Christianity · Law in Christianity
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Biblical inerrancy is the conservative evangelical doctrinal position[1] that in its original form, the Bible is totally without error, and free from all contradiction; "referring to the complete accuracy of Scripture, including the historical and scientific parts. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin A Biblical canon or canon of scripture is a list or Set of Biblical books considered to be authoritative as Scripture by a particular religious Books of the Bible are listed differently in the canons of Jews and Catholic, Protestant, Greek Orthodox Slavonic Orthodox Georgian Armenian Apostolic See also Old testament, Septuagint, Targum, Peshitta The Tanakh (תַּנַ"ךְ (taˈnax or; also Tenakh or Tenak is term " Torah " ( Hebrew: תּוֹרָה "teaching" or "instruction" sometimes translated as "Law" most commonly refers to Nevi'im (נְבִיאִים "Prophets" is the second of the three major sections in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, between the Ketuvim (כְּתוּבִים "writings" is the third and final section of the Tanakh ( Hebrew Bible) after Torah and Nevi'im In Western Christianity, the Old Testament refers to the books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. The term Hebrew Bible is a generic reference to those books of the Bible originally written in Biblical Hebrew (and the related Biblical Aramaic The term New Covenant (; Greek:, diathēkē kainē is used in the Bible (both in the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament) to refer " Deuterocanonical books " is a term used since the sixteenth century in the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Christianity to describe certain books and passages Antilegomena (from Greek, meaning things contradicted or disputed literally spoken against) was an Epithet used by the Church Fathers to denote those The Bible comprises 24 books for Jews, 66 for Protestants, 73 for Catholics, and 78 for most Orthodox This article on Jewish apocrypha includes a survey of books written in the Jewish religious tradition either in the late pre-Christian era or in the early Christian era but The biblical apocrypha (from the Greek word ἀπόκρυφος meaning hidden) are books published in an edition of the Bible whose canonicity New Testament apocrypha are a number of writings of the early Christian church that give accounts of the teachings of Jesus, aspects of the life of Jesus accounts The Authors of the Bible have authored or co-authored literature that has appeared in the canons of Judaism and of Christianity Panbabylonism is a school of thought within Assyriology and Religious studies that considers the Hebrew Bible and Judaism as directly derived Rabbinic Judaism recognizes the twenty-four books of the Masoretic Text, commonly called the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible. The Old Testament is the first section of the two-part Christian Biblical canon, which includes the books of the Hebrew Bible as well as several Deuterocanonical The Biblical canon is the set of books Christians regard as divinely inspired and thus constituting the Christian Bible. Mosaic authorship is the traditional ascription to Moses of the authorship of the five books of the Torah or Pentateuch - Genesis, The Pauline epistles are the thirteen books in the New Testament traditionally attributed to and explicitly ascribed to Paul of Tarsus. Scholars have debated the authorship of the Johannine works ( Gospel of John, the first, second, and third epistles of John, and the Book The Bible has been translated into many languages from the Biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek. A Biblical manuscript is any handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible. The Septuagint (ˈsɛptuədʒɪnt or simply " LXX " is the Koine Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, translated in stages between the The Samaritan Pentateuch is the text of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible, also called the Torah or Law that is used by the Samaritans The Dead Sea Scrolls consist of roughly 1000 documents including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1947 and 1979 in eleven Caves A targum ( Hebrew: תרגום plural targumim, lit "translation interpretation" is an Aramaic Translation of the Hebrew The name 'Peshitta' The name 'Peshitta' is derived from the Syriac mappaqtâ pšîṭtâ (ܡܦܩܬܐ ܦܫܝܛܬܐ literally meaning 'simple version' Vetus Latina is a collective name given to the Biblical texts in Latin that were translated before St Jerome 's Vulgate The Vulgate is an early Fifth Century version of the Bible in Latin, and largely the result of the labours of Jerome, who was commissioned by The Masoretic Text ( MT) is the Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible ( Tanakh) The Gothic Bible or Wulfila Bible is the Christian Bible as translated by Wulfila into the Gothic language spoken by the Eastern Germanic or The Luther Bible is a German Bible translation by Martin Luther, first printed with both testaments in 1534 The efforts of translating the Bible from its original languages into over 2000 others have spanned more than two millennia. Biblical studies is the academic study of the Judeo-Christian Bible and related texts The Bible is a compilation of various texts or " books " of different ages used in the Jewish and Christian religions This article is about the academic treatment of the bible as a historical document Historical criticism or higher criticism is a branch of literary analysis that investigates the origins of a text as applied in Biblical studies it naturally Textual criticism (or lower criticism) is a branch of Literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of Transcription errors in Novum Testamentum Graece is the Latin name of the Greek language version of the New Testament. New Testament manuscripts are categorized into five groups This categorization scheme was introduced in 1981 by Kurt and Barbara Aland in Der Text des Neuen Testaments The synoptic problem concerns the literary relationships between and among the first three canonical gospels (the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and The historicity of the Bible addresses in what ways the Bible is historically accurate the extent to which it can be used as a historic source and what qualifications should For the movement associated with William F Albright and known as Biblical archaeology see Biblical archaeology school. Biblical hermeneutics refers to methods of interpreting the Bible. Pesher (pl pesharim) is a Hebrew word meaning "interpretation" in the sense of "solution" Midrash ( Hebrew: מדרש plural midrashim, lit "to repeat" is a Hebrew term referring to the not exact but comparative ( homiletic The Pardes typology describes four different approaches to Biblical Exegesis in rabbinic Judaism (or - simpler - interpretation of text in Allegorical interpretation is the approach which assigns a higher-than-literal interpretation to the contents of a text (eg Bible) Biblical literalism (also called Biblicism) is a primarily pejorative term referring to the adherence to an explicit and literal sense of the Bible. Bible prophecy, or " biblical prophecy " is the belief in prophecies in the Bible. Biblical infallibility is the theological term to describe the belief that the Bible is free from errors on issues of faith and practice while minor possible contradictions in history This article is about criticisms which are made against the Bible as a source of information or ethical guidance In Islam, the Bible is held to reflect true unfolding revelation from God but revelation which had become corrupted or distorted in its handing down (in Arabic The Qur'an, the central religious text of Islam, contains references to over fifty people also found in the Bible, typically in the same or similar This article discusses the relationship between Gnosticism and the New Testament. This article discusses the traditional views of the two religions and may not be applicable all adherents of each Biblical law in Christianity generally refers to a discussion as to what and how the biblical law applies in a Christian context. For conservative political views within Christianity see Christian right. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin "[2] Inerrancy is distinguished from Biblical infallibility (or limited inerrancy), which holds that the Bible is inerrant on issues of faith and practice but not history or science. Biblical infallibility is the theological term to describe the belief that the Bible is free from errors on issues of faith and practice while minor possible contradictions in history [3]

Contents

Textual tradition of the New Testament

See also: Biblical canon and Bible translations

There are over 5,600 Greek manuscripts containing all or part of the New Testament, as well as over 10,000 Latin manuscripts, and perhaps 500 other manuscripts of various other languages. A Biblical canon or canon of scripture is a list or Set of Biblical books considered to be authoritative as Scripture by a particular religious The Bible has been translated into many languages from the Biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek. A manuscript is any Document that is Written by hand as opposed to being printed or reproduced in some other way Additionally, there are the Patristic writings which contain copious quotes, across the early centuries, of the scriptures. The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential theologians and writers in the Christian Church

Most of these manuscripts date to the Middle Ages. The oldest complete copy of the New Testament, the Codex Sinaiticus, dates to the 4th century. Codex Sinaiticus (Shelfmarks and references London Brit Libr, Additional 43725 Gregory - Aland nº א (Aleph or 01, Soden As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 4th century (per the Julian calendar and Anno Domini / Common era) was that Century The earliest fragment of a New Testament book is the Rylands Library Papyrus P52 which dates to the mid 2nd century and is the size of a business card. The Rylands Library Papyrus P52, also known as the St John's fragment, is a fragment from a Papyrus Codex, measuring only 3 The 2nd century is the period from 101 to 200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. Very early manuscripts are rare.

The average NT manuscript is about 200 pages, and in all, we have about 1. 3 million pages of text. No two manuscripts are identical, except in the smallest fragments, and the many manuscripts which preserve New Testament texts differ among themselves in many respects, with some estimates of 200,000 to 300,000 differences among the various manuscripts. [4] According to Ehrman,[5]

“ Most changes are careless errors that are easily recognized and corrected. Bart D Ehrman is an American New Testament scholar and textual critic of Early Christianity. Christian scribes often made mistakes simply because they were tired or inattentive or, sometimes, inept. Indeed, the single most common mistake in our manuscripts involves "orthography", significant for little more than showing that scribes in antiquity could spell no better than most of us can today. The orthography of a language specifies the correct way of using a specific Writing system to write the language In addition, we have numerous manuscripts in which scribes have left out entire words, verses, or even pages of a book, presumably by accident. Sometimes scribes rearranged the words on the page, for example, by leaving out a word and then reinserting it later in the sentence. ”

In the 2008 Greer-Heard debate series, noted NT scholars Bart Ehrman and Daniel B. Wallace discussed these variances in detail. Bart D Ehrman is an American New Testament scholar and textual critic of Early Christianity. Daniel Baird Wallace is a professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary where he has been tenured since 1995 Wallace mentioned that understanding the meaning of the number of variances is not as simple as looking at the number of variances, but one must consider also the number of manuscripts, the types of errors, and among the more serious discrepancies, what impact they do or do not have. [6]

Some familiar examples of Gospel passages thought to have been added by later interpolators include the Pericope Adulteræ (John 7:53 - 8:11), the Comma Johanneum (1 John 5:7–8), and the longer ending in Mark 16 (Mark 16:9-20). The Pericope Adulterae (pəˈrɪkəpi əˈdʌltəri in anglicised Latin)is a traditional name for a famous passage ( Pericope) about an adulterous woman— The Comma Johanneum is a comma (a short clause contained in most translations of the First Epistle of John published from 1522 until the latter part of the nineteenth Mark 16 is the final chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible.


For hundreds of years, biblical and textual scholars have examined the manuscripts extensively. Since the eighteenth century, they have employed the techniques of textual criticism to reconstruct how the extant manuscripts of the New Testament texts might have descended, and to recover earlier recensions of the texts. Textual criticism (or lower criticism) is a branch of Literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of Transcription errors in Recension refers to the practice of significantly altering a text after its initial form However, some inerrantists often prefer the traditional texts used in their churches to modern attempts of reconstruction, arguing that the Holy Spirit is just as active in the preservation of the scriptures as in their creation. In mainstream Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is one of the three entities of the Holy Trinity which make up the single substance These inerrantists are found particularly in non-Protestant churches, but also a few Protestant groups hold such views.

Many Bibles have footnotes to indicate areas where there is disagreement between source documents. Bible commentaries offer discussions of these.

Inerrantist response

Evangelical Christians generally accept the findings of textual criticism, and nearly all modern translations, including the popular New International Version, work from a Greek New Testament based on modern textual criticism. Evangelicalism is a theological movement tradition and system of beliefs most closely associated with Protestant Christianity, which identifies with the Gospel The New International Version is an English Translation of the Christian Bible.

Since this means that the manuscript copies are not perfect, inerrancy is only applied to the original autographs (the manuscripts written by the original authors) rather than the copies. For instance, the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy says, We affirm that inspiration, strictly speaking, applies only to the autographic text of Scripture

Less commonly, more conservative views are held by some groups:

King James Only

The King-James-Only Movement holds that the translators of the King James Version English Bible were guided by God, and that the KJV thus is to be taken as the authoritative English Bible. The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy was formulated in October of 1978 by more than 200 evangelical leaders at a conference sponsored by the International Council on Biblical However, those who hold this opinion do not extend it to the KJV translation into English of the Apocryphal books, which were produced along with the rest of the Authorized Version. The biblical apocrypha (from the Greek word ἀπόκρυφος meaning hidden) are books published in an edition of the Bible whose canonicity Modern translations differ from the KJV on numerous points, sometimes resulting from access to different early texts, largely as a result of work in the field of Textual Criticism. Textual criticism (or lower criticism) is a branch of Literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of Transcription errors in Upholders of the KJV-only position nevertheless hold that the Protestant canon of KJV is itself an inspired text and therefore remains authoritative. Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation. The King-James-Only Movement asserts that the KJV is the sole English translation free from error. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States

Textus Receptus

Similar to the King James Only view is the view that translations must be derived from the Textus Receptus in order to be considered inerrant. Textus Receptus ( Latin: "received text" is the name subsequently given to the succession of printed Greek texts of the New Testament which constituted As the King James Version is an English translation, this leaves speakers of other languages in a difficult position, hence the belief in the Textus Receptus as the inerrant source text for translations to modern languages. For example, in Spanish-speaking cultures the commonly accepted "KJV-equivalent" is the Reina-Valera 1909 revision (with different groups accepting, in addition to the 1909 or in its place, the revisions of 1862 or 1960). The Reina-Valera, first published in 1569 and nicknamed the Bible of the Bear, was published in Basel, Switzerland.

Logic for arriving at the doctrine of inerrancy

A number of reasons are offered by Christian theologians to justify Biblical inerrancy.

Norman Geisler and William Nix (1986) claim that scriptural inerrancy is established by a number of observations and processes, which include:[2]

  • the historical accuracy of the Bible
  • the Bible's claims of its own inerrancy
  • church history and tradition
  • one's individual experience with God

Daniel B. Wallace, Professor of New Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary, divides the various evidences into two approaches - deductive and inductive approaches. Norman L Geisler (born 1932 is a Christian Apologist and the co-founder of Southern Evangelical Seminary outside Charlotte North Carolina. Daniel Baird Wallace is a professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary where he has been tenured since 1995 Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS is an evangelical theological Seminary located in Dallas Texas and the North American institution for popularizing [7]

Deductive Reasoning to arrive at Inerrancy

The deductive approach starts with the presupposition that the bible is inspired, and therefore, self-authorizing. In other words, if it claims to be inerrant, based on its own authority, it is, and all other evidences are marshaled to support that pre-supposition.

The first deductive justification is that the Bible claims to be inspired by God (for instance "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV), and because God is perfect, the Bible must also be perfect, and hence free from error. The Second Epistle to Timothy is one of the three Pastoral Epistles, traditionally attributed to Saint Paul, and is part of the canonical New Testament The New International Version is an English Translation of the Christian Bible. For instance, the statement of faith of the Evangelical Theological Society says, "The Bible alone, and the Bible in its entirety, is the Word of God written and is therefore inerrant in the autographs. The Evangelical Theological Society is a professional society of Biblical scholars educators pastors and students with the stated purpose of serving Jesus and his "[8]

A second reason offered is that Jesus and the apostles used the Old Testament in a way which assumes it is inerrant. Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE) In Western Christianity, the Old Testament refers to the books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. For instance in Galatians 3:16, Paul bases his argument on the fact that the word "seed" in the Genesis reference to "Abraham and his seed", is singular rather than plural. Paul the apostle (שאול התרסי Šaʾul HaTarsi, meaning " Saul of Tarsus " Σαούλ Saul and Σαῦλος Saulos and This (it is claimed) sets a precedent for inerrant interpretation down to the individual letters of the words. [9] Similarly Jesus said that every minute detail of the Old Testament Law must be fulfilled (Matthew 5:18), indicating (it is claimed) that every detail must be correct. [10]

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Matthew 5:18, KJV

Although in these verses Jesus and the apostles are only referring to the Old Testament, the argument extends to the New Testament writings, because 2 Peter 3:16 accords the status of Scripture to New Testament writings also: "He (Paul) writes the same way in all his letters. In Western Christianity, the Old Testament refers to the books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. . . which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures" (2 Peter 3:16, NIV). The New International Version is an English Translation of the Christian Bible. [11]

Inductive Reasoning to arrive at Inerrancy

Wallace describes the inductive approach by enlisting the Presbyterian theologian B. B. Warfield:

In his Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, Warfield lays out an argument for inerrancy that has been virtually ignored by today’s evangelicals. Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield ( November 5, 1851 &ndash February 16, 1921) was the principal of Princeton Essentially, he makes a case for inerrancy on the basis of inductive evidence, rather than deductive reasoning. Most evangelicals today follow E. J. Young’s deductive approach toward bibliology, forgetting the great articulator of inerrancy. But Warfield starts with the evidence that the Bible is a historical document, rather than with the presupposition that it is inspired.

Doctrine of Preservation

One related, and some would say essential support to inerrancy is the doctrine of Biblical preservation, which simply states that we can trust the scriptures because God has sovereignly managed the transmission process. Biblical preservation is a Doctrine stating that God is actively involved in preserving creation Jerusalem and the Jewish people the saints and scripture

The doctrine maintains that inasmuch as God divinely inspired the text He also divinely preserved it throughout the centuries. [12]

Some Clarifications of the Doctrine of Inerrancy

Inerrancy as Accurate v. True

Harold Lindsell points out that it is a "gross distortion" to state that people who believe in inerrancy suppose every statement made in the Bible is true (opposed to accurate). [13] He indicates there are expressly false statements in the Bible which are reported accurately[13] (for example, Satan is a liar whose lies are accurately reported as to what he actually said). [13]

Limitations of inerrancy

Many who believe in the Inspiration of scripture teach that it is infallible but not inerrant. Biblical infallibility is the theological term to describe the belief that the Bible is free from errors on issues of faith and practice while minor possible contradictions in history Those who subscribe to infallibility believe that what the scriptures say regarding matters of faith and Christian practice are wholly useful and true. Some denominations that teach infallibility hold that the historical or scientific details, which may be irrelevant to matters of faith and Christian practice, may contain errors. Those who believe in inerrancy hold that the scientific, geographic, and historic details and of the scriptural texts in their original manuscripts are completely true and without error, though the scientific claims of scripture must be interpreted in the light of its phenomenological nature, not just with strict, clinical literality, which was foreign to historical narratives. [2]

Proponents of biblical inerrancy generally do not teach that the Bible was dictated directly by God, but that God used the "distinctive personalities and literary styles of the writers" of scripture and that God's inspiration guided them to flawlessly project his message through their own language and personality. Biblical inspiration is the doctrine in Christian theology concerned with the divine origin of the Bible and what the Bible teaches about itself [14]

Infallibility and inerrancy refer to the original texts of the Bible. And while conservative scholars acknowledge the potential for human error in transmission and translation, modern translations are considered to "faithfully represent the originals". [15]

Criticisms of biblical inerrancy

For more details on this topic, see Criticism of the Bible, Internal consistency of the Bible, Science and the Bible and The Bible and history. This article is about criticisms which are made against the Bible as a source of information or ethical guidance There has long been interest in the subject of the internal consistency of the Bible. The various books of the Hebrew and Christian Bible contain descriptions of the physical world in the Iron Age Levant which may or may not be considered The historicity of the Bible addresses in what ways the Bible is historically accurate the extent to which it can be used as a historic source and what qualifications should

Scientific and historical criticism

Biblical inerrancy has been criticized on the grounds that many statements about history or science that are found in Scripture, if taken literally, rather than phenomenologically, may be construed to be untenable or contradictory. History is the study of the past particularly the written record Those who study history as a Profession are called Historians Etymology Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning " Knowledge " or "knowing" is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding Inerrancy is argued to be a falsifiable proposition: if the Bible is found to contain any mistakes or contradictions, the proposition of strict inerrancy has been refuted. In Classical logic, modus tollens (or modus tollendo tollens) ( Latin for "the way that denies by denying" has the following Argument form There has long been interest in the subject of the internal consistency of the Bible. Many inerrantists have offered explanations of why these are not errors.

Theological criticisms

Theological criticisms refers to criticisms which are that the Bible does not teach, or require, its own inerrancy.

Proponents of biblical inerrancy often prefer the translations of 2 Timothy 3:16 that render it as "all scripture is given by inspiration of God,", and they interpret this to mean that the whole Bible is inerrant. However, critics of this doctrine think that the Bible makes no direct claim to be inerrant or infallible. C H Dodd argues the same sentence can also be translated "Every inspired scripture is also useful. This page is not about Clement H Dodd of SOAS, author on Turkey and the Middle East nor is it about Hugh Tootell who wrote an eighteenth-century . . " nor does the verse define the Biblical canon. A Biblical canon or canon of scripture is a list or Set of Biblical books considered to be authoritative as Scripture by a particular religious [16] In context, this passage refers only to the Old Testament writings understood to be scripture at the time it was written[17]. However there are indications that Paul's writings were being considered, at least by the author of the Second Epistle of Peter (2 Peter 3:16), as comparable to the Old Testament[18]. The Second Epistle of Peter is a book of the New Testament of the Bible, traditionally ascribed to Saint Peter, but in modern times widely regarded as

The idea that the Bible contains no mistakes is mainly justified by appeal to prooftexts that refer to its divine inspiration. Prooftexting is the practice of using decontextualised quotations from a document (often but not always a book of the Bible) to establish a proposition Rhetorically However, this argument has been criticized as circular reasoning, because these statements only have to be accepted as true if the Bible is already thought to be inerrant. In Logic, begging the question has traditionally described a type of Logical fallacy (also called petitio principii) in which the proposition None of these texts say that because a text is inspired, it is therefore always correct in its historical or moral statements.

According to Bishop John Shelby Spong, the doctrine of biblical inerrancy has been a historical substitute for papal infallibility. John Shelby Spong (born 16 June 1931 Papal infallibility is the Dogma in Catholic theology that by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of "When Martin Luther countered the authority of the infallible pope, he did so in the name of his new authority, the infallible Scriptures. Martin Luther (November 10 1483 February 18 1546 was a German Monk, theologian, university professor Father of Protestantism, and church reformer This point of view was generally embraced by all of the Reformation churches. The Bible thus became the paper pope of Protestantism. "[1]

Meaning of "Word of God"

Much debate over the kind of authority that should be accorded biblical texts centers on what is meant by the "Word of God". The term can refer to Christ Himself as well as to the proclamation of his ministry as kerygma. In Christology, the conception that the Christ is the Logos ( λóγος, the Greek for "word" "wisdom" or Kerygma ( Greek: κήρυγμα kérugma, pronounced "kay-roog-ma" is the Greek word used in the New Testament for preaching (see Luke However, biblical inerrancy differs from this orthodoxy in viewing the Word of God to mean the entire text of the Bible when interpreted didactically as God's teaching. [19] The idea of the Bible itself as Word of God, as being itself God's revelation, is criticized in neo-orthodoxy. Neo-Orthodoxy can also refer to a form of Orthodox Judaism following the philosophy of " Torah im Derech Eretz " and can additionally refer to the Here the Bible is seen as a unique witness to the people and deeds that do make up the Word of God. However, it is a wholly human witness. [20] All books of the Bible were written by human persons. Thus, whether the Bible is - in whole or in part[21] - the Word of God is not clear. However, critics argue that the Bible can still be construed as the "Word of God" in the sense that these authors' statements may have been representative of, and perhaps even directly influenced by, God's own knowledge. God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity.

There is only one instance in the Bible where the phrase "The Word Of God" refers to something "written". The reference is to the "Decalogue" which many Christian denominations consider "passed away". However, most of the other references are to reported speech which is preserved in the Bible. The New Testament also contains a number of statements which refer to passages from the Old Testament as God's words, for instance Romans 3:2 (which says that the Jews have been "entrusted with the very words of God"), or the book of Hebrews, which often prefaces Old Testament quotations with words such as "God says". The Epistle to the Hebrews (abbr Heb for Citations is one of the books in the New Testament. The Bible also contains words spoken by human beings to God, such as Eliphaz(Job 42:7) and the prayers and songs of the Psalter. Eliphaz was one of Job 's friends probably a descendant of Eliphaz, son of Esau (Job 41 That these are God's words addressed to us was at the root of a lively mediaeval controversy. [22] The idea of the word of God is more that God is encountered in scripture, than that every line of scripture is a statement made by God. [23]

The phrase "The Word Of God" is never applied to our modern Bible, within the Bible itself. Supporters of inerrancy argue that that is simply because the Bible canon was not closed.

Practical objections

Practical objections refers to arguments which do not seek to disprove inerrancy per se, but which attempt to demonstrate that the Bible is irrelevant or meaningless.

Translation

One point that has been argued is that, even if the text were guaranteed inerrant in its original language, this no longer holds true after translation, because there is no such thing as a perfect translation. The original texts were primarily written in Hebrew and Greek with translations in several ancient languages - Hebrew, Koine Greek, Coptic and Syriac - which few are now familiar with. Koine Greek (Κοινὴ Ἑλληνική, "common Greek" or, ciˈni ðiˈale̞kto̞s "the common dialect" is the popular form of Greek which emerged in Coptic or Coptic Egyptian ( MetRemenkīmi) is the final stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt See Syriac (disambiguation for other uses Syriac (syr ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language Translators from one language to another are often faced with several ways in which a phrase may be translated, particularly in the case of poetic passages, and the language into which the Bible is being translated is constantly evolving and changing. Mistaken translations of the Bible are occasionally proposed or discovered. For instance, scholars write[24] that an early messianic prophecy (Isaiah 7:14) did not require that the Messiah's mother be a virgin, only young. It has been proposed that the Gospels' description of the Virgin Mary (Matthew 1:23) were manufactured to fit with a prophecy they themselves read in a mistranslated version. This article is about the canonical books of the New Testament

Some biblical passages are conventionally treated as verse, and others as different kinds of prose: this has not always been the case. Some of the prose contains many linguistic forms that indicate poetry. The two forms have a certain mutual overlap. Inerrancy as a doctrine itself provides no clear hermeneutic for discovering how the literal communications found in prose can be distinguished from the symbolic and metaphorical elements of poetry.

Major religious views on the Bible

Roman Catholics

The Roman Catholic Christian view of inerrancy has traditionally maintained the Bible is "sacred and canonical, not as having been composed by merely human labour" and that it contains "revelation without error" because it was divinely inspired. [25] [26] Pope Leo XIII declared the "ancient and traditional belief of the Church" was "absolute immunity of Scripture from error" because "God, the Supreme Truth, necessarily cannot be the Author of error". Pope Leo XIII ( March 2, 1810 – July 20, 1903) born Count Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, was the 256th Pope [27][28]

Eastern Orthodox Christians

The Eastern Orthodox Church also believes in unwritten tradition and the written scriptures, but it has rarely sought to clarify the relationship between them. The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian Communion in the world Contemporary Eastern Orthodox theologians debate whether these are separate deposits of knowledge or different ways of understanding a single dogmatic reality. Father Georges Florovsky, for example, asserted that tradition is no more than "Scripture rightly understood". Georges Vasilievich Florovsky ( Russian Георгий Васильевич Флоровский) ( August 23, 1893 Because the Eastern Orthodox Church emphasizes the authority of councils, which belong to all the bishops, it stresses the canonical uses more than inspiration of scripture. Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, most Eastern Orthodox theologians also recognize that a final seal of authenticity or ecumenicity is that the body of the church receives the councils. Since the acceptance of the Septuagint and New Testament by leading regional bishops of the second century was based on those texts' faithfulness to the same apostolic teaching to which the church traditions are also faithful. The Eastern Orthodox Church emphasizes that the scriptures can only be understood according to a normative rule of faith (the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, in short) and way of life that has continued from Christ and the Apostles to this day, and beyond. The Nicene Creed (ˈnaɪsiːn is an ecumenical Christian statement of faith accepted in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Assyrian Church of

Protestant views

The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy

In 1978 a large gathering of American Protestant churches, including representatives of the Conservative, Reformed and Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Baptist denominations, adopted the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. Year 1978 ( MCMLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar) Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation. The Reformed Church in America (RCA is a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination that was formerly a part of the Dutch Reformed Presbyterianism is a family of Christian denominations within the Reformed branch of Protestant Western Christianity Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the sixteenth-century German reformer Martin Luther Baptist is a term describing individuals belonging to a Baptist church or a Baptist denomination. The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy was formulated in October of 1978 by more than 200 evangelical leaders at a conference sponsored by the International Council on Biblical The Chicago Statement does not imply that any particular traditional translation of the Bible is without error. Instead, it gives primacy to seeking the intention of the author of each original text, and commits itself to receiving the statement as fact depending on whether it can be determined or assumed that the author meant to communicate a statement of fact. Acknowledging that there are many kinds of literature in the Bible besides statements of fact, the Statement nevertheless reasserts the authenticity of the Bible in toto as the word of God. Advocates of the Chicago Statement are worried that accepting one error in the Bible leads one down a slippery slope that ends in rejecting that the Bible has any value greater than some other book. "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; and such lapses bring serious loss to both the individual and the church. "

Evangelicals

Evangelical churches, unlike Eastern and Roman churches, reject that there is an infallible authoritative tradition that is held over, or on a par with, scripture. Evangelicalism is a theological movement tradition and system of beliefs most closely associated with Protestant Christianity, which identifies with the Gospel Some Evangelicals hold that the Bible confirms its own authority, pointing out that Jesus frequently quotes scripture as his final "court of appeal". Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE) [29] The reasoning is that if the Bible is assumed to be inerrant and the only form of God's word, then that implies that the Bible is fully reliable. Tradition on the other hand is seen to be subject to human memory, and may have many versions of the same events/truths, some of which may be contradictory.

Evangelical churches which hold to Biblical inerrancy will often make a prominent, unambiguous statement supporting this in a list of their beliefs, such as the Reformed Episcopal Church. [30]

Wesleyan and Methodist view of scripture

The Wesleyan and Methodist Christian tradition affirms that the Bible is authoritative on matters concerning faith and practice. John Wesley (ˈwɛslɪ ( – March 2, 1791) was an Anglican cleric and Christian theologian who was the founder of the (Evangelical Methodism is a movement within Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations The United Methodist Church does not use the word "inerrant" to describe the Bible, but it does believe that the Bible is God's Word, and as such, is the primary authority for faith and practice. The United Methodist Church is the largest Methodist denomination and the second largest Protestant denomination in the United States.

What is of central importance for the Wesleyan Christian tradition is the Bible as a tool which God uses to promote salvation. According to this tradition, the Bible does not itself effect salvation; God initiates salvation and proper creaturely responses consummate salvation. One may be in danger of bibliolatry if one claims that the Bible secures salvation. Bibliolatry is the worship of the Bible or any other text The word is a Portmanteau of the Greek words "biblion" (book and "latria"

With this focus on salvation, Wesleyans need not make claims about inerrancy in the original autographs, subsequent translations, or particular interpretations. And yet Wesleyans affirm the Bible to be principally authoritative for faith and practice, and the Bible is often a principal means for God to promote salvation in the world.

Lutheran views

While the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada does not appear to have an official statement regarding biblical inerrancy, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the Lutheran Church - Canada, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod and many other smaller Lutheran bodies, as well as the larger Lutheran Church of Australia[31] and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America[32] hold to Scriptural inerrancy. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC (Eglise Evangelique Lutherienne au Canada is Canada 's largest Lutheran denomination with 182077 baptized members The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS founded in 1847 in Missouri, is the eighth largest Protestant denomination in the United States and the second-largest The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS is a North American religious denomination with practice rooted in the Lutheran tradition of Christianity Lutheran Church–Canada ( LCC) was founded in 1988 when most of the Canadian congregations of St The Evangelical Lutheran Synod or ELS is a US -based Protestant Christian denomination based in Mankato, Minnesota The Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA is the major Lutheran denomination in Australia, it also has a presence in New Zealand. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ( ELCA) is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago Illinois. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod strongly states it rejects errancy doctrine as "horrible and blasphemous, since it flatly contradicts Christ and His holy apostles, set up men as judges over the Word of God, and thus overthrows the foundation of the Christian Church and its faith". The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS founded in 1847 in Missouri, is the eighth largest Protestant denomination in the United States and the second-largest [33]

Latter-day Saint views

The 8th Article of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints states that "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the fourth largest Christian denomination in the United States and the largest and most well-known . . " [34] Mormon doctrines are that no book of scripture is perfect. [35]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Doctrinal Statement - Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS)
  2. ^ a b c Geisler & Nix (1986). Biblical hermeneutics refers to methods of interpreting the Bible. Biblical literalism (also called Biblicism) is a primarily pejorative term referring to the adherence to an explicit and literal sense of the Bible. Biblical preservation is a Doctrine stating that God is actively involved in preserving creation Jerusalem and the Jewish people the saints and scripture Bibliolatry is the worship of the Bible or any other text The word is a Portmanteau of the Greek words "biblion" (book and "latria" The doctrine of Scripture plays a vital role in the writings of John Calvin. The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy was formulated in October of 1978 by more than 200 evangelical leaders at a conference sponsored by the International Council on Biblical Historical criticism or higher criticism is a branch of literary analysis that investigates the origins of a text as applied in Biblical studies it naturally There has long been interest in the subject of the internal consistency of the Bible. Religious skepticism is a type of Skepticism relating to Religion, but should not be confused with Atheism. Textual criticism (or lower criticism) is a branch of Literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of Transcription errors in The Reverend Professor (John Stephen Keith Ward (born 22 August 1938) is a British cleric philosopher theologian and scholar An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture is a dissertation by the English mathematician and scholar Isaac Newton. A General Introduction to the Bible. Moody Press, Chicago. ISBN ISBN 0-8024-2916-5.  
  3. ^ Coleman (1975). "Biblical Inerrancy: Are We Going Anywhere?". Theology Today Volume 31, No. 4.  
  4. ^ See Ehrman, Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew, p. 219
  5. ^ See Ehrman, Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew, p. 220
  6. ^ The Textual Reliability of the New Testament mp3 of debate
  7. ^ My Take on Inerrancy, bible.org website
  8. ^ About the ETS, Evangelical Theological Society web site
  9. ^ "Bible, Inerrancy and Infallibility of", by P. The Evangelical Theological Society is a professional society of Biblical scholars educators pastors and students with the stated purpose of serving Jesus and his D. Feinberg, in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Baker, 1984, Ed. W. Elwell)
  10. ^ "Bible, Inerrancy and Infallibility of", by P. D. Feinberg, in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Baker, 1984, Ed. W. Elwell)
  11. ^ Bible, Inspiration of, by Nigel M. de S. Cameron, in "Baker's Evanglical Dictionary of Biblical Theology", Edited by Walter A. Elwell, Baker, 1996
  12. ^ Inerrancy and its Implications for Authority: Textual Critical Considerations in Formulating an Evangelical Doctrine of Scripture Quodlibet Journal: Volume 4 Number 4, November 2002
  13. ^ a b c Lindsell, Harold. "The Battle for the Bible", Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA (1976), pg. 38.
  14. ^ Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, Article VIII
  15. ^ Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, Article X
  16. ^ C H Dodd, 'The Authority of the Bible' page 25, London, 1960.
  17. ^ New Jerusalem Bible, study edition, page 1967, DLT 1994
  18. ^ New Jerusalem Bible, page 2010, footnote (i) DLT 1985
  19. ^ James Barr, 'Fundamentalism' p. 72ff, SCM 1977.
  20. ^ James Barr, 'Fundamentalism' pp. 218-219 SCM 1977
  21. ^ Exodus claims of the Ethical Decalogue and Ritual Decalogue that these are God's word. Exodus ( Greek: έξοδος eksodos = "departure" is the second book of the Jewish Torah and of the Christian Old Testament. The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, are a list of religious and moral imperatives that according to Judeo-Christian tradition were authored by God and given The Ritual Decalogue is a list of ten commandments identified in Biblical criticism as a possible candidate for the "Ten Commandments" mentioned by the Bible
  22. ^ Uriel Simon, "Four Appraoches to the Book of Psalms" chap. 1
  23. ^ Alexander Ryrie "Deliver Us From Evil" DLT 2004
  24. ^ New Jerusalem Bible, note g, page 1201.
  25. ^ "These books are held by the Church as sacred and canonical, not as having been composed by merely human labour and afterwards approved by her authority, nor merely because they contain revelation without error, but because, written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, they have God for their author, and have been transmitted to the Church as such. " (Concil. Vatic. , Sess. III, const. dogm, de Fide, cap. ii, in Denz. , 1787) from Catholic Encyclopaedia, Inspiration of the Bible, IIA(2)
  26. ^ "The Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum), states, "Therefore, since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully, and without error that truth which God wanted put into the sacred writings for the sake of our salvation" (no. 11). " from New Advent, Catholic Library: Quick Questions (1991)
  27. ^ "Leo XIII, declared to be the ancient and traditional belief of the Church touching the absolute immunity of Scripture from error: 'So far is it from being the case that error can be compatible with inspiration, that, on the contrary, it not only of its very nature precludes the presence of error, but as necessarily excludes it and forbids it as God, the Supreme Truth, necessarily cannot be the Author of error. Pope Leo XIII ( March 2, 1810 – July 20, 1903) born Count Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, was the 256th Pope '" SPIRITUS PARACLITUS ENCYCLICAL OF POPE BENEDICT XV ON ST. JEROME TO ALL THE PATRIARCHS, PRIMATES, ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS, AND ORDINARIES IN UNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE. (According to Wikipedia's Pope Leo XIII article, this statement originated in 1893 encyclical Providentissimus Deus). Pope Leo XIII ( March 2, 1810 – July 20, 1903) born Count Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, was the 256th Pope
  28. ^ "Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures. " Cathechism of the Catholic Church Part 1, Section 1, Chapter 2, Article 3, II (107)
  29. ^ See for example Matthew 4:4,6 & 10; 21:13; Mark 9:12
  30. ^ the Reformed Episcopal Church, "For nearly 135 years, the Reformed Episcopal Church has remained faithful to the inerrant Word of God, powerfully proclaiming the unchanging Gospel of Jesus Christ and worshipping Him in Spirit and in Truth using the biblical and time-honored Book of Common Prayer. "
  31. ^ "With the whole true Church of God we confess the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God" DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS AND THEOLOGICAL OPINIONS OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA
  32. ^ ELCA Confession of Faith
  33. ^ "We reject the doctrine which under the name of science has gained wide popularity in the Church of our day that Holy Scripture is not in all its parts the Word of God, but in part the Word of God and in part the word of man and hence does, or at least, might contain error. We reject this erroneous doctrine as horrible and blasphemous, since it flatly contradicts Christ and His holy apostles, set up men as judges over the Word of God, and thus overthrows the foundation of the Christian Church and its faith. " LCMS Belief & Practice, Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures (Missouri Synod)
  34. ^ The Articles Of Faith Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints: History of the Church, Vol. 4, pp. 535—541
  35. ^ "Latter-day Saints revere the Bible. They study it and believe it to be the word of God. However, they do not believe the Bible, as it is currently available, is without error. " Gospel Library: Gospel Topics, "Bible, Inerrancy of"

References

External links

Classification

Supportive links

Critical links

Nicholas Thomas "Tom" Wright (born 1 December 1948) is the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and a leading New Testament John Farrell Till, (born on April 26 1933) and known commonly as Farrell Till was the editor of the formerly published Skeptical Review and is a prominent
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