Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters where we are diving into the ocean of truth. Tonight, I am going to be returning to a look at Inerrancy. We’ve been going through the Chicago Statement seeing what was said in there in order to come to an understanding of Inerrancy and seek if there are ways improvement might be sought. Tonight, we look at the third article which reads as follows:
We affirm that the written Word in its entirety is revelation given by God.
We deny that the Bible is merely a witness to revelation, or only becomes revelation in encounter, or depends on the responses of men for its validity.
Much of this is meant to deal with Barthian doctrine. To begin with, I have no doubt that the affirmation is certainly true. Of course, to say that it is true is not to end the matter. We must look at what it means for that to be true and what the ramifications of it are.
To say that all the Bible is revelation by God means that all that is in there is meant for showing who He is and leading us to sanctification. Of course, it does not mean that everything in there is true, such as when it reports the lies of the devil, which is rather a true report of a lie, or HOW it is true. For instance, Genesis 1 is true, but does that entail true according to an old-earth view, a young-earth view, or a framework view?
Neither of these can be determined at this point, and that is just fine. All that needs to be said is that if it is taught in Scripture, we can be sure of its truth, which is also quite important to those of us who want to know the truth of salvation and the second advent of Christ.
As for the denial part, we agree with the denial. The Bible is what it is in virtue of itself. It does not become true when someone believes it to be true. Rather, someone comes to the conclusion that the Bible is true and as a result they affirm its truth. I would also say Inerrancy is arrived at the same way. If the Bible is Inerrant, it is Inerrant whether someone believes it or not, but that lies in the text and that can be discovered by men by a study of the text. If someone does not approach the text thinking it is Inerrant, a study of the text should be able to satisfy them that it is.
The Bible does not change based on how we respond to it. It is what it is and what we do cannot change that. There is no experience that we have that can change what it is. An experience can change the way that we perceive the Bible, but what will happen is that we will either move to a truer or falser view of Scripture. The Scripture itself does not change. We change in relation to it.
Thus, with article 3, we have no problem. What about article 4? Well that’s for next time.
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