Theology

Writing Style Used: APA

Course and Section Number: Theo 201

Many people have frequently questioned the Bible’s authority and inerrancy, just like the jogger in the scenario. Authority, inspiration, and inerrancy are going to be individually analyzed and used to express why The Bible should not be questioned.

When stating that The Bible has authority one is saying that The Bible has power (Elwell, 153). The Bible gains its authority from its own claims, which clearly states that God is the ultimate authority and that The Bible is His written word. The Bible gains power because it is God’s written word, without God The Bible no longer holds any power. God did not physically write The Bible, so how can we know that The Bible truly is God’s word? The reason why we know that The Bible is truly God’s word is because of inspiration. God may not have physically sat down and wrote The Bible Himself, however He did inspire all of the authors to write exactly what they wrote. In 2 Timothy 3:16 it says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (ESV). According to Elwell, “breathed” is another term for inspiration. The Bible clearly states that all scripture, meaning The Bible, was breathed/inspired by God Himself.

Since God did not physically write The Bible Himself and He inspired others to do it for Him the question of inerrancy is frequently brought up. Inerrancy simply means error free. In 2 Peter 1:21 it says, “For no prophecy was every produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (ESV). This verse supports the fact that The Bible is inerrant. The Bible does not contain the will of men or anything that the authors may have preferred to write. God inspired each of the authors with the Holy Spirit, which ensured that The Bible would be completely inerrant.

There are four primary arguments for inerrancy. The first argument is the Biblical Argument, which consists of what Scripture says about how it is inerrant (Elwell, 157). For example, 2 Timothy 3:16 promises that The Bible is error free. The reason this argument is rejected is because The Bible does not state that all Scripture is inerrant (Elwell, 159). The second argument is the Historical Argument, which states that The Bible is believed to be inerrant because that is what the church has believed throughout history (Elwell, 158). The reason this argument is rejected is because that Church believed fully in The Bibles authority but did not believe it to be completely inerrant (Elwell, 158-159). The third argument is the Epistemological argument, which states that epistemologies that do not need such high certifications for inerrancy believe that if The Bible is not inerrant then some of the claims could possibly be false but that does not mean the entire Bible is false (Elwell, 158). The problem with this argument is there is some inaccuracy then the entire Bible is called into question; there isn’t any way to determine what is true and what is false (Elwell, 158). The last argument for inerrancy is the Slippery Slope Argument, which says, that if people give up on inerrancy then it will call them to question other Christian doctrines (Elwell, 158). The problem with this argument is over-belief, just because The Bible may contain one error does not mean that every Christian doctrine should be called into question (Elwell, 158).

After careful consideration I believe that the weakest arguments for inerrancy would be the Slippery Slope argument and the epistemology argument. The two strongest arguments would be the Biblical Argument and the Historical Argument. The argument I would choose to use would be the Historical Argument. The reason why I would choose the Historical argument is because history itself is believed to be true and has been past down from generation to generation and is assumed to be accurate. History is not questioned and it is possible that documents from history could have been tampered in some way or completely falsified. If history is believed to be completely accurate then The Bible should be given the same allowance. The relationship between inspiration and inerrancy is that God inspired each of the authors to ensure that The Bible would be inerrant

My implications of The Bible are that The Bible has authority and is completely inerrant. When it comes to living my life, I believe that I should fully submit to The Bible and do as God instructs me.

References
Walter A., E. (2001). Evangelical dictionary of theology. (2nd ed.). Missouri: Baker Book House Company.