Inerrancy of the Bible Essay Example for Free

Inerrancy of the Bible Essay The inerrancy of the word of God has a specific definition. This definition denotes that once all fact to which the Bible refers become known, it will be proved that the correct interpretation of the Bible is completely accurate. This inerrancy of the Bible carries through to all subsequent translations of the text, as long as they remain true to the original Greek and Hebrew texts. The Bible’s first claim to being an infallible text lies in the fact that it is the inspired word of God breathed from the Father directly into the minds of the books physical scribes. The Bible itself records this fact in 2 Timothy 3:16, and the fact that the scriptures are described as the breath of God demonstrates that they contain the level of integrity that God himself carries. This places them in the category of inerrant, as God is. Further evidence of the infallibility of the Scriptures can be found in the mosaic book of Deuteronomy, where the Israelites are shown how to distinguish the authentic word of God from fallible human texts. One of these distinguishing characteristics is the complete truthfulness of the Holy Scriptures. The words of Jesus himself also demonstrate the inerrancy of the scriptures. In the texts of Matthew 5: 17-20 one finds Christ declaring that even his coming does nothing to abolish the Scriptures. In fact, he swears that no part of the Scriptures shall ever be found to be unsound or untrustworthy. Within that same passage he says, â€Å"Until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. † The text has indeed survived for many millennia, been translated into many languages, and has seen preservation through thousands of independently found copies that have supported the commonly read texts. Also, the fairly recent discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls also serves to support the inerrancy of the text (Sailhamer, 2003). Furthermore, Christ also speaks of the punishment that will be meted out to those who break the law—as though demonstrating that the Scriptures are so inerrant and sovereign that they cannot endure anything that would contradict it. The Bible also equates the Son of God (indeed, God himself) with the Word, declaring that â€Å"the Word was God† (St. John 1:1). Since God is omniscient and omnipotent, if the Scriptures are equivalent to Him, then it follows that they too must be without flaw. Further on in the New Testament, Romans 15:4 tells us that â€Å"everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. † The endurance of the Scriptures also refers to the fact that all the ideas presented within the word of God will last forever, regardless of what else fails on earth. The verse also says that the give hope, and this hope comes from the fact that people can always count on whatever is said in the Bible, as it is infallible. Other marks of the inerrancy of texts include the fulfilment of the prophecies that such texts contain, and the Bible itself contains many fulfilled prophecies that testify to this inerrancy. In the ninth chapter of Daniel, this prophet shares that it was through the Scriptures that he came to understand the length of the period in which Jerusalem would suffer desolation. This desolation was shown to actually have actually taken place in the year 587 B. C. during the time of the Babylonian captivity, and the span of this captivity was seventy years. Therefore, the Scripture again proves itself inerrant in this case. Within the New Testament one finds many occasions in which the Scriptures make certain it is known that prophecies were being fulfilled. In Luke 4, when Jesus went before the Jews in the synagogue, he reads from the book of Isaiah and then declares that the ancient Scripture was now fulfilled in the presence of the people. Other areas that support the Bible’s inerrancy come from the fact that the Bible is a historical text that agrees with other sources of the history of the Middle East during that historical period. The behavior and activities of such tribes/nations as the Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks and many others have been recorded in other texts that corroborate the histories put forth in the Bible. Even the history of the Israelites as well as the accuracy of the layout of the Biblical lands has been proven in many archaeological digs and scientific research (Sailhamer, 2003). These things also support the inerrancy of the Bible. Reference The NIV Study Bible. (1985). Grand Rapids: Zondervan. Sailhamer, J. H. (2005). â€Å"Israel’s Messiah in the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls. † Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. December.