Foundations (Part 2)

In my last post, which I wrote a long time ago, I discussed the importance of a solid foundation for one’s belief system and the Bible as that foundation for Christians.  I just want to dwell on the Bible for one more post because it is so important.

I wrote last time that the Bible claims to be God’s words and I gave some arguments from outside the Bible for that claim.  However, I didn't go quite far enough explaining what this means.  

The big theological term for my stance on the Bible is “Verbal Plenary Inspiration.” Hang with me. This term defines the belief that God inspired, lead, men to write God’s words and that all the words in the Bible are inspired words from God.  This leads to two other huge points.  First, the Bible is inerrant, everything that the Bible claims to teach historically or theologically is accurate.  Second, the Bible should be interpreted literally, allowing for figures of speech and other such language tools.

Before I lay out the arguments for these claims, let’s talk about construction again for a minute to understand why full inspiration of the Bible is important. Walking on a truss roof is scary, but walking on a rotten floor can be even more scary.  The problem with a rotten floor is that you never know if what you are stepping on is going to hold you.  If you are not extremely careful, you won't find the rotten spots until you are laying on your back in the basement.  It is an incredibly dangerous foundation to walk on. To make it safe you have to rip out the rot and scab in new pieces.

If we say that only parts of the Bible are God’s words and without error, then our fondation becomes like the rotten floor.  What parts are rotten and what parts are solid?  If parts are rotten, then I need to scab in my own ideas to fill those holes.  We replace the objective standard of God with a system we build ourselves.

However, if we hold that all of the Bible is God’s words than we are walking on a solid floor.  We can trust that we won't step on a weak point and fall through.  It allows us to not spend all our time examining the integrity of the floor, not that its wrong to critically examine the Bible at times, but instead use the floor to stand and build on.  If the Bible is the perfect Word of God, our foundation is solid.

I understand that this a controversial topic today, even in the church, and that genuine Christians disagree with me on the points I've made above.  However, it is not just that this stance makes Biblical theology easier, I believe it is what the Bible claims about itself.

Charles Ryrie argues for the complete inerrancy of the Bible with this logic,

“God is true (Rom. 3:4); the Scriptures were breathed out by God (2 Tim. 3:16); therefore, the Scriptures are true (since they came from the breath of God who is true).”

It is important to note that in 2 Timothy 3:16 Paul is referring to all Scripture, the Bible, fitting the inspired criteria.  Also, 2 Peter 1:21 states, that no prophecy comes from man’s interpretation, it is all the Word of God.  So, if we believe that the Bible is all the Word of God, then it is necessary to believe it is all truth because God cannot lie.  I realize that this is somewhat of a circular argument, the Bible arguing for the Bible, but my point is that we must either accept both points and the conclusion or reject all of it. 

I'll end with one final argument for inerrancy, Jesus’ view of Scripture.  Of course, when Jesus spoke of Scripture he was referring to the Old Testament, because that’s all that existed while he was on the earth, however, New Testament authors validate each other as being on par with the Old Testament. (1 Timothy 5:18, 2 Peter 3:15-16) Thus, I think we are safe to expand Jesus’ thoughts to the whole Bible.  

Anyway, in Matthew 5:18, Jesus states that “until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”  Jesus is asserting that Scripture is a solid foundation that will stand throughout time.  More important for our discussion is that he doesn't just refer to the general themes of the Bible or general principles but highlights the importance of the most minor of details, the iota and dot.  Jesus is literally referring to the smallest Hebrew letter and a tiny punctuation mark.  Scripture will stand and be fulfilled to the smallest detail.

Elsewhere in the gospels Jesus uses Scriptures to make arguments.  In Matthew 22:32, Jesus makes a point based on the Biblical principle of resurrection.  He is also very careful of his use of verb tense.  A small detail but hugely important in his argument.  In Matthew 22:41-46 and John 10:34, Jesus uses small details from Old Testament passages to make arguments.  Clearly, Jesus cared about the little details of the Bible and that all those little details were true and without error.

If the Bible is not all the word of God and not all without error, then how could Jesus or any of us create beliefs based on the details of the Bible.  There would be no surety that any detail is accurate.  We are left with just the broad principles of the Bible and even those can be slowly eroded away with doubt.  I believe that the Bible is inerrant because that is what it claims to be and that is what Jesus believed it to be.  This then makes it a solid foundation to build a belief system on, live on, and find hope for the future on.