Doctrine of Inerrancy
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, September 3, 2025 (Donate)
The doctrine of inerrancy, holds that the 66 books of Scriptures,
in their original manuscripts, are without error in all that they
affirm. This belief is rooted in the Bible’s own claims about its nature,
origin, and authority.
Inerrancy And Its Significance
Inerrancy is the conviction that the Bible, in its original
manuscripts, is completely without error in all that it affirms. This
doctrine flows directly from the nature of God Himself. Because God is truth
(John 17:17; Titus 1:2), His Word cannot contain falsehood or mistake. Thus,
Scripture is fully trustworthy in everything it teaches—whether matters of
salvation, history, science, or morality.
Inerrancy is not limited to “spiritual truths” but extends
to all areas where the Bible makes statements. If the Bible were only accurate
in matters of faith and morals, but unreliable in its historical or scientific
claims, then the foundation of the gospel itself would be undermined. For
example, Jesus’ death and resurrection are rooted in historical events, and the
doctrine of salvation depends on the literal truth of Adam and Eve, the Fall,
and the reality of sin.
The significance of inerrancy is directly tied to biblical
authority. If errors are admitted in Scripture, then autonomous human reason
must become the judge of which parts are reliable. This elevates man’s opinions
and thoughts to supersede God and His Word and this, opens the door to
compromise. Rejecting the Bible’s plain teaching on Genesis—such as a six-day
creation and a global Flood—leads many to question other core doctrines,
because the same Scriptures that teach creation also affirm salvation through
Christ.
The Word of the Holy Spirit is inerrant and this provides Christians
with assurance. Because Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), Christians
can rely on its promises without fear of deception. This certainty guards
against theological drift and preserves the unity of the church around God’s
revealed truth.
Inerrancy is vital because it protects the authority,
reliability, and sufficiency of Scripture. To compromise on inerrancy is to
undermine the foundation of the Christian faith itself.
Biblical Basis
The biblical basis for this doctrine can be ascertained by:
Divine Inspiration
The foundation of inerrancy is the belief that Scripture is God-breathed by a perfect God who doesn’t make errors. Thus, His Word is without errors when He originally transmits it to us.
·
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16 NKJV)
·
“...no prophecy of Scripture is of any private
interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God
spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20–21 NKJV)
These verses show that Scripture
originates from God, not from human ideas or initiative. Though it is not a
problem for an all-powerful God to use man to write His revealed word. It is
actually all-to-easy for God to communicate through His prophets and apostles.
God’s Nature Guarantees
Truth
Because God is perfectly truthful
and cannot lie, His Word must be without error:
·
“God is not a man, that He should lie...”
(Numbers 23:19 NKJV)
·
“...in hope of eternal life which God, who
cannot lie, promised before time began.” (Titus 1:2 NKJV)
·
“…that by two immutable things, in which it is
impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for
refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.” (Hebrews 6:18 NKJV)
Since God is the ultimate source
of Scripture, and He cannot lie, the Scriptures must be entirely true. This
doesn’t mean that some people might mess up copying it (i.e., copyist mistakes)
there are enough copies to know what was laid down in the original. God
promised to preserve His Word (called “Preservation”) and has done so through
the variety of copies that exist (called “textual criticism”).
Jesus Affirmed Scripture’s
Truth
Jesus consistently treated the
Scriptures as authoritative and accurate so Old Testament Scriptures were
accurate in Christ’s day:
·
“For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and
earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till
all is fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:18 NKJV)
·
“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is
truth.” (John 17:17 NKJV)
He affirmed even the smallest
details of the Old Testament as enduring and reliable. This was expected:
·
“As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the
LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.” (2 Samuel 22:31 NKJV)
The Apostles Trusted the
Scriptures
New Testament writers affirmed and
relied upon the truthfulness of the Scriptures:
·
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your
remembrance all things that I said to you.” (John 14:26 NKJV)
·
“For whatever things were written before were
written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the
Scriptures might have hope.” (Romans 15:4 NKJV)
·
“...you welcomed it not as the word of men, but
as it is in truth, the word of God...” (1 Thessalonians 2:13 NKJV)
Chicago Statement Of Biblical
Inerrancy
The Chicago Statement on Biblical
Inerrancy, published in 1978, is a defining document that defends the doctrine
of inerrancy. It was produced by over 200 evangelical scholars, pastors, and
theologians under the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI).
The statement affirms that the
Bible, in its original manuscripts, is without error in all that it
affirms—whether regarding doctrine, history, science, origins, or
morality—because it is inspired by inerrant God, who cannot lie.
It consists of a short preface, a
summary statement (19 articles of affirmation and denial), and an exposition. It
includes:
- Scripture is the Word of God, written by human authors by the power of the God the Holy Spirit who guided the inspired text.
- Inspiration extends to all of Scripture (called: “verbal plenary inspiration”), not just to a few spiritual or moral teachings. To clarify:
- Verbal plenary inerrancy means all of the Bible is inspired down to the very words of Scripture in all matters—this is what the Chicago Statement affirms.
- Non-verbal plenary inerrancy would mean that not all the Bible is inspired, but only as to certain concepts—not all the words—meaning that it might contain historical, scientific, or moral errors. This is often held by those who respect the Bible, but do not necessarily follow and believe all of its assertions. By the way, non-verbal plenary inerrancy is a false doctrine and one should be cautious of those promoting this view.
- Inerrancy applies only to the original manuscripts, not to every copy or translation. People can accidentally mis-copy something (copyist mistakes) and some outright intentionally change things to fit with their respective cult for instance! With careful study of the thousands of manuscripts, scholars can easily see where those few copyist mistakes crept into certain families of copies.
- Inerrancy allows for variety in literary form, figures of speech, and observational perspective language (e.g., "sunrise", “sunset”).
- The statement denies that human fallibility or cultural context invalidates inerrancy. People can make mistakes (be fallible) but God working through them still yields a perfectly revealed Scriptural book/Psalm such as Exodus (Moses), A Psalm of David (David), 2 Corinthians (Paul). Moses, David, and Paul all had their faults, yet God speaking through them produced an inerrant text of Scripture.
The Chicago Statement also
distinguishes the doctrine of inerrancy from the doctrine of infallibility,
clarifying that inerrancy is a stronger claim though, they are related doctrines:
not only is the Bible incapable of teaching error, it actually does not contain
any.
If one would think more deeply, they
would also recognize that God is the very standard of right thinking and
inerrant understanding. This is how He created and sustains all things. Thus, the
concept of inerrant and errant as well as right and wrong are predicated
on God and His Word revealing such things. In other words, non-biblical worldviews
must borrow form the Bible to make sense of the concepts of right and wrong
and inerrant and errant.
The Chicago Statement became a standard
for conservative evangelical theology and is widely cited in debates over the
doctrine of biblical authority or even infallibility.
In essence, it declares that the
Bible is completely true and trustworthy and without contradiction in
everything it teaches—including science, history, origins, doctrine, theology,
etc.—and that this belief is vital for Christian growth by affirming the true
word of the Holy Spirit for which one can attain both knowledge and wisdom.
Chicago Statement on
Hermeneutics
Leading creationist and one of the
most prominent Christian leaders at the time, Dr. Henry Morris was a part of
this Statement on Inerrancy in 1977-1978. As a sidenote, there was also a
follow up conference in 1982 on developing a “Statement of Hermeneutics” (i.e.,
interpretation of Scripture).
In this particular document, there
was initially a point on the Flood being global as a proper exegetical hermeneutic
(i.e., good interpretation based on Scripture’s clear context and meaning). But by the last iteration waiting for signatures, this Flood-being-global point was pulled out.
Dr. Morris and a few others had objected but the statement went forward without it. The main reason is that a
global Flood destroys the idea of long ages and millions of years. Sadly, those ideas
were already a commonplace in many Christian circles among leaders. Clarke
Morledge writes,
“The movement towards accepting an
Old Earth view of earth’s history and even a tempered acceptance of some form
of evolution was given a wide berth in the discussions. Therefore, to sign the
proposed statement that gives such loose principles for interpreting the Bible
under the supposed rubric of “inerrancy” would undermine the very standard of
that inerrancy that was so dear to Morris.
Even though he fully supported the
original statement regarding inerrancy with respect to the Bible’s authority,
Morris simply would not sign the new proposed document with respect to biblical
hermeneutics, the Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics…”[1]
By having this point remain, then
any old earth creationist would be in violation of the Statement of Hermeneutics.
So those who mix millions of years and evolutionary ideas with the Bible were influential enough to have the point removed.
As a result, Dr. Morris refused to
sign it and rightly so! This statement has been cast aside by those who
actually believe the Bible’s account of the Flood. And thus, it never went on
to have much of an impact and few today even realized it exists—unlike the Statement
on Inerrancy which has gone on as a standard in evangelical circles.
Conclusion
The Doctrine of Inerrancy does not deny literary
forms or human authorship and style, but rather, it affirms that the Scriptures are
fully trustworthy and free from error or contradictions in the original texts,
across all literary genres and teachings.
Based on its own testimony, the 66
books of the Bible are the inerrant, inspired, infallible, authoritative, and sufficient Word of God. Because it is
breathed out by a perfect and truthful God, it is inerrant in all that it
teaches.
□
Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law,
has been an apologist since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an
apologetics website. He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a
speaker, writer, and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers
News. He was also head of the Oversight Council.
Bodie launched Biblical Authority
Ministries in 2015 as a personal website and it was organized officially in
2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US
states in churches, colleges, and universities. He is married with four
children.
[1] Clarke
Morledge, Henry Morris and the Case of the Missing Signature, Veracity,
March 28, 2015, https://sharedveracity.net/2015/03/28/henry-morris-and-the-case-of-the-missing-signature/.
