Inspired, Infallible & Inerrant? by Greg Albrecht
If God intended to produce an infallible and inerrant literary document, surely he would not have used so many fallible humans in the writing, editing, preservation, translation, production and printing (not to mention interpretation) of the Bible!
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At some point in the past you may have fallen for some theological pied piper who lured you down a sawdust trail with selected biblical passages, lining them up as proof texts to say what the piper wanted them to mean.
We are providing deeper insight for our readers and listeners to better understand and interpret the Bible—so as to avoid biblical wild goose chases and theological snipe hunts. We value the Bible, but our absolute priority is Jesus. We believe Jesus is the heart and core of what the Bible is about.
We have a “high” view of Scripture, but most of all, we have the highest view of Jesus. Jesus is both the author and the subject of the written revelation we have—he is the Alpha and Omega. Jesus, we believe, should be the beginning of our discussion about the Bible and he should be the end.
In response to some of what we have already said and written during this year so far, many readers and listeners have asked about these two passages in particular—Psalm 12:6, and 2 Timothy 3:16:
Psalm 12:6 “…the words of the LORD are flawless…” Is every word printed in the Bible the word of the LORD, and in what sense might we understand the Bible as flawless? The Bible recounts the reigns of kings or the numbers of people killed in battles (among many other examples) that differ and contradict one another. If someone insists that “every word” of the Bible rather than the Christ-centered message of the Bible is to be understood as “flawless” then how can we explain contradictory references?
Indeed, what is the Bible? Is this book of ink and paper holy, infallible and inerrant as God is? Surely God did not intend that this written revelation, as you and I read it during these early years of the 21st century, be enshrined as unimpeachable and faultless.
If God intended to produce an infallible and inerrant literary document, surely he would not have used so many fallible humans in the writing, editing, preservation, translation, production and printing (not to mention interpretation) of the Bible!
Some will insist that since God is infallible, so too must his word (meaning the Bible) be infallible. But there is much that God creates and produces that is not infallible—including you and me!
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