condensed theology lecture 5

8/6/2019 Condensed Theology Lecture 5

1/48

Condensed Theology

A Primer in Systematic Theology


2/48

Bibliology:

The Doctrine of Scripture

What does the Bible teach about

itself?


3/48

Where Were Going Six lessons on the Bible Addressing the following subjects:

Revelation & Inspiration

Authority Sufficiency

Unity

Necessity Power

Truthfulness Inerrancy

Infallibility

Clarity Illumination

Hermeneutics Grammatico-historical exegesis

Canonical interpretation

Redemptive-historical interpretation Canonicity


4/48

The Truthfulness of Scripture

Understanding Inerrancy


5/48

Defining Inerrancy

Coming to terms


6/48

Defining Inerrancy

Inerrancy and infallibility

Brief history of the terminological shift

Working definition: When we say that theBible is inerrant, we are saying that in theautographs, it is absolutely true in all itaffirms and utterly incapable of conveyingfalsehood or error.


7/48

Biblical Evidence for Inerrancy


8/48

Inerrancy Cannot Be Proved

We cannot prove that the Bible is true in anysense, much less in the absolute sense

How do we prove that it is true that Jesus isin heaven interceding for the saints?

How do we prove that it is true that Jesus iscoming again?

This does not mean, however, that inerrancycannot be demonstrated from the Bible


9/48


10/48

Inference from Inspiration

2 Tim 3:16: All Scripture is inspired by God andprofitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction,for training in righteousness; so that the man ofGod may be adequate, equipped for every goodwork.

2 Pet 1:20-21: But know this first of all, that noprophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's owninterpretation, for no prophecy was ever madeby an act of human will, but men moved by theHoly Spirit spoke from God.

If the Scripture is God-breathed, then it must beabsolutely true


11/48

Inference from the Character of

God Num 23:19: God is not a man, that He

should lie, Nor a son of man, that Heshould repent; Has He said, and will He

not do it? Or has He spoken, and will Henot make it good?

2 Sam 7:28: Now, O Lord GOD, You areGod, and Your words are truth, and Youhave promised this good thing to Yourservant.


12/48


God Titus 1:2: in the hope of eternal life,

which God, who cannot lie, promised long

ages ago. Heb 6:18: so that by two unchangeable

things in which it is impossible for God tolie, we who have taken refuge would have

strong encouragement to take hold of thehope set before us.


13/48


God The inference from

the character of Godis inextricably linked

with the inferencefrom inspiration

We may summarizethis with the following

syllogism:

God is always truthfulin all that he does

God is the author and

source of Scripture

Therefore Scripture isalways truthful


14/48

Explicit Biblical Teaching

Concerning Inerrancy: OT Ps 19:7-9: The law of the LORD is perfect,

restoring the soul; The testimony of the

LORD is sure, making wise the simple.The precepts of the LORD are right,rejoicing the heart; The commandment ofthe LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The fear of the LORD is clean, enduringforever; The judgments of the LORD aretrue; they are righteous altogether.


15/48


Concerning Inerrancy: OT Ps 119:86: All Your commandments are

faithful; They have persecuted me with alie; help me!

Ps 119:138: You have commanded Yourtestimonies in righteousness Andexceeding faithfulness.

Ps 119:142:

Your righteousness is aneverlasting righteousness, And Your law istruth.


16/48


Concerning Inerrancy: OT Ps 119:144: Your testimonies are

righteous forever; Give me understanding

that I may live. Ps 119:151: You are near, O LORD, Andall Your commandments are truth.

Ps 119:160: The sum of Your word is

truth, And every one of Your righteousordinances is everlasting.


17/48


Concerning Inerrancy: NT John 10:35: If he called them gods, to

whom the word of God came (and theScripture cannot be broken)

John 17:17: Sanctify them in the truth;Your word is truth.

Matt 5:18: For truly I say to you, until

heaven and earth pass away, not thesmallest letter or stroke shall pass fromthe Law until all is accomplished.


18/48


Concerning Inerrancy: NT Rom 3:4: May it never be! Rather, let God

be found true, though every man be founda liar, as it is written, That you may be

justified in your words, and prevail whenyou are judged.

Notice the connection between the

truthfulness of God and the Scripture


19/48

Defining Inerrancy in Terms of

the Phenomena of Scripture


20/48

Appealing to the Phenomena of

Scripture A biblical doctrine of inerrancy must take into

account the phenomena of Scripture itself

The Bible that we do have is inerrant, thus wemust define the limits and extent of thatinerrancy by the Bible itself

The Bible that we have is the Bible that God

inspired. As a result, it is thisBible (with allits qualities) that is wholly truthful (inerrant).


21/48


22/48

Appealing to the Phenomena of

Scripture Precision and inerrancy

Science and inerrancy

History and inerrancy Grammar and inerrancy


23/48

Precision and Inerrancy


24/48


God has given us his word in the words ofmen (remember concursive inspiration)

2 Pet 1:21:

for no prophecy was evermade by an act of human will, but menmoved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.


25/48


The limits of truthfulnessdepend on the degree ofprecision implied by thespeaker and expected by hisor her original audience.

Consider three statements:

Pastor Bobs house is aroundthe corner from the churchbuilding.

Pastor Bobs house is 4 miles

from the church building.

Pastor Bobs house is 4.21miles from the church building.

Are any of these statementsfalse?

If my house were 10 milesfrom the church building, thenat least the last two would befalse. But given that theinformation is correct, then wemay say that none of them arenecessarily untrue. It alldepends upon what is theintention of each sentence and

how it is used.


26/48


Our three statements:

Pastor Bobs house isaround the corner from

the church building.Pastor Bobs house is

4 miles from thechurch building.

Pastor Bobs house is

4.21 miles from thechurch building.

Language can be vague orimprecise without beinguntrue. To say that I live alittle four miles from theministries building is vague

and imprecise, but it is alsoinerrant; there is nothingfalse about it. Sincequestions like, How farfrom the church do youlive? are asked with anexpectation ofapproximation, the vagueand imprecise answers ofthe first two statements areinerrant.


27/48


Our three statements:

Pastor Bobs house isaround the corner from

the church building.Pastor Bobs house is

4 miles from thechurch building.

Pastor Bobs house is

4.21 miles from thechurch building.

If, however, I am(hypothetically) required tofigure mileage for tax purposesto the hundredth place, and Iwere to submit the secondsentence to the IRS, then Iwould not be truthful (and Idbe cheating myself out of myown money!).

But if a guest asked me howfar from the church my homewas, and I said, Four miles,and then he or she calculatedthe mileage to be 4.21 mi.,they would not feel misled.

For the underlying subtext ofour conversation was one ofapproximation, not precision.


28/48


Lets say your wife asks, What happened during yourday today?

Furthermore, you answer by moving from one event tothe next out of chronological, would your response

function to distort the truthfulness of the events? No, exactly the opposite. With the constraints before

you, it is how you must converse. If you were to dootherwise it might actually give the wrong impression.

Limitations of time and human language cause us tojudge what is false and true in the framework of whatmay be expectedan individual.


29/48


Is an impressionistic paintingsupposed to representaccurately a person or place?

No. Although the artist isdepicting what he really sees,he manipulates what he seesto bring out more of what isreally therethe actualcharacter of the subject.

Impressionistic paintings arenot meant to be precise

representations, but are meantto interpret what is actuallythere to manifest things thatmay not be so obvious.


30/48


Language can be vague or imprecisewithout being untrue

The limits of truthfulness depend onthe degree of precision implied by thespeaker and expected by his or heroriginal audience


31/48

Science and Inerrancy


32/48


If you listened to the radio this morning and theweatherman said, The sun rose today at 6:23am. You wouldnt write to the radio stationsaying that the weatherman is lying because he

referred to the rotation of the earth as the sunrising!

We use conventional modes of speech. Weknow what it means. And we say he is tellingthe truth because we know what he is getting at.

Our language is full of conventional speech.Whether we consider it truth or falsehooddepends on the context in which it is set.


33/48


This is why, on the other hand, if yourphysics professor told you that the sunactually rises, that it revolves around the

earth, etc., you would (rightly) concludethat his statements were erroneous.

It is therefore not untrue to the naturalphenomena in view when the Bible speakssuch phenomena from our humanperspective


34/48

History and Inerrancy


35/48


Modern history writing follows certainconventions including, strict chronologicalsequence, balanced selection of material,

verbatim quotations, etc. When theseconventions are not followed the historians workis considered suspect

Using this criteria for the Bibles history, Old and

New Testaments, we would of necessityconclude the same of the Scripture


36/48


We must keep in mind that the ancient authors ofScripture followed no such conventions

Take the gospels, for example: In a very real sense the gospel writers are preachers! They

select events from Jesus life not on the basis ofcomprehensiveness, but on the basis of their expressedpurpose. For what is recorded in the gospels is notrepresentative of everythingJesus said and did cf. 20:30; 21:25;Acts 20:35.

They arrange material not on the basis of strict chronology, butwith the desire to impress upon the readers certain truthswith

a view to their conversion! Our source of inerrant authority is not the bare facts ofhistory, but the writers divinely inspired presentation ofthose facts, which are what the gospels are.


37/48

Grammar and Inerrancy


38/48


Some may question the Bibles inerrancy on the basis ofthe sometimes poor grammar of its various works. Youmight think that if the Bible contains a grammaticalerror, it cant possibly be inerrant

Again, the criteria for inerrancy must be the Bible itself.All biblical inerrancy means is that the Scriptures areutterly truthful in all they intend to communicate

The following are examples inerrant statements usingpoor grammar:

Pastor Don aint here! I am going to boldly go where no man has gone before.

This is the nicest place to go to.


39/48


Some may question the Bibles inerrancy, on the basis ofwhat appear to be its loose and free quotations.

Mark 10:17: As [Jesus] was setting out on a journey, aman ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him,Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

Matt 19:16 And someone came to [Jesus] and said,Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtaineternal life?

Written Greek at the time of the NT did not havequotation marks. To quote a person, one needed only tocorrectly represent the content of their words (like ourindirect quotations)it was not expected to cite thewords exactly.


40/48


NT Greek methods for quotations aremuch like indirect quotations in English.

If I say, Don said he would be comingright away, but what he actually said was,Bob, Ill be to church in two minutes, myindirect reference to Dons words would

not be considered a lie. It would be an acceptable and truthful

report of his original words.


41/48

Answering the Skeptics

From the weak to the strong


42/48


The Bible contains errors of science,grammar, and history

The belief in inerrancy leads to spiritualbondage, to a kind of bibliolatry that shiftsthe focus from Christ to a book

The belief in inerrancy denies or obscures

the human element in Scripture


43/48


The Bible is only true insofar as it speaksto the things of religion

The Bible contains errors in minutia only,but not in the main

The message of the Bible wasaccommodated to its audience such that

they were willing to affirm somethinguntrue for the sake of advancing thetheological/religious argument they made


44/48


Inerrancy is a poor term because itdenotes precision.

To speak of inerrant autographs ismisleading because we possess nosuch autographs


45/48

Conclusion


46/48

Conclusion

In the autographs, the Bible is absolutelytrue in all it affirms and utterly incapable ofconveying falsehood or error

Our understanding of inerrancy must berooted in the text of Scripture

Our understanding of inerrancy must be

sensitive to the phenomena of Scripture


47/48

Glossary


48/48

Glossary

Inerrancy: The doctrine that teaches that theBible teaches nothing erroneous or otherwisefalse

Infallibility: Synonymous with inerrancy untilapproximately 60 years ago, it is sometimesused in distinction from inerrancy to refer to thenotion that the Bible is not entirely true, butmainly true.

Autographs: The original documents ofScripture; the signature originals

condensed theology lecture 5

Documents