inspiration and inerrancy of the bible

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY

INSPIRATION AND INERRANCY

A RESEARCH PAPER SUBMITTED TO DR. ELMER TOWNS, D. MIN

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR

THE COURSE THEO 525

LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

BY

BRIAN HARVEY

LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA

TUESDAY, MAY 8, 2012

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION......................................................1

THE BREADTH OF DEFINITION.........................................1

Revelation.................................................2

Inspiration and Inscripturation ...........................3

Infallibility and Inerrancy................................4

Authority..................................................4

MAKING A CLAIM..................................................5

Verbal Plenary Inspiration.................................5

Inerrancy..................................................6

Authority..................................................6

FACING THE ISSUES.................................................7

UNSATISFACTORY VIEWS ON INSPIRATION 7

THE INERRANCY DEBATE 8

UNSATISFACTORY VIEWS ON INERRANCY 9

AFFIRMATION OF INSPIRATION AND INERRANCY.............................11

CHARACTER OF GOD...............................................12

THE BIBLE.....................................................13

JESUS.........................................................14

CONCLUSION......................................................14

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BIBLIOGRAPHY.....................................................16

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INTRODUCTION

There comes a time in every Christian’s life that one must

define the central doctrines of their faith. The eternal battle

between orthodoxy and orthopraxy demands significant attention

and largely determines the positions on which a person will side.

The core of Christian Doctrine is, and rightfully so, the Bible.

The attestation of the authority of the Bible as the Word of God,

demands an understanding of the belief in the inspiration,

inerrancy, and authority of the Bible. Without the God-breathed,

inerrant, infallible, authoritative Word of God, the Christian

Doctrine has little to stand on. It is time that Christians move

from the stagnant battle between orthodoxy and orthopraxy to a

position of joining the two with a realization that all authority

comes from God and his direct Word is available through the Holy

Scriptures. The encroachment of liberalism and modernism has

greatly diminished the effectiveness of many Christians, and is

sadly creeping into many “evangelical” churches. Doubting the

God-affirmed inspiration, inspiration, and authority of the Word

of God has caused man to be “tossed to and fro by the waves and

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carried about by every wind of doctrine,”1 that has ultimately

established him as “a double-minded man, unstable in all his

ways.”2 Short of the Resurrection of Jesus, there is no more

central belief to the core of Christianity than that of

Inspiration and Inerrancy. Without the belief in verbal plenary

inspiration and totally inerrancy of Scripture, the Christian has

no rock of faith on which to stand.

THE BREADTH OF DEFINITION

Theology is profoundly dependent on terms and how one

chooses to define them. In the case of inspiration and

inerrancy, they are directly associated with bibliology, the

doctrine of the Bible. Therefore, with respect to the above

statement about defining terms, it is imperative for one to

comprehend that “a proper understanding of [bibliology] is

crucial to building any sort of argument.”3 However, take heed

that the insatiable appetite for information must be balanced

1 Ephesians 4:14 (ESV).

2 James 1:8 (ESV).3 Rodney J. Decker, "Verbal-Plenary Inspiration and Translation," Detroit

Baptist Seminary Journal 11 (2006): 26.

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against the fact that it is through the Spirit of God that we

understand.4

Revelation

Beginning with the doctrine of revelation, one must clearly

establish that the Bible is the Word of God by ascribing God’s

revelatory message to it. Revelation is “all about getting to

know God”5 and is directly associated with the content of God’s

message to humans. Elmer Town’s states, “revelation is the act

whereby God gives us knowledge about Himself which we could not

otherwise know.”6 The reception of God’s revelation is the

beginning of relationship with God. God reveals himself to

humans through two specific means of revelation, general or

natural revelation, and special revelation. With respect to the

later, God reveals himself to humans through “creation, common

grace, and conscience.”7 As to the former, God reveals Himself

4 Cf. 1 Corinthians 2:11-12.

5 Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears, Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2010), 38.

6 Elmer L. Towns, Theology for Today, 2nd ed. (San Francisco: Cengage Learning, 2008), 29.

7 Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears, Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe, 38.

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“through the Scriptures and finalized in Jesus Christ and relates

to God’s plan of salvation for man.”8 God is continually

revealing Himself today through the inspired, inerrant, and

authoritative Word of God, the Bible. God’s revelation to humans

is the foundation of Christianity, and specifically the special

revelation of the Bible is “the court of highest authority for

Christians and their leaders, by which any alleged revelation

from God is to be tested.”9

Inspiration and Inscripturation

Inspiration is “that supernatural influence of the Holy

Spirit upon the Scripture writers which rendered their writings

an accurate record of the revelation or which resulted in what

they wrote actually being the Word of God.”10 The Apostle Paul

states in 2 Timothy 3:16 that “All Scripture is breathed out by

God,” and Peter further attests in 2 Peter 1:21 that “no prophecy

was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as

they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The inspiration, 8 Elmer L. Towns, Theology for Today, 34.


10 Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 2nd Edition (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2007), 225.

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God-breathed, nature of Scripture emphasizes “the divine source

and initiative rather than human genius or creativity.”11

Inscripturation refers to “that period of time in which the

entirety of the Scriptures came into being.”12 Therefore, from

the original text, to redactional updating, through canonization,

God providentially governs this inscripturation process. He

declares the “autographa” not only God-breathed, but also

inerrant, infallible, and authoritative. In summation, through

the process of inscripturation, the Holy Spirit “so guided the

minds of the human authors and writers that they chose the

precise words necessary to accurately reflect the exact truth God

intended, all the while reflecting their own personality, writing

style, vocabulary, and cultural context, thus guaranteeing that

this truth is accurately, inerrantly, and infallibly recorded in

writing.”13

Infallibility and Inerrancy11 Michael A. Grisanti, "Inspiration, Inerrancy, and the OT Canon: The

Place of Textual Updating in an Inerrant View of Scripture," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 44, no. 4 (2001): 578.

12 Michael A. Grisanti, "Inspiration, Inerrancy, and the OT Canon: The Place of Textual Updating in an Inerrant View of Scripture," 578.

13 Rodney J. Decker, "Verbal-Plenary Inspiration and Translation," 28.

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Infallibility means “the quality or fact of being infallible

or exempt from liability to err.”14 While this word echoes the

quality of Scripture, readers are cautioned that this word has

become prominent amongst those who hold to limited inerrancy.

Infallibility, while separate and distinct from inerrancy, should

be used, if used at all, along with inerrancy. As defined by

Paul D. Feinberg, “Inerrancy means that when all facts are known,

the Scriptures in their original autographs and properly

interpreted will be shown to be wholly true in everything that

they affirm, whether that has to do with doctrine or morality or

with the social, physical, or life sciences.”15 With this

definition of inerrancy as conveying truth through God’s word,

one should approach the Bible with what J. I. Packer calls “an

advance commitment to receive as truth from God all that

Scripture is found on inspection actually to teach; [and] a

methodological commitment to interpret Scripture according to the

principle of harmony.”16

14 Norman L. Geisler, Inerrancy (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1980), 287.

15 Norman L. Geisler, Inerrancy, 294.

16 James Packer, "Hermeneutics and Biblical Authority," The Churchman 81 (1967): 11.

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Authority

To end this exposition prior to this point would be gross

negligence and render the foundation on which to build an

argument unstable. A statement to the authority of Scripture

must be offered to tie the components together, thus making a

more impenetrable foundation. Belief that the Bible is the fully

inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God, then it must be

viewed as authoritative. The Bible “is the ultimate and final

standard for truth and is not subject to the judgment of human

experience or human reason.”17 Christians must do more than just

believe that the Bible is authoritative, they must allow God’s

revelation to impact and change their lives. As John Woodbridge

so emphatically states, “We can quietly empty our commitment to

biblical authority of significance if we deny biblical ethics in

day-to-day decision making. Or, we can interpret the Bible so

ineptly that its authority is refracted in genuinely disturbing

ways.”18


18 John D. Woodbridge, Biblical Authority: a Critique of the Rogers/McKim Proposal (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1982), 13.

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MAKING A CLAIM

In light of the previous discussion, a threefold claim is

rendered: (1) the very words of the Bible are recorded perfectly

through verbal plenary inspiration, (2) the Bible is completely

infallible and inerrant in the autographa, (3) the Bible is the

divinely authoritative, convicting, life changing Word of God.

Verbal Plenary Inspiration

God did more than just inspire the concepts of the Bible; he

inspired every detail and the exact words that were flawlessly

recorded in Scripture. This is referred to as verbal plenary

inspiration. Indicated by the word verbal, the belief is “the

very words are inspired and important, chosen by God, so every

word does matter.”19 Hence, the reason the Bible is called the

Word of God and not the Concept of God. The word plenary

designates that “there are no parts of the Bible we [do not]

believe, [do not] like, or [will not] teach or preach or obey.”20

This breadth of inspiration affirms that all the words of the

Bible are equally inspired, and extends not only to the words of


20 Ibid., 49.xii

Jesus, of which he wrote none of, the prophets and apostles, but

even unto the words of Balaam’s donkey.

Inerrancy

Full inerrancy is the most defendable position, with respect

to the Scriptures. In an effort to explain this, Erikson states,

“The Bible, when correctly interpreted in light of the level to

which culture and the means of communication had developed at the

time it was written, and in view of the purposes for which it was

given, is fully truthful in all that it affirms.”21 With respect

to scientific and historical phenomena, full inerrancy posits

that they are “reported the way they appear to the human eye…

often involving general references or approximations. Yet they

are correct.”22 Simply stated, full inerrancy pertains to what

Scripture affirms rather than just what is reported. They must

be viewed in light of the cultural context and purpose at the

time of being recorded.

Authority

21 Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 259.

22 Ibid., 248.

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Many customary views on the authority of Scripture,

including those amongst some evangelicals, fail to recognize what

the Bible really is; it is “a book, an ancient book, an ancient

narrative book.”23 These customary views give an indication that

God has given humankind the wrong type of book. This faulty, low

view of the authority of God’s Word needs redefining. Christians

should view that “God’s authority vested in scripture is

designed, as all God’s authority is designed, to liberate human

beings, to judge and condemn evil and sin in the world in order

to set people free to be fully human.”24 The authority of

Scripture depends wholly on God and not the testimony of man.

“For any person or church to insist that people should believe

and obey the Bible because of their testimony [is] to ground its

authority in the opinion of fallible men.”25 The Scripture, the

Word of God, is the only authoritative source for the Church and

therefore the guide of life for God’s people.26

23 N.T. Wright, "How Can the Bible Be Authoritative?" Vox Evangelica 21 (1991): 7-32.

24 N.T. Wright, "How Can the Bible Be Authoritative?," 7-32. 25 Robert L. Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith (Nashville:

Thomas Nelson, 1998), 73.

26 Andreas J. Köstenberger, L. Scott Kellum, and Charles L. Quarles, The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: an Introduction to the New Testament (Nashville, Tenn.: B&H

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FACING THE ISSUES

UNSATISFACTORY VIEWS ON INSPIRATION

Theologians, scholars, seminarians, and the like would not

all necessarily agree with the aforementioned claim of verbal

plenary inspiration. As such, unsatisfactory views of

inspiration have arisen. Three of these unsatisfactory views

will be discussed and refuted. Left-wing liberalism has given

rise to the intuition theory, which proffers that “inspiration is

the functioning of a high gift, perhaps almost like an artistic

ability but nonetheless a natural endowment, a permanent

possession.”27 Implicit here is that the inspiration of

Scripture writers was no different from that of writers of other

religious or philosophical writers, such as Plato and Josephus.

Thereby equating the position of Scripture as great religious

literature and stripping it of its God given authority and

prominence. According to Towns, “This theory, then, is an

essential denial of revelation or theistic involvement in

inspiration.”28 Academic, 2009), 49.


28 Elmer L. Towns, Theology for Today, 61.xv

Similarly, “the illumination theory maintains that there is

an influence of the Holy Spirit upon the authors of Scripture,

but involving only a heightening of their normal powers.”29 In

essence, the role of the Holy Spirit in the illumination theory

is to elevate the writer’s state of consciousness. This is often

equated to the effects that modern-day energy or mental

supplements have on humans. The overall implication is that the

work of the Holy Spirit here is only different in the degree of

assistance to the writers of Scripture, as compared to the

assistance given to all believers. This essentially makes the

test of inspiration subjective in nature, which would make

agreement on inspired texts virtually impossible and call to

question the authority of such messages. John A. Witmer reminds

readers “the authority of the Bible as the Word of God through

inspiration is objective and absolute.”30

In light of the claim to verbal plenary inspiration, there

must be a defense offered to the dictation theory. The dictation


30 John A. Witmer, "The Biblical Evidence for the Verbal-Plenary Inspiration of the Bible,"Bibliotheca Sacra 121, no. 483 (July 1964): 246.

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theory states “God dictated the words of Scripture to the human

authors much as a boss might dictate a letter to his

secretary.”31 Therefore, the dictation theory negates the

presence of the human personality, culture, and language from

Scripture. This theory is incorrectly associated with verbal

plenary inspiration, as indicated by the statement of the late

John R. Rice, “We would have to say that word-for-word

inspiration, verbal inspiration, is necessarily divine

dictation.”32 One must be mindful, however, that adherents of

the verbal plenary inspiration view claim that the Holy Spirit

guided the minds of the authors, not a dictation of the words.

They further claim that inspired Scripture reflects the authors

“own personality, writing style, vocabulary, and cultural

context.”33

THE INERRANCY DEBATE

In summarizing the inerrancy debate, Richard Coleman stated:

"The question of biblical inerrancy is remarkably the same now as

31 Elmer L. Towns, Theology for Today, 63.

32 Ibid., 63.


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it was nearly a century ago…If history is to be our teacher, and

biblical inerrancy our illustration, we have somehow not learned

from the past.”34 The debate over biblical inerrancy has long

been an issue of the Christian Church. Although, there is a

rising trend amongst the scholarly community that views the

inerrancy debate as a twentieth century theological innovation.35

However, others such as John D. Woodbridge affirm, “that biblical

inerrancy has been a church doctrine or Augustinian central

teaching of the Western Christian churches, including evangelical

Protestant churches.”36 In fact, later theologians frequently

cited Augustine for his views on the Bible’s infallibility.

Furthermore, many Roman Catholics and Protestants alike,

perceived them as synonymous to a central doctrine of the Church.

Hans Küng observed, “St. Augustine’s influence in regard to

34 Richard J. Coleman, "Biblical Inerrancy: Are We Going Anywhere?” Theology Today 31, no. 4 (1975): 295.

35 Millard J. Erickson, "Biblical Inerrancy: The Last Twenty-Five Years," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 25, no. 4 (December 1982): 388.

36 John D. Woodbridge, “Evangelical Self- Identity and the Doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy,” in Understanding the Times: New Testament Studies in the 21st Century: Essays in Honor of D.A. Carson On the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, ed. Andreas J. Kostenberger and Robert W. Yarbrough (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2011), 107.

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inspiration and inerrancy prevailed throughout the Middle Ages and

right into the modern age.”37

UNSATISFACTORY VIEWS ON INERRANCY

Even with the attestation of Augustine and the Church’s

affirmation in biblical inerrancy from the early fourth century

through the middle ages and beyond. Inerrancy has not escaped

the grasp of the spectrum of theological diversity. As such,

like the doctrine of inspiration, the doctrine of inerrancy has

seen the rise of several unsatisfactory views. Due to the close

relationship of inspiration and inerrancy, the majority of the

unsatisfactory views are shared between the two. As Charles

Ryrie asserts, “One’s view of inerrancy does affect one’s

doctrine of inspiration, and that in turn is bound to affect the

concept of the authority of the Bible which is basic to the

interpretation and application of its message.”38 For this

reason, only the primary view of limited inerrancy will be

addressed. 37 John D. Woodbridge, “Evangelical Self- Identity and the Doctrine of

Biblical Inerrancy,” 110-111.

38 Charles C. Ryrie, "Some Important Aspects of Biblical Inerrancy," Bibliotheca Sacra136, no. 541 (January-March 1979): 16-24.

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Limited inerrancy does affirm the inerrancy and

infallibility of the Bible, but only in the areas centered on

teachings of faith and morals, or more specifically “salvific

doctrinal references.”39 As a result, this view holds that the

writers of Scripture were limited to the confines of their time.

The inspiration did not elevate the writers above the ordinary

level of knowledge synonymous with that time. God just did not

reveal science and history to them, so they had to rely on their

own knowledge. Therefore, limited inerrantists believe the Bible

is capable of having errors in these sections. This view creates

several confounding issues. One can infer from this position

that limited inerrantists believe that errors can instruct truth.

For example, David Hubbard claims that one has an insufficient

view of Scripture “when we claim it to be inerrant on the basis

of minute details of chronology, geography, history, or

cosmology.” Yet Hubbard also affirms, “‘every part of Scripture

is God-given’ and that all parts have significance as they

contribute to the whole which is the ‘infallible rule.’” 40 The


40 Charles C. Ryrie, "Some Important Aspects of Biblical Inerrancy," 18.

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Bible does not claim to teach history and science, and therefore

one can infer that the erroneous statements in fact do not teach

truth. Neither do these errors also seem to hinder the

communication of truth, salvific truth to be exact. “It would

seem, however, to require more faith to believe that God-

permitted errors do not affect the teaching of the Bible than to

believe that God-guarded authors were kept from writing

errors.”41

If one allows for the admittance of errors into the

Scriptures, the nature all Scripture becomes subjective in nature

and calls into question the validity of even the soteriological

content. Commenting on this very issue Augustine affirmed:

Most disastrous consequences must follow upon our believing that anything false is found in the sacred books: that is to say that the men by whom the Scripture has been given to us and committed to writing, did not put down in these books anything false. If you once admit into such a high sanctuary ofauthority one false statement, there will not be left asingle sentence of those books, which, if appearing to any one difficult in practice or hard to believe, may not by the same fatal rule be explained away as a statement, in which, intentionally, the author declaredwhat was not true.42

41 Ibid., 18.

42 Ibid., 21.xxi

The integrity of all doctrine is based on the historical

accuracy of the Bible. Any indication of a fallible text, no

matter how diminutive, disavows any guarantee of doctrinal

integrity. One cannot fail to notice the fact that limited

inerrancy overwhelmingly places restrictions on the authority of

the Bible. While it cannot be denied that total inerrancy leads

to unrestricted authority and division amongst Christians,

neither can it be ignored that limited inerrancy restricts

biblical authority and leads to a non-evangelical liberal view of

the Bible.43

AFFIRMATION OF INSPIRATION AND INERRANCY

Verbal plenary inspiration and its allied partner inerrancy

have been a historic doctrine of the Church as well as gaining

prominence amongst evangelical Christians today. However, many

still question the validity of these claims and utilize such

tactics to refute them as: (1) proponents use circular arguments

for defense, (2) inerrancy is not taught in the Bible, (3) the

43 Ibid., 22.xxii

originals do not exist, and (4) God really does not care.44

Initial arguments may sound circular, but one must be mindful

that doctrine is based upon scripture alone. The Bible has been

proven to be historically accurate. If a person approaches the

Bible as a reliable historical document, then they have

sufficient grounds for making arguments that cannot be attested

as circular. Any historical document must be allowed to attest

to its own credibility.

The Bible unmistakably teaches the doctrine of verbal

plenary inspiration and inerrancy and is not, therefore, a

twentieth century theological innovation. As Witmer noted, “If

the doctrine that the Bible is the Word of God had been imposed

upon the Scriptures instead of found in them, it would not have

gone unchallenged for centuries nor would it persist today in the

face of the all-out modern rationalistic attack.”45 With the

continual rise of liberalism and modernism and their attack on

evangelical doctrine, the following is offered as a clear

44 Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict, [Rev., updated, and expanded]. ed. (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, 1999), 343-348.

45 John A. Witmer, "The Biblical Evidence for the Verbal-Plenary Inspiration of the Bible," 244.

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argument for the validity of verbal plenary inspiration and

inerrancy as found in the Scriptures.

CHARACTER OF GOD

The Scriptures affirm their own truthfulness by being

indissolubly bound to the character of God. God is truth and He

cannot lie.46 Thus, since God cannot lie and He is the author of

Scripture, they are perfect. Inerrancy, explicitly states that

the Scriptures are perfect and without error as well as being a

summarization of what Scripture says about itself. Mark Driscoll

states it this way, “The doctrine of inerrancy posits that

because God does not lie or speak falsely in any way, and because

the Scriptures are God’s Word, they are perfect.47 As a result,

the entire Bible is without any error.”48 Ultimately, an attack

on the doctrine of inerrancy is a direct attack on the character

of God.49

THE BIBLE

46 Hebrews 6:18; Titus 1:2.

47 2 Samuel 7:28; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18.

48 Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears, Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe, 58.Biblical references to Numbers 23:19; Psalms 12:6; 119:89; Proverbs 30:5-6.

49 Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict, 338.

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The crux of the evangelical’s argument lies in the critic’s

challenge against logic through repeated denial, stating that the

doctrine of verbal plenary inspiration is a “non-Biblical

doctrine.”50 However, central to the doctrine is the statement

by the Apostle Paul in Second Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is

breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for

correction, and for training in righteousness.” Specifically

noting here that Scripture is in the singular form, but it is

understood to cover the collective corpus of sacred writings.

God does not differentiate between Scripture and therefore

assigns His God-breathed authorship to all Scripture. Logic

would dictate “that the hallmark of divine origin – total

accuracy and infallibility – be ascribed to the Bible as the

product of God.51

Further testimony from the Bible include Moses’ continual

acknowledgement that the source of his writing was God. Jesus

affirmed that King David spoke by the Holy Spirit.52 Therefore, 50 John A. Witmer, "The Biblical Evidence For the Verbal-Plenary

Inspiration of the Bible," 244.

51 Ibid., 245.

52 Mark 12:36.

xxv

Jesus has affirmed inspiration, in that David spoke, but he spoke

by the Holy Spirit. The prophets attest to divine origins of

their message. Is has been determined that phrases such as,

“thus says the Lord,” “and the Lord spoke,” and “the word of the

Lord came to me” occur over 3,808 times in the Old Testament.53

Second Peter 1:21 nicely summarizes the process of inspiration

and the identity of the purveyor of truth; “for no prophecy was

ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they

were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

JESUS

Above all, Jesus affirmed the authority and inerrancy of

Scripture. During his temptation, he made constant appeal to

Scripture. Jesus also called on the power of Scripture to defend

His ministerial actions on earth. Jesus, on at least two

different occasions, declared his validation of the verbal

inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture. In Matthew 22:32, Jesus

used the tense of a verb to prove that although Abraham had been

dead for hundreds of years, he was alive in the presence of God.

53 John A. Witmer, "The Biblical Evidence For the Verbal-Plenary Inspiration of the Bible," 247.

xxvi

During Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:18, Jesus

proclaimed “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass

away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is

accomplished.” Edward Young commenting on this text states, “If,

therefore the inspiration of the Bible is plenary, it should be

evident that it is one which extends to the very words.”54

CONCLUSION

Debate continues to surround the doctrines of inspiration

and inerrancy; however, evangelicals must stand their ground and

defend the doctrine and authority of Scripture. The encroachment

of liberalism has taken its toll on evangelical Christianity,

causing many to doubt their foundational doctrinal belief in the

authority of Scripture. It is unfortunate that the witness of

Christians has become tainted by liberal thought, focusing the

attention on how not to make the gospel message offensive. The

truth be told, the gospel message will always be offensive to

those who are farthest from it. Make no mistake; this is not a

clarion call for evangelicals to go aimlessly wielding their

swords as Peter did in the garden. It is a call to action, a

54 Elmer L. Towns, Theology For Today, 70.xxvii

call to defense of your faith, a call to put on the whole armor

of God, not just the parts that are most comfortable in your

everyday life. The Word of God is just that, and emphatically

claims that it is in every respect verbally inspired, inerrant,

infallible, and authoritative. Christians are called to suffer

for the sake of Christ, and suffrage is not turning your back on

the fundamental doctrines because they challenge you and push you

out of your comfort zone. Christians are called to act on faith,

believe by faith, live by faith, and walk by faith, but most

importantly, Christians are saved by grace through faith. It is

time for the fence riding Christians, especially those who claim

to be evangelicals, to accept by faith that the Bible is the

completely authoritative, inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of

God. It is time for conformity to cease and the God-promised

transformation to begin.

xxviii

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Coleman, Richard J. "Biblical Inerrancy: Are We Going Anywhere?" Theology Today 31, no. 4 (1975): 295-303.

Decker, Rodney J. "Verbal-Plenary Inspiration and Translation." Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 11 (2006): 25-61.

Driscoll, Mark, and Gerry Breshears. Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2010.

Erickson, Millard J. "Biblical Inerrancy: The Last Twenty-Five Years." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 25, no. 4 (December 1982): 387-94.

________. Christian Theology, 2nd Edition. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2007.

Forestell, J. Terence. "The Limitation of Inerrancy." Catholic Biblical Quarterly 20 (1958): 9-18.

Geisler, Norman L. Inerrancy. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1980.

Grisanti, Michael A. "Inspiration, Inerrancy, and the OT Canon: The Place of Textual Updating in an Inerrant View of Scripture." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 44, no. 4 (2001): 577-98.

Köstenberger, Andreas J., L. Scott Kellum, and Charles L. Quarles. The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: an Introduction to the New Testament. Nashville, Tenn.: B&H Academic, 2009.

McDowell, Josh. The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict. [Rev., updated,and expanded]. ed. Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, 1999.

Packer, James. "Hermeneutics and Biblical Authority." The Churchman 81 (1967): 3-12.

xxix

Reymond, Robert L. A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998.

Ryrie, Charles C. "Some Important Aspects of Biblical Inerrancy." Bibliotheca Sacra 136, no. 541 (January-March 1979):16-24.

Towns, Elmer L. Theology for Today. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Cengage Learning, 2008.

Witmer, John A. "The Biblical Evidence For the Verbal-Plenary Inspiration of the Bible."Bibliotheca Sacra 121, no. 483 (July 1964): 243-52.

Woodbridge, John D. Biblical Authority: a Critique of the Rogers/McKim Proposal.Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1982.

________. “Evangelical Self- Identity and the Doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy.” InUnderstanding the Times: New Testament Studies in the 21st Century: Essays in Honor of D.A. Carson On the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, edited by Andreas J. Kostenberger and Robert W. Yarbrough, 104-38. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2011.

Wright, N.T. "How Can the Bible Be Authoritative?" Vox Evangelica 21 (1991): 7-32.

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