It matters what Christians Believe About the Inerrancy of Scripture.
John MacArthur of Ligonier Ministries answers the question: “What would you say to a Christian who denies the inerrancy of Scripture?”
See this 9:30 video produced by Genesis Apologetics on the Reliability of Scripture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAH_-Du2428
MacArthur comes in at roughly the 6:57 mark. He spells out the serious consequences that flow from believing that the Bible is not inerrant:
- You are denying God’s own claims for the Bible
- You are denying what the Holy Spirit, the author of Scripture, says about Scripture (that all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God; that every word is pure; that Scripture is God-breathed.)
- You are denying every time in Scripture that it says “thus says The Lord…”
- You are denying the overall superintending power of God over His Revelation.
- It says that you are the judge of Scripture. You just made yourself the authority over the Bible. You’re the one we have to trust to tell us what’s true and not true in the Bible.
- The only reason you deny inerrancy is because there is something in the Bible you don’t like. You’ve then said that “what the Bible says can’t be true.”
- Once you’ve broken a link in the chain of Scripture, how do we know that anything in it is true? When the Bible claims inspiration for all of it, and you break that, what do you do? How do you trust any of it?
- You could say you don’t believe in the Biblical account of Creation, that you believe in evolution instead. Evolution isn’t in Genesis. the question then becomes If that’s not true, what else isn’t, and who is the person who will tell us what is and isn’t true?
- You literally unravel the Scripture if you Deny it’s inerrancy.
What is Biblical Inerrancy?
According to https://www.theopedia.com/inerrancy:
“Inerrancy is the view that when all the facts become known, they will demonstrate that the Bible in its original autographs and correctly interpreted is entirely true and never false in all it affirms, whether that relates to doctrines or ethics or to the social, physical, or life sciences.”[1] The conservative evangelical stance on inerrancy was most recently and thoroughly articulated in 1978 in the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy.
For a longer exploration of Biblical inspiration and inerrancy, see:
https://answersingenesis.org/is-the-bible-true/why-should-we-believe-in-the-inerrancy-of-scripture/
Conclusion
As Apologists, we are called on always to be ready with an answer (1 Pet. 3:15). I think readiness includes having a firm grasp on why we have the confidence that we have in God’s Word.
Thank you!
Michael Oswald
Michael Oswald is a follower of Jesus who lives in Boise, Idaho. Unless otherwise specified, the opinions expressed in this article are his own.
© 2019 Michael S. Oswald
“Reasons for the Faith, aka Apologetics” 
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