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Doctrine of Insperation, Inerrancy, and Infallibility

July 18, 2010

DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION, INERRANCY AND INFALLIBILITY

Concepts Related to Inspiration, Inerrancy and Infallibility

Inspiration relates to persons – God and man cooperated to produce inerrant and infallible truth, namely, the Bible.

Inerrancy relates to the product of inspiration, namely, the Bible.

Infalliblity relates to the product of inspiration, namely, the Bible.

The Word of God Is the Product of Two INSPIRED Persons

GOD (INSPIRED)  BREATHED OUT THE WORD OF GOD

MAN (INSPIRED)  BREATHED IN THE WORD OF GOD

The PRODUCT of Two Inspired Persons Is the INERRANT, INFALLIBLE Word of God

INERRANT WORD OF GOD

INFALLIBLE WORD OF GOD

Brief Definitions

Inspiration:  a cooperative effort between God and man to produce an inerrant and infallible manuscript.

Inerrant:  the manuscript contains no mistakes; free from errors.

Infallible:  the information contained in the manuscript is incapable of leading a person astray.

More Concepts to Understand

1.    Truth is inerrant and infallible.

2.    Inspiration guarantees the transfer of truth from God to man through men.

3.    Copied truth is inerrant and infallible if copied accurately.

4.    When a man applies copied truth to his life, the result is the same as if he were reading and applying truth from the inspired original manuscripts.

Principle:  Accurate copies guarantee the inerrancy and infallibility of copied information.

The term “inspiration” focuses on the author not the written product.

The term “inspired Word of God” focuses on persons – God and man who produced Scripture.

The terms “inerrant” and “infallible” focus on Scripture – - the product of inspired God and man.

Inspiration guarantees the inerrancy and infallibility of the original manuscripts.

Application:  We don’t need inspired copies.  We need accurate copies of the inspired original manuscripts that make the copies inerrant and infallible.

More Concepts to Understand

1.    The original manuscripts were the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God.

2.    Copies of the original manuscripts are NOT inspired, NOT inerrant, and NOT infallible.

A.    Not inspired:  Inspiration does not produce inconsistent copies.

B.    Not inerrant:  Mark 16:16 is an error caused by scribal addition.

C.    Not infallible:  Mark 16:16 cannot produce salvation.

More Concepts to Understand

On Inspiration

1.    Inspiration is attributed only to the original manuscripts, all of which are lost.

2.    Inspiration produces inerrant and infallible original manuscripts.

3.    Inspired original  manuscripts guarantees the possibility of inerrant and infallible copies.

On Inerrancy of Copied Manuscripts

1.    Inerrancy of copies demands the integrity of the copyist, NOT an inspired copyist.

2.    Inerrancy of copies requires copies consistent with the originals.

3.    Our copies are NOT consistent with each other.

4.    Therefore, some copies are NOT consistent with the originals.

5.    If some copies are NOT consistent with the originals, those inconsistent with the originals contain errors.

On Infallibility of Copied Manuscripts

1.    Infallibility relies upon inerrancy.

2.    Our copies are NOT inerrant.

3.    Therefore, our copies are capable of producing fallible results.

We Seek Truth!

1.    Inspired manuscripts are truth.

2.    Copied manuscripts are NOT inspired.

3.    Uninspired copies contain truth to the extent that the copies have been accurately copied from the originals.

4.    Uninspired copies contain error to the extent that the copies have been inaccurately copied from the originals.

Each Book of the Bible Is A Manuscript

1.    Each book of the Bible is a separate manuscript.

2.    Only the original manuscript was inspired.

3.    Copies are NOT inspired.

4.    Translating a manuscript is NOT inspired.

5.    Versions of the Bible contain translations.

6.    Since translating is NOT inspired, versions are NOT inspired.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

The following questions were asked in “Open Forum” in General Santos City.

Question #1:  If the copies of the original manuscripts are NOT inspired, would you say that the power as well as the wisdom behind the original text is NOT at work or is limited in/by the copied text?

Answer #1

1.    The power and the wisdom contained in the original text is limited by the accuracy of the copied text.

2.    The power and the wisdom contained in the original text is not at work to the degree of the inaccuracy of the copied text.

Question #2:  How would you account for the many conversions which are attributed to mere reading of these uninspired texts?

Answer #2:

1.    Men who are converted by the mere reading of uninspired texts are converted because they trust the truths that have been accurately copied from the inspired original manuscripts.

2.    Inspired truth is both inerrant and infallible. Inspired truth remains both inerrant and infallible if copied accurately.

Question #3:

The Gideon’s International and Bible Societies spend so much money and effort in printing “uninspired Scripture.”  What ‘uninspired version” would you recommend to be printed?

Answer #3:  I do not recommend.  I suggest that those people printing Bibles print the version of the Bible best suited for their purpose.

Question #4:  Why?

Answer #4:  Because each version of the Bible has been translated with a purpose behind its translation, therefore, the organization printing Bibles should select the version that most accurately supports its purpose for printing.