The Deductive Argument for Inerrancy

3/11/2014

Following is a brief argument for the inerrancy of Scripture.

Premise A: Every utterance of God is perfect, and thus free from error.

Premise B: All the truth claims of the Bible writers are the utterances of God.

Conclusion: All the truth claims of the Bible writers are free from error.

Premise A is supported by the teaching that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2) and that He knows everything (I John 3:2). God cannot say anything contrary to the way things really are. He is morally perfect and will not lead anyone astray, especially since He is omniscient. Bible writers declare that the words of God are pure (Psalm 12:6, Prov. 30:5). Paul calls Scripture the “word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). According to Romans 9:1, the truth excludes the possibility of lying. There is nothing spoken by God that is contrary to what is really real.

Premise B is supported by II Timothy 3:16 (“All Scripture is God-breathed”), and other scriptures that refer to the words of Moses and the prophets as actual words of God (Romans 3:2, Acts 28:25).

That is the deductive argument for inerrancy. If Premise A and B are true, then the conclusion (that all of the truth claims of the Bible writers are free from error) must be true. If the conclusion is true, then we must approach Scripture from the stance of faith, trusting that when properly interpreted there will be found no error in Scripture, no matter how small. Nothing will be stated as a fact (by the Bible writers themselves, not necessarily those they quote) that does not correspond to the way things really are.

29 Comments

Mikah

4/8/2014 04:02:41 am

I have found this logical argument very helpful. Could 2 Peter 1:21 also be used to support Premise B? It does not directly say that the words the Biblical writers were the words of God, but it says 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" (ESV). If the words were not produced by the will of man, it seems to be inferred that the words were produced by the will of God and were thus His Words.

Dwight Crosley

5/3/2014 01:04:30 am

I have also found this argument very helpful. If a person doesn't believe in the authority of the Bible at all, I think we should show them Historical proof of Jesus. Through the historical data maybe we could make them believe in the Bible.

JeffreyJr link

5/8/2014 02:45:54 am

I think when a person is talking with believers this is a good argument that could be used to prove the innerancy of scripture. With unbelievers I don't think it would work at all and should probably start with first verifying that Jesus was a man who actually lived on this earth, died, and rose again. Mikah, made a good point.. I think 2 Peter 1:21 may be a more viable option that could be used to prove your 2nd point.

Matt Metz

12/10/2014 06:37:24 am

Yes, I as well as Dwight have found this argument for Scripture to be a very helpful one. I think the best example we have is that God's Word is perfect and therefore can contain no error.

Abraham Kurnia

12/16/2014 02:58:52 am

I think this thought is really crucial for every believer, to believe the authority of God's words. God not only express Himself through general revelation such as creation,etc, but also using God's word as a source to know about Him, doing what He wants us to do, and loving His way of life. Without believing that Bible is an absolute truth, there is no way someone can grow spiritually and being in deep relationship with God.

Chad DeWitt

12/20/2014 04:32:22 am

A good point that I think this argument makes is that it brings God's character into the equation. To say that the Bible is errant is to question the character of God. If we establish that the Bible is the Word of God but then say that some of the Bible is errant, we actually are saying that God is either a liar some of the time or He doesn't really know everything. We also question His ability in getting the words he wanted wrote down into the Bible.

Loren Albright

1/8/2015 12:24:14 pm

I think that this is a very powerful argument. How ever, I think that unbelievers that do not believe in the Bible will not be convinced, just because the book itself says that it is true. There are many many books that claim that they are true, but there must be outside evidence. Which in the Bible's case, there are many outside proofs. Where this argument is super powerful is in explaining to newer Christians, or people that believe that part of the Bible is true. It is hard for me to understand how people can pick and choose parts of the Bible to believe and just throw out the rest.

Chuck Chapman

1/23/2015 01:54:48 am

I really enjoyed this blog Dr. Bird. The reason that I like it is because it is short, to the point, and irrefutable. I do not know how many times that I have heard people say "The Bible is full of contradictions, so you can't believe a word it says." Having a resource such as this would help to begin to bring down their intellectual barriers. With your permission, I would like to make copies of this argument and distribute them to m friends?

Mark Bird

1/23/2015 02:05:24 am

Sure!

gary

3/10/2015 04:55:26 am

Almost all Christian doctrines are based on the New Testament of the Bible. But, how do Christians know that these 27 books are the inerrant, inspired words of God, as Christians tell us?

Answer: A bunch of fallible, scientifically illiterate Churchmen in the second, third, and fourth centuries said so! That's it!

When and where did God say that a bunch of old Churchmen have the authority to determine what is and what is not his Word? When and where did God say that Saul/Paul of Tarsus was speaking on his behalf? Or the writers of the Gospels? Or James? Or Peter? Or any other writer of the New Testament? Even if the apostles themselves had voted unanimously for the 27 books of the current New Testament to be designated as the "Word of God", that still would not prove that God had authorized them to do so. We have no evidence that the Eleven achieved a state of perfection and omniscience on Pentecost. They, like every other human being, were fallible. So where is the evidence that God left a list of what should and what should not be considered his Word in a new testament?

Answer: No where!

We have no evidence from the Bible or anywhere else that God gave Christians a list of what is and what is not his Word! Christians have created an "inerrant, inspired, you-are-damned-to-Hell-if-you-don't-believe-it" Holy Book based solely on the opinions of men living almost 2,000 years ago.

Bombshell: Christians have zero evidence that proves the New Testament of the Bible to be the Word of God; the inerrant message of the Creator of the Universe to mankind. Zero!

Chad DeWitt

5/3/2015 07:36:19 am

Hi Gary,

Christians don't believe that just the 27 books of the Bible as the Word of God but all 66 (New and Old Testament). So that extends past your time frame you have given. You seem to be seeking evidence "for" the argument here yet lack giving any evidence "against." You are saying that Scripture came about because of fallible men creating it yet you are a fallible man declaring none of this is argument presented is false. We are supposed to believe you are correct about what you are saying because you "said so?" We have no evidence that at any time you have achieved a state of perfection and omniscience? How can we believe you?

A book is not considered the Word of God because it is accepted by the people of God but is accepted by the people of God because it is the Word of God. Basically, people recognized the divine authority God gave it.

You stated that the Bible is a "Holy Book based solely on the opinions of men living almost 2,000 years ago." Again, there is the appeal to what authority you have along with any evidence or facts you have to back up a statement like this. You don't have any. Also, I would say that the New Testament is more than just some men's opinions. The authors of the Bible and many men after that died for what they believed. People don't die for their "opinions." It is quite ridiculous to think that people sat around coming up with a book of opinions and then died for them. Don't you think they would have backed off on something they made up and had no certainty of in the face of death?

There are many internal and external tests that we could look at that show that the New Testament is historically accurate. Therefore, it is a basically reliable and trustworthy document.

On the basis of this document, we have sufficient evidence to believe that Jesus rose from the dead as He predicted He would. He also fulfilled dozens of other Messianic prophecies.

Jesus' Resurrection and fulfillment of prophecy show that He was who He said he was: The Messiah, The Son of God, God in the flesh.

Being God the Son, Jesus Christ is an infallible authority (what he says is true since he is God).

Jesus Christ taught that the Bible is the Word of God. He also taught that He was the only way to God (to answer your Islam post below).

So if Christ said it, we must believe it and he said that the Bible is the Word of God and that He is the only way to God.

gary link

5/4/2015 02:38:15 am

Thank you for responding to my comment.

You said, "Basically, people recognized the divine authority God gave it."

But people are fallible. How can you be sure that they did no make a mistake? Many early Church Fathers believed that the Shepherd of Hermas and the Epistle of Barnabas were inspired. Many early Christians did not believe that the Book of Revelation or Second Peter was inspired. Upon what criteria was the final composition of our modern Bibles formed?

gary

5/4/2015 02:41:54 am

"People don't die for their "opinions."

Thousands of religious minorities have died for their beliefs, beliefs which they believed to be absolute, divine, fact. I seriously doubt that you believe that just because devout Muslims, Hindus, and other non-Christians have died for their beliefs that this is evidence that their beliefs are true.

Gary

5/4/2015 02:46:28 am

"There are many internal and external tests that we could look at that show that the New Testament is historically accurate. Therefore, it is a basically reliable and trustworthy document."

Just because an ancient book contains historical elements does not mean that ALL claims in the book, especially supernatural claims, are true. If that were the case, we would have to believe every detail of Homer's The Iliad and the Odessey. Although most historians believe that there was an ancient war between Greece and Troy, I doubt you will find many who believe that one-eyed Cyclops and other Greek mythological figures truly existed just because some historically accurate details are included in Homer's stories.

gary

5/4/2015 03:00:54 am

Even if it is true that Jesus fulfilled OT prophecies, was resurrected, and is God, that still does not address the issue of how the NT canon was selected. Jesus only quoted the OT. I am not challenging the canonicity of any book that Jesus stated was the Word of God. I am not challenging the canonicity of the Old Testament. I am challenging you on the canonicity of the NEW Testament.

What proof do you have that Jesus authorized any of the 27 books of the NT to be considered his inerrant, holy Word?

gary

5/4/2015 03:08:32 am

Finally, you challenge me to provide evidence that an invisible God DID NOT authorize 27 books written in the early first millenia AD to be his inerrant, holy Words. That isn't how logic and reason work in Western Civilization. The person asserting a claim must provide the evidence, not the person who questions the veracity of the claim.

For instance, if someone were to claim that unicorns exist, the burden of proof would not be on me to prove that unicorns do NOT exist. The burden of proof is on the person making the claim. So unless a unicorn-believer can provide evidence for the existence of this creature, other than his own devout feelings and intuition about this horned horse-like animal, the rest of us are under ZERO obligation to refute his claim, let alone believe it.

Prove to me that an invisible, ancient Hebrew God authorized the 27 books of the New Testament which we have today as his infallible Words. The burden of proof is on you, my friend, not me.

matthew potter

3/24/2015 08:43:24 am

This is something I have struggled with throughout my life as I think most logical people would. There have been times in my life that I have struggled with this issue and it has caused faith problems. In the past few years the answers have been cleared in my mind, and I have peace about the subject.

I enjoy the way that you broke it down here, using good solid scriptures to argue your main points. Premise A is backed up with Titus 1:2, 1 John 3:2, Psalm 12:6, Prov. 30:5, 2 Tim. 2:15, and Romans 9:1

Premise B is backed up with 2 timothy 3:16, Romans 3:2, Acts 28:25.
I like this article, thanks Dr. Bird!

gary link

3/25/2015 07:22:50 am

Let's substitute a few words in this argument:

Premise A: Every utterance of Allah is perfect, and thus free from error.

Premise B: All the truth claims of the writer of the Koran are the utterances of Allah.

Conclusion: All the truth claims of the writer of the Koran are free from error.

Gary's conclusion: Holy Cat Whiskers! With this irrefutable deductive logical argument, I had better convert to Islam!

Austin R Cragun

1/17/2017 01:46:17 pm

Responding to something you responded to earlier "people don't die for their own opinions" you said many people for all different religions have. You are right but there is one key difference with the apostles that died. They died for something they claimed to have seen with their own eyes, now that is something that is not true about every religion. no Muslim ever died for a fact they witnessed with their own eyes. no one would do that unless they did in fact see it because they know if they are lying or not. If I started telling people I saw a martian in my house and then people wanted to kill me for that, I would say I'm just kidding as quick as I possibly can because I know I did not see a martian in my house. The apostles and disciples claimed they saw Jesus back from the dead with their own eyes and then they died for that very fact. I they did not in fact see him raise from the dead and just tried to spread a lie, they would not have died for something they knew to be false.

gary

1/17/2017 05:08:36 pm

Could you give me a quote from any of the Eleven disciples as to what they saw?

gary

5/5/2015 02:56:07 am

Alternative Explanation for the Empty Tomb, #4:

Martians done it!

Late Saturday night, a Martian mothership hovers over the tomb of Jesus. The commander, a sinister fellow with one eye, commands five of his Martian soldiers to teleport down to the ground, enter the bodies of the Roman soldiers, roll back the stone, and take the body. The body is levitated into the mothership using a tractor beam.

The Martian-possessed Roman soldiers go to the Sanhedrin and report that an angel has stolen the body. The members of the Sanhedrin all soil their undergarments and tell the soldiers to tell the people, “The disciples did it.”

The soldiers leave the Sanhedrin and are immediately teleported up to the mothership which returns to Mars, where a slave class is created from the Roman soldiers…who continue to live on the red planet…to this very day.

“Preposterous!” complain Christians.

“Just as preposterous as your tall tale!” I retort.

Joey Ellis

12/1/2015 01:34:34 pm

I like this argument, makes sense to me!

gary

12/1/2015 04:01:11 pm

Imagine growing up in a culture that has never heard of Jesus or Christianity. Imagine a conversation with a Christian missionary attempting to convert you to Christianity:

Christian: Hello, Friend. Do you have a moment?
You: Sure. What's up?
Christian: I would like to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with you.
You: Who?
Christian: Jesus Christ. He is God's Son who came to earth to die for our sins and to make it possible for us to live forever with God after we die. He loves you and wants to save you.

You: Save me? Which god are you talking about?
Christian: There is only one God, my friend.
You: Are you joking? There are many religions and many gods. So which god are you talking about?
Christian: The god of the Hebrews, Yahweh.
You: Never heard of him.

Christian: Yahweh is the one and only true God.
You: How do you know that?

(Conversation continued here):
http://www.lutherwasnotbornagain.com/2015/11/how-would-you-react-to-hearing.html

Kevin Spangler

12/15/2015 12:53:50 pm

This article is very helpful. In the day in which we live people need answers. We should show them historical evidence that proves infallibility of the Word. Also if we can say there is error in certain areas of the Bible, how can we believe any of it.

Joshua Wilson

11/10/2016 09:21:09 pm

Thank you for this solid yet simple argument! I find it especially solid in the fact that you specifically use paraphrased claims that come out of scripture. If we did not see in scripture where the utterances of God are perfect than we would have no basis to make this premise. Furthermore, if we had no basis in scripture to say that all of the truth claims in scripture are the utterances of God, we would not have a substantial argument for this second premise. However, there is scripture to back up these tow premises and therefore it makes the argument seemingly stronger. Thank you for this simply break down of the inerrancy of Scripture! It is vital today to know that Gods Word is in fact inerrant.

Nathan

12/6/2016 10:17:59 pm

This is an excellent scriptural argument for the inerrancy of Scripture. I can see very clearly in the Bible where these premises come from, and I can easily apply them to every truth-claim in both Old and New Testaments. The perfection of God as described in Deuteronomy 32:4 is well reflected in the glory given to Him through this argument for His truth.

Austin R Cragun

1/17/2017 01:48:04 pm

This argument is awesome, one I have used many many times.

Brennan

12/12/2017 04:43:43 pm

Excellent argument! I definitely plan to use this the next time I have an opportunity to teach on the subject.

Jonathan Slagenweit

5/6/2018 01:48:11 pm

A very good, simple, explanation for the inerrancy of scripture. While there is a lot more information that could be shared about the inerrancy of scripture, this article keeps it simple and straight forward. If you want a more in-depth view, Dr. Bird has links to Lee Strobel's website as well as another article that is more in-depth. Thanks for sharing this!

The Deductive Argument for Inerrancy

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