The Bible: 4

The Bible: 4
Brad Reiches
Jun 15 2006 07:00PM

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Friday, June 16, 2006

GodThoughts Wired! 

"The Bible"

PART 4

The fourth of the nine essential components that give us a complete definition of the Bible is: 

4.  Genesis (original text).

Inspiration does not guarantee that every copy of the original is without error;

nor does it guarantee that every subsequent claim is the word of God.

TRUE:  The Bible is inerrant as originally given.

FALSE:  All subsequent copies are not necessarily inerrant.

The doctrine of "inerrancy" does not guarantee, nor does it even suggest that all copies are error-free.  THIS IS VERY, VERY IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND, especially in this day and age.  The significance of this distinction is self-evident, I think.  It means,

a).  A copiest error here or there along the way does not invalidate the perfection of God's word.

b)   The validity of books claiming biblical authority (i.e. The New World Translation, Jehovah's Witnesses) must be tested.

For example, if I create a COPY of the original manuscripts, it is not guaranteed to be "without error."  This is critical because it protects the doctrine of "the inerrancy of scripture as originally given."  Just because I might make a mistake translating (commonly referred to as a "copyist error"), this does not invalidate the inerrancy of scripture.  God does not guarantee that all copies ever made (have you been in a Christian Book store lately to look at some of the "junk" that they are calling "Bibles?") will be "without error" as the original manuscripts were (although I certainly believe that God has been sovereign to protect the original integrity of scripture throughout the ages).

Bottom Line:  Just as God is perfect, whatever is "God-breathed" (The Bible as originally given) must be perfect.  Thus, the original manuscripts are perfect.  Later copies can be imperfect without invalidating the doctrine of inerrancy.  Simply put, a "typo" hundreds of years after the fact has no bearing on...anything.  "Inspiration" means, "The Bible is errorless as originally given."  It does not mean that all copies subsequently created are necessarily error-free.