The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Scripture Inherency

1. Did this person actually say that the Scriptures do NOT make the person and work of Jesus less real? Perhaps I missed something in what you provided in the communication he sent to you. I have a hard time imagining someone would actually suggest that reading the biblical account of Christ would diminish the reality of His actual earthly appearance and the redemptive work He accomplished. Can you explain why you would tell this man you agree with this statement? What was it that precipitated him making such a statement?

2. It is absolutely true that the LORD Christ had an extremely high view of Scripture. But so did the prophets and apostles. There are myriad instances where they used the phrase, "Thus saith the LORD...", referring to both the written Word that already existed and/or the verbal/Spirit communication given to them. But in your response you hit on most all the excellencies of Scripture EXCEPT the one thing which is contentious... INERRANCY!

3. Now, you are certainly free to respond to this individual in any manner you so choose. However, I would suggest to you that unless you undermine his premise by exposing its inherent errancy, you will be wasting both your time and his time. For the last time, for I believe it is not worth repeating again henceforth since I have made this clear several times already, that IF there are errors in Scripture, propositional and absolute truth cannot be known, for how can one discover the truth from error. Either one accepts the entirety of Scripture as God-breathed, guided by the Holy Spirit, working those chosen to record the revelation of God perfectly, and thus they possess the attributes of infallibility and inerrancy, or one must deem the Bible as simply the compilation of the writings of fallible men who wrote some worthwhile things that can improve one's life... aka: moralism.

4. The doctrine of the full divine inspiration, infallibility, inerrancy and thus supreme authority of the Scriptures has been one of the foundational doctrines of the true Church since the beginning. It has come under attack in every age by those who have little or no desire to submit to ALL that it teaches. For example in more recent times, in 1924 the PCUSA issued the "The Auburn Affirmation" within which it states that it is imperative that for the sake of unity, not only within the PCUSA denomination itself, but unity among the other various denominations, that it is in error to state that the Bible has but one right and true interpretation. For, there are myriad views held by men that differ, some of which are antithetical to each other, yet it must be understood that tolerance and acceptance of these views is essential so as to preserved the oneness that exists between all who profess Christ as Lord... and even those who do not.

Now, how did it come to pass that such a statement could be made? As is typically true of all heresy, it was made possible because the doctrine of divine inspiration, which by the definition adopted by the true Church and as taught by the Scriptures themselves, inherently includes the attributes of infallibility and inerrancy. Men may differ on their interpretation, understanding and/or application of the Bible. But the Bible itself contains only ONE ABSOLUTE TRUTH. This is a truism which has even closer to home been rejected by the OPC and PCA denominations. The prevailing opinion is that one must accept a hermeneutic of Scripture that is multi-perspectival, i.e., that doctrine will differ depending upon the perspective of the reader. Thus, within the OPC and PCA, the various views on Genesis 1 are compatible; literal 24 hour 6-day creation, Framework theory, Gap Theory, etc.

The bottom line with all these errors is that they all share the view, which they invariably and categorically deny, that there is no absolute truth. Coming back to this foolish man you are communicating with, without a Scripture that is 100% infallible and inerrant, one cannot know anything as true. All that you have is relativity, which is what the world believes... "The only thing that is absolute is relativity" is the popular view. But that statement is inherently contradictory for it is proclaiming an absolute truth that absolute truth doesn't exist.