The Believer’s Certainty of the Doctrine of Inspiration (Part 2)

The Necessary Implications of 2 Timothy 3:16

The Scriptures Are Free From All Error in the Autographs

Whatever God immediately creates must of necessity be without error factually, theologically, morally, historically, and scientifically. The infinite perfections of God’s very being demand inerrancy and infallibility. God will not lie (1 Sam 15:20), cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Heb 6:18), and did not lie when He “breathed out” or “ex-spired” the sixty-six books of the Bible. The Spirit of truth (1 John 5:6) authored the Scriptures through human instrumentality, protecting the writings of the original authors from all error. Christ said, “I have given unto them the words which thou gavest to me” (John 17:8). The perfect God by the necessary demands of His own being communicates without error. The miracle of inspiration guarantees an inerrant recording of that revelation. To suggest that God can breathe error strikes at the center of the Christian faith. People who deny the inerrancy of the autographs are implicitly denying the Gospel, because they are denying the truthfulness of the only means by which they can know the Gospel. They are sawing off the limb on which they sit.

Erasmus, the Roman Catholic editor and initial compiler of the textual base underlying the KJV, was sharply attacked for some of his comments in his Annotationes. Erasmus was justly criticized because of his heretical view of inspiration. During the time he assembled his Greek text to parallel his Latin translation, he believed that inspiration protected the biblical writers in matters of faith only, and not in matters of history, science, or factual accuracy. In Acts 10, for example, Erasmus states in his notes that the original words of the apostle were in error, reasoning that divine inspiration extended only to their thoughts, and not to their words: “It was not necessary to ascribe everything in the apostles to a miracle. They were men, they were ignorant of some things, and they erred in a few places” (Erika Rummel, “An Open Letter to Boorish Critics: Erasmus’ Capita argumentorum contra morosos quosdam ac indoctos,” Journal of Theological Studies 39 [October 1988]: 454).

The Scriptures Are Providentially Preserved

When Paul writes, “All Scripture is God-breathed,” he refers directly to what the biblical authors wrote, not to what someone copied or translated. The Scriptures recognize the vital distinction between what the original writer wrote and subsequent copies or translations made by others (Deut 17:18; Neh 8:8). Several Old Testament passages indicate that the human authors of the autographs were conscious that they themselves were writing God’s words: David said, “The Spirit of Jehovah [Yahweh] spake by me” (2 Sam 23:2); Isaiah said, “Seek ye out . . . this book of Jehovah [Yahweh], and read” (Isa 34:16); Jeremiah said, “[God’s] words . . . even all that is written in this book” (Jer 25:13). In similar fashion, Paul knew that the directly inspired text consisted of “The things which I write unto you . . . [they] are the commandments of the Lord” (1 Cor 14:37 cf. 2:13; Acts 4:25).

The autographs have primal authority; copies and translations derive their authority from the original text rather than from an additional miraculous act of inspiration. The New Testament testifies to the necessary distinction between the autographs and copies. Jesus preached from accepted copies and translations of the text such as the Septuagint, and He accepted them as authoritative Scripture (Luke 4:16–21). He regarded the extant copies of His day as so approximate to the original manuscripts (which no one possessed) that He appealed to those copies as authoritative (Matt 19:4–7 cf. Gen 2:24).

The criteria for all textual reproduction and examination is exemplified in Exodus 32:15–16. God wrote the first tablets of the Law, which later were destroyed. The second copy of the Law was written according to the first writing (Deut 10:2, 4). There is no promise in God’s Word for a miraculous, immediate, divine working in the copyists or translators. Such a promise would necessitate continuous miracles each time the Bible was copied or translated. Claiming such a promise would be adding a new doctrine to God’s Word. A biblically defined miracle is the direct application of God’s power into the universe.¹ A work of providence, however, is indirect, as opposed to miraculous intervention. God has promised to preserve His Word through secondary causation (Ps 119:152 Of old I have known from Your testimonies that You have founded them forever.), but not through a miraculous transmission of the text.

The teaching of preservation logically flows from the doctrine of inspiration; that is, it is a necessary corollary of inspiration. The corollary says that there is no real purpose or value in inspiring a document that is not preserved. The original text, including its message, has been preserved in the totality of the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek manuscripts. ((On rare occasions, ancient translations such as the Septuagint et. al. have contributed to our knowledge of the autographic text when resolving an apparent copyist’s error. For example, in 1 Samuel 13:1 the Masoretic Text states that Saul was one year of age, hn”ßv’-!B, — lit. “son of a year” (a Hebrew idiom meaning one year of age), when he began to reign over Israel. Some ancient Greek manuscripts which pre-date the Masoretic Text read “thirty years” instead of “one year,” thus harmonizing 1 Samuel 13:1–2 with 1 Samuel 13:3ff; 9:2; 10:1–6 and Acts 13. The Scriptures make it clear that Saul was a full-grown adult when he was anointed King of Israel. In looking at the apparatus in our Hebrew Bible (BHS) as well as some additional sources, it reveals that a few manuscripts from the Lucianic Greek recension translate 1 Samuel 13:1 by stating that Saul was “thirty” when he began to reign. The internal evidence for supplying “thirty” originates from Scripture passages such as1Samuel 13:3ff; 9:2; 10:1–6 and Acts 13. On account of my theological conviction regarding the inerrancy of the autographa, I believe the original Hebrew text also reads “thirty,” even though we do not currently possess a Hebrew manuscript with that reading.)) On the other hand, no particular translation, manuscript, codex, text type, or family of manuscripts can scripturally claim to be the exclusive domain of the providentially preserved text.

Why is it necessary to make a distinction between the copies and originals in this regard? An error in a copy or translation reflects on a scribe, copyist, translator, or printer. An error in the original text, however, reflects on the author. Therefore, God commands His people to carefully preserve His inscripturated words, and He reserves divine judgment for those who intentionally corrupt the text either through addition, subtraction, or misrepresentation (Deut 4:2; 12:32; Prov 30:5–6; Dan 12:4; Rev 22:18–19). The safeguarding, preserving, and transmission of God’s Word is one of the most serious and demanding responsibilities that God has given to His people, and it requires our utmost effort.

Equally contemptible in God’s eyes as adding or subtracting from the original words of Scripture are attempts to corrupt the message of the Scriptures. The religious leaders of Christ’s day set aside the commandments of God in order to keep their traditions (Mark 7:9). In so doing, they invalidated the Word of God (Mark 7:12). The Jewish leaders of Christ’s day held superstitious attitudes toward the text of the OT; yet they intentionally circumvented the message of the text and thereby effectively corrupted the text itself. Disobeying the message or refusing to accept its truth as part of one’s belief system equals “adulterating” the Word of God (2 Cor 4:2; 2 Thess 2:2; 3:14). Many who have held a Bible in hand have hated God in their hearts. Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life” (John 5:39–40, NASB).²

Mike Harding is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Troy, Troy, Michigan.

Previously in this series:

• The Believer’s Certainty of the Doctrine of Inspiration (Part 1)
• The Believer’s Certainty of Scripture
• What is a Bible Worth?

1. The “universe” is defined as all that is not God, including everything involved in this time-space-mass continuum. [↩]
2. The verb “search” can be translated either in the imperative or the indicative (The KJV translates this as imperative). The indicative makes better sense in the context. Here Christ is condemning the Pharisees for their supposed allegiance to the Scriptures while simultaneously rejecting the Lordship and deity of Christ. [↩]