Doctrines of "Biblical Inerrancy" and "Biblical Infallibility"

 

The terms "Biblical Inerrancy" and "Biblical Infallibility" are often seen as synonymous terms and are used interchangeably, however, there are subtle and distinguishable differences between these two doctrines at their core.

 

-Biblical Infallibility is the belief that what the Bible says regarding matters of faith and Christian practice is wholly useful and true. It is the "belief that the Bible is completely trustworthy as a guide to salvation and the life of faith and will not fail to accomplish its purpose." (McKim, DK, Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, John Knox Press, 1996.)

 

-Biblical Inerrancy is the belief that the Bible "is without error or fault in all its teaching"; (Geisler, NL. and Roach, B., Defending Inerrancy: Affirming the Accuracy of Scripture for a New Generation, Baker Books, 2012) OR, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact." (Grudem, Wayne A. 1994. Systematic theology: an introduction to biblical doctrine.) The belief in Biblical Inerrancy is of particular significance within parts of evangelicalism, where it is formulated in the "Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy." Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy link: https://www.etsjets.org/.../documents/Chicago_Statement.pdf 

 

-The "doctrine of the inerrancy of scripture" held by the Catholic Church, as expressed by the Second Vatican Council, is that "The books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation."

 

Some biblical scholars distinguish between the two doctrines (inerrancy and infallibility), while other scholars equate them as a single doctrine. The doctrines of Biblical Inerrancy and Biblical Infallibility are widely held by Evangelical Christians and Messianic Jews but are more often rejected in more liberal renditions of Christianity and scholarship.

 

Evangelical Christian circles generally believe that the bodies of manuscripts of which protestant believers have been using before modern textual criticism reflect the true and pure inerrant text of the Bible. Even within more liberal renditions of Christianity, not all textual critics deny the above doctrines of Biblical Infallibility and Biblical Inerrancy.

 

Some proponents of textual criticism believe that the original text can be known/restored based on the overwhelming manuscript evidence that is within our reach. The critical text of the New Testament only differs from the traditional Byzantine style text by about 2% in content - none affecting any major doctrine.

 

Disclaimer: We at "Ancient Manuscript Appreciation" hold to the belief that the study of manuscript evidence AFFIRMS doctrines of Biblical Inerrancy and Biblical Infallibility --- that the Holy Bible as we have it today is 100% pure and accurate. We will not dogmatically push any particular manuscript tradition but rather present the evidence of the various manuscript traditions in a non-biased way to enrich your studies.