Have you ever thrown away a bible before, literally, in the trash, the garbage, never to see the light of day again? I have, probably in the order of over 100 bibles, when I was in the book business. That did get me to actually think about why we have any problem at all with doing the proper thing to a book that needs to be culled, even if it is the word of God.
The Bible is More than the Sum of It’s Parts
Perhaps my other working title would have been a little better; “Is the Bible Your Idol?” Not [idol] worship of the living Word (who is actually God), but of the ink and paper. Because what we hold in our hand is just that, ink, paper, leather, and glue, made from the hands of men, just like Aaron’s golden calf (see Exodus 32:4). Not in the same respect of course, but both were physically made by men. I come across believers, and even non-believers for that matter, all the time that when faced with an old, literally worn out (not generally from use), torn, water damaged, bible, they just refuse to throw it away.
It makes me wonder where we have placed our trust, and what do we place our trust in, the bible (paper and ink), or the Word of God. A friend of mine has a small bible he has used for years and years. It rarely leaves his side ever, and I might guess it is one of his most valued earthly possessions, but I am certain that he would tell you the value is in the power of the relationship, not the physical book.
I am sure he would never think of throwing it away, so when it had worn out from use, he had it recovered. A great option, especially when you have made the book your own, through daily conversation and worship, years of notes, folds that open to exact pages, and a history that reminds you of your walk with God. But there is a huge difference between a bible that is worn out from study, prayer, and contemplation, and one that is damaged beyond repair due to neglect.
God’s holiness does not reside in the ink and paper. Crossway when they began to print the ESV several years ago did not go out and get some special printer that only prints holy. They are a publishing company. They put together one of the best literal translations we have seen in the English bible in recent decades, but they didn’t just come up with a way to make paper, ink, leather, and glue sacred.
God’s word is a living breathing thing, that was present before creation. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God (John 1:1) and the word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). John tells us that the word is not dependent on paper and ink, the word was God before we had the scribes translating the scrolls, before Gutenberg’s breakthrough that gave the bible to the world, and God’s word is not dependent on anything we can or can’t do.
Two Examples from Jeremiah and Moses
The two quick examples that come to mind are Jeremiah and Moses. Jeremiah was a prophet who was told by God to write down the words God has spoken to him (the large part of which became the book of Jeremiah), and have those words read in front of the king, Jehoiakim. Jeremiah then dictated those words to Baruch his editor, who wrote them on a scroll for Jehoiakim. Jeremiah then tells Baruch to take the scroll to the king and have it read to him, and this is what happened.
As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot (Jeremiah 36:23). Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. Take another scroll and write all the former words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned (Jeremiah 36:28).
Another great example is with Moses when he came down the mountain with the 10 commandments. These tablets were “the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets” (Exodus 32:16).
Unlike our bibles, the 10 commandments was actually physically written by the hand of God. When he “saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain” (Exodus 32:19). When Moses broke the 10 commandments, he knew that God’s word was not destroyed. God then told Moses to “cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke” (Exodus 34:1).
What is similar in both examples of course is that God had His words re-written. In a round about way it reminds me of a recent movie called The Book of Eli, which showed a world intent on destroying all existence of God’s word. No matter how hard our culture, society, or any other force, tries to remove the word of God from His people, it will be unsuccessful. God’s word is not dependent on us to keep it alive, it IS alive. The physical book has meaning to us only because God has breathed life into His eternal Word, not because we currently digest it through the limits of ink and paper.
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I had to give a working definition of Inerrancy today so I thought I would post an excerpt of the results here as well. If you are just interested in the conclusions just jump to the bottom, if you want the full text there is a pdf download at the bottom as well (or from my writing section). This post is by no means meant to be exhaustive.
Biblical inerrancy is an important part of Christianity, and any theology. Because the Christian faith has firmly rooted its authority in that of the Holy Scriptures, the inerrancy (or infallibility as some refer to it, though the terms are not totally synonymous) of the Bible plays a central role in the authenticity of Christianity and its message. The issue of infallibility has come to be used as an alternate definition from that stated below, meaning more that the Bible was not always factually accurate but that the purpose, meaning, and overall divine nature was accomplished.
Concluding Definition of Biblical Inerrancy
There have been countless theses and dissertations written on the subject of the inerrancy of scripture, so this working post can only serve as the most basic introduction into the material of inerrancy. Erickson in Christian Theology explains inerrancy as…
The Bible, when correctly interpreted in the light of the level to which culture and the means of communication had developed at the time it was written, and in view of the purposes for which it was given, is fully truthful in all that it affirms (see full text Position and Argument on the Inerrancy of the Bible for qualifications).
Why is Biblical Inerrancy Important Today?
There are many reasons why inerrancy is important, especially today, when we live in a pluralistic society that is intent on defining truth as whatever you make it out to be. From a scholarly viewpoint, there are theological, historical, and epistemological reasons for inerrancy.
From a theological point of view, Paul, the disciples, and Jesus among other people, all called on the authority of scripture. Jesus quoted scripture throughout his ministry and took the view that scripture was the inspired work of God. If God inspires the work, and God is all-powerful, all knowing, and completely Holy, He certainly could influence the final canon to be completed accurately. If the Bible was not accurate, our own view of inspiration, among many other theologies that come from the Bible, would not be accurate either. In other words, without inerrancy, much of what we believe in scripture could not be held out as truth either.
Historically, the early church long held to the inerrancy, dependability, and authority of Scripture. History has a way of being testing by time, and to disregard the history of the church would itself be in error. The early church had far fewer questions about the inerrancy of scripture. It was known to them to be true, and fully trustworthy. If we depart from inerrancy, we also must depart from many other doctrines formed by the early church.
An epistemological view would state that some assertions in the Bible are at least potentially independently verifiable. Viewed as a type of domino theory, if one falls, they all fall, if we hold certain propositions taught by the Bible to be true that are not, we cannot continue to hold any of the propositions taught by the Bible to be true.
How Do We View Inerrancy Today
As stated above, this topic is so far reaching, so broad in scope that any of the information above can only be taken as the most basic and brief overview. In our own personal walk in Christianity the inerrancy of the scriptures has to play an important role in what we believe as Christians. If the Bible is the inspired word of God, given to us by divine revelation, we must conclude it is inerrant. If we don’t, all we can do is proceed down a slippery slop of discerning which parts are and which parts are not accurate.
We hold to almost no absolute truths in our culture today. Society no longer allows for absolute truths, they are far too exclusive, far too judgmental. Truths have to be open for debate, flexible, changeable, and able to be managed and manipulated into our own culture and times in a way that benefits our desires and sinful nature.
If the Bible is inspired, and also found to be errant, then we can not conclude that the God of the universe, the God of creation, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Father of Jesus, is inerrant either. That is a simplistic way to make a conclusion, but if we as Christians do not hold the Scriptures as the ultimate inerrant authority, then how can we hold that Christianity is the only way, the truth, and the light.
[For a full version of this essay in pdf please download Position and Argument on the Inerrancy of the Bible]
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I thought I would start off with something light hearted for the week here on The Damascus Blog, and then I came across wordle again. If you haven’t seen or used a Wordle yet, it can be very interesting and a little eye opening. I have looked at these now and then but I always try to guess what my most used word will be, and I never seem to be able to get it right, and I wrote every word. [As created on Wordle]
The Wordle Tag Cloud
The word cloud below is a comprehensive look at this blog in total by the words I use (click on the image to see it full size on Wordle). I only wish it was clickable to each word, but perhaps next time. So what stands out in my cloud?
For my faith blog, is it the word Jesus, or faith, or Christ, no, this go around, it is the word time. Also appropriate to me since I think time is so important, but I did not know it was my most used word on this blog. Others of note wedding, think, life, Christian, read, and can.
What Does Wordle Say About our Words
What wordle does that I find very interesting, is that it doesn’t lie (it a computer how can it). The randomness of my words, put in the format I chose, and I find that the small words little and God are in order right on top of each other (lower right), and the word Jesus?
Our church did a series a while back on how we use our words. I love the Wordle, it reminds me once again how our words are used, how important they are, and also what is small or absent in our vocabulary. Does this translate into our heart, or into our lives. Well I am not going to make the leap from Wordle to life just yet but it does point out to me what may or may not have importance.
The word Jesus shows up on this wordle, in the very lower left hand corner in tiny little text. Should be front and center on this tag cloud, bigger than everything else? I have actually used the name Jesus less, and He, or Him, or Creator more in total, and some times by design for specific reasons, so I don’t think Wordle quite tells the whole story.
What does your wordle say about your blog?
