Bible as Deputized Sign

Christians have been arguing for some time about whether the Bible is inerrant or not. For many of us there is the desire to affirm the inspiration of Scripture without having to embrace inerrancy, which in my mind unduly constricts the text and strips it of its humanity. With that in mind, I find this definition of inspiration as opposed to inerrancy given by Joe Jones, a Disciples of Christ theologian (retired from Christian Theological Seminary) quite helpful.

First, let me say that Jones speaks of inerrancy as producing a docetized Bible -- one without true humanity. In this regard he writes:

The church should have no theological interest in regarding the Bible as inerrant in the totality of its sentences. It is this humanly fallible creaturely medium that God has condescended to use to convey Godself.


Then he goes on to write:

Even if we do not affirm a docetized, inerrant Bible, the church does confess that the Bible -- as primitive witness to God's self-revelation -- is inspired by the Holy Spirit. "Inspired" does not mean inerrant and infallible in every respect. But inspired does mean deputized by God. The Bible could not be the witness to God it is without the movement of the Holy Spirit guiding and empowering the Scriptural writers. But God's inspiration does not displace the human authors.


Jones continues by appealing to Calvin's own belief that God has accommodated God's message to human thought/writing/experience. The point here is that while Scripture might not be inerrant/infallible in all that it says (especially regarding science and some of its history), it is a trustworthy witness to God's self-revelation in Jesus Christ.

And he writes:

These inspired words of witness are given by God for the upbuilding of the faith of the church in its witness to God for the benefit of the world. (Joe R. Jones, A Grammar of Christian Faith: Systematic Explorations in Christian Life and Doctrine, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002, p. 124).


And is this not why we come to Scripture? To hear a word from God that will transform our lives and the world in which we live?

Comments

I want to comment reg. “inerrant Bible”

 

First some important information: A analysis (found here: www.netzarim.co.il (that is the only legitimate Netzarim)) of all extant source documents and archaeology using a rational and logical methodology analyzing the “gospel of Matthew” proves that the historical Ribi Yehosuha ha-Mashiakh (the Messiah) from Nazareth and his talmidim (apprentice-students), called the Netzarim, taught and lived Torah all of their lives; and that Netzarim and Christianity were always antithetical.

Regarding “NT”:

“Even according to the most authoritative Christian scholars, e.g., The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, acknowledges:

"A study of 150 Greek MSS of the Gospel of Luke has revealed more than 30,000 different readings… It is safe to say that there is not one sentence in the NT in which the MS tradition is wholly uniform… But there are many thousands which have a definite effect upon the meaning of the text. It is true that not one of these variant readings affects the substance of Christian dogma" ("Text, NT," 2nd edition (Abingdon, 1962).

Of course Christians redacting the Jewish texts made Christian redactions to make the Jewish texts compatible with "the substance of Christian dogma." Duh.” [Quote from the previous mentioned Netzarim-website.]

Clearly the “NT” is not inerrant.

The NÓ™tzâr•im′ never changed their mind about it, maintaining that only the Jewish Ta•na"kh′ is Scripture and only their own TheNÓ™tzâr•im′ Hebrew Ma•tit•yâh′u (NHM) was a legitimate account of the life and teachings of Rib′i YÓ™ho•shu′a.

The NÓ™tzâr•im′ haven't changed from this position, and won't change from this position.

Anders Branderud

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