Last night, I had a great conversation with Chris about whether or not one needed to believe in the inerrancy of the Word of God (Bible, scriptures) to become a Christian? If faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God then does that mean we must believe in inerrancy to be saved? How about this: we only know Jesus from scripture, but if scriptures are full of error then how do we know Jesus?
Now let me state from the very beginning that I believe in the inerrancy and infalliblility of the Word of God. I don't want anyone to get even the notion that I don't believe in the inerrancy of the Word of God.
That being said, I think that this is a good question: does one have to believe in the inerrancy of the Bible to be saved? I believe that this ultimately leads to another question: what does it take to be saved? Do we have to know certain doctrines? Do we have to say a certain prayer? Do we just believe and follow? Do we have to work for our salvation?
What does it take to be saved?
Here is a scenerio: a man lays on his death bed having grown up in a "liberal" church that does not believe in the complete inerrancy of the Bible. He never "believed" and was a member by name only. At his death bed, his pastor realizes that this man has never followed Jesus with a personal faith. The pastor then leads this man to believe in Jesus and trust Him for his salvation.
The man does so with a sincere heart.
Is he saved although neither the pastor nor him believe that the Bible is completely inerrant?
Well some questions that we may bring up are: can we know Jesus from a "tainted" and "error" filled Bible? Is that Jesus the Jesus of salvation? If the Bible is full of error then how can we know that the way to salvation is in fact not in error?
I have an answer to the question. Well at least an answer from my perspective. I believe that one is saved by believing in Jesus and trusting Him for their salvation, and in turn following Him. That is salvation. I become hesitant to say that we have to believe certain things before we can become a Christian. Can one here the gospel from someone who doesn't believe in the inerrancy of the Bible and be saved? Absolutely. Do I have to believe that the Bible is totally without error before I can be saved? I don't believe that one must believe that. Think of all those that are in Africa who never understand the concept of inerrancy of the Word of God. Think of when we share the Gospel, do we share that the Bible is God's Holy word and that there is no error in it? One must believe in Jesus and trust in Him alone.
Lets not make people believe certain things (Trinity, inerrancy, abortion is wrong) for them to become Christians. Lets let salvation be salvation.
Any thoughts? Leave comments.
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1 comment:
Drew,
Biblical inerrancy:
God is perfect. Man is not.
God inspired, carried, moved men to write the Scriptures in the original manuscripts. The church fathers chose the canon based on apostolicity (is that a word) not necessarily on "inerrancy". So, in a way the church that has been made by the Scriptures also made the Scriptures. Until around AD 300 our current collection of books wasn't universally agreed upon.
Now, fast-forward a couple thousand years. We are now fifty generations removed from the original manuscripts.
I believe wholeheartedly that the Scriptures are inerrant in the original manuscripts, but we don't have those.
The Scriptures we do have, however, are man-made translations and interpretations that are the result of two thousand years of theological reflection and interpretation.
The Scriptures today cannot be inerrant because our translations differ. I do believe they are the final authority and completely trustworthy because God is trustworthy and the Apostles definitely knew what God was doing.
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