Living by the Book/Living by the Book Workbook Set Read Online Free PDF Page A

using their own individual personalities, they composed and recorded, without error, His revelation to man in the words of the original manuscripts.”
    Peter used a brilliant word picture to describe this arrangement when he wrote that “men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:21). The word
moved
is the same word used to describe a ship moving along under the power of a blowing wind. The biblical writers were guided in their writing to go where God wanted them to go and to produce what God wanted them to produce. Without question, their personalities, writing styles, perspectives, and distinctives are reflected in their words. But their accounts are more than the words of men—they are the Word of God.
    Have you heard of the Jesus Project? Certain scholars doubt the reliability of the words of Jesus recorded in the four gospels. So they meet annually to discuss those texts. For each statement ascribed to Christ, they vote on the relative merits of whether Jesus actually said the words or whether the New Testament writers put them in His mouth.
    The vote can go one of four ways: The group may decide that Jesus’ words are “red,” indicating that He definitely spoke them. On the other hand, the scholars may label them “black” if they believe that He definitely did not say them. In the middle are “pink” (Jesus probably spoke them, though there is some question), and “gray” (Jesus probably did not speak them, though it is possible that He might have).
    What is the purpose of this exercise? A spokesperson says the group wants tostrengthen people’s faith by letting them know what is reliable and what is not.
    I don’t know how such a project strikes you, but it seems ludicrous to me—to say nothing of dangerous. How is it that a committee of doubters living two thousand years after the fact feels qualified to pass judgment on the authority of Scripture? 1 guess they hold to “inspiration by consensus.”
    I prefer inspiration by the Holy Spirit. The text of the Bible is not the musings of men but a supernatural product, the very Word of God.
THE BIBLE IS INERRANT
    In order to be authoritative, the Bible must be true, that is, without error. As someone has noted, “Either the Bible is without error in all, or it is not without error at all.” There’s really no middle ground. A “partially inerrant” Bible is an errant Bible.
    “Inerrancy” means without error—containing no mistakes or errors in the original writings, and having no errors in any area whatsoever. That’s a tough concept for our generation. We tend to be relativists, for whom nothing can be true in an absolute sense. Furthermore, our culture would have us believe that modern science has left the Bible far behind.
    The reality is that Scripture has withstood the test of pure science. Indeed, many of the most eminent, learned scientists of our day are taking a “third” look at Scripture in light of recent developments and discoveries.
    Believing in an error-free Bible does not mean that we take every statement in a wooden, rigidly literal way. As we’re going to see, Scripture often speaks in figurative language. Furthermore, we accept that there have been errors in transmission of the Bible from copy to copy, over the years (though surprisingly few).
    Nevertheless, the Bible bears witness to its own inerrancy. The most powerful witness is the Lord Jesus Himself. In Matthew 4:1–11, He emphasizes that the actual written words of Scripture can be trusted, not just the ideas they contain. In Matthew 5:17–18, He extends the absolute reliability of the text all the way to individual letters, and even the parts of letters.
    Throughout the gospels, Jesus referred to portions of Scripture questioned by some “authorities” today. There’s no hint that He regarded them as anything other than accurate, reliable, and true. (In Matthew alone, see 8:4; 10:15; 12:17, 40; 19:3–5; and 24:38–39.)
    Inerrancy means that we