Practicing Christian Doctrine: An Introduction to Thinking and Living Theologically

by Beth Felker Jones

To claim that Scripture is inerrant is to make a strong claim about the truth and reliability of the texts. God does not err, and these texts are the Word of God; therefore, it makes sense to confess the inerrancy of Scripture. Other evangelicals, concerned that the term “inerrancy” suggests standards of historical and scientific precision that were foreign to the contexts in which the biblical authors wrote, prefer to speak of the infallibility of Scripture. To claim that Scripture is “infallible” is to state that Scripture will not fail. God intends Scripture to lead us to salvation and guide us in the Christian life, and it is infallible in this purpose. Both claims of inerrancy and claims of infallibility are statements about the authoritative nature of the Scriptures as the Word of God, and both terms may be seen in doctrinal statements of many institutions and churches. Logically, to confess inerrancy is also to confess infallibility. The way the debate is framed, however, means that the reverse is not always the case, and often a confession of infallibility is specifically intended to be an alternative to inerrancy.