How Important is Inerrancy to Apologetics?
For some people, inerrancy of the Bible is one of the central doctrines of the Christian faith. Some may think a belief in inerrancy is required for someone to be a Christian.
Others may not take it so far but would believe that inerrancy is foundational to Christian apologetics. How do we know there is a God? The inerrant Bible says so. How do we know Jesus rose from the dead? The inerrant Bible tells us so.
I am not going to delve into all the controversies surrounding inerrancy. People have lost their jobs for being on the wrong side of the inerrancy debate.
I’m not worried about losing my job but I am aware that the term inerrancy is pretty slippery. Does it mean that the Bible is without error on all theological subjects? What about what the Bible says about science, history or geography?
And my special interest: What standard do we use to measure inerrancy? Is the Bible without error according to ancient standards (which allowed less precision than today) or modern standards?
For some Christian apologists, the starting point is the inerrant Bible. Once you convince a non-Christian that the Bible is inerrant, you can convince them of any biblical truth.
That is great when it works.
From my experience, most people can’t make that step, at least not right away. But they might be able to be convinced that the Gospels are reliable biographies of Jesus. They might be convinced that Acts and Paul reliably record the beginnings of the church.
Ultimately, one is saved by faith in Jesus and not in the Bible. People were following Jesus for centuries before the New Testament was compiled exactly as it is today.
I’m not saying that the Bible is unimportant. It is extremely important. It is how we know who Jesus is. But a strict view of inerrancy is not necessary for effective apologetics.
If inerrancy is central to your method, that is great. For others, it may look different.
That Christians can’t agree on what they want inerrancy to mean, or what parts it would apply to, shows that there is no reason to think any of you have the right answer.
If the bible is not inerrant, then which parts aren’t, how do you know, and why believe any of it since there is no evidence for the essential events?
“People were following Jesus for centuries before the New Testament was compiled exactly as it is today.”
No, people were following many different version of Jesus for centuries until politics forced a compilation.