Preaching an Errant Word
Christmas was always a big deal in our home. On Christmas Eve, we’d be at Nannie and Papaw’s, and we three boys would get everything (within reason) that our hearts desired. We’d then run through McDonald’s to get a Big Mac meal for Santa, leave that treat under the tree, and run off to bed to sleep so that the big man himself could make his appearance. The next morning, we’d get up early to see what was under the tree and play with our toys. A couple days or so after Christmas, my dad’s parents would either come to visit us from Indiana or we’d travel to Indiana to visit them and have another Christmas.
One year, when I was no more than six, after we came back from Nannie and Papaw’s, Mom and Dad gave us three boys each a little illustrated Bible. The front cover showed Jesus surrounded by little children and throughout the pages of that King James Version the biblical narratives were illustrated. I remember telling Mom and Dad, “This is the best Christmas ever! You gave me a Bible, and that’s the best thing you could have ever given me.”
With a childlike naivety, I echoed Immanuel Kant, “The existence of the Bible, as a book for the people, is the greatest benefit the human race has ever experienced. Every attempt to belittle it is a crime against humanity.” I must say that the older I get and the more I study from the Bible, the more the words I spoke on that Christmas Eve years ago ring true: The Bible is the greatest gift I could ever have been given.
Having been raised in the Churches of Christ, I was taught from my earliest days to have a deep reverence for Scripture and for biblical authority. In fact, the first church I remember attending is the Upper Spencer Church of Christ near Mt. Sterling, Kentucky where my father preached when I was a wee lad. Years and years before Dad preached at Upper Spencer, the regular preacher was “Raccoon” John Smith, one of the leading evangelists in what is now known as the Restoration Movement. Preaching on January 1, 1832, Smith said, “Let us, then my brethren, be no longer Campbellites or Stoneites, New Lights or Old Lights, or any other kind of lights, but let us come to the Bible, and to the Bible alone, as the only book in the world that can give us all the light we need.”1
Because the Bible is the only book in all the world that can give us much needed light, those of us in the Restoration Movement had often used the slogan “We speak where the Bible speaks, and we are silent where the Bible is silent.” Such is sound advice, for the Scriptures are “useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16-17). Scripture is all I need—no man-made creed, no need to ask what Brother So-and-So teaches, and no need to check with some denominational hierarchy.
I was taught from my earliest days that the Bible is the inerrant word of God—no errors in even the smallest details. Well-meaning brothers and sisters have taught this because God is perfect (cf. Matt 5:48), and his word, therefore, must be perfect. A glaring problem, however, is that the Bible never claims inerrancy; nowhere does Scripture claim to be free of any and all error. Thus, if I’m seeking to “speak where the Bible speaks” and to “be silent where the Bible is silent,” I’ll not hold any doctrine which does not come from Scripture—including the doctrine of inerrancy.
I myself held to the doctrine of inerrancy for many years and would have been dismayed to hear anyone say that Scripture has any sort of error. But, when I came across clear and undisputable errors in Scripture, I had no small crisis of faith, and I, for the first time ever, am going to write openly and honestly about my understanding of Scripture. I love Scripture more than ever before, and I spend more time studying my Bible at any other point in my life. I know some will find what I write here a hard pill to swallow and others will want to label me as a heretic and outside the faith (but please read the entire article before you do).
Why publish an article I know will cause some to give me grief? The answer is really simple:
First: I want to build your faith.
That may seem like a strange statement, but speaking from personal experience, rejecting inerrancy was a faith-building event in my life. Perhaps, you, like me in years past, feel a need to harmonize every little part of the Gospels or spend time trying to explain away other apparent contradictions in Scripture. Now, I’m not bothered by those passages, and I focus with eyes of faith on what the Spirit of God is teaching me in the pages of holy writ.
Second: I want to help preachers proclaim the Scriptures with honesty and faith.
My role when I step into the pulpit is to help folks come to faith in Christ and to live under his Lordship. How do you handle texts which seem difficult to harmonize without causing a crisis of faith? How do you help people come to believe and submit to a Lord revealed in the pages of an errant Word?
Third: I want to help you understand the purpose and aim of Scripture.
What is God seeking to accomplish in the Scriptures? That seems clearer to me than before I rejected inerrancy. I’m more persuaded of the truth of biblical doctrine than in times past. I believe Jesus is the only way to heaven, I believe immersion for the remission of sins is the only way to get into Christ where all spiritual blessings are found, I believe in male spiritual leadership in the church and in the home, I believe the Eucharist of the Lord should be remembered each first day of the week, and I even believe that one should lift his voice to God without the accompaniment of musical instruments in worship. I believe that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, I believe that Jesus died and was bodily raised in Jerusalem, I believe the Apostles saw the Risen Christ, I believe Jesus ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of the throne of God, I believe Jesus built only one church, and I believe he is coming again to judge the living and the dead. You see, rejecting a doctrine from the logic of men has not caused me to reject one word of biblical truth.
Let me describe for you how I came to reject inerrancy and how my view of Scripture has impacted my preaching.
Errors in Scripture
When I was preaching in Kentucky, for some reason or other, I began studying the work of the Chronicler. His numbers are, quite frankly, often wrong. Jashobeam, leader of David’s mighty men, killed 300 with his spear at one time (1 Chr 11:11), but maybe he killed 800 (2 Sam 23:8). Solomon, with all his wealth, had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots (1 Ki 4:26), or did he only have 4,000 (2 Chr 9:25)? I could go on and on with troubles with the numbers the Chronicler wrote.
One could, if he wished to jump through enough non-existent hoops, harmonize the numbers in Chronicles. If Jashobeam killed 800 men at one time, he obviously killed 300. If Solomon had 40,000 stalls for his horses, he certainly had 4,000. “See,” one might be tempted to say, “there is no contradiction in those numbers.” I would have harmonized numbers that way myself in years past, and I would have said, “Simply because the Chronicler doesn’t give us the full number doesn’t make him wrong.”
But I kept reading and finding other mistakes the Chronicler made. “Satan stood up against Israel, and incited David to count the people of Israel” (2 Chr 21:1-2), but the author of Samuel tells us God was the One who “incited David against” Israel (2 Sam 24:1). The most interesting difficulty with Chronicles, in my opinion, is, “Who killed Goliath, and was it even Goliath who was killed?” “Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, killed Goliath the Gittite” according to 2 Samuel 21:19, but the Chronicler records that “there was war with the Philistines; and Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam” (1 Chr 20:5).
I know some attempt to harmonize even those texts. One might say, for example, that God used Satan to lead David to number Israel. Maybe one could try to say that Elhanan killed both Goliath and Lahmi, but neither text easily leads to such harmonization, especially since both texts mention the greatness of the spear’s shaft.
However, I finally came across one narrative that opened my eyes, and try as I might, I could find no way to harmonize them, and I was forced to admit the errancy of Scripture. Matthew 20:29 reads: “As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him;” Jesus, as he left Jericho, healed two blind men (cf. Mk 10:46). In Luke, Jesus was nearing Jericho when he healed a blind man: “As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. . . .” (Lk 18:35). Matthew records two blind men Mark and Luke only record one—if the Lord healed two, he healed one; the narratives could be harmonized with the numbers. But how could the Lord be entering Jericho and leaving Jericho at the same time and in the same way? Simply put, he could not.
Some try to harmonize the two passages. Eric Lyons of Apologetics Press suggests that perhaps there are two healings being recorded in Matthew and Luke. 2 A simple reading of the two passages leads one to reject that idea—Matthew and Luke are clearly referring to the same event; Lyons himself admits this is a long shot at harmonization, but he argues that is all that’s necessary to overcome a discrepancy in Scripture: “Though this suggestion about there being three blind men is considered by many to be remote, it is at least possible—and that is all that is required to negate an alleged discrepancy.” 3
Lyons goes on to suggest that what is most likely taking place is that Matthew refers to the Old Testament Jericho and Luke refers to Jesus’s drawing near to the reconstructed Jericho. 4 However, there is absolutely nothing to suggest that understanding as a way to harmonize the passages. As Joel Stephen Williams has noted, “This is possible, but it takes a strange reading of the text to find this solution. An unbiased reading of the text would not suggest that one Gospel writer is speaking of new Jericho and another is speaking of old Jericho.” 5
What to do with inerrancy then? I had to place that idea on the ash heap of the history of my life. What to do with my life then? I was preaching for a Church of Christ in Kentucky, had just become a father to a little boy, had a wife to support, and one of the most important doctrines undergirding my faith had been yanked out from under me. Do I still believe in God? If I do, can I place confidence that the Bible is from him if it contains even one little mistake?
As I wrestled with these questions, I began to search and to dig and to pray. As I did so, the purpose and function of Scripture became ever clearer. Scripture, you see, never came from man, but “men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Pet 1:21, RSV). God moved men to write Scripture to bring us to faith in him and his Son: “Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17; cf. Jn 20:31). God inspired Scripture to bring me to salvation through faith in his Son; Paul told Timothy, “From childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 3:15). Scripture is “useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16-17).
Scripture equips God’s worker for “every good work,” for the Bible is infallible. A mistake in some of the narratives does not change the fact that Scripture perfectly guides man in doctrine and morality. “The LORD exists forever; your word is firmly fixed in heaven” (Ps 119:89). “The scripture cannot be annulled” (Jn 10:35). Because the scripture cannot be annulled, not even the smallest character would be moved from the Law until the Lord Jesus had fulfilled it (Matt 5:18).
Because Scripture is immutable and infallible, God does not take error lightly. The Apostle Paul made God’s disdain for error unmistakable: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed!” (Gal 1:8). No angel or apostle has the right to change one word of God’s truth. Jesus had “a few things against” the church at Pergamum, for some held to false doctrine; if those Christians refuse to repent of error Jesus would come and “make war against them with the sword of [his] mouth” (Rev 2:14-16). Jesus did not take error lightly and neither can we.
In the days of the apostles, much error was taught about Jesus himself. Many claimed that Jesus had not really come in the flesh but that he had only appeared to have done so. Others claimed that Jesus was just a man like you or me but that the Spirit of God descended upon him at his baptism but then departed before his crucifixion. With both of these errors swirling around the early church, the Apostle John told the Elect Lady, “Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God; whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. Do not receive into the house or welcome anyone who comes to you and does not bring this teaching; for to welcome is to participate in the evil deeds of such a person” (2 Jn 9-11). Jesus and his apostles had no room for error but only truth.
The one who carefully studies Scripture will reject error and embrace truth, for Scripture “is inspired by God” (2 Tim 3:16). Understanding precisely what Paul means by “inspired by God” is somewhat difficult, for the Greek term only occurs here in the New Testament. 6 “Inspired” comes from two distinct Greek terms theos (God) and pneō (to breathe). 7 How is Scripture breathed by God?
Perhaps, God breathed out Scripture and every word is as he intended, for men were moved by the Holy Spirit to write as they did (2 Pet 1:21). We know that the very words of the apostolic preaching were from the Spirit; Paul told the Corinthians, “We speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit” (1 Cor 2:13). That understanding makes sense not only in the immediate context of 2 Timothy 3 but in the entire context of Scripture.
However, another equally compelling interpretation is that God breathed life into the Scriptures. When God formed man from the dust of the ground, the Lord God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being” (Gen 2:7). Likewise, when the words of Scripture were breathed out of the mouth of God, he breathed into the pages of his Word life: “Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12; cf. 1 Pet 1:23). That interpretation, too, fits not only the immediate context of 2 Timothy 3 but the entire context of Scripture.
Which understanding of “inspired of God” is to be preferred? I do not see any reason to choose between the two. Both ideas are true—God breathed out the very words of Scripture, and he instilled life into those words.
Preaching that Word
It has been the honor of my life to stand before the people of God and proclaim that living and active word. It has been the honor of my life and to sit in living rooms and talk with precious souls about the risen Christ and to use the scriptures to help them come to faith in Christ.
When I was teaching apologetics at a Christian university, I was asked in class one day about my view of inerrancy. I cannot recall what precipitated the question, but one bright student who was apparently struggling with some of the questions I myself had faced years earlier asked me what type of confidence I placed in Scripture. I answered my student that in the Bible we had everything God wanted us to have and everything God knew that we needed. I firmly believed that statement when I gave it as an answer, and I believe that statement firmly now.
Could God have inspired the men who wrote the books of Scripture to make no mistakes whatsoever? Sure, the God who created the cosmos from nothing and raised his Son back to life after his Passion could have chosen to inspire men to write without any mistakes. However, God chose to allow each author of Scripture to write with his own personality and with his own frailties.
The fact that God uses an errant Word to bring to bring me to bring new life (1 Pet 1:23) and that that word “endures forever” (1 Pet 1:25) is no small miracle in itself. God inspired men with all their foibles to preserve his will which is “a lamp shining in a dark place” (2 Pet 2:19). With all its frailties, that lamp points me to Jesus (Jn 5:29) and creates faith in him, faith which allows me to have eternal life (Jn 20:31).
God, because he is all powerful and all wise, inspired his word as he saw fit to accomplish his purposes. God didn’t need my logic or wisdom as to how he should give the world his word. God gave a word that “shall accomplish that which [he] purpose, and succeed in the thing for which [he] sent it” (Is 55:11). I’ve seen that word change lives marred by sin. I’ve seen that word bring hope as God’s people have gazed in a casket of a loved one. I’ve seen that word bring faith in Christ and lead people to obey the Lord Jesus in baptism. I’m grateful to serve a God who has given such a word to man.
That’s precisely how I’ve preached for the past twenty-some years, a word that will lead to Jesus and eternal life in him. I’ve largely eschewed topical preaching (unless there was some theological truth I need to share with the congregation) and proclaimed expository sermons. Expository preaching keeps every passage in context, doesn’t require harmonization, and faithfully portrays God’s purpose in inspiring the text.
For example, let me go back to the passages which caused me to abandon the doctrine of inerrancy: the healing of Bartimaeus. In preaching the passage from any of the Synoptics, I wouldn’t concern myself at all with the inconsistencies between them. Instead, I would focus on the lessons God had the Gospel writers preserve for us: the blind man’s faith, Jesus’s compassion, and Jesus’s power to heal. That’s the purpose of the passage, that’s what points to Jesus, and that’s what builds faith.
Every day when I get up, before I do anything else, I read Scripture that my day might be molded by that powerful word. Of an evening, when I get into bed, I read Scripture before I turn off my lamp. I bookend my days with the word of God because only that word, warts and all, has the power to shape my life into what it needs to be, only that word will lead me to Jesus, and only that word will lead me to life in his name.
1 H. Leo Boles, Biographical Sketches of Gospel Preachers. Nashville, Tennessee: Gospel Advocate Company, 41.
2 Eric Lyons, “Controversial Jericho,” http://apologeticspress.org/AllegedDiscrepancies.aspx?article=666&b=Matthew
3 Lyons, “Controversial Jericho.” Emphasis added.
4 Lyons, “Controversial Jericho.”
5 Joel Stephen Williams, “The Error of Inerrancy,” Encounter 56.1 (Winter 1996): 68.
6 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/wordfreq?lang=greek&lookup=qeo%2Fpneustos
7 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=qeo%2Fpneustos&la=greek&can=qeo%2Fpneustos0&prior=grafh\&d=Perseus:text:1999.01.0155:book=II%20Timothy:chapter=3:verse=16&i=1#lexicon