Why is it important to believe in biblical inerrancy?

Inspiration of the Bible is a main watershed between Christianity and other faiths. If the Bible cannot be trusted to be the inspired Word of God, then its claims concerning the deity of Christ, our sins and state and our need for salvation through faith in Christ's death, and resurrection have no force. The biblical Christian recognizes the Old and New Testaments as the only words that come from God Himself - the final authority for faith and practice. For biblical Christians, all claims to authority must be judged according to Scripture. Following are answers to common questions concerning the Scriptures.

Absolutely. If the Bible were not inspired then it would simply be a piece of literature among many others. Without inspiration you have no 'Word of God', you lose the foundation for everything. All other doctrines, whether about Christ's Person or work, whether about the church, the kingdom, or prophecy, can only be defended if the Biblical text is reliable - i.e. only if it comes directly from God.

No thoughtful reader can fail to be impressed with our Lord's absolute dependence upon the whole word of God throughout His entire life. Even in the circumstances attending His birth, all was done "that the Scriptures might be fulfilled," and at His death it was the same. We would search in vain for the slightest uncertainty on His part as to the truth and authority of the Scriptures. With Him it was ever and only the word of God. "The Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35). It was Moses who wrote of Him, and David who, by the Holy Ghost, foretold His glory. How does the awful unbelief of men who profess to be His followers compare with this? It is as if our Lord declared He stood or fell with the word of God; that if that were not true, neither was He. And so indeed it must be. He who is holy and true has given His sanction to all Scripture as true. By it He met Satan and vanquished him; to it He appealed in His teaching; from it He quoted constantly in all His conflicts with the unbelieving Pharisees and others. Its history, its psalms and its prophecy are declared by Him to be the word of God. The truth of the history of Jonah stands or falls with the truth of His own death and resurrection: to deny one is to deny the other also (Matt. 12:39-40). All Scripture pointed to Himself, and He expounded it so (Luke 24:27, 44). Thus our Lord fully and perfectly identified Himself with the word of God.

The well-known passage in 2 Timothy 3 gives us the clearest instruction on this point. It has peculiar emphasis, because the Church had already separated from godliness and order, and perilous times were to come, and evil men and seducers wax worse and worse. The saints needed a sure ground to go upon; a resting-place for their hearts somewhere. Besides personal confidence in Paul, which we have only in his writings, the apostle continues, "and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith that is in Christ Jesus. All (every) scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Tim. 3:15. Now here, when the resource of a soul in a dangerous and distracting time had to be furnished, what was it? The holy scriptures, the holy writings. Forgeries are not holy, they are very unholy, whatever pious frauds may be in them; and certainly they are not a resource in dangerous times. It is a knowledge of it as a child takes it, a known resource of authority over the mind; next, it is not partial. All (or more exactly, every) scripture is given by inspiration of God, is Θεόπνευστος.

Such was the condition of the people of Israel, and the cause of the judgment which befell them. It was then the Lord said, "Bind up the testimony, seal the law, among my disciples … To the law and to the testimony." Thus also in the New Testament we are told, "In the last days perilous times shall come." What is then the resource of the faithful? "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God." The resource in "the last days" is reverence for the holy scriptures, and the assurance of their sufficiency. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." Therefore, whether it be amongst the Jews or in the church, the resource in evil days is confidence in the divine inspiration of the holy scriptures. The Lord has pointed it out and sanctioned it; but this confidence in the authority of the word existed before He had given it His sanction. And it is this faith, without any other sanction than the word itself which He has sanctioned. Precious testimony for latter days, since the same sanction applies to them also! The apostle, in warning us of perilous times, directs our thoughts beforehand to the same means of establishing the soul. Those who had faith in the scriptures, before the Saviour's testimony to their authority, were enabled through grace to discern what was God's word, and were approved by Him. Those who do so now have this same approval. They have the same responsibility as to what they receive. But although this responsibility exists, God does not cease to use means.

How important it is to hold fast the great truth that the Bible is the Word of God, and therefore "God-breathed." All apostasy starts with the denial of this fact. The Scriptures are the permanent expression of the mind and will of God. It is not merely that the truth is given in them by inspiration, but they are inspired. They are the expression of His own thoughts. They are our only authority. Upon the constant use of them depends everything. Without adhering to the Scriptures and being obedient to them, we also would be swept along by the current of apostasy. They are the one thing profitable. Note the order: Profitable for doctrine, which we get alone from the Word of God, and which is the foundation of everything. Then follows "reproof" or conviction, and that is followed by correction and instruction for righteousness. It starts with the doctrine and leads, after conviction and correction, to righteousness. And then the man of God, obedient to the Scriptures in all things, is perfect, thoroughly finished unto every good work.

On the contrary, it is Scripture which gives the church authority; as it is Scripture which furnishes the great store of materials for ministry. At the same time here is the essential difference: ministry is not an ultimate authority in itself. In fact it is not properly authority: the idea of ministry is serving, even if it were the exercise of the gift of rule. For I grant that there are among those that minister such as rule. My advice to those that rule, if I may be allowed to offer any, is to do that work with firmness, however lowlily, as much as anything else. Rule is no less divine a gift for ministry than preaching and teaching. It is well, no doubt, to take care that they are rulers of the Lord's giving before they enter on that grave task. But, however this may be, what I want to show is, that Scripture, so far from interfering with or weakening whatever is good and of God, not only furnishes the finest and most abundant material for the use of those who are serving the Lord, but has another use yet more distinctive — indeed unique. Scripture is not merely a source of truth, an infinitely richer source than all other mines of spiritual lore in the world put together, but it gives you pure truth without error on every subject of which it treats. Not that it talks the science of the nineteenth century: and there is just the wisdom of God. Neither does it talk the science of the first century, or of any other. It stands alone with a wholly different origin, nature, character, and aim. Confessedly the language of science has often changed; it has often had to mend, just because it is imperfect, as it is human. But there is the word of God, which, while it condescends to the humblest, never changes for the highest. It is the expression of the unchangeable One; it is the permanent communication of truth, and for all souls, places, and times. There is nothing similar nor even second to it.

But God's word IS true. Every single word as originally given is true. Nothing in it is or can be false; we can rely on it and its veracity completely.

It is vital in the last degree. Everything that touches the truthfulness of the Scriptures is vital, for if they are not reliable in one detail, can they be accepted as reliable in any?

What is it to attribute inaccuracy to Scripture, but to say we must no longer speak of it as the Word of God? Satan is a liar, and the father of it." God is no more "a man that He should lie," than He is the son of man, that He should repent." And this applies equally to all subjects. He could no more give me false physics than false arguments, — untrue statements as to sun or moon or firmament, than as to Christ or to salvation. Once admit a possibility of error, though it be infinitesimal, it must shake conviction as to the whole. And the Lord Himself puts His reliability as a Teacher precisely on this ground. "If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?" Take away the truth of Scripture in matters in which it can be tested, how shall we accredit it in those where it cannot be tested? "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much; and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much." Such are the moral principles of the Author of Christianity; and by these we for our part are entirely willing that it should be judged. For with the Word of God what may be pleaded for man may not be pleaded. Man is fallible and ignorant, where yet he may be honest and true; but we cannot plead a mistake of the Omniscient, and call him who makes the mistake omniscient any longer.