THE BIBLE: ERRORS, NO! Part 2

THE BIBLE: ERRORS, NO! Part 2

Note: These are summarized compilations from the book, “When Critics Ask”, authored by Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe.

“Has God Said?”

Of course, wherever God has made the truth clear, Satan’s strategy is to cast doubt on it. Whenever God has spoken with authority, the devil desires to undermine it. “Did God really say that?” he sneers (Gen. 3:1). This confusion often takes the following form: “The Bible may be the inspired Word of God in some sense, but it is also human words. It had human authors, and ‘to err is human’. Hence, we are to expect some errors in the Bible.’” So goes the argument. In short, the clear and simple truth of God has been confused by the lie of Satan, the master of lies (John 8:44).

Let’s analyze what is wrong with this reasoning. A simple analogy will help. Consider some parallel but equally faulty reasoning:

1)       Jesus was a human being.
2)       Human beings sin.
3)       Therefore, Jesus sinned.

Any Bible student can readily see that this conclusion is wrong. Jesus was “without sin” (Heb. 4:15). He “knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5121). Jesus was “a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:19). As John said of Jesus, “He is pure” and “righteous” (1 John 2:1; 3:3). But, if Jesus never sinned, then what is wrong with the above argument that Jesus is human and humans sin, therefore, Jesus sinned? Where does the logic go astray?

The mistake is to assume that Jesus is like any other human. Sure, mere human beings sin. But, Jesus was not a mere human being. He was a perfect human being. Indeed, Jesus was not only human, but He was also God. Likewise, the Bible is not a mere human book. It is also the Word of God. Like Jesus, it is both divine and human. And just as Jesus was human but did not sin, even so, the Bible is a human book but does not err. Both God’s living Word (Christ) and His written Word (Scripture) are human but do not err. They are divine and cannot err. There can no more be an error in God’s written Word than there was a sin in God’s living Word. God cannot err, period.