One of the biggest lies Christianity made me believe, and the hardest to depart from, is that the Bible is perfect and inerrant. Now, let me be clear: the Bible is the most important book in my life. That does not mean I believe it, but it has shaped my life. It has held a power over my life that no other book, film, or song slightly compares to. But despite the impact it has had and continues to have on me, the Bible is not inerrant.
There is a lot of valuable information in the Bible. It contains stories and sentences of profound wisdom that apply to nearly all areas of life. I believe the world would be a much better place if we could truly live by the logos, without the legalism and shame the church promotes. Sadly, Christians receive one interpretation from one person; and because God “calls” or “destines” them, doubting that person equates to doubting Scripture, and thus God himself.
Much of modern Protestant theology is based solely on the King James Version of the Bible. Devout fundamentalists will argue that the KJV is the only accurate translation; logical humans will tell you that it strays farthest from the truth. This entry is not an entire condemnation of this version, as that is a story for… a book… for later. I am merely providing an example of how awful the KJV is; with the only verse fundamentalists have in their arsenal concerning the “divine inspiration” of the Bible: 2 Timothy 3:16.
A Personal Reflection
As usual, I would like to provide a personal reflection; however, I do not want to save this one for the conclusion. I want to clarify the nature of this doctrine in my life before I tear it down. If you have read my other posts, you know that I was raised in a fundamentalist household. We attended a Southern Baptist Church for nine years until the pastor had an affair with his secretary, then nondenominational for six years, before this pastor did the same thing.
Throughout these times spent at cultlike congregations, I was homeschooled. My mother used Abeka curriculum, a program Pensacola Christian College (PCC) publishes. PCC is the Harvard of close-minded, sheltered fundamentalists. The beliefs and rules of this place are insane—do not dare get caught seeing an R-rated movie! As you might expect, PCC and Abeka promote the doctrine of inerrancy. To take it a step further, they believe that the KJV is the only translation of the Bible Christians should read.
I spent years learning how God guards the English Bible from any alterations, redactions, or human error. This concept was shoved down my throat at home, at church, in school, everywhere and every way possible. As I studied the Bible at yet another evangelical Christian college, I noticed that the Bible is not what I always believed it to be. Now to be clear, throughout my education, I held onto this belief, this sheer denial that God’s Word could be tampered with. I did not let it go easily.
Now, having just been recently accepted into Emory University’s Candler School of Theology for my Master of Theological Studies, I have returned to questioning the importance of the Bible in my life. With that, I have especially reflected on the doctrine of inerrancy. How is it that this book, knowing now how flawed its modern translations are, determines the entire trajectory of my life? How can I be an agnostic, who finds the value of the logos while simultaneously finding that it cannot answer the most important question? Despite being chock-full of errors, and far from perfection, this book defines my life.
2 Timothy 3:16: Inerrant or Inspired?
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16, KJV)
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is valuable for teaching the truth, convicting of sin, correcting faults and training in right living” (2 Timothy 3:16, CJB)
There are quite a few things to consider when interpreting this passage. I will begin by noting a major, yet simple contextual issue the church takes with this verse. “All Scripture” in the first century CE does not include the sixty-six books of the Bible that we know today. The New Testament writings were hardly considered canonical until Justin Martyr in the second century CE. When we hear “all Scripture,” we cannot assume that the author has both Testaments in mind. More on this later. This falls into the trap of reading modern dogmas into the Bible.
Now, a quick note on authorship. We do not know for certain that Paul wrote 2 Timothy. I have a major problem with considering Paul’s literature biblical. I have always wondered why this man’s writings are in the Bible—his doctrines contradict the teachings of Jesus in some places. Paul was not a disciple of Jesus. Paul, as far as we know, never met Jesus or his disciples. He merely had a vision. So did Constantine; do we consider him an apostle, too? It could very well be that Paul ate some hallucinogens and decided he would become a Christian leader.
What is Inerrant/Inspired?
Our first question in exegeting this verse should concern the subject. The author states that “all scripture is…” What can we consider Scripture? The Greek word here is γραφή (graphe), a feminine noun meaning, “a writing, scripture.”1 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines this noun as referring specifically to Hebrew Scriptures.2 The literary context regarding Paul’s use of “all Scripture” is quite obvious when not read in plain English.
Historical context further solidifies the ambiguity regarding the structure of this verse. As I have mentioned, we cannot assume that the author uses “all scripture” to refer to our modern Bibles. Development of the biblical canon did not begin until around 419 CE, about two centuries after 2 Timothy was created.3 Yet, Christians today cannot agree on which books we should regard as scriptural; evangelicals believe it is exclusively 66 books (the most popular position), while other branches of Christianity have canons including more or less than 66. The only way to defend the position that God selected sixty-six books is to toss logic out of the window.
The formation of the biblical canon, and its history, is in part what led me to disbelieve the doctrine of inerrancy. Evangelicalism holds that God magically appointed certain books to the approval of early church fathers. To defend inerrancy, one must declare the previous statement. In academia, this process is laughable. We cannot hold to the presupposition that God decided what could and could not be considered Scripture, gave this list to the church leaders, and the church leaders simply went along. This is illogical.
We also find an issue of the power of Scripture. Evangelicals believe the Bible is the only literature with both God’s approval and authorship. Yet, this is not what 2 Timothy 3:16 preaches. Thomas Storck notes, “[To] say that ‘all Scripture is inspired’ is different from saying that Scripture alone is inspired.”4 Again, at this point in history, Scripture was not defined as it is today.
An Issue of Inspiration
Probably the most severe argument against inerrancy and 2 Timothy 3:16 is the use of the word “inspired.” Our English rendering “Inspired by God” comes from one Greek word in 2 Timothy 3:16, theopnuestos. This is the only occurrence of the word in the New Testament.5 The usage of this word alone pushes for the position that Paul did not pen 2 Timothy, and it was not written in the first century CE. Although theopneustos does occur in other ancient Greek literature, its usage is infrequent and does not suggest “God breathed” as evangelicals hold today.6
Furthermore, we cannot isolate “All scripture is God-breathed” from “and is valuable for teaching the truth, convicting of sin, correcting faults and training in right living.” We must understand that the author, in 3:16a, is not trying to form a doctrine. He argues that the Hebrew Scriptures are capable of teaching, convicting, correcting, and training. As we know, Christianity changed much of Judaism. The author is encouraging the new Christians not to completely discard the Jewish Bible; he is encouraging his audience to remember the importance of the Hebrew text.
Conclusion
That Bible sitting on your shelf or nightstand, comprised of sixty-six books, is not inerrant. God did not dictate each word in your translation of a translation of a translation. It never claims to be inerrant. One verse, taken out of context by Christian leaders throughout the previous centuries, does not say that God wrote every word. As Rodger L. Cragun beautifully puts it, “The concept of inerrancy was not derived from II Timothy 3:16 but was imposed on it.”7
The argument that the English Bible is inerrant and inspired is the same argument used to say that pastors are perfect and inspired. This has been my experience. As I have mentioned before, I grew up believing that God selected pastors and spoke through them. Yes, God spoke through my first two pastors… the same ones who were fired or ran away after being caught in the act with their secretaries. All these years later, I see that this is illogical. Pastors are not doing the Lord’s work; and neither is the Bible.
As I mentioned in the beginning, the Bible is vital to my life. It has served as my foundation in all avenues of life. But this does not make it perfect or inerrant. While there is essential information in the Bible that we should live by, it is not magical. It is a human book. It has been edited, misinterpreted, and redacted, among many other things. The biblical canon we have today, as far as we know, contains noncanonical verses or even books.
Further, it is illogical to assume that because Scripture is “God-breathed,” it is inerrant. If God created an imperfect world, then it is reasonable to accept that God can create an imperfect word. This does not take away from the significance of the Bible. It helps us to understand it the way it should be understood.
1. NAS Exhaustive Concordance, “Graphé,” https://biblehub.com/greek/1124.htm.
2. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, “γραφή,” https://biblehub.com/greek/1124.htm.
3. Cragun, Rodger L. The Ultimate Heresy: The Doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?docID=6337210.
4. Storck, Thomas. “Sola Scriptura, an Impossible Theory.” New Oxford Review 67, no. 11 (12, 2000): 29. https://www.proquest.com/magazines/sola-scriptura-impossible-theory/docview/213369183/se-2.
5. Rodney Caruthers, “Inspiration in Biblical Times,” Biblical Archaeology Review 49, no. 3. https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org/department/inspiration-in-biblical-times/
6. Massey, Lesly F., PhD. “Biblical Inerrancy: An Anxious Reaction to Perceived Threat Part 3: The New Testament.” Pennsylvania Literary Journal 14, no. 2 (Summer, 2022): 72. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/biblical-inerrancy-anxious-reaction-perceived/docview/2702260208/se-2.
7. Cragun, Rodger L. The Ultimate Heresy: The Doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, 126.