The doctrine of Inerrancy simply states that Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact: all of the Bible is true, from book to book, chapter to chapter, verse to verse, in every way, concerning everything that it talks about. This does not mean that the Bible contains all there is to know concerning a given subject but, with regard to what it does mention about that subject, it is absolutely factual.

Sometimes claims are made against the factuality of the Bible based upon what appears to be scientific errors, such as statements of the Sun moving around the Earth but these statements are describing an event through the eyes of an observer using everyday speech. For someone standing on the surface of the Earth describing a sunset, it is quite common for them, even today, to describe the “Sun moving.”

Sometimes the Bible gives different quotations for the same speaker for the same phrase but we must remember that all cultures do not follow the exact quotation rules we follow in both American and British cultures. Other cultures regard loose rephrasing as acceptable. In these cultures, it is perfectly fine to quote a general meaning rather than exact words. This does nothing to the phrase’s truthfulness. If Bob told me he’d “be back in thirty minutes”, it would be completely truthful for me to say that Bob said he’d “be back later.”

Critics also point to the use of rough grammer to attempt to point out mistakes. How can an all-powerful God make grammatical mistakes? We must remember that the Bible was written by God through specific men in their own language and grammer using their personalities and literary styles. We must not question why God chose to do it this way, but accept that He did so. This also has not bearing on the statement’s truth or falsity. If I wrote “Bob’ll be back more sooner,” this also would do notthing to the factuality of the statement, regardless of poor grammer.

Others state that the Bible is only truthful in what it says about faith and religious practice. I’d like to ask them how much faith we can place in a document that makes other claims about reality that are untrue by this definition? Why would we belive the “religious things” of the Bible when we think that the “historical or scientific” details are falshoods? One can not hold one belief without the other.

The doctrine of Inerrancy can be summarized as follows: God, who is truth, inspired the Bible, which is therefore truth. The Bible was written by men with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who then authenticates this written word to the reader. Since the Bible comes from God, it is without error or fault in all of its teaching; it has divine inerrancy. The Scriptures get their authority from God, not the church and Scripture surpasses all church creeds or statements. God’s Word was progressively revealed over time through the writers of the Bible. God never changed His mind, He only revealed more and more as time passed. Anything in the Bible that appears to be contrary to scientific or historical “facts” is still correct: we just havn’t learned how to correctly interpret the “facts” yet to fully understand them. When we do, they will fall completely in line with the revelation of the Bible. Since God created both the Earth and the Bible, is is impossible for them to contradict each other. Human beings, however, can misinterpret either. Remember when science thought the Earth was flat?

In the book of Acts, the apostles were baptized in the Holy Spirit after they already believed in Jesus Christ. Some churches have taken this to mean that being saved is a two-step process. What they forget is that the apostles were living in a unique time; the transition time between when Jesus ascended and sent the Spirit in His place to be with us on Earth. Since the event itself was a two-stage process, anyone living during that time would have experienecd it in this way. All believers after this era, however, receive the Holy Spirit at once, as they already live in the time of the Spirit. There is no need to wait for the Holy Spirit to come down from heaven and fill the new believer. He is already here.

The Holy Spirit gives the believer spiritual gifts to equip the believer for ministry. Some churches think of certain gifts, such as speaking in tongues, as symbols of spiritual maturity but this is not necessarily the case. Although it is true that mature believers are usually given more gifts or responsibilities, not each believer receives each gift and each gift is for God’s purposes, not the individual believer’s. God may choose to give a new believer a gift that is needed in his area of influence but may also choose not to give the same gift to a very mature believer because it is not necessary in her area of influence. In this case, the gifts do not signify spiritual maturity, but peer-group necessity. People with certain gifts do not enter the special “God club” that some denominations seem to emphasize. Gifts, although they usually occur while the believer dedicates more and more time to God, do not happen on any humanly-discernable timeline.

Although the list of spiritual gifts listed in the Bible is quite long and some denominations believe that general human talants, such as being able to clean or vacuum really well, can be looked at as spiritual gifts, the main gifts are prophecy, teaching, miracles, healing, tongues and interpretation of tongues, word of wisdom or word of knowledge, and distinguishing between spirits and spiritual warfare. Some denominations believe that all gifts have ceased, some believe that any one person can receive all of the gifts. Being raised a Catholic, then attending and being involved in ministry at an Assemblies of God church, then finding a new home at a Calvary Chapel, attending Biola University, and now attending Liberty Theological Seminary, I tend to look at the debate over spiritual gifts like the Calvinist/Arminian debate. Both sides have some Biblical backing and both sides have some Biblical mountains to climb. The real answer is somewhere in the middle. We, as fallen, created, finite beings just can’t understand the issue as God has chosen to reveal it.

The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, has all of the divine aspects of God, since He is God. The role of the Holy Spirit is to mainifest the active presence of God in the world and in the church. It is the Holy Spirit that leads the unbeliever to Christ. It is the Holy Spirit that regenerates the new believer more and more into the likeness of Christ each and every day. It is through the Holy Spirit that God accomplishes His shaping of believers in the church today.

The Holy Spirit gives life, power for service, purifies, reveals, gives evidence of God’s presence, guides and directs God’s people, provides a Godlike atmosphere, gives us assurance that we are children of God, teaches and illumines, and unifies. With such a long list, one may wonder what the Holy Spirit does not do. Since the Holy Spirit is God’s current presence in the world, taking the place of Christ when He ascended into heaven, it is through the Holy Spirit that the current believer is able commune with God the Father, in the name of the savior, Jesus Christ.

Whether the Holy Spirt is drawing an new believer to Christ or changing a believer into a person who is more Christlike, the Holy Spirit always points to the second Person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, in turn, always points to the Father. The Holy Spirit never draws attention to Himself but always points attention toward Jesus. The Holy Spirit, although God’s active force in the world today, should not be over-emphasized or placed above either the Father or the Son.