What Is Biblical Inerrancy — In Biblical Context

The Biblical Context

Biblical inerrancy is the conviction that because Scripture is breathed out by God, and because God cannot lie or err, the Bible is true and trustworthy in all that it teaches. 2 Timothy 3:16 declares, 'All scripture is given by inspiration of God,' literally 'God-breathed.' Numbers 23:19 affirms, 'God is not a man, that he should lie.' Titus 1:2 calls Him the God 'that cannot lie.' If Scripture comes from a God who cannot lie, then Scripture cannot lie. Psalm 12:6 says, 'The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.' Psalm 119:160 declares, 'Thy word is true from the beginning.' Jesus Himself said, 'the scripture cannot be broken' (John 10:35) and 'thy word is truth' (John 17:17). He affirmed even minor details — the existence of Adam and Eve (Matthew 19:4), the flood of Noah (Matthew 24:38), Jonah in the whale (Matthew 12:40), and a single jot or tittle of the law (Matthew 5:18). Inerrancy applies properly to the original manuscripts (autographs), not to translations or copies — though God has providentially preserved His Word so that the text we hold today reliably represents what He inspired. Inerrancy does not require modern scientific precision in ancient phenomenological language (the sun 'rising'), nor does it deny figures of speech, parables, or rounded numbers. It does affirm that whenever Scripture intends to assert something — historical, geographical, scientific, moral, theological — it is true. Inerrancy matters because if Scripture errs in one place, we have no objective standard for knowing where else it may err. A trustworthy Bible gives us a trustworthy gospel, a trustworthy Christ, and a trustworthy hope.

Where It Sits in Scripture

Supporting Passages