Every era of Christianity seems to have its peculiar problems and controversies. During the time of St. Augustine and Athanasius the doctrine of the Trinity, particularly as it refers to the Second Person of the Trinity came to the foreground. During the time of Luther and Calvin salvation by grace through faith alone was the topic of church conventions and councils. The Afscheiding and Doleantie of the 1800′s had their peculiar reasons.

In our day and age, the inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible as the inspired Word of God is being questioned. And mainly those people concerned about a departure from this stand seem to do most of the talking. Those holding to limited inerrancy (or worse) seem to bypass the actual issue of inerrancy and continue to pose their own philosophies.

Usually, if inerrancy is questioned, it is not altogether abandoned, at least not immediately. At first inerrancy is reduced to limited inerrancy, meaning that the Bible is inerrant and infallible only in matters of faith and practise. It is a matter of course that before long limited inerrancy fades and inerrancy is denied altogether. There are, of course, examples aplenty of this.

It appears to me that history is repeating itself. In Genesis 3 we read: “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, ‘Yea, hath God said, . . . ??’” The apostle Paul writes to Timothy: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God . . . .” The apostle Peter writes: “Knowing this first that no prophecy of the Scriptures is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

Now we hear those questioning the inspiration, and therefore the inerrancy, infallibility, and authority of God’s Word saying, asking “Yea, hath God said . . . .” C. H. Spurgeon said in one of his sermons: “This is the book, untainted by any error, it is pure and unalloyed, the perfect truth. Why? Because God wrote it. Charge God with error if you please, and tell Him that His book is not what it ought to be.”

From the original doubt (“Yea hath God said”?) the compromise is born. And even Bible texts have been quoted to defend the compromises, viz. Ecclesiastes 7:16: “Be not righteous over much”; or Job 13:8: “Will you plead the case for God?” “You don’t need to defend the Bible.” The Word of God can surely take care of itself. The Heidelberg Catechism reads in answer to the question: “What does God require in the third commandment?” as follows: That we must not by cursing or perjury, nor by unnecessary swearing, profane or abuse the Name of God, nor by our silence or connivance become partakers of these horrible sins in others.

If this is what we confess about the name of God, can we do any less for His Word. If God entrusts His Word to our care, should we simply let others question, even mutilate that sacred trust?

Many of our people, even those that are concerned about the direction of our churches, actually sit on the fence, and take it all in without so much as lifting a finger in defense of God’s Word. It reminds us of a parody we read of “Onward, Christian Soldiers.” The words were changed as follows:

Backward, Christian soldiers, fleeing from ale flight, With the cross of Jesus nearly out of sight; Christ, our rightful Master, stands against the foe, But forward into battle we are loathe to go.

(Come, live, die, by Georger Verwer)

If you are not yet convinced of the problems that are and will be ours if we let the deniers of biblical inerrancy and infallibility continue to permeate the doctrines of our churches, then I suggest to you that you run, not walk, to your nearest bookstore and purchase a copy of Harold Lindsell‘s timely book, The Battle for the Bible. Yon will be able to discover just what happens when inerrancy is reduced to limited inerrancy, and subsequently denied altogether.

If you are now concerned about what can and will happen to our rich Reformed heritage when the inspiration of the Bible is called into question then I have two suggestions to make.

First, to safeguard as far as we are able to, at least, the youth of our church from falling away altogether when the Bible is no longer the authoritative Word of God, make sure you know what is being taught in the Sunday School and Catechism classes. The council of the church, and the elders in particular, are responsible for the purity of the Word. This responsibility has been largely left to the choice of the minister. Church councils should insist that they see and examine the material being used in teaching our children the doctrines of the church. Ask your minister for an outline of what he (and if there are more who teach, what they) plan to teach, their aims and objectives. Let the elders of the church visit the classes to ascertain the purity of the Word.

The second suggestion I would make is that you, if you are concerned about the denial of inerrancy and infallibility, and the disastrous results it causes, write to your council of the church and urge them—rather challenge them—to pass the following resolution, with the understanding that the resolution will be published and an overture sent to the next broader assembly to do the same:

“Resolved that this church council go on record affirming the stand that the Bible is God‘s Word, inerrant, infallible, and inspired by the Holy Spirit (II Tim. 3:16, II Peter 1:20, 21) that we are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8) through the atoning blood of Christ, and that salvation is to be found in no other (Acts 4:12), that the miracles and events as described in the Bible actually happened, and that we will do all in our power to ascertain that all those holding positions in our church subscribe to the above, as well as to the confessions of our church without (mental) reservations.”

Let us be content to agree with the one who has been called the prince of theologians, John Calvin himself: “They who have been inwardly taught by the Spirit feel an entire acquiescence in the Scriptures. It is self-authenticated, carrying with it its own evidence, and ought not to be made the subject of demonstration and arguments from reason; but it obtains the credit which it deserves with us by the testimony of the Spirit . . . It never seriously affects us till it is confirmed by the Spirit in our lives. Therefore, being illumined by Him, we now believe the original of the Scripture” (Inst. L, VII, 5).