This week (27/3/15) the course I have been teaching has reached a discussion of the doctrine of biblical inerrancy.  This doctrine states that the Bible has no errors because it is inspired by God (2 Tim 3:16), who is all knowing, all powerful, and truthful.  There is, however, an alternative way of thinking about this doctrine that is far more centred on the person of Jesus.

Sinners have been given over to the futility of their thinking, because they have rejected the knowledge of God (Rom 1:21 etc.).  The result of this futility of thinking is that humans do not trust the word of God.  It therefore seems to us that the Bible has many errors.  But Jesus bore that futility in himself on the cross as God gave him over to our sin (Rom 4:25; 8:32; Gal 2:20; Eph 5:2, 25).  This is demonstrated in the cry of dereliction, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34).  At this point Jesus experienced all the futility of a human being cut off from God and his word.  All that God had said about Jesus seemed at this point to be futile.

But this is not the end.  Jesus, having been given over to the futility of thinking, which is the result of our rejection of God, was raised from the dead.  While in the grave Jesus trusted the promise of God that he would not abandoned to the grave (Ps 16:8-11 and Acts 2:25-28).  He rested in the veracity (truthfulness) of God’s word.  Now Jesus is raised from the dead and seated at God’s right hand (Acts 2:33; Rom 8:34).  Although he always trusted in God’s word, he now knows the faithfulness of God and his word in an existential sense.  That is to say, Jesus now knows in his experience the absolute faithfulness of God’s word, because all that was promised to him has come to fruition.  Jesus knows that the word of God is utterly truthful.

Christians are commanded not to walk in the futility of thinking which the ungodly are given over to (Eph 4:17).  The reason that we are to abandon futile thinking is that we must live life from the perspective of Jesus who is raised from the dead (see Eph 2:6; Col 3:1-2).  For this reason, in Christ we know the faithfulness of God and his word.  We know this because Jesus has experienced it for himself in his resurrection.  This means that there are indeed no errors in the Bible.  Any error that we may see there needs to be viewed in light of the resurrection.  That is, we need to see these in light of what we know about the faithfulness of God.  We cannot always understand what God is saying, but we can always choose to trust in his faithfulness.  In our own resurrection we will know this faithfulness and the absolute inerrancy of his word in an existential sense, just as Jesus knows that now.