The Modern View

Since the time of the Enlightenment of the 18^th and 19^th centuries, through the rise of liberal theologies in the 20^th century, the Bible has been viciously attacked by critics from many angles. The arrival of the Enlightenment’s “Age of Reason” brought many attacks from atheist, humanist, and critical scholarship. This was followed in the 20^th century by the rise of liberal Christian theology which generally had no problem with the idea that the Bible contains historical inaccuracies, theological contradictions, and outright untruths.

When we look back, the Enlightenment’s attacks on the Scriptures are not difficult to understand from a cultural and non-Christian perspective, but with the advent of liberal Christianity, the fact that people claiming the name of Christ would also start lodging attacks against the reliability, trustworthiness, and accuracy of the Bible is much more shocking. Today, there are many among those called “progressive Christians” who have inherited this liberal theology from the church environment they grew up in or from the deconstruction movement that has been affecting the church over the past decade.

To many Evangelical Christians, it seems bizarre that one could claim to love God, yet question what Christians have historically believed to be the words of God. For their part, those who deny the inerrancy of the Scriptures respond by saying that Evangelical Christians have a very shallow view of church history and the doctrine of inerrancy is a novelty that only arose after the Reformation in response to the Enlightenment and liberal theology. Overall, this idea is false, but there are enough elements of truth in it that many proponents of liberal or progressive theology still get away with making the claim.

The Early Church & the Scriptures

Any claim that all the church fathers agreed with the minority position on some doctrine that is being debated in the 21^st century should immediately raise suspicion. The truth is that there are very few positions that the church fathers unanimously agree on. Even more than this, there is always the question of what exactly constitutes a “church father.” Is it simply anyone who was influential in the early church? What about the ones who were heterodox in some of their doctrines? How early in the church does someone have to be to be a church father?

For now, let’s put these questions aside and just acknowledge that many Evangelical Christians in the 21^st century are somewhat uninformed when it comes to church history that we do not always know how to respond to this kind of claim. On a doctrine like the inerrancy of Scripture, an Evangelical can make a strong case from the Scripture, even from Jesus himself, only to be met with a claim like “but that isn’t how the church throughout most of history has viewed Scripture.” What do we do with such a claim? Is it even true? If it is true, does it matter?

The fact of the matter is that this is a type of argumentation that makes two errors. The first is that instead of responding to and considering the Biblical argument for the inerrancy of the Scriptures, it shifts the argument from the realm of Biblical hermeneutics to that of historical consensus. I’m not suggesting that we should ignore how the church has traditionally interpreted the Scriptures, only that this should have its proper place in our hermeneutics and not be allowed to over-rule the Scriptures. The second error of this type of argument is that it misrepresents the historical data by selectively quoting influential writers in the first few centuries of Christianity in a way that fits their views and then declares that to be the consensus of the church fathers.

There certainly were some influential leaders in the early years of Christianity who disagreed with the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy, but it was by no means the consensus. It seems clear that the majority view of the historic Christian church has always been the inerrancy of the Scriptures. Let’s turn to the data now. On all of the quotes below, I have provided links to the references so that I cannot be accused of taking quotes out of context.

Clement of Rome (AD 35 – AD 99)

Clement of Rome is listed by Irenaeus and Tertullian as the Bishop of Rome. He wrote a letter that is possibly the earliest surviving Christian writing outside of the New Testament. Known as 1 Clement, it was written to the Corinthian church around the year AD 96 before he was martyred in AD 99.

“Look carefully into the Scriptures, which are the true utterances of the Holy Spirit. Observe that nothing of an unjust or counterfeit character is written in them”

1 Clement 45:2-3

Justin Martyr ( AD~100 – AD 165)

Justin Martyr was an early Christian apologist who was martyred in Rome in AD 165.

“If you spoke these words, Trypho, and then kept silence in simplicity and with no ill intent, neither repeating what goes before nor adding what comes after, you must be forgiven; but if [you have done so] because you imagined that you could throw doubt on the passage, in order that I might say the Scriptures contradicted each other, you have erred. But I shall not venture to suppose or to say such a thing; and if a Scripture which appears to be of such a kind be brought forward, and if there be a pretext[for saying] that it is contrary[to some other], since I am entirely convinced that no Scripture contradicts another, I shall admit rather that I do not understand what is recorded, and shall strive to persuade those who imagine that the Scriptures are contradictory, to be rather of the same opinion as myself. 

Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 65

“For if this is not the case, God will be slandered, as having no foreknowledge, and as not teaching all men to know and to do the same acts of righteousness (for many generations of men appear to have existed before Moses); and the Scripture is not true which affirms that ‘God is true and righteous, and all His ways are judgments, and there is no unrighteousness in him.‘ But since the Scripture is true, God is always willing that such even as you be neither foolish nor lovers of yourselves, in order that you may obtain the salvation of Christ, who pleased God, and received testimony from Him, as I have already said, by alleging proof from the holy words of prophecy.”

Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 92

“But when you hear the utterances of the prophets spoken as it were personally, you must not suppose that they are spoken by the inspired themselves, but by the Divine Word who moves them. For sometimes He declares things that are to come to pass, in the manner of one who foretells the future; sometimes He speaks as from the person of God the Lord and Father of all; sometimes as from the person of Christ; sometimes as from the person of the people answering the Lord or His Father, just as you can see even in your own writers, one man being the writer of the whole, but introducing the persons who converse. And this the Jews who possessed the books of the prophets did not understand, and therefore did not recognize Christ even when He came, but even hate us who say that He has come, and who prove that, as was predicted, He was crucified by them.”

First Apology, Chapter XXXVI

Irenaeus (AD 130 – AD 202)

Irenaeus was an influential Christian writer and apologist from Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and later became a Bishop in Lyon in Gaul (modern France). He spilled much ink writing against heresies that were prevalent in his day. You can learn many of his views from his aptly titled work Against Heresies.

“If, however, we cannot discover explanations of all those things in Scripture which are made the subject of investigation, yet let us not on that account seek after any other God besides Him who really exists. For this is the very greatest impiety. We should leave things of that nature to God who created us, being most properly assured that the Scriptures are indeed perfect, since they were spoken by the Word of God and His Spirit; but we, inasmuch as we are inferior to, and later in existence than, the Word of God and His Spirit, are on that very account destitute of the knowledge of His mysteries.” 

Against Heresies: Book 2, 28:2

“If, therefore, according to the rule which I have stated, we leave some questions in the hands of God, we shall both preserve our faith uninjured, and shall continue without danger; and all Scripture, which has been given to us by God, shall be found by us perfectly consistent; and the parables shall harmonize with those passages which are perfectly plain; and those statements the meaning of which is clear, shall serve to explain the parables; and through the many diversified utterances [of Scripture] there shall be heard one harmonious melody in us, praising in hymns that God who created all things.”

Against Heresies: Book 2, 28:3

“We prove from the authoritative Scriptures that all the things which have been mentioned, visible and invisible, have been made by one God. For these men are not more to be depended on than the Scriptures; nor ought we to give up the declarations of the Lord, Moses, and the rest of the prophets, who have proclaimed the truth, and give credit to them, who do indeed utter nothing of a sensible nature, but rave about untenable opinions.”

Against Heresies: Book 2, 30:6

“When, however, they are confuted from the Scriptures, they turn round and accuse these same Scriptures, as if they were not correct, nor of authority, and [assert] that they are ambiguous, and that the truth cannot be extracted from them by those who are ignorant of tradition. For [they allege] that the truth was not delivered by means of written documents, but vivâ voce: wherefore also Paul declared, “But we speak wisdom among those that are perfect, but not the wisdom of this world.” And this wisdom each one of them alleges to be the fiction of his own inventing, forsooth; so that, according to their idea, the truth properly resides at one time in Valentinus, at another in Marcion, at another in Cerinthus, then afterwards in Basilides, or has even been indifferently in any other opponent, who could speak nothing pertaining to salvation. For every one of these men, being altogether of a perverse disposition, depraving the system of truth, is not ashamed to preach himself.”

Against Heresies: Book 3, 2:1

“Ptolemy, and each of them compared his own interpretation with that of every other, God was indeed glorified, and the Scriptures were acknowledged as truly divine.”

Against Heresies: Book 3, 21:2

“Since, therefore, the Scriptures have been interpreted with such fidelity, and by the grace of God, and since from these God has prepared and formed again our faith towards His Son, and has preserved to us the unadulterated Scriptures in Egypt, where the house of Jacob flourished, fleeing from the famine in Canaan”

Against Heresies: Book 3, 21:2

Tertullian (AD 155 – AD 240)

Tertullian was an early prolific Christian author and a lawyer who spent much of his time arguing against early Christian heresies and Gnosticism as well as writing legal defenses for Christians being unjustly condemned by the Roman Empire. Being the first prominent Christian to write in Latin, he has been called the “Father of Latin Christianity”.

“And if so, the apostle too was in error when he said in his epistle, ‘Ye were at one time darkness, (but now are ye light in the Lord:)’ and, ‘We also were by nature children of wrath;’ and, ‘Such were some of you, but ye are washed.’ The statements, however, of holy Scripture will never be discordant with truth.

A Treatise on the Soul, Chapter 21

“For apostles have the Holy Spirit properly, who have Him fully, in the operations of prophecy, and the efficacy of (healing) virtues, and the evidences of tongues; not partially, as all others have. Thus he attached the Holy Spirit’s authority to that form (of advice) to which he willed us rather to attend; and forthwith it became not an advice of the Holy Spirit, but, in consideration of His majesty, a precept.”

On Exhortation to Chastity, Chapter 4

Origen of Alexandria (AD 184 – AD 253)

Origen of Alexandria was an early Christian scholar, theologian, and apologist with an impressive number of written works. Though he is hardly the poster boy of Orthodoxy in the early church, he is a favorite among Christians who reject Biblical inerrancy. Origen was condemned as a heretic by the church after his death, which seems somewhat unfair because he had no chance to defend or clarify his position, but regardless, his condemnation has little to do with the inerrancy of Scripture and his ideas have been massively influential even into the modern church. Unfortunately, much of what he wrote has not been preserved due to his post-mortem condemnation as a heretic so we do only have a limited view into what Origen believed and taught and it may be unfair to him to draw definitive conclusions because of that.

On the issue of the inerrancy of the Scripture, he would be absolutely incensed at the idea that the Scriptures contradict themselves as many people since the Enlightenment have claimed. In fact, he was horrified at that very idea when the same accusation was raised in his day.

“To the man who is a peacemaker in either sense there is in the Divine oracles nothing crooked or perverse, for they are all plain to those who understand. And because to such a one there is nothing crooked or perverse, he sees therefore abundance of peace in all the Scriptures, even in those which seem to be at conflict, and in contradiction with one another.  And likewise he becomes a third peacemaker as he demonstrates that that which appears to others to be a conflict in the Scriptures is no conflict, and exhibits their concord and peace, whether of the Old Scriptures with the New, or of the Law with the Prophets, or of the Gospels with the Apostolic Scriptures, or of the Apostolic Scriptures with each other.  For, also, according to the Preacher, all the Scriptures are ‘words of the wise like goads, and as nails firmly fixed which were given by agreement from one shepherd;’ and there is nothing superfluous in them.  But the Word is the one Shepherd of things rational which may have an appearance of discord to those who have not ears to hear, but are truly at perfect concord.  For as the different chords of the psalter or the lyre, each of which gives forth a certain sound of its own which seems unlike the sound of another chord, are thought by a man who is not musical and ignorant of the principle of musical harmony, to be inharmonious, because of the dissimilarity of the sounds, so those who are not skilled in hearing the harmony of God in the sacred Scriptures think that the Old is not in harmony with the New, or the Prophets with the Law, or the Gospels with one another, or the Apostle with the Gospel, or with himself, or with the other Apostles.  But he who comes instructed in the music of God, being a man wise in word and deed, and, on this account, like another David—which is, by interpretation, skillful with the hand—will bring out the sound of the music of God, having learned from this at the right time to strike the chords, now the chords of the Law, now the Gospel chords in harmony with them, and again the Prophetic chords, and, when reason demands it, the Apostolic chords which are in harmony with the Prophetic, and likewise the Apostolic with those of the Gospels.  For he knows that all the Scripture is the one perfect and harmonized instrument of God, which from different sounds gives forth one saving voice to those willing to learn, which stops and restrains every working of an evil spirit, just as the music of David laid to rest the evil spirit in Saul, which also was choking him.”

Commentary on the Gospel According to Matthew, Book II

Athanasius of Alexandria (AD 296-373)

It is not an overstatement to say that Athanasius was one of the most significant Christians in the early church. He stood against the world (Athanasius contra mundo) on the doctrine of the Trinity during the Arian Controversy and was instrumental in the construction of the Nicene Creed. His writings and life have remained influential long after his death. On the idea that the Scriptures contain contradiction or error, he is quite clear.

“Now it is the opinion of some, that the Scriptures do not agree together, or that God, Who gave the commandment, is false. But there is no disagreement whatever, far from it, neither can the Father, Who is truth, lie; ‘for it is impossible that God should lie'”

Letter 19 – Athanasius

Augustine of Hippo (AD 354 – AD 430)

Augustine (also known as Saint Augustine) is one of the most respected and influential Christian theologians in all of history. In fact, it may not be an over exaggeration to say that he has been the most influential theologian outside of the Bible. His views and writings are respected and studied by Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox theologians to this day. I even have run into a few of his quotes on occasion while reading books written by pop-culture agnostic scientists like Stephen Hawking. Augustine also produced a work called “The Harmony of the Gospels” in order to argue that the 4 canonical gospels do not contradict each other. Here are a few other times where he addresses the issue of Biblical inerrancy.

“For it seems to me that most disastrous consequences must follow upon our believing that anything false is found in the sacred books: that is to say, that the men by whom the Scripture has been given to us, and committed to writing, did put down in these books anything false. It is one question whether it may be at any time the duty of a good man to deceive; but it is another question whether it can have been the duty of a writer of Holy Scripture to deceive: nay, it is not another question — it is no question at all. For if you once admit into such a high sanctuary of authority one false statement as made in the way of duty, there will not be left a single sentence of those books which, if appearing to any one difficult in practice or hard to believe, may not by the same fatal rule be explained away, as a statement in which, intentionally, and under a sense of duty, the author declared what was not true.”

From Augustine to Jerome 394, Chapter 3

“On such terms we might amuse ourselves without fear of offending each other in the field of Scripture, but I might well wonder if the amusement was not at my expense. For I confess to your Charity that I have learned to yield this respect and honor only to the canonical books of Scripture: of these alone do I most firmly believe that the authors were completely free from error. And if in these writings I am perplexed by anything which appears to me opposed to truth, I do not hesitate to suppose that either the manuscript is faulty, or the translator has not caught the meaning of what was said, or I myself have failed to understand it. As to all other writings, in reading them, however great the superiority of the authors to myself in sanctity and learning, I do not accept their teaching as true on the mere ground of the opinion being held by them; but only because they have succeeded in convincing my judgment of its truth either by means of these canonical writings themselves, or by arguments addressed to my reason.”

From Augustin to Jerome 405, Chapter 1

Jerome (AD 347-420)

Jerome was a contemporary of Augustine who is extremely significant in Christian history because of his role in translating the Latin Vulgate which became the most widely used text of Scripture in the West for over a thousand years. In regard to certain contemporary Latin manuscripts, Jerome plainly believed them to be faulty, but, in regard to the Greek Scriptures, he refers to them as “the Lord’s words”, not “in need of correction”, and divinely inspired.

“I am not, I repeat, so ignorant as to suppose that any of the Lord’s words is either in need of correction or is not divinely inspired; but the Latin manuscripts of the Scriptures are proved to be faulty by the variations which all of them exhibit, and my object has been to restore them to the form of the Greek original, from which my detractors do not deny that they have been translated.”

Letter 27 – Jerome

John Chrysostom (AD 347-407)

John Chrysostom was an extremely important and influential Eastern church father whose works are still widely read to this day. On this issue, he was also abundantly clear.

“For the Scripture by no means speaks falsely.”

Homilies on the Statues, Homily II.22

This is by no means a comprehensive list of all the church fathers; we could easily spend many more hours finding early Christians who would strongly disagree with the idea that the scriptures contain errors. However, since the claim is usually only that the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy is a historical novelty created by fundamentalists as a reaction to 18th- and 19th-century Enlightenment thinking, this claim can be put to rest. If Clement, Tertullian, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Origen, and Augustine reject the idea that errors exist within the Scripture, then dismissing the modern Evangelical argument from the Bible in favor of looking to Church history will only gain the upper hand in the debate where people are ill informed about the historical record.

More Influential Christians Throughout History

The list provided at this point is only a few hundred years from the time of Christ. We have yet to mention Anselm, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, or many others. So that you don’t think this idea is unique to the earlier centuries of Christianity, let’s look at other influential Christian writers and thinkers throughout history.

Anselm of Canterbury (AD 1033 – AD 1109)

“But remember the proviso with which I began to deal with your perplexity: viz., that if I say something which a greater authority does not confirm, then even though I seem to prove it rationally, it should be accepted with no other degree of certainty than that it appears this way to me for the time being, until God somehow reveals the matter to me more fully. For if I say something that unquestionably contradicts Sacred Scripture, I am certain that it is false; and I do not want to hold that view if I know it [to be false].”

Cur Deus Homo (Why God Became Man), Book I, ch. 18.

Thomas Aquinas (AD 1225 – AD 1274)

“Hence, it is plain that nothing false can ever underlie the literal sense of Holy Writ”

Summa Theologiae I, Q.1, Art.10, Reply to Objection 3

“A thing is of faith, indirectly, if the denial of it involves as a consequence something against faith; as for instance if anyone said that Samuel was not the son of Elcana, for it follows that divine Scripture would be false”

Summa Theologiae I, Q.32, Art.4

“It is unlawful to hold that any false assertion is contained either in the Gospel or in any canonical Scripture, or that the writers thereof have told untruths, because faith would be deprived of its certitude which is based on the authority of Holy Writ”

Summa Theologiae II-II, Q.110, Art.3, Reply to Objection 1

Hervaeus Natalis (1260 AD – 1323 AD)

“whatever things are in Scripture are spoken by God”

“certain that God cannot speak falsehood”

In quattuor Petri Lombardi Sententiarum, prologue, q.1

Alphonsus Tostatus (1400 AD – 1455 AD)

“all Scripture . . . is a divine revelation by the agency of the Spirit, who not only inspires but also preserves the writer from error”

Cited in Richard A. Muller, Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 2, p.47

Martin Luther (AD 1483 – AD 1546)

“It is impossible that Scripture should contradict itself; it only appears so to senseless and obstinate hypocrites”

Works of Martin Luther, IX:650

“Consequently, we must remain content with them [words], and cling to them as perfectly clear, certain, sure words of God which can never deceive us or allow us to err”

Luther’s Works 37:308

John Calvin (AD 1509 – AD 1564)

“This is a principle which distinguishes our religion from all others, that we know that God hath spoken to us, and are fully convinced that the prophets did not speak at their own suggestion, but that, being organs of the Holy Spirit, they only uttered what they had been commissioned from heaven to declare. . . . Moses and the prophets did not utter at random what we have received from their hand, but, speaking at the suggestion of God, they boldly and fearlessly testified, what was actually true, that it was the mouth of the Lord that spake”

Calvin’s commentary on 2 Timothy 3:16

“that we owe to the Scripture the same reverence which we owe to God; because it has proceeded from him alone, and has nothing belonging to man mixed with it”

Calvin’s commentary on 2 Timothy 3:16

William Perkins (AD 1558 – AD 1602)

“The purity thereof is whereby it remaineth entire in itself, void of deceit and error”

The Art of Prophesying

Francis Turretin (AD 1623 – AD 1687)

“The sacred writers were so acted upon and inspired by the Holy Spirit (as to the things themselves and as to the words) as to be kept free from all error and . . . . their writings are truly authentic and divine . . . . The prophets did not fall into mistakes in those things which they wrote as inspired men (theopneustos) and as prophets, not even in the smallest particulars; otherwise faith in the whole of Scripture would be rendered doubtful.”

Inerrancy and Church History: Is Inerrancy a Modern Invention? – Jonathan Moorhead

Jonathan Edwards (AD 1703 – AD 1758)

“Hence we may learn that all the Scripture says to us is certainly true . . . . Consider how much it is worth the while to go often to your Bible to hear the great God Himself speak to you. There you may hear Christ speak. How much better must we think this is than the word of men . . . . Here all is true; nothing false.”

Inerrancy and Church History: Is Inerrancy a Modern Invention? – Jonathan Moorhead

John Wesley (AD 1703 – AD 1791)

“Nay, if there be any mistakes in the Bible, there may as well be a thousand. If there be one falsehood in that book, it did not come from the God of truth.”

“The Scripture, therefore, of the Old and New Testament is a most solid and precious system of divine truth. Every part thereof is worthy of God; and all together are one entire body, wherein is no defect, no excess.”

Inerrancy and Church History: Is Inerrancy a Modern Invention? – Jonathan Moorhead

Charles H. Spurgeon (AD 1834 – AD 1892)

“I believe that there is no mistake whatever in the original Holy Scriptures from beginning to end. There may be, and there are, mistakes of translation; for translators are not inspired; but even the historical facts are correct. Doubt has been cast upon them here and there, and at times with great show of reason—doubt which it has been impossible to meet for a season; but only give space enough, and search enough, and the stones buried in the earth cry out to confirm each letter of Scripture. Old manuscripts, coins, and inscriptions, are on the side of the Book, and against it there are nothing but theories, and the fact that many an event in history has no other record but that which the Book affords us. The Book has been of late in the furnace of criticism; but much of that furnace has grown cold from the fact that the criticism is beneath contempt. “The words of the Lord are pure words”: there is not an error of any sort in the whole compass of them. These words come from him who can make no mistake, and who can have no wish to deceive his creatures. If I did not believe in the infallibility of the Book, I would rather be without it. If I am to judge the Book, it is no judge of me. If I am to sift it, like the heap on the threshing-floor, and lay this aside and only accept that, according to my own judgment, then I have no guidance whatever, unless I have conceit enough to trust to my own heart. The new theory denies infallibility to the words of God, but practically imputes it to the judgments of men; at least, this is all the infallibility which they can get at. I protest that I will rather risk my soul with a guide inspired from heaven, than with the differing leaders who arise from the earth at the call of “modern thought.”

“The Bible Tried and Proved,” preached on 5 May 1889. Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit

How Do We Respond Today

Was the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture a modern invention? Absolutely not! This idea is actually quite commonplace in the writings of Christians across centuries, cultures, and theological divides. So how do we respond to those who cast doubt on the Scriptures by making this claim? We simply point them back to the historical record and let them see for themselves.

History is abundantly clear that followers of Christ have held the view that the Scriptures are without error from the earliest days of the Church. The reason for this is also quite clear. The reason that Christians have held these views from the beginning is simply that the Lord Jesus himself held this view and so did his disciples and earliest followers who became the writers of the New Testament Scriptures. If anyone wants to throw doubt on the inerrancy of the Scripture, they will have to do so apart from the historic record of the Christian Church.

“For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

2 Peter 1:21