Inerrancy
Historic orthodoxy
The Bible, as originally given, is without error in everything it affirms, because it is the Word of a God who cannot lie.
Also called: inerrant, inerrantist, biblical inerrancy
What it means
Inerrancy is the teaching that Scripture is true in all that it teaches, not only when it speaks of salvation but also when it speaks of history, of people and places, and of the created world. It follows from what the Bible says about itself: every word of it is breathed out by God, and God does not err or deceive.
Inerrancy does not mean every passage is read woodenly. Poetry is poetry, parables are parables, and ordinary speech ("the sun rose") is not a scientific claim. Inerrancy means that whatever the biblical authors, carried along by the Spirit, intended to assert is true. It applies to the original writings; faithful translations carry that authority as far as they render the original.
This is what the church has always believed. Jesus treated the Old Testament as wholly reliable, down to its single words, and the Reformation confessions call Scripture the infallible rule of faith and life because its author is "God (who is truth itself)." A church that holds inerrancy can preach the whole Bible with confidence and submit to it where it is uncomfortable.
In Scripture
All Scripture is breathed out by God and fully equips the believer, so none of it is merely human opinion.
Jesus rests an argument on a single word of a psalm and says Scripture cannot be broken.
God is not a man that he should lie, so what he speaks can be trusted completely.
The words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined seven times.
Prophecy did not come from human will; men spoke from God as the Holy Spirit carried them along.
Jesus says not the smallest letter of the Law will pass away until all is accomplished.
Where it comes up
Confessions: WCF 1.4; WCF 1.5; LBCF 1689 1.1; LBCF 1689 1.4
On this site: Scripture
Related terms
InfallibilityTerm
Infallibility means Scripture cannot fail or mislead, though the word is used today in both a full sense and a narrowed one.
Limited inerrancyFlagged as a concern
The view that the Bible is reliable for salvation and faith but may contain errors in history, science, or other details.
Sufficiency of ScriptureHistoric orthodoxy
Scripture contains everything we need to know for salvation, faith, and life, so nothing needs to be added to it.
Sola ScripturaHistoric orthodoxy
Scripture alone is the final and infallible authority over the church, by which every other authority is judged.