Lesson One: Inerrancy of Scripture
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV)
Three cheers for any of you who are reading this with an actual Bible sitting next to you. I am not including any of these digital “Bibles” on phones, tablets, and computers! I am talking about one that has pages you have to turn by hand, pages so thin that your highlighter is going to mark some obscure passage on the backside of that page! The thing is a work of art, complete with ribbons, gold edges, and an embossed cross on the cover. It is a real Bible. It is a Bible that requires a commitment to carry it, both for its visibility and its weight! I am talking about a Bible that can be broken in and worn out through continual use. It is a real Bible. It is the kind that smells the way any proper Bible should, like a dead cow! Are any of my people still out there?
I am of course only joking. I sit every morning and read my Bible on my tablet. I take down notes and highlight passages just as I once did with a physical Bible. I search the Bible on my phone and compare passages while on the go from place to place. I use a computer religiously (pun intended) to study for the various sermons I preach each week. I do all that, with my real Bible sitting next to me as I write this. The truth is, the paper, ribbons, embossing, and leather (that glorious leather) do not make the Bible what it is. That is just one way of delivering its content. It is the content, the actual words on those pages, whether physical or digital, audio or visual, that is the show stopper.
There is nothing like the Bible. It has no equal. It is like no other book in history. Though the world is filled with books, the Bible stands alone. It stands alone for one primary reason. One thing sets it apart forever. It comes from God Himself. He wrote it. Oh sure, He used people to physically put pen to paper, but God wrote it. Therefore, it is not the disjointed ramblings of 40 different authors through 66 books. It is one unified message written through thousands of years of human history by God Himself through His people. That changes everything.
This truth is undeniably clear in 2 Timothy 3:16 where it says, “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (NKJV). The content of the Bible is called “Scripture” because it is more than just advice, conjecture, or opinion. It is bedrock truth because it comes from God Himself. The passage goes on to say, “all Scripture is given.” This means that the writers did not sit down to think about what they would like to write or address. They were “given” what was written. It was given by God. They wrote down what God gave them to write. It goes on and says, “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” The word translated “inspiration” means “to fill, to breathe.” It referred to the filling of the sails of a boat or someone simply breathing. The point is clear. God breathed out His Word, the Bible, giving it to those who loved Him and wrote it down for us.
Because the Bible is the “breathing out” of the actual source of all life, truth, and purpose, the Bible is powerful. The rest of verses 16-17 show us this as we read, “and is profitable for doctrine (teaching), for reproof (error correcting), for correction (showing the right way), for instruction in righteousness (growth!) that the man of God may be complete (grown up), thoroughly equipped for every good work (ready for everything God sends us to do).”
So grab a Bible, dig in, and have the confidence that every word you are reading comes from God Himself!