Inerrancy of the Bible

Looking back at the summer Olympics in 2016…there are so many questions about why are there so many ties in swimming? Going back several decades, there have been many instances in ties. Even in Rio, in 2016, there was a three-way tie for a silver medal.

The question is…in our day and age, why isn’t there better measuring technology to avoid so many swimming ties. But the issue did not come down to the need for better timing systems…but the need for better pools.

It turns out that there is a pretty big allowance for structural differences in a pool, between one part of the pool to another part. The international body that governs swimming and other water sports, tolerates differences up to three centimeters between pool lanes in the Olympics.

Actually…modern timing systems can measure time to a millionth of a second, but the standard measuring for swimming is still a hundredth of a second. Other sports are not like this, like a couple months ago where for example speed skating and bobsleds are measured in thousandths of a second.

But this is a problem in a pool, where a thousandth of a second could come down to a coat of paint. So for now, until pools are perfected, we’ll have to settle for three-way ties.

Even in the sporting world we want precision and flawless measuring systems to know what is fair and accurate. So…why does the inerrancy of the Bible matter so much?

The truth that the Bible is perfect and flawlessness is critical. How could we trust God’s reputation if His Word is less than perfect? How could we have confidence in God’s instruction if there is a tolerance for imperfections?

What inerrancy means is that the Bible does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact. Likewise, the Bible always tells the truth, and tells the truth about everything it talks about. There are no contradictions in all of scripture.

In the same way that the truthfulness of God leads us to have confidence in obeying God…knowing that the Bible is without any errors shows us the credibility to trust the entire Bible.

This is what we rest in… we rest upon the fact that the Bible is true and without error in any part. This stands ultimately upon the truthfulness of God Himself. Looking at:

Numbers 23:19 (NIV) “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”

If there was an allowance for the Bible to contain errors…that would open up to all sort of doubt and lack of confidence about what God tells us. The inerrancy of the Bible gives us 100 percent confidence in putting our trust in every word of the Bible.