Why Biblical Inerrancy Is a Modern Myth

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. One of the most common modern misconceptions I hear is the idea that the Bible is the “inerrant Word of God.” That is, every word on the page is without error, historically accurate in every detail, and factually true in a literal sense. This view might feel like it’s always been part of Christianity, but in fact it is a relatively recent development in the history of the church. So, this week, let’s take a crack at that myth. If you go back to the earliest Christians and to the church fathers who laid the foundations of theology, you don’t find them treating the Bible in this rigidly literal way. Take Origen in the third century, for example. He believed that Scripture had multiple levels of meaning—literal, moral, and spiritual. And sometimes, he suggested, the literal sense wasn’t even the most important. Augustine of Hippo, one of the most influential theologians of the Western Church, was very clear that when the Bible seemed to conflict with reason or with established knowledge about the natural world, then perhaps the text should be read metaphorically rather than literally. These early leaders of the faith understood that God’s truth could shine through human words in ways deeper than flat inerrancy. The very idea of inerrancy as we know it today is actually a modern invention. In fact, the technical doctrine of inerrancy only took shape in the late nineteenth century, at Princeton Theological Seminary, when theologians like Charles Hodge and B. B. Warfield argued that because God is perfect, Scripture must also be perfect and without error in every respect. That claim was new—and it was a human invention, their own attempt to defend the Bible against the challenges of modern science and biblical criticism. But for the vast majority of the church’s history, Scripture was received instead as a Spirit-filled witness through human authors, shaped by their cultures and contexts, to communicate divine truth. And here’s where the real problem comes in: it’s actually impossible to read the Bible as inerrant if you are being honest with the text. The Bible contains four Gospels, not one. Each tells the story of Jesus in a slightly different way. Sometimes details don’t line up—like whether Jesus cleansed the Temple at the beginning of his ministry or at the end, or exactly how Judas died. In the Old Testament, the books of Kings and Chronicles sometimes give different versions of the same events. The book of Proverbs tells us to “answer a fool according to his folly” in one verse, and the very next verse says “do not answer a fool according to his folly.” These are not mistakes—they’re signs that Scripture is a conversation, a library of voices wrestling with God and with what it means to be faithful. When you force the Bible into the mold of inerrancy, you actually lose the beauty and depth of that conversation. You treat it like a rulebook dropped from heaven, instead of a Spirit-inspired record of human beings struggling, failing, repenting, and growing. You miss the texture of poetry, the power of lament, the wrestling of prophets who dared to argue with God, and the Gospel writers who tried in their own voices to capture the wonder of Jesus Christ. At its best, Scripture is not an answer key to every question. It is a witness to God’s ongoing relationship with humanity. It shows us how God’s people have sought to walk in faithfulness, and how God has continued to love and forgive them when they fall short. Reading the Bible this way—honestly, reverently, and with openness—frees us to encounter the living God, not just defend brittle doctrine. So no, the Bible is not an inerrant book of facts. It is something much better: it is inspired, Spirit-breathed, and life-giving, calling us deeper into the mystery of God and the adventure of faith. Thanks for being with me. To find out more about my parish, you can go to sjegh.com. Until next time, remember, protest like Jesus, love recklessly, and live your faith out in a community that accepts you but also challenges you to be better tomorrow than you are today.