Biblical Inerrancy and the Licona Controversy

The affirmation of biblical inerrancy is nothing more, and nothing less, than the affirmation of the Bible’s total truthfulness and trustworthiness. The assertion of the Bible’s inerrancy - that the Bible is “free from all falsehood or mistake” - is an essential safeguard for the Bible’s authority as the very Word of God in written form. The reason for this should be clear: To affirm anything short of inerrancy is to allow that the Bible does contain falsehoods or mistakes.

Lamentably, the issue of biblical inerrancy has been and remains an issue of some controversy within evangelicalism. Addressing this crisis, a group of leading evangelicals met in Chicago in 1978 under the auspices of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy to adopt what became known as The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy.

The opening words of that statement set the issue clearly:

The authority of Scripture is a key issue for the Christian Church in this and every age. Those who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are called to show the reality of their discipleship by humbly and faithfully obeying God’s written Word. To stray from Scripture in faith or conduct is disloyalty to our Master. Recognition of the total truth and trustworthiness of Holy Scripture is essential to a full grasp and adequate confession of its authority.

Those who affirm biblical inerrancy understand this affirmation to be essential, not just to the question of the Bible’s perfection as the Word of God, but also to the question of evangelical consistency. Thus, the Evangelical Theological Society requires an affirmation of inerrancy for membership, and it has adopted the Chicago Statement as the guiding definition of that requirement.

The question of biblical inerrancy has recently arisen in connection with a book by Michael R. Licona and published by InterVarsity Press last year. Licona is a well-known evangelical apologist who has served as Research Professor of New Testament at Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina, and until recently, on the staff of the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, based in Atlanta. To read more, click here.