Inerrancy in the Old Testament Poetry Books -- By: Mal Couch
Journal: Conservative Theological Journal
Volume: CTJ 03:8 (Apr 1999)
Article: Inerrancy in the Old Testament Poetry Books
Author: Mal Couch
CTJ 3:8 (April 1999) p. 74
Inerrancy in the Old Testament Poetry Books
President and Professor of Theology and Languages
Tyndale Theological Seminary, Ft. Worth, TX
Introduction
This is the third article in a series on the inerrancy of both the Old and New Testaments. Dr. Eugene Merrill examined inerrancy and the Pentateuch and Dr. Paul Benware dealt with the inerrancy of the Historical books. This article deals with the Poetry books of the Old Testament.
To review the issue, it is important to define again the word inerrancy. Pache writes:
The terms “inerrancy” and “infallibility” seem to us practically interchangeabale. There are those who think that the word “infallible” smacks too much of the idea of papal authority, a treatment of the Bible as a piece of paper that automatically settles every question. The fact is that if Scripture is infallible, it cannot err; and if it is inerrant, this is because it contains no mistakes. Inerrancy is the point of the theopneustia [God breathed]: it delineates sharply that which separates evangelical biblicists, on the one hand, from liberals and dialecticians (men who deny it) on the other. While faith rests on an ineffable and spiritual plane, the doctrine of inerrancy, on the level of observable facts, is the one more open to the attacks of unbelief.1
The Westminster Confession of Faith also states:
The authority of the holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God…, the Author thereof; and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God… yet, notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth, and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.2
CTJ 3:8 (April 1999) p. 75
Note that the Confession adds something very important. Because of the limitation of the human heart and mind to fully grasp the Scriptures and their authority, the Holy Spirit must work within the child of God for such conviction. This in no way reduces inspiration and inerrancy down to a doctrine that must require a mystical confirmation. The Scriptures are indeed inspired and infallible whether we accept them as such or not.
The Poetry Books
For this article we will use the English canon way of reckoning Old Testament books. Thus, for this article we are examining the books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. It is noted that the Hebrew can...
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