Inerrancy in the Major Prophets -- By: Michael D. Stallard

Journal: Conservative Theological Journal
Volume: CTJ 03:9 (Aug 1999)
Article: Inerrancy in the Major Prophets
Author: Michael D. Stallard


Inerrancy in the Major Prophets

Mike Stallard

Associate Professor of Systematic Theology
Baptist Bible Seminary, Clarks Summit, PA

Introduction

This article continues the series on inerrancy by examining the Old Testament books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel. When the original articles of The Fundamentals were published, one of the articles written by Arno C. Gaebelein was dedicated to the support which fulfilled prophecy gave to the idea of divine inspiration of the Scriptures.

God alone can declare the end from the beginning. The dumb idols of the heathen know nothing concerning the future, and man himself is powerless to find out things to come. However, the Lord, who made this challenge, has demonstrated his power to predict. None of the “sacred books” of the nations contains predictions of the future. If the authors of these writings had attempted to foretell the future, they would have furnished the strongest evidence of their deception. But the Bible is pre-eminently a book of prophecy. These predictions are declared to be the utterances of the Lord; they show that the Bible is a supernatural book, the revelation of God.1

Thus, the Major Prophets with their many predictions become significant sources in the discussion of the inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible. The issue is not a minor one.

God’s written revelation came in inerrant form, free from discrepancies or contradictions, and this inerrancy contributes to its achieving its saving purpose. If there were genuine mistakes of any sort in the original manuscripts, it would mean, obviously, that the Bible contains error along with truth. As such it would become subject to human judgment, just like any other religious document. The validity of such judgment, of course, depends upon the judge’s own knowledge and wisdom. If he rejects the truth of the scriptural record simply because it seems to him to be unlikely or improbable, then he is in danger of eternal loss. The charge of scriptural self-

contradiction or factual error is to be taken quite seriously; it cannot be brushed off as a matter of minor consequence. At stake is the credibility and reliability of the Bible as authentic revelation from God.2

The presentation of inerrancy as formulated by evangelicals has generally been grounded upon several lines of argumentation. The first one is to show deductively that inerrancy flows quite naturally from the character of God. Since God cannot lie (

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