Journal: Conservative Theological Journal
Volume: CTJ 04:11 (Apr 2000)
Article: Inerrancy And The Gospels
Author: Mal Couch

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CTJ 4:11 (April 2000) p. 83

Inerrancy And The Gospels

Mal Couch

President & Professor Of Theology & Languages
Tyndale Theological Seminary, Ft. Worth, TX

This is a continuation of a series on the inerrancy of Scripture. So far we have looked at the inerrancy of (1) the books of Moses, (2) the historic books, (3) the poetry books, and (4) the major prophetic writings. In future articles we’ll deal with the inerrancy of (1) the Pauline epistles, (2) the general epistles, (3) the book of Hebrews, and (5) the book of Revelation.

Review Of The Doctrine Of Inerrancy

The doctrine of inerrancy is actually an extension of the doctrine of inspiration. If the Holy Spirit has inspired the writers of Scripture and superintended their message, then it stands to reason that the message is without error. The written revelation reflects the thoughts of a holy God who would speak to us only what is true.

Inerrancy extends only to the original autographs of the prophets and apostles. It does not cover the transmission and copying of the text. The following describes both inspiration and inerrancy:

Inspiration may be defined as the inward work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts and minds of chosen men who then wrote the Scriptures so that God got written what He wanted. The Bible in all of its parts constitutes the written Word of God to man. This Word is free from all error in its original autographs. It is wholly trustworthy in matters of history and doctrine. However limited may have been their knowledge, and however much they may have erred when they were not writing sacred Scripture, the authors of Scripture, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, were preserved from making factual, historical, scientific, or other errors.1

The Gospels And Inerrancy

The issue of the inerrancy of the Gospels has been clouded by liberal attempts to say that the Gospels are composed of a patchwork of myth, rumors, and tradition. Liberals argue for a Two-Document Hypothesis and even up to a Four-Document Hypothesis as a base for the Gospels.

CTJ 4:11 (April 2000) p. 84

They contend for a very late writing period for most of the books; although, they try to argue for the primacy of Mark and the early penning of that Gospel.

Reading the arguments of the critics leads to conclusions that do not make sense to a thinking person. It is clear that the critics have a destructive mentality and a naturalistic orientation. To them the Bible is simply the thoughts of mere men. There is no inspiration of Scripture, much less, the concept of inerrancy. As stated in previous articles in this series, there are thousands of verses thr...

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