Biblical Inerrancy

Biblical inerrancy is the doctrine that the Bible in its original manuscripts, is accurate and totally free from error of any kind, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact." Some equate inerrancy with infallibility; others do not.

The official statement in favor of biblical inerrancy, the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, was published in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society in 1978. It can also be found online at

http://www.alliancenet.org/partner/Article_Display_Page/0,,PTID307086_CHID750054_CIID2094584,00.html

The signatories to the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy affirm that since none of the original manuscripts of the Bible are currently extant, the manuscripts which do exist cannot be considered inerrant. The signatories also affirm, however, that the existing manuscripts are very faithful copies of the original manuscripts.

There are a minority of biblical inerrantists who go further than the official statement on biblical inerrancy, arguing that the original text has been perfectly preserved and passed down through time.

The original language texts that are used by modern translators as the source for translations of the Bible are reconstructions of the original text, which are based upon scholarly comparison of thousands of biblical manuscripts (such as the Dead Sea Scrolls) and thousands of biblical citations in the writings of the early Church Fathers.