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Statement from the International Council on Biblical Innerrancy |
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In 1978 the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy published the following statement. We, at Southside, are in full agreement with what is said therein regarding the Word of God. The headings are not original to the 1978 version; we've added them for ease of readability.
The Purpose of Scripture
God, who is Himself Truth and speaks truth only, has inspired Holy Scripture in order thereby to reveal Himself to a lost mankind through Jesus Christ as Creator and Lord, Redeemer and Judge. Holy Scripture is God’s witness to Himself.
The Nature of Scripture
Holy Scripture, being God’s own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it affirms; obeyed, as God’s command, in all it requires; embraced, as God’s pledge, in all it promises.
The Illumination of Scripture
The Holy Spirit, its divine Author, both authenticates it to us by His inward witness and opens our minds to understanding its meaning.
The Truth of Scripture
Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God’s acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God’s saving grace in individual lives.
The Authority of Scripture
The Authority of Scripture is inescapably impaired if this total divine inerrancy is in any way limited or disregarded, or made relative to a view of truth contrary to the Bible’s own; and such lapses bring serious loss to both the individual and the church.
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