Our spiritual fathers worked strenuously through these issues and organized their understanding into The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy.[1] They recorded in Article XII: “We affirm that Scripture in its entirety is inerrant, being free from all falsehood, fraud, or deceit.”

The view of Old Testament inerrancy held by the Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles should be essentially the same view that would have been held by Old Testament believers who lived before the first coming of Christ. But where do we find evidence of what these people believed? We begin by admitting that we find no discussion of the term inerrancy before the time of Christ, so we must allow these Jewish saints to express their faith in the language of their times.

 

 Testimonies From the Time

“They would use the term ‘it did not change’” said Dr. Randall Price—a foremost evangelical expert on the biblical Hebrew text, including the Dead Sea Scrolls.[2] For support, he points to a famous statement by the Jewish historian Josephus, who lived just after the time of Christ, and wrote as follows:

“We have given practical proof of our reverence for our Scriptures. For although such long ages have now passed, no one has ventured to add, or to remove, or to alter a syllable; and it is an instinct with every Jew, from the day of his birth, to regard them as decrees of God, to abide by them, and if need be, cheerfully to die for them.”[3]

Josephus came from a priestly family and held a high view of the Old Testament in its entirety, according to Price. That is a significant fact considering his historical context within Second Temple Judaism—when some were moving toward a special reverence for the Law of Moses as opposed to the rest of the Hebrew canon. But apparently, Josephus truly believed that “The law of the LORD is perfect” (Ps 19:7).

When we speak of inerrancy today, we include both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament—in other words, all of the Christian Scriptures. The Apostle Peter gave them equal weight in 2 Peter 3:16.

The major New Testament texts to which we appeal for our whole doctrine of inerrancy are really speaking specifically of the Old Testament (see Mt 5:17-18; 2 Ti 3:15-17; 2 Pt 1:20-21). Regarding 2 Timothy 3:16, MacArthur and Mayhue state: “. . . Paul affirms both a claim to the inspiration of God primarily in the writings of the Old Testament (and by extension to the New Testament) and an inerrant view of Scripture.”[4]

In fact, there can really be no question that the entirety of the New Testament demonstrates Divine agreement with Old Testament inerrancy. We can find evidence of this on the pages of every New Testament writer. As they quote the Hebrew Bible, reference it, and base their foundational teachings upon it, they show their reverence for the text and their trust in it.[5]

As MacArthur and Mayhue observe, “The New Testament gives a clear and consistent witness to the inspiration of the Old Testament, whose writings are thought of as God’s speech.”[6] They go on to summarize: “Historical narratives in the Old Testament are universally treated as factual accounts by New Testament writers, including both major miraculous events . . . and minor details . . .”[7]

Hodge and Warfield wrote similarly in the 19th century: “The New Testament writers continually assert of the Scriptures of the Old Testament, and of the several books which constitute it, that they ARE THE WORD OF GOD.”[8] Certainly, Jesus and the New Testament authors represent the faithful understanding of the Old Testament, as it was expressed by Israelite believers in the Second Temple period—up to and including the decades when the church began.

 

 A Variety of Second Temple Views

The theological milieu that sprang from Second Temple Judaism produced a variety of groups and ideologies, and this period of history continues to impact the state of Judaism today.

The two most prominent groups that came out of the intertestamental period were the Pharisees and Sadducees. Interestingly, each of them puts their own human twist on the Scriptures, thus falling into error. Yet, both still served to bear witness to the historic understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures.

The writer for GotQuestions.org compares the two groups: “Religiously, the Sadducees were more conservative in one doctrinal area: they insisted on a literal interpretation of the text of Scripture; the Pharisees, on the other hand, gave oral tradition equal authority to the written Word of God. If the Sadducees couldn’t find a command in the Tanakh, they dismissed it as manmade.” The article concludes: “. . . the Pharisees laid the groundwork for modern-day Rabbinic Judaism.”[9]

In New Testament terms, we might say that the Pharisees went “beyond what is written” (1 Co 4:6), while the Sadducees “strayed from the faith” (1 Ti 6:10). The Sadducees infamously denied the resurrection (cf. Mt 22:23; Mk 12:18; Lk 20:27; Acts 23:6, 8). “They don’t believe in the supernatural,” said Price. “So, they are not going to believe in inerrancy. Inerrancy is a supernatural act.”

On occasion, the Pharisees and Sadducees teamed up in joint opposition to Jesus (Mt 16:1), but they were very different groups. Because the Pharisees still held to an orthodox understanding of what we would call inerrancy Christ could compliment Nicodemus by calling him “the teacher of Israel” (Jn 3:10).

One of the most interesting groups to come out of the Second Temple Period was the Qumran Community, which functioned from 150 BC to 68 AD. Price explained that “the Qumran Community focused on the prophets. One hundred percent of everything we have written from them deals with the prophets.”

This is significant because other Jewish influences that emerged from this time began to emphasize the Pentateuch above the rest of the Hebrew canon. The Sadducees themselves may have fallen into this category. “There was a sanctity given to the Torah—that was not given to other writings,” Price stated. He noted that this emphasis of the rabbis continues down to this day.  Yet, it was obviously not held universally, showing that it was a deviation from the faithful Israelite view of Scripture.

Regarding the Dead Sea Scrolls in general, Price stated: “I don’t see that they mark a distinction between the Torah and the rest of Scripture.” More importantly, Price stated, “Jesus puts them all on the same level. They must be recognized as having God’s authority, not man’s authority.” “In his every use of the Scriptures, Jesus declared the authority and veracity of the Old Testament,” state MacArthur and Mayhue.[10]

Katulka sums up this period as follows: “Despite living under Gentile control, the promises and prophecies of God in the Old Testament drove sects of Jewish people to trust that God still had a future for Israel.”[11]

 

 The Completion of the Canon

What else leads us to believe that Old Testament saints regarded their text as inerrant? One such evidence would be the inclusion of a book in the Hebrew canon. The Chicago Statement records: “It appears that the Old Testament canon had been fixed by the time of Jesus.”[12]

“You can’t have canonicity if you don’t have authority,” Price added. “And you can’t have authority if it’s not inspired or inerrant. The Scriptures were held to be God’s Word from Him, given to Moses in a unique way and then given to others who were prophets. What they said was Scripture, as well.”

Biblical scholar Dr. Tim Sigler shared the following insight, explaining how the canon was technically formed: “No ancient council of rabbis or church fathers determined which books were inspired. They simply recognized in a formalized manner what was already true of these texts—namely, they were authoritative Scripture. This recognition was based upon the origin of these texts. They came from ‘holy men of God (who) spoke’ (2 Pt 1:21; cf. Heb 1:1-2) and wrote with Divine authority claiming, ‘thus says the Lord’ (cf. Isa 28:16).”[13]

 

 The Solemnity of the Scribes

The belief of faithful Israelites regarding the inspired and inerrant canon was certainly also evidenced by their handling of its contents. A first-century scribe called Ishmael wrote: “My son, be careful in your work for it is the work of Heaven, lest you err either in leaving out or in adding one iota, and thereby cause the destruction of the whole world.” “The scribes did excellent work,” Price stated. “It was a sacred duty—this was their whole purpose in life.”

MacArthur and Mayhue state: “. . . Jesus said that every letter is perfectly preserved in heaven and will come to pass (Mt 5:17-18). Not only did Jesus view the smallest portion of the text as inspired, he also considered every letter to be essential. He claimed that even the smallest part is eternal. The implications for historicity are massive. If Jesus attested to this degree of accuracy, readability, and integrity in the Old Testament, then the Bible must be regarded as inspired, inerrant, and eternally true—down to the last word.”[14]

 

 Evaluating the Internal Evidence

The historically faithful view of the Old Testament canon is in alignment with the words of the prophets of Israel— from the beginning of the Hebrew Scriptures to their conclusion. Consider their claims: Old Testament authors stated 418 times, “Thus says the LORD.” The writers also described the exalted state of the inspired literature in such passages as Ps 12:6; 19; 119; Pr 30:5; Isa 40:8; and Jer 15:16. They placed prohibitions on tampering with their writings in texts like Dt 4:2; 12:32; and Pr 30:5-6.

Another mark of inspired Old Testament Scripture was its ability to prophetically predict the future. Many times, inspired authors wrote of events that were future to their own times, but which came to fulfillment long before the closing of the canon or the time of Christ. And each one of them was fulfilled literally and precisely. Think, for instance, of the prophecies of the return of Judah from captivity in Isaiah 44:24-45:13, or of the detailed predictions outlining the intertestamental period in Daniel 11:2-35.

Inerrancy is thus evidenced by the witness of the Hebrew Scriptures themselves and can be demonstrated internally through these means.

When we profess our belief in the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture—including the Old Testament—we bear witness to our agreement with the ancient teachings of the children of Israel, all through their history in biblical times. We also confess this doctrine with our forefathers in the Christian church. This is no modern invention, but the timeless teaching of the Sacred Text. May we continue to proclaim it clearly and boldly.

 

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ENDNOTES

[1] The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, International Council on Biblical Inerrancy; n.d.; https://library.dts.edu/Pages/TL/Special/ICBI_1.pdf; (Accessed 3/10/23).

[2] Personal interview, March 8, 2023.

[3] Flavius Josephus, Contra Apionem, 1:42.

[4] John F. MacArthur and Richard L. Mayhue, eds., Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), 80.

[5] See, for instance, Jesus’ words recorded in Mt 21:42.

[6] Ibid., 87.

[7] Ibid., 88.

[8] Archibald A. Hodge and Benjamin B. Warfield, Inspiration (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker  Book House, 1979), 29, emphasis in original.

[9] What are the differences between the Sadducees and Pharisees?”; Got Questions, https://www.gotquestions.org/Sadducees-Pharisees.html?fbclid=IwAR33v72FxXqquGXNEUdoKHAggLfJ5O3KBRvvVEEEHBajCITaOT Y0ipbKWJ0, (Accessed 3/13/23).

[10] MacArthur and Mayhue, 89.

[11] Christopher J. Katulka, Israel Always (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2022), 56.

[12] The Chicago Statement, 8.

[13] Personal interview, March 13, 2023.

[14] MacArthur and Mayhue, 93.