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<\/p>\nThe Bible functions as key resource for helping me understand something about God and about life in general. But the errors I have discovered in the Bible prompt me to take care in how I think and talk about Scripture.<\/p>\n
As a young person, I wanted a clear and unambiguous foundation to speak truthfully about God. This desire shaped the way I viewed the Bible. It seemed obvious that I should affirm the Bible to be absolutely inerrant: I wanted the certainty inerrancy seems to provide. I thought I needed an inerrant book to battle the errors I encountered in life.<\/p>\n
Absolute biblical inerrancy makes sense. It makes sense, that is, if we begin with a particular view of biblical inspiration and a particular view of God. I had these views as a youngster.<\/p>\n
If God can do anything and if God truly loves us, God would apparently want to deliver an absolutely clear and inerrant written revelation. Therefore, the Bible must not have any errors whatsoever. This was my view of the Bible as a young person.<\/p>\n
Then I started reading the Bible carefully.<\/p>\n
Instead of a crystal-clear, unambiguous, and inerrant biblical text, I found ambiguity and errors of various sorts. Through careful study and conversations with biblical scholars, I found no strong reason to continue to regard the Bible as absolutely inerrant.<\/p>\n
Click To Tweet<\/a><\/p>\n I could not deny the Bible itself. It has errors. I could not honestly say otherwise. To be honest with myself, therefore, I had to admit the Bible contained errors.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s consider just these ten errors in the Bible:<\/p>\n 1. Jesus curses fig tree and it withers immediately (Matthew 21:18-20).\u00a0 Jesus curses this same fig tree and it does not<\/em> wither immediately.\u00a0 The disciples observe it withered the next morning (Mark 11:12-14; 20-21).<\/p>\n 2. Mark records Jesus as quoting from Isaiah (Mk. 1:2), when the words are actually from Malachi (3:1).<\/p>\n 3. Matthew records a quote and credits it to Jeremiah (Mt. 27:9), when the majority of the quote is actually found in Zechariah (11:12, 13) not Jeremiah.<\/p>\n 4. Jesus heals one<\/em> demon-possessed man (at Gerasenes\/Gergesenes\/Gadarenes) and sends the demon into the pigs (Mark 5:1-20). But in Matthew\u2019s story of the same event, Jesus heals two <\/em>demon-possessed men (at Gerasenes\/Gergesenes\/Gadarenes) and sends the demons into the pigs (Matthew 8:28-34).<\/p>\n 5. Most Bibles have no verse 24 of Romans chapter sixteen. The text skips from verse 23 to verse 25. Some kind of error occurs here.<\/p>\n 6. Those that died in Numbers 25:9 are 24,000; whereas 1 Corinthians lists 23,000 for the same event.<\/p>\n 7.\u00a0 Jesus tells the disciples to take a staff on their journey as recorded in Mark 6:8, but Matthew records Jesus as telling the disciples not<\/em> to take a staff on that journey (10:9-10).<\/p>\n 8.\u00a0 2 Samuel says that God<\/em> incited David to take a census (24:1-2); 1 Chronicles says that Satan<\/em> induced David to take that census (21:1-2).<\/p>\n 9.\u00a0 Matthew quotes Jesus as saying that the mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds (13:31-32).\u00a0 However, the mustard seed is not the smallest of all seeds.<\/p>\n 10. Matthew says that Judas hanged himself (27:5), while the writer of Acts says that Judas died after falling headlong and bursting open (1:18).<\/p>\n This is only a short list of biblical errors or inconsistencies.\u00a0 This list is sufficient to make my point, however. After all, any<\/em> difference, inconsistency, or error would mean that we could not strictly call the Bibles we read absolutely \u201cinerrant.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019ve found many more errors in the Bible since my youth. I\u2019m not saying that most of the Bible is entirely false. That isn\u2019t the case. But I also want to be clear that a significant number of errors exist. Honesty demands that I be frank about this fact.<\/p>\n The errors I\u2019m talking about here don\u2019t even include the significant differences in the oldest biblical manuscripts from which we derive our current Bibles. Many Christians don\u2019t know that the Bibles we read today did not come directly from original manuscripts or \u201cautographs.\u201d\u00a0 Those originals no longer exist.\u00a0 We only have copies penned many generations after the originals.<\/p>\n In fact, scholars over the centuries have translated various bits and pieces of ancient Bibles to construct the Bibles we read today. These bits and pieces were copied centuries after the Bible was originally written.<\/p>\n In addition, those ancient manuscripts from which our Bibles come sometimes differ.\u00a0 Most differences are minor. But some are of greater importance.<\/p>\n For instance, look at the end of Mark\u2019s gospel.\u00a0 Some ancient manuscripts end at verse eight of the last chapter.\u00a0 Other manuscripts include verses nine through twenty.\u00a0 Even others include an extra verse after verse fourteen.<\/p>\n Or take the story of the woman caught in adultery.\u00a0 This story is usually located in John 7:53-8:11 in our contemporary Bibles. But the story itself is not included at all in most ancient manuscripts.\u00a0 Those old manuscripts that do<\/em> include the story place it in varying places in the Gospels.\u00a0 If it were a matter of only including material from the oldest manuscripts available, the story of the woman caught in adultery would not be included in our bibles today.<\/p>\n It\u2019s very difficult to claim the Bibles we read are inerrant when we realize the earliest manuscripts have differences.\u00a0 The big differences I mentioned obviously create problems.\u00a0 But even a slight difference between two ancient manuscripts \u2013 say, the difference between one having the word \u201cfor\u201d and the other \u201cwith\u201d \u2013 creates a problem for those who affirm absolute inerrancy. At the micro level, we find many errors and inconsistencies.<\/p>\n When some people raised in an Evangelical Christian community realize that the Bible has errors, they feel forced to make a choice. They can either ignore these errors and continue to claim absolute biblical inerrancy despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Or they can reject the idea that God had anything to do with the writing of the Bible.<\/p>\n Fortunately, the theological tradition in which I live and affirm \u2013 the Wesleyan tradition \u2013 has important tools for overcoming the problem of errors in the Bible. It allows one to avoid choosing either of the two alternatives. It provides the basis for a third option. Let me note three tools from the Wesleyan tradition I\u2019ve found especially helpful for making sense of errors in the Bible:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nErrors in the Bible<\/h3>\n
Missing Autographs and Divergent Manuscripts
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\u00a0\u00a0 Wesleyan Approaches to the Bible<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\nThe Wesleyan tradition has tools for overcoming the problem of errors in the Bible.<\/a><\/div>\n