The Bible is the Inspired, Infallible, Inerrant Word of God. This is the claim the Bible makes of itself. We must either accept the claim in its entirety or reject it altogether. Either the Bible is the Word of God, or it is a horribly evil hoax by which the souls of men are deceived and ruined. The same must be said concerning all other religious books that claim divine origin. If the Bible is the Word of God, then the Koran, the Book of Mormon, and the claims of modern self-proclaimed prophets must all be rejected as evil deceptions by which the souls of men are destroyed. The Bible claims to be the inspired, infallible, inerrant, complete, sufficient, and final Word of God. It takes but a casual glance at the Scriptures to see that this is the claim of the Bible.

• The Bible claims divine origin. It claims to be infallibly inspired, though written by men who were both fallible and sinful (2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 1:1; 2 Peter 1:21).
• The Bible claims to be a necessary revelation, without which God cannot be known (Romans 10:13-17; 1 Peter 1:23-25). God is Spirit, the eternal, self-existent, incomprehensible Spirit. Though His eternal power and godhead is evident from the things He has made, so that all are without excuse, He cannot be known unless He makes Himself known by special revelation through the Word.
• The Bible claims to be the sufficient, effectual means by which chosen, redeemed sinners are called to life, faith, and everlasting salvation in Christ (Isaiah 55:11; 2 Timothy 3:15; Hebrews 4:12; James 1:18).
• The Bible claims both authority and finality as the Word of God (Isaiah 8:20; Revelation 22:18-19).

When we talk about inspiration, be sure you understand what the Scriptures teach about it. We sometimes speak of the men who wrote the Scriptures as being inspired. That is not really accurate. Those men were moved and carried along by the Holy Spirit as they wrote; but they were not inspired. It is the Word of God itself, that which those faithful men were employed to write, which is inspired.

We recognize, and the Bible carefully shows us, the flaws of those men. The Book was given through weak, sinful human beings; but their weaknesses, sins, and humanity does not affect the Bible’s infallibility. We see the personalities of the writers in their writings; but their personalities did not corrupt the Bible’s perfection. The Bible claims to be and is the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God.

Few believers have not been asked, “What about all the places where the statements of the Bible contradict the proven discoveries of science? There is not a single point of contradiction between the statements of Holy Scripture and the established facts of science. There is great conflict between the Scriptures and scientific theories, but none between Scripture and fact. The theories of science change constantly and constantly contradict one another; but the facts of science and the facts of the Bible are in perfect harmony.

Adapted and modified from Don Fortner, Basic Bible Doctrine
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.