CCblogs Network

Did NT authors think NT writings were inerrant?

There are things which, when you are an inerrantist, never cross your mind, and yet when you cease to be one, you wonder how you could possibly have failed to think those thoughts, notice those things, and ask those questions.

A case in point: the New Testament authors did not write as though they believed their writings to be inerrant.

The case of the Gospel authors who rework and transform the Gospels which went before them is a fairly obvious example. But Paul’s letters likewise confirm this point. He doesn’t simply make statements of fact, or issue commands. He seeks to persuade. He corrects himself at times. He writes like we would expect a human being writing letters to write, not as we would expect God causing his words to flow through a human vessel to write.