I know there is a great feeling of security in believing that every word in the Bible has come from the mouth of God and is His Word. I know because this is what I once believed. But now I realize that in order to retain any reasonable degree of integrity, I have to be intellectually honest.
1. First, which Bible? Is it the King James Bible and only that which is exclusively the Word of God and inerrant, as many believe? Is it the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts? If so, then we are not helped much, since the originals no longer exist. We know that many of the copied manuscripts contained changes made by copyists. These changes were made both accidentally and intentionally. So I ask again, "Which Bible is the infallible one?"
2. Secondly, if the Bible is the only book which is inspired by God, we need to know which writings are to be included in the Bible --- which ones are the exclusively inspired ones. There was plenty of disagreement in the early church as to which writings were to be read in the churches. Paul's fellow helper Clement of Rome, wrote a powerful letter to the Corinthian church shortly after Paul and Peter's death. This letter was widely read as authoritative in the early church. However, 2 and 3 John, 2 Peter, Jude, and Revelation were questionable. Indeed, Jude quoted from "The Book of Enoch" as authoritative, and states that his quote was written by "Enoch, the seventh from Adam".
We know, of course, that this is false. The Book of Enoch was written some time between the third and first centuries B.C. I have a copy; it includes the section which Jude quoted; it also contains a lot of fanciful ideas concerning the heavenly bodies including gates through which the luminaries move. Winds and rain, dew, health and life emerge from one gate, while cold and drought proceed from another. The writer stated that the dimensions of the sun and the moon are equal. It's true that their diameters APPEAR to be equal when observed from the earth, but as we now know the actual diameter of the sun of over 400 times that of the moon.
Yet, in the second century, Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria cited the Book of Enoch without questioning its sacred character. They, also, believed that the ancient Enoch was the author. Origen (254 A.D.) assigned to the Book of Enoch, the same authority as to the Psalms.
So what are we to do with the Biblical book of Jude? Throw it away because Jude was mistaken about the Book of Enoch? Or keep it believing that God inspired its author in spite of Jude's mistake? I choose the latter.
3. Thirdly, The honest person must accept the fact that portions were added to the originals. Perhaps the clearest example is the The Johannine Comma (1st John 5:7)
Amazingly some people seriously regards the Johannine Comma as the genuine autograph of the apostle John.
Here are some facts, which taken together make it almost impossible to maintain that it was part of the original letter which we call “1st Johnâ€Â.
1. Out of the many hundreds of manuscripts which contain 1st John, there are only eight known Greek manuscripts which contain the passage.
2. Of the eight, four of them include it not as part of the text, but as a marginal note.
3. Seven of the eight date from the 15th to 18th centuries.
4. The other one is a variant reading of a 10th century manuscript
5. During the Trinitarian controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries, no Greek father quoted the passage in support of Trinitarianism.
If the passage were original, how can it be explained that it was absent from the many hundreds of early Greek manuscripts, and not present in even one of them.
Further details about the Johannine Comma can be obtained from:
the Johannine Comma
There are many places where New Testament manuscripts were "corrected" to make them fit the facts.
Some think that if there were an error in the Bible, we might as well throw away the whole thing. In my opinon, that stance is ludicrous. The writings of the Bible was written by fallible men, even though these men were inspired by God. I think that Clement of Rome was inspired to write his letter to the Corinthians, even though he made reference to the Phoenix bird as if it actually existed. In the Old Testament, we also find a reference to the Phoenix, as well as references to unicorns.
So if I deny the infallibility of the Bible, where do I find my authority in the things of God? I find Jesus Christ my supreme authority. It is true, that we learn about his life and teachings basically from the four memoirs of His life and teachings. These memoirs can be trusted; they are historical documents. Indeed, all historical documents contain errors. If Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John contained NO factual errors, they would be suspect of being contrived rather than being true historical records.
So Christ is my supreme authority, secondly His apostles whom He taught, thirdly the elders whome the apostles appointed. The major prophets of the Israelites, such as Isaiah and Jeremiah, are also included. The minor prophets do not seem to have much relevance to the Christian life today. Much of the rest of the Old Testament is a history of the Israelites and can be trusted as any history can be trusted, and we can learn from the mistakes that the Israelites made, and from the consequences of the sins in which they indulged.
