American Ignorance, the Bible’s Inerrancy, and Satan’s Lies

A key issue in the Fundamentalist-Modernist debates of the last century has now resurfaced. The 2025 State of the Bible Survey revealed the astonishing fact that there are more Americans (and Christians) who read the Bible than who affirm its accuracy. Doubting the Bible is nothing new, but the extent of this doubt signals that Christians must once again resolidify a foundational principle of their historic faith: the doctrine of inerrancy.

According to the survey, weekly Bible reading among all U.S. adults rose sharply this year to 42%, but only 36% of U.S. adults said the Bible was 100% accurate. Likewise, the percentage of self-identified Christians who read the Bible weekly climbed to 50%, but only 44% of self-identified Christians fully affirmed its accuracy.

Not that affirming the Bible’s accuracy must be a prerequisite to reading it regularly. On the contrary, one hopes that every day more unbelievers are picking up and reading the Bible as an early step on the road to believing in Jesus. But it seems unlikely that fully 6% of U.S. adults fall into this class, and it is definitionally impossible for 6% of Christians to be unbelievers.

A more likely explanation is that some Americans have some cultural understanding that they “should” read the Bible and have chosen to do so this year, without understanding its central claims and tenets. And, sadly, it seems that approximately 6% of self-identified Christians fall into this category, the same percentage as the number of all U.S. adults.

If this explanation is correct (or partially so), then what we are witnessing is an uptick in Bible-readers who do not understand the doctrine of inerrancy. Inerrancy is the doctrine that the Bible’s content is “truth, without any mixture of error,” as the Southern Baptist Convention describes it in the “Baptist Faith and Message.”

Inerrancy was one of the chief flashpoints in the debates between liberal Protestants and Fundamentalists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Because of foundational differences over the authority of God’s word, Presbyterian theologian J. Gresham Machen contended in 1923 that “liberalism on the one hand and the religion of the historic church on the other are not two varieties of the same religion, but two distinct religions proceeding from altogether separate roots.”

These survey data suggest that the time has come for American Christians to preserve “the religion of the historic church” [and] to emphasize inerrancy in their churches once again.

The fact is that Scripture itself affirms its own truthfulness. John’s gospel records Jesus praying, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). Peter and Paul each affirm that Scripture proceeds from God’s own mouth (2 Peter 1:19-21; 2 Timothy 3:16-17), and God’s words are completely true (Romans 3:4). Even the Old Testament adds its seal of approval to the fact that God’s law is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, and true (Psalm 19:7-9).

If Scripture is so clear, how was the inerrancy of Scripture called into question to begin with? In the debates of the previous two centuries, skeptics challenged the Bible’s accuracy on the grounds of scientific modernism. They denied the creation account, the virgin birth, and other miracles. The logical conclusion of such denials was a rejection of the resurrection itself. Ironically, their skepticism unintentionally fulfilled Peter’s prediction of scoffers in the last days who would claim that “all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation” (2 Peter 3:4).

But our new century features a new cultural zeitgeist. Americans who question the Bible today are likely not motivated by scientific modernism, but by Marxist post-modernism. Instead of attacking specific propositions with facts and arguments, today’s skeptics contend that all truth claims are merely attempts to exert power over another (which they certainly attempt to do with this very contention). Thus, today’s skeptics are uncomfortable affirming the absolute accuracy of any truth claim.

The ultimate issue here is the authority of God. When God claims to be without error or falsehood, he is not trying to seize power in a cosmic coup. He is simply revealing his character. When mere mortals presume to call God’s truthfulness into question, they deny his sovereignty and exalt themselves to the position of judge. They simply lack the credentials to sit in judgment upon God’s claims.

Because we are inferior to God, humans are left with two options, and only two options: We can accept his word as true—which is called “belief”—or reject it, even though it is true—which is called “unbelief.” Some Americans seem to credit the notion that the Bible contains some good moral teaching, without being absolutely true. But the Bible’s claims to inerrancy make this position absurd; if the Bible is not absolutely true, then its claims to inerrancy are lies—moral flaws that call the whole of its teaching into question. God did not leave open to us the option to pick and choose which parts of his word to believe and obey.

Thus believing God’s word—all of it—has been the ultimate mark distinguishing every true follower of him—from Abraham believing the unlikely promise that God would give his aged body innumerable descendants (Genesis 15:6) to New Testament Christians believing in Jesus.

In fact, Paul holds up their believing reception of his gospel as proof of the Thessalonians’ salvation. “When you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers” (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

The ultimate stake at play in the inerrancy debate is faith in God himself, and therefore salvation. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone. This faith is not an abstract, mystical substance, but a trust or belief directed toward a person: God. God has revealed himself in his word, and faith is believing in the character and promises he has revealed. If we question that, what faith is left?

Americans may be confused about the stakes, but Satan is not. In fact, calling God’s words into question is literally the oldest trick in the Book. In Genesis 3, the serpent’s first words to Eve are, “Did God actually say …?” (Genesis 3:1). From there his temptation slithers to a direct contradiction of God’s word, “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4). Our first parents were lured into sin by disbelieving God’s word, and we can do no better unless we believe.

Thanks be to God, he has provided a way by which we can do better. Through believing and obeying God’s word, we are able not only to resist temptation but also cause Satan to flee. John comforts Christians, “I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one” (1 John 2:14). This is the message that American Bible-readers need to hear, and on which the American church must stand firm.

Originally published by The Washington Stand.

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