Page 34 - Ecclesiology Textbook Masters

(e) No authority relative to the receiving and forming of the truth has ever been committed to the
church or to men beyond that given to the New Testament writers. The inspired revelation is
complete.

The Definition of Inerrancy coincides with Inspiration

Definition of Inerrancy: The original autographs that were written by the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit were created without any disharmony between books and the very words and even the
punctuation were penned by each author without error in thought or form. God’s thoughts were
perfectly expressed in written words.

The result of the divine-human authorship is a message without error. If God is true (Rom. 3:4) and
the Bible comes from God (2 Tim. 3:16), then the Bible must be true in all its parts. That is why the
Bible is said to be inerrant. “Inerrancy is the view that when all the facts become known, they will
demonstrate that the Bible in its original autographs and correctly interpreted is entirely true and
never false in all it affirms, whether that relates to doctrine or ethics or to the social, physical, or
life sciences”.
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2. The church is concerned about spreading the Gospel to the lost in their vicinity and throughout the
world. The primary mission that Jesus called the church to do was to “make disciples of all nations…”
(Matthew 28:19-20). This obviously requires the church to lead people to Christ in belief BEFORE they
can disciple them. An evangelistic church is one whom the people energetically share their faith with
the lost and bring them to church to begin the process of discipleship and fellowship. An evangelistic
church will see people being baptized as a result of coming to faith in Christ. An evangelistic church will
be a sending church where members will leave to share their faith in other areas of the world. This
church will send teams of people on missions trips and will support mission efforts financially.

3. The church as a clearly defined and developed discipleship program in place. This may involve
Sunday School or small group studies, where a mature spiritual leader is taking people, especially new
believers, through the process of learning the Scriptures. It may be called “Body building classes” or
“small groups” but there should be some avenue that is visible where the church is actively involved in
the teaching ministry of the Word.

4. The church avoids activities that do not enhance its mission and purpose for existence. Many
churches today have numerous “activities” which have nothing to do with any spiritual directive. Their
activities are centered around entertaining themselves (called fellowship) when little or nothing of
eternal value associated with it. A good question to ask is, “how does this activity on the calendar
enhance our directives from Christ to see His kingdom enlarged on earth?” Many times, the activities
themselves become the focus of the church and there is no real reason for their existence. For example,
years ago churches started soup kitchens for feeding the poor and less fortunate. The purpose of these
kitchens was to motivate people to come, be fed, and hear the Gospel. It was to share the love of Christ
physically and spiritually. But after years, the soup kitchen becomes nothing more than an activity
where the church feeds poor people, and the Gospel is not shared anymore. The focus becomes
humanitarian without any spiritual dimension. Such an activity wanders away from the mission of the
church. A true church focuses on activities which yield eternal rewards.

19 Paul D. Feinberg in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Walter A. Elwell. Grand Rapids: Baker. p. 142

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