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then, a good translation will have doctrinal authority, although actual inspiration is reserved for the
autographs” (Geisler and Nix, How We Got the Bible, p. 44).

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

How did the Bible get its name?

Early books were written on a paper made of papyrus, a reed grown in the Nile River Basin in Egypt. The
reed was harvested and shipped to a Phoenician seaport city called Byblos (also called Gebal). A
Codex(books) was then created by binding pages together, with both sides of the paper used. Writing
material was made from the papyrus plant by cutting the pith of the plant in one-foot strips and setting
it in the sun to dry. The strips were then laid in horizontal rows with rows of vertical strips glued to the
horizontal rows in a crisscross fashion similar to the way plywood is constructed today. The horizontal
rows were smoother and became the writing surface. A book, therefore, became known as byblos. The
Latin word, biblia, was a derivative of the original word. The French translated the word, Bible, which
means, “the books.” Eventually, the plural form biblia was used by Latin-speaking Christians to denote
all the books of the Old and New Testaments.

Is the Bible really the Word of God?

Emphatically YES! The Bible itself claims to be God’s Word. In over 3,800 references in the Old
Testament alone, the Bible claims to be speaking the Word of the Lord. Likewise, NT writers claim to
be writing God’s Word.

Bible History – How did the Bible come together?

The first recorded instance of God’s Word being written down was when the Lord Himself wrote it down
in the form of Ten Commandments on the stone tablets delivered to Moses at the top of Mount Sinai.
This occurred between 1400 BC and 1500 BC, almost 3500 years ago. The language was in Hebrew.
Moses penned the first five books called the Pentateuch. The writings of these books were passed
down from generation to generation for thousands of years on scrolls made of animal skin, usually
sheep, but sometimes deer or cow. Animals considered unclean by Jews were never used to make
scrolls.

The Pentateuch on a scroll was called the “Torah.” An entire Torah scroll, if completely unrolled is over
150 feet long! As most sheep are only about two or three feet long, it took an entire flock of sheep to
make one Torah scroll. The scroll was broken into leaves (about one sheep long (almost 1 meter or 2-3

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