What do Christians mean when they say that they believe the Bible is true?

Technically it can be stated this way:

• We believe that the original manuscripts (not the copies, translations, or quotations) were fully and verbally inspired by God.

• The Bible does not contain any error as a statement of fact.

• The Bible is true when it speaks about spiritual matters.

• The Bible can be understood literally. This means that the correct meaning of the text is what it’s original hearers would have understood it to mean in the context of their culture, language usage and literary form, whether poetry, parable or historical account.

World renowned bible teacher, Josh McDowell, explains what this means for us today, “When all the facts are known, the Scriptures in their original autographs, properly interpreted, will be shown to be wholly true in everything they affirm, whether this has to do with doctrine or morality or with the social, physical, or life sciences.”

When commenting on the varying personal situations, abilities, methods and styles of the roughly 40 human authors God used to write the 66 books of the Bible, Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer said this, “Regardless of whether Scripture records words which God actually dictated, the copying of ancient records, the results of research of the human author, or the thoughts, aspirations, and fears of the writer, in every particular God guided the men so that what they wrote was precisely what God intended... God’s Spirit guided the choice of words while allowing the human author’s style, vocabulary and personality to be expressed.”

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