Vern S. Poythress (VSP): I was grateful for the conference being held at all. In the completed statement, I was grateful also for several things. First, there was a clear positive statement of what the doctrine of inerrancy is. Second, there were statements designed to head off misunderstandings and caricatures. For example, some opponents have characterized inerrancy as requiring a dictation theory of inspiration, a theory that says that the human authors were mere scribes taking dictation from God, instead of active participants in writing Scripture. The inerrancy statement specifically addresses this misunderstanding, and affirms the involvement of human authors in Article VIII. I also thought that the format was effective. It included a shorter positive statement, and then affirmations and denials, which are useful in clarifying.

Dr. Poythress talked recently with Clay Sidebender of the Substack newsletter The Inerrant Word; used by permission.

In October of 1978, a group of 334 evangelical christian leaders from many different denominations and churches came together to formulate the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (CSBI). The conference was put on by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI), which was an organization that existed from 1978 to 1988. The CSBI set out to define the authority of Scripture in a time when the historic understanding of the Bible’s authority was under attack. Today, many people do not know about the ICBI and the important work they accomplished for the Global Church. Hopefully, today’s interview will help bridge that gap of knowledge.

I (CRS) recently had the privilege of corresponding with Dr. Vern S. Poythress (VSP), distinguished professor of New Testament, biblical interpretation, and systematic theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, where he has taught since 1976. He is the author of many books, including titles most notable for our conversation, Inerrancy and Worldview and Inerrancy and the Gospels. He was kind and gracious enough to allow me to interview him. We talked about the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy and Hermeneutics, both of which he signed, and other questions surrounding the doctrine of inerrancy. This interview has been edited for length and clarity

CRS: You were one of the signers of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy back in 1978. You were early in your career as a professor and probably not as well known as you are today. How did you get involved with the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy?

VSP: I cannot remember for sure. If I remember rightly, Edmund P. Clowney, at that time president of Westminster Theological Seminary, and one of the prominent defenders of inerrancy, urged me to participate. I was at that time Assistant Professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary, having been initially appointed in 1976.

CRS: What are some things you remember about the ICBI, a historic meeting of evangelicals across many denominations?

VSP: I understood that it was a historic meeting. There were many people there who were famous evangelical Bible scholars and theologians. Evangelicalism at the time was being disturbed by opponents of inerrancy both inside and outside the general movement of evangelicalism; people were raising doubts about inerrancy or attacking it.

CRS: Who did you meet or interact with at the meeting?

VSP: I don’t remember anyone in particular. I did not treat the meeting as a time to get acquainted, but a time to pray and to listen carefully to the presentations.

CRS: Did you make any contributions to the statement at all? If so, what were they? If not, what were some contributions made to the statement that you particularly remember that impacted you?

VSP: I did not make any contributions to the wording, and I did not write any suggestions to go to the central committee. The conference was organized with a central committee and with a preliminary draft statement. Contributions were welcomed from all participants. But because there were so many participants, there was a need for steering and filtering through the central committee.

VSP: I was grateful for the conference being held at all. In the completed statement, I was grateful also for several things. First, there was a clear positive statement of what the doctrine of inerrancy is. Second, there were statements designed to head off misunderstandings and caricatures.

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