The Christian believer has the explicit presupposition that God and his word is never wrong or in error. That is, there is an element of faith working to supersede what we see so that in any instant, God (and the character of God) is being trusted more than our eyes and minds. If God says that he is true and faithful and that the entirety of His Scripture is truth (John 17:17), then when I find something in his word which seems to not be true, which seems to contradict either something else in his word or something “established” by science, my devotion is still to God. I do not doubt God, I doubt myself.

WE AFFIRM  the unity and internal consistency of Scripture.
WE DENY  that alleged errors and discrepancies that have not yet been resolved vitiate the truth claims of the Bible.

We’re told in Proverbs that “every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him” (Pr. 30:5). The simple idea is that since God is truth, every word which utters forth from him is a word of truth; consistently so. From our human perspective, indeed, from our fallen human perspective, having a consistency and harmony and unity to everything we speak is outright difficult, in fact, it’s impossible. This is partly why James warns his readers that not many of us should become teachers: people who use a lot of words are more prone to get themselves into some kind knot. You especially see this in bad liars. It takes more lies to cover up older lies and sooner than later the liar can’t keep all his stories and lies straight and ends up tripping hard over his own sin. 

But when it comes to God there is no such danger. Every word of God proves true. As Jesus testified in John 10:35, the Scripture cannot be broken. That is, there is no inconsistency in it. Anywhere. Ever.

This is why the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy affirms in article 14 that there is a unity and internal consistency of Scripture. All its parts hold together. None of it is inconsistent with any other part or the whole. Which means, any so-called errors or discrepancies are just that: alleged errors and discrepancies. Hence the Chicago Statement makes the claim that these alleged errors or discrepancies have not yet been resolved and therefore do not vitiate or negate the truth claims of the Bible.
It is this idea which underlies the church’s convictions on Scripture’s infallibility and inerrancy. Paul Feinberg says that “inerrancy means that when all the facts are known, the Scriptures in their original autographs and properly interpreted will be shown to be wholly true in everything they affirm, whether that has to do with doctrine or morality or with the social, physical, or life sciences.”[1] What is being assumed in both Feinberg’s statement and the Chicago Statement is that if there is any error, it is not to be found with God and his word, but with us, the reader, in either our interpretation or understanding.

Stephen Wellum makes the crucial point that “our affirmation of inerrancy does not imply, and has never implied, that we know how to resolve every apparent inconsistency in Scripture.

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