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芝加哥圣经无误宣言
THE CHICAGO STATEMENT
ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY
Preface
The authority of Scripture is a key issue for the Christian Church in this
and every age. Those who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
are called to show the reality of their discipleship by humbly and
faithfully obeying God's written Word. To Stray from Scripture in faith or
conduct is disloyalty to our Master. Recognition of the total truth and
trustworthiness of Holy Scripture is essential to a full grasp and adequate
confession of its authority.
The following Statement affirms this inerrancy of Scripture afresh, making
clear our understanding of it and warning against its denial. We are
persuaded that to deny it is to set aside the witness of Jesus Christ and of
the Holy Spirit and to refuse that submission to the claims of God's own
Word which marks true Christian faith. We see it as our timely duty to make
this affirmation in the face of current lapses from the truth of inerrancy
among our fellow Christians and misunderstanding of this doctrine in the
world at large.
This Statement consists of three parts: a Summary Statement, Articles of
Affirmation and Denial, and an accompanying Exposition*. It has been
prepared in the course of a three-day consultation in Chicago. Those who
have signed the Summary Statement and the Articles wish to affirm their own
conviction as to the inerrancy of Scripture and to encourage and challenge
one another and all Christians to growing appreciation and understanding of
this doctrine. We acknowledge the limitations of a document prepared in a
brief, intensive conference and do not propose that this Statement be given
creedal weight. Yet we rejoice in the deepening of our own convictions
through our discussions together, and we pray that the Statement we have
signed may be used to the glory of our God toward a new reformation of the
Church in its faith, life, and mission.
We offer this Statement in a spirit, not of contention, but of humility and
love, which we purpose by God's grace to maintain in any future dialogue
arising out of what we have said. We gladly acknowledge that many who deny
the inerrancy of Scripture do not display the consequences of this denial in
the rest of their belief and behavior, and we are conscious that we who
confess this doctrine often deny it in life by failing to bring our thoughts
and deeds, our traditions and habits, into true subjection to the divine
Word.
We invite response to this statement from any who see reason to amend its
affirmations about Scripture by the light of Scripture itself, under whose
infallible authority we stand as we speak. We claim no personal
infallibility for the witness we bear, and for any help which enables us to
strengthen this testimony to God's Word we shall be grateful.
* The Exposition is not printed here but can be obtained by writing us at
the Oakland office: ICBI / P.O. Box 13261 / Oakland, CA 94661 / (415)-339-
1064.
A SHORT STATEMENT
1. God, who is Himself Truth and speaks truth only, has inspired Holy
Scripture in order thereby to reveal Himself to lost mankind through Jesus
Christ as Creator and Lord, Redeemer and Judge. Holy Scripture is God's
witness to Himself.
2. Holy Scripture, being God's own Word, written by men prepared and
superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all
matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God's instruction,
in all that it affirms, obeyed, as God's command, in all that it requires;
embraced, as God's pledge, in all that it promises.
3. The Holy Spirit, Scripture's divine Author, both authenticates it to us
by His inward witness and opens our minds to understand its meaning.
4. Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault
in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God's acts in creation,
about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under
God, than in its witness to God's saving grace in individual lives.
5. The authority of Scripture is inescapably impaired if this total divine
inerrancy is in any way limited or disregarded, or made relative to a view
of truth contrary to the Bible's own; and such lapses bring serious loss to
both the individual and the Church.
ARTICLES OF AFFIRMATION AND DENIAL
Article I
We affirm that the Holy Scriptures are to be received as the authoritative
Word of God.
We deny that the Scriptures receive their authority from the Church,
tradition, or any other human source.
Article II
We affirm that the Scriptures are the supreme written norm by which God
binds the conscience, and that the authority of the Church is subordinate to
that of Scripture.
We deny that Church creeds, councils, or declarations have authority greater
than or equal to the authority of the Bible.
Article III
We affirm that the written Word in its entirety is revelation given by God.
We deny that the Bible is merely a witness to revelation, or only becomes
revelation in encounter, or depends on the responses of men for its validity.
Article IV
We affirm that God who made mankind in His image has used language as a
means of revelation.
We deny that human language is so limited by our creatureliness that it is
rendered inadequate as a vehicle for divine revelation. We further deny that
the corruption of human culture and language through sin has thwarted God's
work of inspiration.
Article V
We affirm that God' s revelation in the Holy Scriptures was progressive.
We deny that later revelation, which may fulfill earlier revelation, ever
corrects or contradicts it. We further deny that any normative revelation
has been given since the completion of the New Testament writings.
Article VI
We affirm that the whole of Scripture and all its parts, down to the very
words of the original, were given by divine inspiration.
We deny that the inspiration of Scripture can rightly be affirmed of the
whole without the parts, or of some parts but not the whole.
Article VII
We affirm that inspiration was the work in which God by His Spirit, through
human writers, gave us His Word. The origin of Scripture is divine. The mode
of divine inspiration remains largely a mystery to us.
We deny that inspiration can be reduced to human insight, or to heightened
states of consciousness of any kind.
Article VIII
We affirm that God in His Work of inspiration utilized the distinctive
personalities and literary styles of the writers whom He had chosen and
prepared.
We deny that God, in causing these writers to use the very words that He
chose, overrode their personalities.
Article IX
We affirm that inspiration, though not conferring omniscience, guaranteed
true and trustworthy utterance on all matters of which the Biblical authors
were moved to speak and write.
We deny that the finitude or fallenness of these writers, by necessity or
otherwise, introduced distortion or falsehood into God's Word.
Article X
We affirm that inspiration, strictly speaking, applies only to the
autographic text of Scripture, which in the providence of God can be
ascertained from available manuscripts with great accuracy. We further
affirm that copies and translations of Scripture are the Word of God to the
extent that they faithfully represent the original.
We deny that any essential element of the Christian faith is affected by the
absence of the autographs. We further deny that this absence renders the
assertion of Biblical inerrancy invalid or irrelevant.
Article XI
We affirm that Scripture, having been given by divine inspiration, is
infallible, so that, far from misleading us, it is true and reliable in all
the matters it addresses.
We deny that it is possible for the Bible to be at the same time infallible
and errant in its assertions. Infallibility and inerrancy may be
distinguished, but not separated.
Article XII
We affirm that Scripture in its entirety is inerrant, being free from all
falsehood, fraud, or deceit.
We deny that Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to spiritual,
religious, or redemptive themes, exclusive of assertions in the fields of
history and science. We further deny that scientific hypotheses about earth
history may properly be used to overturn the teaching of Scripture on
creation and the flood.
Article XIII
We affirm the propriety of using inerrancy as a theological term with
reference to the complete truthfulness of Scripture.
We deny that it is proper to evaluate Scripture according to standards of
truth and error that are alien to its usage or purpose. We further deny that
inerrancy is negated by Biblical phenomena such as a lack of modern
technical precision, irregularities of grammar or spelling, observational
descriptions of nature, the reporting of falsehoods, the use of hyperbole
and round numbers, the topical arrangement of material, variant selections
of material in parallel accounts, or the use of free citations.
Article XIV
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.
Article XV
We affirm that the doctrine of inerrancy is grounded in the teaching of the
Bible about inspiration.
We deny that Jesus' teaching about Scripture may be dismissed by appeals to
accommodation or to any natural limitation of His humanity.
Article XVI
We affirm that the doctrine of inerrancy has been integral to the Church's
faith throughout its history.
We deny that inerrancy is a doctrine invented by Scholastic Protestantism,
or is a reactionary position postulated in response to negative higher
criticism.
Article XVII
We affirm that the Holy Spirit bears witness to the Scriptures, assuring
believers of the truthfulness of God's written Word.
We deny that this witness of the Holy Spirit operates in isolation from or
against Scripture.
Article XVIII
We affirm that the text of Scripture is to be interpreted by grammatico-
historicaI exegesis, taking account of its literary forms and devices, and
that Scripture is to interpret Scripture.
We deny the legitimacy of any treatment of the text or quest for sources
lying behind it that leads to relativizing, dehistoricizlng, or discounting
its teaching, or rejecting its claims to authorship.
Article XIX
We affirm that a confession of the full authority, infallibility, and
inerrancy of Scripture is vital to a sound understanding of the whole of the
Christian faith. We further affirm that such confession should lead to
increasing conformity to the image of Christ.
We deny that such confession is necessary for salvation. However, we further
deny that inerrancy can be rejected without grave consequences both to the
individual and to the Church. |
