Throughout the history of the church, faithful men and women have confessed that the Bible is inerrant—that it is free from error in all that it affirms. When Scripture speaks, it speaks truthfully. Whatever the Bible claims, whether theological, historical, or factual, is true. This conviction is not a later invention imposed on the text by theologians desperate to protect it. Rather, the doctrine of inerrancy arises directly from Scripture’s own claims about itself. Peter explains that “men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 1:21). Paul similarly teaches that “all Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Tim 3:16). In other words, God himself stands behind the words of Scripture; he is their ultimate source. And because God cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Heb 6:18), Scripture—being his Word—cannot err. If God is truthful, then what God inspires must likewise be true. Yet despite this historic confession,…