TGC Wants to Update the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. Because of Course They Do
The Gospel Coalition has announced in not so many words the second phase of their dastardly plan to wokeify all of Christendom, and it resolved around the battle for inerrancy and specifically, the famed 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. By way of background, GotQuestions? explains:
In October 1978 the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI) sponsored a conference in which several hundred Christians representing forty-one churches and thirty-eight Christian denominations met to study, pray, and deliberate over an essential doctrinal issue: the inerrancy of Scripture. The delegates formulated the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. Over 300 Evangelicals, including John F. MacArthur, Norman Geisler, J. I. Packer, Francis Schaeffer, James Montgomery Boice, R. C. Sproul, Greg Bahnsen, and Josh D. McDowell, signed the document.
The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy was written to address the inerrancy of Scripture, the doctrine that the Bible is free from error. The statement includes a preface, a short statement, and nineteen articles, each affirming a position and denying a falsehood regarding inerrancy.
The preface establishes that “the authority of Scripture is essential for the Christian Church in this and every age.” The short statement following the preface outlines five major points regarding the doctrine of inerrancy and the significance of the issue. The articles then detail issues such as divine inspiration through human writers; progressive revelation; manuscripts and translations; infallibility; unity of Scripture; witness of the Holy Spirit to Scripture; interpretation of Scripture; and the centrality of biblical authority, infallibility, and inerrancy to the Christian faith, confession of which should result in a life increasingly transformed to the image of Christ.
As TGC devolve more and more (just days ago, TGC’s Senior Editor explained that he watches sex scenes on TV to become better at evangelizing) the prospect of monkeying around with this was just too enticing and captivating for TGC not to take a swipe at, releasing an article by Derek James Brown where they offer this preface:
In recent decades, with renewed objections to this doctrine, we’ve challenged a new generation to not only freshly defend, embrace, and champion biblical inerrancy but also to live it out. To that end, TGC is hosting a series about the need to revise and clarify arguments in light of new hermeneutical and cultural arguments.
The article in fact is based on Brown’s thesis, summarized in the post, where he adjures the ‘reframers’ of the statement to “work with the document in its present form, modifying existing articles and proposing new ones where appropriate.” 10 years ago, he likewise wrote that “(the CSBI) would benefit from some added nuance.”
This has led Bill Roach, who co-authored the book Defending Inerrancy with Dr. Norman Geisler, one of the founding members of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy that organized the CSBI and the summit, to respond that if they’re dissatisfied with the CSBI, they can do make their own statement all they want, just don’t molest this one:
In a video posted below, he explains in part:
So first of all, my whole point is this: is that, in one sense, yes, it is permissible to revise the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. But what we have to realize is that they should not label themselves as the ICBI, nor are they the ICBI, nor did they carry the authority of the ICBI.
When I was working for Dr. Geisler, there were two people very high-up figures with the Gospel Coalition who were calling for renewal, almost a rebirth of the ICBI. And both Geisler and Sproul in consultation with them said, “No, you can’t do that.”
This was a limited organization that was called to have a finite existence- a beginning and an end- and they did not want to create a perpetual organization. They wanted to deal with the issue, write the books addressing these key issues, and put an end to it.
So that being said, it’s not that we are opposed to further scholarship or revisions, but you shouldn’t call yourself the ICBI and nor should you call it the Chicago Statement of Biblical Inerrancy. Call it whatever you want, do whatever you want. But don’t call yourself Chicago…
This has led one astute commenter to point out:
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I hate to break it to them but they can arrogantly decree till their blue in the face, they will never usurp the authority of scripture.
they’re