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Job 34:12
“Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice.”
Since the Bible is inspired by the Lord such that its words are the very words of God (2 Tim. 3:16–17), several consequences follow. We have already looked at two of these consequences. First, Scripture is necessary because it is where He reveals to us His plan of salvation. Second, Scripture has the highest authority because there can be no authority in existence higher than God and what He has spoken. Today we will consider a third consequence of the divine inspiration of Scripture—namely, that the Bible possesses the attribute of infallibility.
When speaking of biblical infallibility, we mean that the Bible is incapable of teaching error or otherwise leading people astray. In our day, some people say that the infallibility of Scripture means that the Bible cannot teach error in faith and practice but that it can teach errors of history, science, and other matters. That position cannot stand, however, if God has inspired all of Scripture, as the Bible itself claims. This is because the Lord Himself is incapable of error. We find this truth repeated throughout Scripture. In today’s passage, for example, we read Elihu’s factual statement that God will not do wickedly regarding a truth and that He will not pervert justice (Job 34:12). In other words, God will certainly not tell a lie, which means that any words He speaks must be true. Indeed, not only will God not speak any falsehood but it is impossible for Him to do so (Heb. 6:18). Thus, Jesus states that the “word [of God] is truth” (John 17:17). Such an unqualified assertion assumes that God has not lied and cannot lie. Because of His very nature, God could never produce a revelation that would lead people into error.
Of course, we do see that many people misinterpret Scripture and end up going astray from divine truth. Yet we cannot blame God or Scripture for that. Just as sinful hearts misuse God’s law to encourage themselves to further sin, apart from grace sinners will twist God’s Word so that they believe error (Rom. 7:7–20). Consequently, we must pray for the Holy Spirit to keep us from misunderstanding the Bible and work diligently to interpret it accurately.
Even the best human tour guides and maps can lead people into error. Scripture, however, cannot. It always shows us the true way and gives us sound, trustworthy principles for making decisions. Because Scripture is the revelation of the God who cannot lie, we can always place our confidence in the teaching of the Bible.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
As the very words of our infallible God, Scripture can be trusted never to take us in a wrong direction. It is easy to look for other sources to give us infallible guidance, but only the words of the Bible have been protected from teaching error. That should encourage us to read and study Scripture with unique care and devotion, for doing so will help us avoid making errors or committing sin.
For further study
- Deuteronomy 18:15–22
- Psalm 119:65–67
- Isaiah 45:19
- Titus 1:2
The bible in a year
- Genesis 39–40
- Matthew 12:22–50