Southern Evangelicals Overwhelmingly Affirm Scripture’s Inerrancy and Authority

Orlando-based Ligonier Ministries recently released their 2022 survey titled, The State of Theology. The survey included 33 questions designed to assess Americans’ beliefs. Twenty-seven questions covered five theological categories, and six questions probed ethical concerns. For my research and reporting, I filtered the results to include the responses of those classified as Southern Evangelicals. To begin, I’ll point out the positive aspects of the survey. In subsequent articles, I’ll address the negatives.

Southern Evangelicals have a high view of Scripture. A strong majority believe the Bible is inerrant and authoritative. This is good news! When asked if “the Bible is 100% accurate in all it teaches,” 79% agreed. This is an encouraging sign since Christianity stands or falls upon one’s view of the Bible.

A core tenet of Christianity is the doctrine of inerrancy. We believe the Bible, as written down by God’s chosen men, contained no errors in the original documents. In 1978, The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy responded to attacks against this doctrine by stating, “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.” Stated simply, the Bible is the Word of God (Acts 3:18, 21; 2 Timothy 3:16). This is so important because if the Bible is filled with errors, we cannot rely on it to teach us God’s will.

Since the Bible is the revelation of God’s will, it is also authoritative. Eighty-eight percent agreed with the statement, “the Bible is the highest authority for what I believe.” Slightly fewer, 82%, agreed “the Bible has the authority to tell us what we must do.” Adding to the confusion is the fact that 37% of respondents said, “Religious belief is a matter of personal opinion; it is not about objective truth.”

So, the Bible is God’s Word, but it’s authority only extends to those who receive it as God’s Word. That seems to be the opinion of some Southern Christians. This is an area we need to work on. The reality is, if Scripture is God’s Word, and God is the creator of all life, then what he says applies to all mankind. It is the duty of every man to read the Bible and submit to its teaching.

Studying Scripture to understand and apply its precepts is the lifeblood of the Christian. The king of Israel was to write down every word of Scripture (Deuteronomy 17:18-19). In Psalm 1, we learn that the “blessed man” is one whose “delight is in the law of the LORD” and who meditates on the law “day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2). It is God’s testimony that makes foolish men wise, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, and revives the soul (Psalm 19:7-8). If the Bible is filled with errors, then it has no authority, and none of its promises are true!