21 Thing you need to know about your Bible

CHICAGO STATEMENT OF BIBLICAL INERRANCY
Articles Of Affirmation

1. We affirm that the Holy Scriptures are to be received as the authoritative Word of God.
   
2. 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.
3. We affirm that the written Word in its entirety is revelation given by God.
   
4. We affirm that God who made mankind in His image has used language as a means of revelation.
   
5. We affirm that God's revelation in the Holy Scriptures was progressive. [We deny that later revelation...ever corrects or contradicts it.]
   
6. We affirm that the whole of Scripture and all its parts, down to the very words of the original, were given by divine inspiration.
   
7. 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.
   
8. 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.
   
9. 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.
   
10. 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.
11. We further affirm that copies and translations of Scripture are the Word of God to the extent that they faithfully represent the original.
    
12. 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.
    
13. We affirm that Scripture in its entirety is inerrant, being free from all falsehood, fraud, or deceit.
    
14. We affirm the propriety of using inerrancy as a theological term with reference to the complete truthfulness of Scripture.
    
15. We affirm the unity and internal consistency of Scripture.
    
16. We affirm that the doctrine of inerrancy is grounded in the teaching of the Bible about inspiration.
    
17. We affirm that the doctrine of inerrancy has been integral to the Church's faith throughout its history.
    
18. We affirm that the Holy Spirit bears witness to the Scriptures, assuring believers of the truthfulness of God's written Word.
    
19. We affirm that the text of Scripture is to be interpreted by grammatico-historical exegesis, taking account of its literary forms and devices, and that Scripture is to interpret Scripture.
    
20. 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.
21. We further affirm that such confession should lead to increasing conformity to the image of Christ.