Inerrancy.  A qualifying term added to the doctrine of inspiration.  Inerrancy means that there were no errors in the original documents the writers of Scripture wrote.  God breathed out Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16-17), and He did not breathe out error.  As Francis Schaeffer once thundered in a Dallas Theological Seminary chapel held at Gaston Avenue Baptist Church, “God has spoken; and He has not stammered in His speech!” Those who hold to inerrancy are aware that copyists copied the original documents, which eventually introduced minimal and inconsequential human error into the copies.  So the term inerrancy applies to the original documents (or original autographs, as they are sometimes called).  Through the science of textual criticism, scholars can ascertain what was, in all probability, the original text.  No doctrines are affected by the minor discrepancies found in the copies.  There are always interpretational problems when one tries to explain the Scriptures.  Conservatives assume the inerrancy of Scripture that is claimed in the Biblical text.  They take the position that apparent discrepancies in the Bible can be solved by more study or by archaeological discoveries.  This has proven to be a viable approach.  Liberal scholars, generally speaking, reject the doctrine of inspiration as herein defined, believing the Bible comes from man, not God.  They tend to assume that any apparent discrepancies are irresolvable, and are thus proofs of the human origin of the Bible.  They do not have the same high view of Scripture that Christ and the Apostles evidenced. See Inspiration.  See also Infallibility.

Infallibility.  The belief that the Scriptures, inspired by God (2 Tim. 3:16), cannot and do not contain error.  For the purposes of WordExplain, infallibility is synonymous with inerrancy. Some evangelicals, however, have attempted to limit infallibility to matters of faith and practice only, which they call "redemptive history," and others call "salvation history" (heilsgeschicte). In so doing they deny the infallibility of the Scriptures in matters of science and history. (An example of this position is found in Fuller Theological Seminary's Statement of Faith, Articles II. and III.) WordExplain strongly disagrees with this limitation, instead extending infallibility to all areas of written revelation. There is a great deal of history in the Bible, and since God is the Divine Author of Scripture, the historical statements by its human authors are infallible. The Bible is not a textbook in science, but where it speaks on matters of science, since it is authored by God the Creator, it is infallible. We acknowledge that the Bible uses phenomenological language (the language of appearances). If, for example, a Biblical author writes that the sun sets, he is not thereby asserting that the sun revolves around the earth any more than we are today when we use the identical terminology. The Bible is the sole and final authority not only for man’s faith and practice, but for his knowledge in any area.  See Inspiration.  See also Inerrancy.

Inherited Sin.  All humans, save Jesus, have inherited from their first parents, Adam and Eve,  a propensity to sin.  Sinning, disobeying God, comes naturally to us because our spiritual genetics are tainted by  sin.  This we might term  "spiritual  AIDS" -  Acquired Immune Deficiency Sindrome. Or, if you will, an Acquired Immune Deficiency in regard to Sin.

Inspiration. “All Scripture is ‘God-breathed’,” a literal translation of the Greek word theopneustos coined by Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16.  God guided the authors of Scripture so that the words of Scripture they penned were exactly those that God wished.  This is true regardless of the method by which God manifested Himself, whether by dream, by vision, by dictation, or by other unspecified revelation.  Because liberal scholars have repeatedly denied or redefined Biblical inspiration, conservative scholars have often added qualifying descriptive terms, such as verbal (the very words of Scripture are inspired, not merely the concepts); plenary (all the words of Scripture are inspired, not just some of them); inerrancy (there were no errors or mistakes in the Bible); infallibility (the Scriptures cannot err in matters of faith, practice, history, or science); and original autographs (inspiration applies to the original documents the authors of scripture penned, not copies transcribed by others, resulting in variant readings).

Israel. God's chosen nation through the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In a limited number of instances, WordExplain uses the term Israel to apply to the land in which the nation formerly and presently resides. In the Old Testament this land is frequently designated as Canaan (eg. Gen. 11:31; 12:5-6).

God chose Abraham, promising him descendants who would be blessed by God and live in a specific land (Canaan) (Gen. 12:1-3), which was to be theirs in perpetuity (Gen. 13:14-17; 15:7-21). God formalized His promises to Abraham in an unconditional covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant . Jacob's name was later changed to Israel, and his twelve sons and their respective clans are designated repeatedly in the Hebrew Bible as "The Sons of Israel." The Sons of Israel formally became a nation when Yahweh, having brought them up out of Egypt, met with them at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19). God was offering to be the peoples' invisible King under the condition that they obeyed Him. God modeled His offer after the Suzerainty Treaties in vogue in the culture of that day. We call this treaty the Mosaic Covenant, the Law, or the Torah. The Mosaic Covenant amounts, in modern day terms, to the nation's constitution and by-laws. Though God's long-term blessing of the nation of Israel is indisputable, His blessing has always been dependent in any era on her obedience to the Mosaic Covenant (Deut. 28:1-14). Disobedience has resulted in cursing and exile from the land (Deut. 28:15-68). After her rejection of and crucifixion of her Messiah, Israel attempted to revolt against the occupying Roman army. In A.D. 70 the Roman army destroyed the city of Jerusalem and Herod's temple. Shortly thereafter the nation was exiled into nations all around the globe. This Jewish exile is termed the Diaspora. 

After centuries of exile, Jewish people have been returning to Israel  beginning in the nineteenth century and continuing especially into the twentieth. This movement has been termed Zionism, and it has been met with ferocious hostility, not only by the Arab world, but also by the international community. It appears, however, that the "times of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24) of which Jesus spoke are rapidly drawing to a conclusion. God is about to invoke His promised New Covenant with Israel (Jer. 31:27-37). The nation of Israel presently exists in the land of Israel almost entirely in unbelief in her Messiah. But that will change. Soon, we believe, Jesus will return to this earth to defeat His and Israel's enemies (Zech. 12:1-9; 14:1-5, 12-15; Rev. 19:11-21). Many within the nation of Israel will repent of their rejection of their Messiah (Zech. 12:10-13:1), and Jesus will set up His throne in Jerusalem (Matt. 25:31), from which He will, as Israel's visible King, judge the nations (Matt. 25:31-46), and rule both Israel and the entire earth (Psa. 2; Isa. 9:6-7; Zech. 14:9; Rev. 20:1-6). The angel Gabriel instructed Mary that her Son, from the throne of His father David, "will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end" (Luke 1:31-33). And so shall it be. In eternity, the capital of the world will be not New York, nor New Delhi, but New Jerusalem. That name was not chosen by God coincidentally. It means, I believe, that throughout eternity a redeemed glorified State of Israel will exist on New Earth, with its capital city, New Jerusalem, evidently orbiting New Earth in the New Heaven. (Rev. 21:1-27). Here is what Yahweh, through the prophet Isaiah, has declared to the sons of Israel: “For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me,” declares the LORD, “So your offspring and your name will endure" (Isa. 66:22).

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