Simple Biblicism

What I Believe About the Bible After Letting Go of Inerrancy

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This is part of an ongoing series about my deconstruction out of evangelicalism. If you would like to read this story in chronological order from the beginning, you can find it at my website: JamesPence.com

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So, how do I relate to the Bible, post deconstruction?

It’s complicated, and yet it isn’t.

It’s complicated in that there are any number of places I could have landed. Just as some people who deconstruct their faith leave Christianity entirely and some don’t, some who deconstruct conclude that the Bible is just a collection of men’s writings. Others believe that there is something more there.

I am in the latter group.

To be sure, I’ve moved away from what I was taught in Bible college and seminary, that the Bible is verbally inspired (i.e. verbal, plenary inspiration) and inerrant in the original manuscripts.¹

And once I let go of these doctrines I struggled for a while, trying to figure out exactly what I believed.

On the one hand it was a relief not to have to do mental gymnastics or pull out a “Bible difficulties” book every time I came across a conflict or contradiction in the Bible. But on the other hand I wasn’t at all comfortable putting the Bible in the same category as, say, Plato’s Republic.

Over the nearly fifty-six years since I believed in Jesus, I’ve seen the scriptures work in my life and the lives of others.

There may be issues, there may be contradictions (although Peter Enns has written an excellent blog post about this that you might want to check out),² but nevertheless there is something different about the Bible.

Clark Pinnock described his view of scripture as “simple biblicism.” In Pinnock’s words: “…simple biblicism is the basic instinct that the Bible is supremely profitable and transforming, alive with God’s breath.”³

That resonates with me. I’ve let go of the strict doctrine of inerrancy and inspiration because I see too many areas where it just doesn’t work. But that doesn’t mean I’ve let go of the scriptures or that I believe they are just human writings.

I don’t see the Bible as some kind of “magic” book. But there is something there. It is different. It stands apart.

When as a teenager I first believed in Jesus I didn’t give any thought to the inspiration or inerrancy of the Bible. That wasn’t even on my radar. All I knew is that I had come to know Jesus through my reading of the scriptures. I practiced simple biblicism.

In a way I’ve come full circle. Because that’s where I’ve landed. Less about certainty; more about presence.

I walk through the dark forest of reconstruction, not needing a cellphone flashlight to light my way (see last week’s post), because “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). I meet God there and he leads me along the way.

[This is part of an ongoing series about my deconstruction out of evangelicalism. If you would like to read this story in chronological order from the beginning, you can find it at my website: JamesPence.com]

1. See https://learn.ligonier.org/articles/doctrine-scripture-defining-our-terms for an explanation of these terms.

2. See https://thebiblefornormalpeople.com/there-are-no-contradictions-in-the-bible/.

3. Clark Pinnock, The Scripture Principle, p. 257.