“Inerrancy” refers to the words written by the original writer.
“Absolute inerrancy is therefore to be attributed to the written Word of God. This is true of the original writings, none of which are known to exist today.” (“Insight on the Scriptures”, Vol. 1, page 1206)
The scrolls were perishable and in constant use, so they were continually copied and recopied. In the process, people kept changing the contents. By the time of the New Testament writers, they had to choose between the text of the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint) and the text of the Hebrew Old Testament.
“In a number of cases the writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures evidently made use of the Greek Septuagint translation when quoting from the Hebrew Scriptures. At times the rendering of the Septuagint, as quoted by them, differs somewhat from the reading of the Hebrew Scriptures as now known. … In a few cases the quotations made by Paul and others differ from both the Hebrew and Greek texts as found in available manuscripts.” (“Insight”, Vol. 1, page 1206)
Therefore, “inerrancy” does not refer to the Bible as it exists today.
“The copies of those original writings and the translations made in many languages cannot lay claim to absolute accuracy.” (“Insight”, Vol. 1, page 1206)
This means that the “inspired” Scriptures being read by Timothy are not the “inerrant” Scriptures that were originally written. He was reading words that were “inspired” but the words were not “inerrant”.
The “inerrant” texts no longer exist, so it is impossible to know how the existing text compares with the original.
To cope with the difference between “inerrancy” and “inspiration”, certain Christians use the term “inscripturation” to describe the transmission of information to the original writers.
The “Insight” book goes as far as saying that the only parts of the Septuagint which are “inspired” are those words that are quoted by a New Testament writer.
“Whether the original Hebrew text contained the phrase found in the Septuagint cannot be stated with certainty. Whatever the case, God's spirit guided Paul in his quotation, and therefore these words have divine authorization. This does not mean that the entire Septuagint translation is to be viewed as inspired”. (“Insight”, Vol. 1, page 1206)
Statements in the New Testament about “Scripture” refer to the texts used by the Hebrews (the “Old Testament”).
“(Joh 10:34, 35) … (Mt 5:18) … (Mt 22:29-32: Mr 12:24) … Mt 26:54; Mr 14:27, 49. These statements of course apply to the pre-Christian Hebrew Scriptures.” (“Insight”, Vol. 1, page 1205)
2 Timothy 3:6 does not indicate which Hebrew scrolls were “Scripture”. The list (canon) of Hebrew Scriptures was not decided until at least 100 years later, probably much later.
The list (canon) of New Testament writings took the Church many centuries to achieve general acceptance, although not universally. This casts serious doubts on the veracity of the following statement:
“That the Christian Greek Scriptures were likewise presented and accepted as inspired is also clear.” (1Co 14:37; Ga 1:8, 1 1, 1 2; 1Th 2:13). (“Insight”, Vol. 1, page 1205)
Not only was there no list of New Testament writings, none of the original New Testament writings exists, only copies.
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