Biblical infallibility

==Denominational positions ==
===Catholicism===
The [[Catholic Church]] speaks not about infallibility of scripture but about its freedom from error, holding "the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture".<ref>[http://www.scotthahn.com/download/attachment/2516 Cardinal Augustin Bea, "Vatican II and the Truth of Sacred Scripture"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508175506/http://www.scotthahn.com/download/attachment/2516 |date=2012-05-08 }}</ref> The [[Second Vatican Council]], citing earlier declarations, stated: "Since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation."<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html Second Vatican Council, ''Dei Verbum'' (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation), 11] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531175312/https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html |date=May 31, 2014 }}</ref> It added: "Since God speaks in Sacred Scripture through men in human fashion, the interpreter of Sacred Scripture, in order to see clearly what God wanted to communicate to us, should carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writers really intended, and what God wanted to manifest by means of their words."<ref>''Dei Verbum'', 12</ref>

===Methodism===
The Methodist theologian Thomas A. Lambrecht notes that [[John Wesley]], the founder of [[Methodism]],
{{blockquote|...used the word "infallible" to describe the Scriptures. In his sermon on "The Means of Grace," Wesley says, "The same truth (namely, that this is the great means God has ordained for conveying his manifold grace to man) is delivered, in the fullest manner that can be conceived, in the words which immediately follow: 'All Scripture is given by inspiration of God;' consequently, {{em|all Scripture is infallibly true}}; 'and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness;' to the end 'that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works' ([[2 Timothy 3:16|2 Tim. 3:16, 17]])" (emphasis added).<ref name=Lambrecht>{{cite web|url=http://tomlambrecht.goodnewsmag.org/what-is-meant-by-infallible/|title=What Is Meant by 'Infallible'|last=Lambrecht|first=Tom|date=27 May 2014|publisher=Good News: Leading United Methodists to a Faithful Future|access-date=28 May 2014}}</ref>}}

As such, Lambrecht notes that "orthodox, evangelical, and traditionalist United Methodists believe in the 'infallibility' of Scripture."<ref name=Lambrecht/> "Article V—Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation" in the [[Articles of Religion (Methodist)|Articles of Religion]] states that:
{{blockquote|The Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. In the name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those canonical books of the Old and New Testament of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=1649 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710233342/http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=1649 |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 July 2012 |title=The Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church V-VIII |year=2004 |publisher=The United Methodist Church |access-date=28 May 2014 }}</ref>}}

Lambrecht, therefore, writes that:
{{blockquote|The Bible is not God, and those who believe in its infallibility do not worship the Bible.  But the Bible is God's most objective and detailed way of communicating with us, God's people. Its infallibility means we can trust the Bible to truly communicate to us what God wants us to believe and how God wants us to live. To ignore or disobey the teachings of Scripture is to contradict its infallibility, which puts us on a completely different theological path altogether.<ref name=Lambrecht/>}}

===Evangelicalism===
While the doctrines of inerrancy and infallibility are cornerstone doctrines for many quarters of the US Evangelicalism, it is not so for many Evangelicals around the world, for whom God only is inerrant and infallible.<ref>Matthew Quartey. 2019. God is inerrant and infallible, the Bible neither. https://spectrummagazine.org/views/2019/god-inerrant-and-infallible-bible-neither</ref><ref>Holmes, Stephen R. "Evangelical doctrines of Scripture in transatlantic perspective." Evangelical Quarterly 81.1 (2009).</ref>

{{blockquote|For many British evangelicals, inerrancy was American in origin, exotic in its implications, and was associated with various [[obscurantist]] attitudes and beliefs for which British evangelicals had no enthusiasm.<ref>McGrath, Alister. 1997. A Peacemaker in the Battle for the Bible  https://www.booksandculture.com/articles/1997/novdec/7b6022.html</ref>}}