How can we be sure that if God interacts in a given culture that we can understand his meaning? That is to say, if we understand culture to be an impersonal prison that we are all bound to then God cannot really meet us in the human world of culture, because we cannot attain with certainty what he is doing or what he means. The failure in this view stems from supposing that culture is in fact an impersonal prison. The principle of criticism says that we can only have a probability about God’s actions and meanings, not a certainty. If, however, we start with a personal God who oversees the development of culture then we can rightly use the principle of criticism to understand God’s meaning.
There are many overlaps between the discussions of sociology, language, and history. Some of the same ways that we responded to those tensions in language and history will be applicable here. For example, if we utilize Ernest Troeltsch’s principles for historical research we can build a framework for addressing the assumptions and tensions behind the sociological criticisms of inerrancy.
The first principle in Troeltsch’s framework is the principle of criticism. This principle states that all historical data must be weighed and can only produce a “probably” conclusion about past events. Applied to sociology this means that all cultural practices and beliefs must be weighed and, likewise, only probably conclusions about their meanings can be drawn. Vern Poythress points out that this is a valid principle, and we can see that clearly when applied to the idea of learning a new culture. He writes:
Potential ambiguities in cultural practices, misunderstandings in the course of observations of ordinary events within a culture, and the possibilities of flaws in cultural learning all confirm that human interpretation is a matter of probability. (Inerrancy and Worldview, 115)
The major issue then is not the validity of Troeltsch’s claims, but rather the assumptions behind our understanding of these principles. If we do not acknowledge a personal God who produces and uses these principles then our assumptions about culture will automatically rule-out the possibility of knowing this God and his activity in our world.
We must get beyond a closed view of culture that puts God beyond its development. In fact we must acknowledge here, as we did with language, that doubt itself is only possible in a world governed by the regularities of God’s control. We are dependent on God’s governance of cultures at all times, even as we question and wrestle with the meanings of various culture practices and beliefs. Probability itself requires God’s consistent operation.
But the question still remains as to how we can identify with any kind of certainty God’s activity and meaning in our world. A solution begins to formulate when we start with this personal God who oversees the development of all cultures. He has built into this world the potential for understanding him. He makes provision for our comprehension; after all, it is his desire to be known. God does this in several ways in the Bible. He gives us verbal or written revelation explaining his activities. So, in theology we may speak of God’s Word-Act revelation. John Frame unpacks this well, he writes:
God’s words are among his mighty acts, and his mighty acts convey his word. But in Scripture there is also a kind of alternation between word and act…God’s words announce what he will do, then he acts, and then by further words he interprets what he has done and announces further actions. For example, in Genesis 6:9-21, God tells Noah of the coming Flood. In 7:1-8:19, the Flood comes and subsides. Then in 8:20-9:28, God interprets the implications of the Flood, initiates a new covenant, and declares future events. This alternation is in fact the macrostructure of Scripture. The Old Testament announces the coming of Christ to redeem his people. The Gospels narrate the fulfillment of that announcement. The rest of the New Testament interprets that event and announces further events to come. (The Doctrine of God, 470)
The Bible itself, the special revelation of God, is in fact an example of the Word-Act of God. God has made a provision for us to understand him through special revelation.
God has also revealed himself through the spectacular nature of the events themselves. The Bible tells us that God has revealed himself to the world through the things he has made, and further through miraculous events. So the redemption of Israel from Egypt involved a series of plagues that repeatedly revealed the existence and character of God to pharaoh.
Finally God reveals himself in human culture through the operation of the Holy Spirit in opening the eyes of people to receive the evidence. Ultimately, because sin has blinded the eyes of man to the things of God, we need the Spirit of God to reveal them to us. This goes even beyond sociology now to the spiritual realities that oversee the development of culture and God’s direct activity in that culture.
The most significant activity of God in the world is seen in the resurrection. The principle of criticism, applied within the framework of a personal God, allows us to use the resurrection as a starting place for weighing and understanding all of God’s other activity in the world. How can we accept inerrancy? If we have accepted the resurrection it should come much easier. As Poythress writes:
The central miracle is the resurrection of Christ. When we accept this miracle and its significance, it begins to change our orientation toward the rest of the Bible and toward the other miracles recorded in it. (119)
The resurrection, interpreted by God and revealed to us, allows us to move in the right direction toward inerrancy.
God is certainly above culture, but he is also highly involved in overseeing all human cultures. He is both transcendent and immanent. His immanence reminds us that we can know real things about God and his actions in our world. Starting from the Biblical worldview of a personal God we can rightly navigate some of the difficulties sociology presents to the doctrine of inerrancy.
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