The Bible contains errors. I can’t trust it!

That statement no doubt is uttered everyday by haters of scripture and also unfortunately by Christians who are unsure of the Bible’s inerrancy.

What I will do in this article is point out a few texts of scripture that appear to be errors and or contradictions.

Apparent contradiction# 1

Proverbs 26:4 – Answer not a fool according to his folly lest you be like him.

Proverbs 26:5 – Answer a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own conceit.

Looking at the two verses back to back they seem to contradict one another but they do not.                                    

            Let me explain.

There are times when we are not to answer a foolish person according to their behavior or else we stoop down to their level of stupidity (vs. 4).                                                                                                         

There are other occasions that we’re to rebuke the reasoning of foolish people or else they’ll feel confident in the nonsense they’re spewing out of their mouths and believe it to be true (vs. 5).

These verses are two sides of the same coin. There is no contradiction here. The writer was not confused or double minded. The writer most likely King Solomon was expressing to the reader to exercise discretion in both scenarios – when not to speak and when to speak forth.

Apparent contradiction# 2

Ephesians 2:8-9 – For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.

James 2:14 – What does it profit brethren if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?

Also in verse 21 it says that Abraham was justified by works (italics added).

Here in these two verses we appear to run into the same dilemma. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians is making reference to our salvation is a gift from God. There is no work involved on behalf of the sinner. The Work was completed by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when he shed his precious sinless blood on the cross. Once God grants faith to the sinner, they then have the ability believe God for eternal life. Both the faith to believe and the salvation are gifts to us. We can not earn them or else faith and salvation are no longer gifts; they become debts owed to us due to our labor. This line of reasoning is obviously un-biblical.

In the epistle of James we read that we’re justified by works. James appears to contradict Paul. We must look carefully into the context to see what James is actually talking about.

James isn’t talking about justification by faith like Paul was. James is saying that genuine faith will manifest itself by good works. This is the only way one can really know their faith is the real thing. If you are a true believer your faith will always produce fruit. How do I know this? Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are His (The Father’s) workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works (italics added), which God had prepared before hand that we should walk in them.”

Paul said those whom God chose (His elect) before the world began were designed to perform good works. It’s in the believer’s DNA to produce good works.

Galatians 5:22-23a – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, meekness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

These are the nine attitudes and or virtues that every Christian must develop. To do otherwise is disobedience.

Titus 2:14 – who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed, and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

So now we understand why James says at the end of chapter two, “Faith without works is dead.” (v 26).

Concluding the two verses, Ephesians 2:8-9 is strictly dealing with justification by faith in Christ for salvation. 

Jesus has already performed all the work needed. We’re the sole beneficiary of His work. James 2 is dealing with justification of our faith by good works. The works we do gives vitality and fervency to our faith, proving that it’s genuine. This is something we do. If a person never produces good works, it proves they have a dead faith, and also proves they were never justified by grace through faith; they are a fake Christian and need to get saved for real.

Let me sum it up this way, we do not work to get saved, but we work because we are saved. That is how we harmonize Ephesians 2:8-9 and James 2:14, 21.

There are more controversial passages in scripture like these but I’ll tackle those at another time. Hopefully the explanations given above prove that the passages above are not contradictory phrases, but rather complementary ones.