Heritage: Spurgeon on Biblical Infallibility                                            

by T. C. Pinckney                                                                                       Vol. XI, No. 9, October 1998

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) was the greatest preacher of the last half of the Nineteenth Century, being known as “The Prince of Preachers.” His sermons were printed and shipped around the world, and it is reported that, when a ship carrying his newest sermon was scheduled to arrive in New York, the dock area would be crowded with literally hundreds of people anxious to get their copy immediately.

Early in his preaching career (1855) he delivered a sermon which dealt in part with biblical infallibility. He said,

 “Then, since God wrote it, mark its truthfulness. If I had written it, there would be worms of critics who should at once swarm on it, and would cover it with their evil spawn; had I written it, there would be men who would pull it to pieces at once, and perhaps quite rightly too. But this is the Word of God. Come, search, ye critics, and find a flaw; examine it from its Genesis to its Revelation and find an error. This is a vein of pure gold, unalloyed by quartz or any earthy substance. This is a star without a speck; a sun without a blot; a light without darkness; a moon without paleness; a glory without dimness. O Bible! It cannot be said of any other book, that it is perfect and pure; but of thee we can declare all wisdom is gathered up in thee, without a particle of folly. This is the judge that ends the strife where wit and reason fail. This is the book untainted by any error, but is pure, unalloyed, perfect truth. Why? Because God wrote it. Ah! Charge God with error if you please; tell Him that His book is not what it ought to be ... Blessed Bible, thou art all truth.”

[Excerpted from Harold Lindsell, The Battle for the Bible (Zondervan, 1976) pp 66-7. The Battle for the Bible is still an excellent book to read. Lindsell wrote it as a wake-up call to the encroachments of liberalism in the Southern Baptist Convention and several other denominations. Dr. Billy Graham wrote about the book, “The battle over the veracity of God’s Word has been in progress since the Garden of Eden. It is still raging, and Dr. Lindsell expertly diagnoses the battle in our generation.” TCP]