12
Evangelicals must guard the doctrine of the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture
with tenacity. Consider this statement by Scot McKnight regarding critical methodology.
First, through the use of tradition-critical criteria (and other basic methods
in history), the pericope needs to be examined to see if it reports
historically reliable information. Evangelicals, of course, have tended to
deny all "mythic" elements in the Gospels and for good reason.
Evangelicals may eventually agree that some elements of narratives are
parabolic in nature but until some methodologically sound criteria are
developed, it appears that the tradition-critical criteria will have to be used
for positive, not negative, purposes. And so the first step is to probe the
individual genre of the pericope at hand, to see if it is historically reliable
material.
20
In a footnote on the same page, McKnight remarks that "R. H. Gundry contented that the
magi were a midrashic convention of Matthew (2:1-12). On a priori grounds,
evangelicals cannot condemn such a view as contrary to inspiration and inerrancy."
Three fourths of the members at the 1983 annual meeting of ETS in Dallas, TX showed
their disagreement with McKnight when they voted to call for Gundry's resignation.
Gundry and McKnight are examples of those who have attacked the work of Christ. In
their case, they attacked His work in relation to His word. This does not mean that they
are not saved. It means rather that they, and men like them, are threats to the Christian
faith because they undermine the trustworthiness of the Scriptures and dishonor our
Savior's role in producing them. Those who use critical methods as do Gundry and
McKnight must be on their guard that they do not slip away from the faith. Grant
Osborne, who defends the use of critical methods, affirms that "Evangelicals need
continuous reminders regarding the dangers of critical tools, and we must police
ourselves on these issues."
21
Apostle John's words in verse 9 of his second epistle are a
20
Interpreting the Synoptic Gospels (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988), 94.
21
"Historical Criticism and the Evangelical," JETS 42/2 (June 1999), 209.