Do we need to believe in the inerrancy of Scripture to be saved?

from the old testament

• The doctrine of inerrancy is rooted in God’s character. Because He does not lie (Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29), His words are flawless (Psalm 12:6; 18:30). Denying inerrancy is a denial of God's essential character.
• The many promises recorded in Scripture are based on the fact that they will come true. These promises include not just those specific to Israel (Deuteronomy 7:9), but even to our salvation, such as His promises to Abraham (Genesis 12:1–3) and David (2 Samuel 7:12–16). Throughout biblical history, the test of faithfulness was to believe and obey what God said (Genesis 15:6), with the understanding that His words cannot fail (Isaiah 55:10–11).
• Inerrancy doesn’t just apply specifically to the words that God said but also to His authorized messengers through whom He spoke, namely, prophets (Jeremiah 1:9; Ezekiel 2:7). Rejecting the words of His prophets was the same as rejecting God (Deuteronomy 18:18–19).

from the new testament

• While we don’t have full insight into the mechanics of how biblical inspiration works, the New Testament provides a clarifying verse: “no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). Men were the personalities God used, but the Holy Spirit guided everything they wrote.
• Because of that guidance Paul could say, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16–17 NIV; emphasis added). “God-breathed” suggests that God spoke so closely to the page that the words are His breath. Inerrancy takes this seriously and, since God cannot lie (Titus 1:2), neither can His “breath,” the words of Scripture.
• Jesus affirmed the complete reliability of Scripture, speaking about it as unbreakable (John 10:35) and accurate down to the stroke of a letter (Matthew 5:18). He grounded several arguments, such as the doctrine of resurrection, on the specific wording of the Old Testament (i.e., Matthew 22:31–32).
• The doctrine of inerrancy is critical to the gospel; as Paul wrote, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (i.e., Romans 10:17). If Scripture can have errors, then what it teaches about the gospel might be unreliable. If what it teaches about the gospel is unreliable, then there is no saving gospel because it may or may not be the truth.
• When John concluded his gospel account, he connected God's word to knowing about salvation: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30–31). Doctrinal stability is directly connected to inerrancy (see, for example, 2 Peter 3:16 and Galatians 1:6–9).
• Because the gospel is so simple that even children can be saved (Matthew 18:3; 1 Corinthians 1:26–29), a full understanding of the inerrancy debate is not required for salvation. However, denying inerrancy can be a slippery slope that slowly undermines the veracity of Scripture’s claims, undermining the gospel itself. When that happens, it is no longer a saving gospel.

implications for today

One of the complaints of the modern world is the number of items you buy that no longer include user manuals. Thankfully, YouTube videos, social media groups, and [sometimes] AI chatbots can get us through. But for life itself, including afterlife, there is no substitute for the greatest collection of books ever written: the Bible. We must trust what it says when it shows us that we are sinful, God is holy, and Jesus alone saves. Scripture shares those saving truths as well as how we can live in a way that honors God. When we challenge Scripture's accuracy, we risk undermining our only means for learning all this.

Does this mean that everyone who rejects the orthodox view of inerrancy is automatically an unbeliever? No. The gospel is belief in Jesus as Savior. As long as someone doesn’t change any of that, then they can still be saved. Before Scripture was written, there were faithful followers of God who were saved (Hebrews 11).

But we have Scripture now, and it's dangerous to deny its inerrancy. Doing so is a slippery slope: After all, if one area of the Bible is in doubt, that casts doubt on other areas. Instead of seeing Scripture as “God-breathed” and, therefore, sufficient to be its own standard of truthfulness, people begin to determine the standard. As people change, so does the standard. As the standard changes, what was once protected (the gospel) can be exposed to skepticism, leading to disbelief.

So, while biblical inerrancy is not a core doctrine of the gospel, everything we know about the gospel comes from Scripture. Not holding to inerrancy can undermine the Scripture that gives us the gospel, undermining the gospel itself.