The words “inerrant” and “inerrancy” are both modern words. They are extra-Biblical. But that fact hasn’t stopped people from claiming the Bible is “inerrant.”

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first use of the word “inerrant” had to do with astronomy and it was written in 1652.

The next uses popped up 1837. They referred to texts that are “free from error; unerring.”

In 1868 it was used in relation to the church: “Whether absolutely inerrant or not in matters of faith.”

The word “inerrancy” was first used sometime between 1818-34 in reference to books: “Absolute inerrancy is impracticable in any printed book.”

In 1865 it was used to refer to the “Ultramontane doctrine of the inerrancy of the Pope, i.e. that of his preservation from error.”

More recently, the “inerrancy” movement was championed by the Southern Baptist Association. In particular, in the 1970s, Paige Patterson and Paul Pressler began pushing the SBC toward a conservative agenda that framed the Holy Bible as an “inerrant” text.