“For the orthodox, the text must be perfect, and therefore if errors exist, its perfect state
must be restorable. God’s providence is the causal nexus that ensures this end. But there remains a hint of anxiety in Turretin’s emphatic response to this problem:
‘Unless unimpaired integrity is attributed to Scripture, it cannot be regarded as the sole rule of faith and practice, and a wide door is opened to atheists, libertines, enthusiasts, and others of that sort of profane people to undermine its authority and overthrow the foundation of salvation. Since error cannot be part of the faith, how can a Scripture which is weakened by contradictions and corruptions be regarded as authentic and divine? Nor should it be said that these corruptions are only in matters of little significance, which do not affect the fundamentals of faith. For as soon as the authenticity of Scripture has been found wanting, even if it be in a single corruption [of the text] that cannot be corrected, how can our faith any longer be sustained? If corruption is conceded in matters of little importance, why not also in others of more significance?’
All error must be uprooted, else Scripture loses its ‘unimpaired integrity.’ Atheists and libertines are at the door, and not a single unremedied textual corruption can be conceded. Turretin’s orthodoxy requires an inerrant text. If it cannot be achieved, then chaos ensues. In this weighty formulation of Reformed orthodoxy, textual criticism carries a heavy load. It must be hedged by divine providence in order to reproduce a perfect text.”
Ron Hendel, The Dream of a Perfect Text: Textual Criticism and Biblical Inerrancy in Early Modern Europe (In Sibyls, Scriptures, and Scrolls: John Collins at Seventy Volume 1 (p. 538)
Read more: The Dream of a Perfect Text: Textual Criticism and Biblical Inerrancy in Early Modern Europe https://www.academia.edu/29482523/The_Dream_of_a_Perfect_Text_Textual_Criticism_and_Biblical_Inerrancy_in_Early_Modern_Europe
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