Inerrancy and Figurative Language

by J. M. Boice
via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 21 No. 3, September 1995

"Some people say, 'If you believe in inerrancy, you have to take every statement in the Bible literally. (You must believe] that God has a heart, perhaps even that God has wings’ (Ps. 17:8). This is foolish... It is based on the error of supposing that for something to be true, it must be expressed in non-figurative language. This is just not so. The Bible uses poetical language at times, just as we do. We do not err just because we use it, nor does the Bible. Everyone understands the language to be poetical. In the same way, some biblical expressions are adaptations to the limits of human language, as, for example, those parts of the Bible that refer to the emotions of God...how can the Bible adequately tell us that we are deeply loved by God unless it tells us that his heart is moved, and uses other similar expressions?”

[Does Inerrancy Matter? p. 11]