The Westminster Confession (Chapter I.5) affirms that Scripture's authority comes from God alone and that the infallibility of its 'infallible truth and divine authority' is to be received. Conservative Presbyterian bodies — including the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church in America — formally affirm inerrancy of the original autographs, consistent with the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (1978), to which many Presbyterian scholars contributed. This position holds that Scripture is without error in all that it affirms, including matters of history and science as well as faith and morals.

The Presbyterian Church (USA), the largest American Presbyterian body, does not formally require subscription to strict inerrancy. Its Book of Confessions includes not only the Westminster Standards but also other Reformed confessions (Barmen Declaration, Belhar Confession, Brief Statement of Faith) that reflect different theological frameworks. Many PCUSA ministers and scholars engage historical-critical methods and do not hold to strict inerrancy. This divergence has been a recurring source of controversy and division within American Presbyterianism.