Inerrancy is Comprehensive

Many pastors have a great concern with inerrancy. The doctrine is very important, but is of very little practical use without an insistence on comprehensiveness in exposing scripture.

With the great amount of topical preaching done in the current day having a pastor with a doctrine of inerrancy is of little practical use to his congregation if the pastor avoids teaching on many topics in scripture. It is rarely stated in a crass way by the pastor that he does not wish to preach on a topic in scripture, but many pastors have certain topics they refuse in practice to preach on.

I once heard a high profile preacher who preached an entire sermon series on inerrancy and faithfulness to scripture proudly state that he has and never will preach a sermon on giving. It is difficult to reconcile his great passion for inerrancy in scripture with his objection to preaching the fullness of scripture.

Many pastors in the current day live in this state. They insist upon the inerrancy and usefulness of all scripture while trying to hide many elements of scripture away from view.

I find one of the best ways to judge the orthodoxy of a pastor or theologian is to look at what they refuse to or never speak on. It is easy to say all the right things when a pastor or theologian picks and chooses the topics to speak on.

But what is unsaid is often where orthodoxy is made or broken. A pastor may claim to hold a "high view of scripture" but that high view is only so high as the pastor's concern to practically model that all scripture is useful.

It seems that the focus of pastors would be better to focus on a comprehensive view of scripture. An insistence on comprehensive view of scripture coupled with an inerrant view of scripture is of far greater use than simply a concern with inerrancy.