The Hidden Cost of Losing Inerrancy

If Scripture is not inerrant, then who gets to decide what part of it is true?

This is not a scare tactic. It’s a question of theological method. And one the modern church rarely slows down to ask.

The debate over inerrancy is often portrayed as academic, antiquated, or unnecessary. “Why fight over a word?” some say. “Let’s just focus on Jesus.” But this kind of thinking reveals a dangerous trend: we’ve grown far too comfortable placing Scripture under human evaluation rather than the other way around.

And the moment Scripture becomes suspect, everything becomes negotiable.

The Real Stakes

Inerrancy is not a side issue. It’s a governing doctrine—a filter through which all other doctrines pass. Deny it, and suddenly every passage must be re-verified. Creation? Salvation? Sexual ethics? Gender roles? The reliability of the resurrection? Pick your issue.

Without inerrancy, our doctrine is held up not by divine revelation but by shifting criteria such as historical plausibility, scientific consensus, or theological tradition. In practice, this means we begin to affirm or deny Scripture based not on what God said, but on what we can tolerate.

And if we are the ones deciding what God’s Word “really means,” then we are no longer disciples following God; we are editors.

The “Evangelical Drift”

Some of the most concerning trends in evangelicalism stem from this exact problem. It rarely starts with blatant heresy. It begins when we let our interpretation of Scripture be shaped more by cultural palatability than by divine authority.

In many cases, institutions or individuals who once held firm on inerrancy eventually reduce it to infallibility in spiritual matters, or limited accuracy in areas deemed “non-essential.” But that move isn’t neutral. It redefines the nature of Scripture itself.

Historically, we’ve seen this drift play out. And I explore one example, Fuller Seminary, in my latest release, The Inerrancy of Scripture.

How We Recover Trust

I’m not suggesting we never ask hard questions of Scripture. But the difference lies in this: do we begin with the assumption that God’s Word is true, or do we treat it like any other flawed human document, testing each verse for credibility before trusting it?

God doesn’t ask us to suspend reason. But he does call us to recognize his reasoning as the final authority.

I wrote this short book not just to defend a word, but to expose how much collapses when we remove that word from our theology. It’s not fearmongering. We need to recover a high view of Scripture, or we will see more doctrinal drift.

The Book

If you’re wrestling with these issues, or you just want a resource that lays them out clearly without technical overload, The Inerrancy of Scripture is now available in paperback and ebook. It’s concise, convictional, and rooted in the belief that God’s Word deserves our trust.

➡️ Get your copy here