EVERY WORD COUNTS
By Tom Barnes
Evangelical Press. 203 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978-0-85234-716-4
Tom Barnes writes in response to the shift away from the terminology of ‘inerrancy’ among evangelical scholars and a growing tendency in the pulpit and the pew to elevate the subjective immediate leading of the Holy Spirit over Scripture. His concern is that the Bible is not treasured and trusted as it should be.
In respect of inerrancy, Barnes’s primary argument is that God’s Word is closely tied to his person — it reflects God’s attributes. Therefore, to disbelieve the Bible is to disbelieve God. He argues that inerrancy is the logical consequence of inspiration, i.e. if the Scriptures are God’s Word (breathed out by God) and God cannot lie, then the Scriptures must be inerrant. Every word counts because every word is God’s Word. Barnes is anxious that evangelicals do not give ground on inerrancy, for example, by limiting it only to matters of faith and practice.
