Yes, I’ve heard that theory. Typical inerrntist banter.
The typical inerrantist will go to great lengths to imagine a harmonizing explanation, however improbable it may be, for each of these couplets. I will concede that with sufficient presumptions and mental machinations indulging the improbable, virtually all of these facial inconsistencies can be harmonized. My question is, why indulge them? The only reason I can see to do so is in order to shore up one’s initial presumption of inerrancy.
This approach seems to me to be reasoning the matter backwards. Inerrancy should be a conclusion from the evidence, not an axiom with which to assess the evidence. My problem with Scriptural inerrancy is not so much that it presumes the thing to be proven as that it presumes that no proof is needed. Ask an inerrantist whether Jesus sent his apostles out with sandals and staff (Mark 6:8-9) or without them (Matt. 10:10), and the answer will come back “The gospels must have been describing two different missions.” Ask where the “must have” comes from, and the answer ultimately comes back, in words or substance, that the consistency of Scripture is a given.
I do not see the point in downplaying the human element like this. I expect theological truth from my Bible, not factual accuracy on minute historical details. And I am not scandalized by inaccuracies as to the latter.
The better approach, in my opinion, is to focus on the inerrancy of the message of a given passage, rather than of the extraneous details with which the passage is adorned. In Matt. 19:4-6 the author intends to relate that Jesus was making a point about marriage and divorce. If the author had put “it is written” rather than “and said” into Jesus’ mouth, the theological message would have been the same.