In the upper room on the night of Jesus’ betrayal, he promised his disciples that the Holy Spirit would be given to them to bring to their remembrance the past things he’d taught them during his ministry (John 14:26) and also to guide them into all future truth (John 16:13). Thus, Jesus transferred his authority to his apostolic band to continue his mission and to provide divinely ordained instruction.

How do we justify our confidence in biblical authority when many—including some Christians—deny that the Bible is inspired by God and inerrant? The Scripture’s own claim about its divine source is clear, but it’s insufficient for skeptics outside the church or in.

I’d like to suggest a line of reasoning that is compelling and holds promise to get people thinking about Scripture as God’s Word—and if God’s Word, then inerrant, of necessity. If God can’t err, then his Word can’t err, the thinking goes. Simple.

As I recall, I first heard this method for making the case for inspiration and inerrancy from the late John Warwick Montgomery. He dubbed the technique “retroduction.” The approach goes something like this.

First, instead of starting with a presumption of inspiration—“God said it, I believe it, that settles it”—the first step in our case for inspiration and inerrancy focuses on Jesus in the Gospels. The testimonies of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, tested according to the standard canons of historical research, demonstrate that, on the main, the Gospels are reliable accounts of the life of Christ—as an abundance of academic research attests to.

Second, we examine that reliable historical record to determine Jesus’ own view of Scripture. In Matthew 15:6, he calls the Old Testament “the Word of God,” as he does in John 10:35—adding, “and the Scripture cannot be broken,” implying inerrancy. When he prays for his disciples, he asks, “Sanctify them in the truth,” then adds, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17).

During his earthly ministry, Jesus consistently affirmed the divine authority and complete reliability of all categories of Hebrew Scripture, frequently quoting from every section—the Torah, the prophets, and the writings.

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