We are now ready to establish the Inspiration and Inerrancy of the Scriptures on the basis of the reliability of the New Testament Documents which, in turn, speak definitively about the Deity of the Person of Jesus Christ. Through His statements, the case can strongly be made out for the Bible being the inspired Word of God. Revelation from God can be taken to be inerrant. Inspiration will thus guarantee inerrancy.

A suggested syllogism will run thus:

(1) NT Documents are historically reliable and its authors are honest;

(2) NT witnesses that Jesus Christ is God;

(3) Jesus Christ (in the NT) witnesses that OT & NT are the inspired word of God;

(4) Therefore, both OT & NT are the inspired word of God.

1. Reliability of New Testament Documents

Since the eye-witness accounts of the life, death and resurrection of Christ come from primary source documents, these must be shown to be reliable. The historical reliability of the NT should be tested by the same criteria to which all historical documents are subjected. Three tests for reliability of a document are given below: The bibliographical test, the internal test and the external test

The Bibliographical test: It is seen that the documents under examination are reliable both in terms of the  number  of  manuscripts  available  for verification as well as the time lapse between the event (as well as the first manuscript) and the oldest  extant manuscript. The following chart will demonstrate that the NT is happily placed:   

The internal evidence test: John W. Montgomery says, "One must listen to the claims of the documents under analysis, and not assume fraud or error unless the author disqualifies himself by contradictions or known factual inaccuracies". In the NT, no contradictions have been proven. Many alleged contradictions have been cleared up by archaeology. One important point is that the NT was written by eye witnesses (Lk.l:l-3; Acts 3:15, II Pet.l:16, IJn.l:3). Their testimony came under the most stringent scrutiny by their severest critics.

The external evidence test: History and archaeology have externally confirmed the authenticity of the NT documents.

The following secular historians from the 1st century confirm the general outline of the NT: Josephus' (AD 37-100) "The Antiquities"; Tacitus' (AD 52-54) "The Annals"; Pliny the Younger (AD 112) "Epistle"; Thallus' (AD 52) "Jewish Talmud" (AD 500); and Suetonius' (AD 120) "Life of Claudius."

Combining the testimonies of these historians, the following picture of Christ emerges which matches the NT narrative: Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate at passover time. He was believed by his disciples to have risen from the dead 3 days later. Jewish leaders charged Christ with sorcery and believed that He was born illegitimately. The sect of Christianity could not be contained - it spread even to Rome. Nero and other Roman rulers  bitterly persecuted -and martyred early Christians. These early Christians denied polytheism) lived dedicated lives according to Christ's teachings and worshipped Him.

Numerous archaeological discoveries also support the specific details of the NT account.

2. Integrity of New Testament Authors

Everything that is known about the apostles testifies to their honesty and integrity.   They were proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus within weeks of the event, and if they had been lying, they could have been easily exposed by their testimony under extreme persecution even to the detractors. They remained steadfast in their point of martyrdom, which was a widespread phenomenon in the first century. It is only reasonable to argue for the honesty of  these writers - men could be expected to die for what they believe to be true, but they would never die for what they know to be false.

3. The Case for the Deity of Christ

If the NT documents can be established as credible and that the authors are honest, then we can conclude that we have an accurate record of the events and the claims that Jesus Christ made about Himself and others. The testimonies found in these documents point to the fact that Jesus was God Himself. There are four aspects to this conclusion: Jesus'  own  testimony that  He was  God (Jn.l0:30); testimony of the disciples that He was God (Tit.2:13);  testimony of NT Scripture to His divinity (Col.2:9); and the substantiation of Christ's claim to be God through prophetic fulfillment, miraculous deeds and the resurrection from the dead.

As Norman Geisler says "On the basis of the historical reliability of the NT, we can be sure that we possess the essence of the teachings of Christ about Himself. In view of the messianic prophecies Jesus fulfilled, the titles of Deity He applied to Himself, the worship He accepted, as well as the other claims to Deity He made, we must conclude that Jesus thought of Himself as God-incarnate in human form. An examination of His disciples' beliefs about Him reveals that they too taught that He was equal with and identical to God."

4. Inspiration of the Old and New Testaments

Jesus confirmed the authority of the OT and He promised the inspiration of the NT.

Jesus often referred to the authoritative writings of the OT as The Scriptures (Jn.l0.35). He established God's Word as the standard of Truth (Matt.4:4,7,10; Jn.l7:17). Humans could err but Scripture did not (Matt.22:29). Jesus also claimed that the Law and the Prophets would never pass away (Matt.5:17).  In short, the written words of the OT books were considered by Jesus to be God's Word.

Jesus Christ is also the fulfillment of all things. He promised to guide His disciples into all truth. The books of the NT fulfill that promise.

Jesus Christ climaxed His life by the statement, "It is finished!" (Jn.l9:30).

Jesus promised His disciples that He would send them the Holy Spirit who would "teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you" (Jn.l4:26; 16:13).

The 27 books of the NT fulfil this promise. The NT books have been passed down from the apostles. With the apostolic writings, the Canon of the Scripture was complete. John, the last of the apostles to die seemed to recognise that he was completing the Canon of Scripture (Rev.22:18,19).