Another argument for the authority of Scripture, especially the Old Testament, is that Jesus and Paul both quote from it extensively and attribute authority to it. For example, in Matthew 22:29 Jesus retorts to his opponents that ‘You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.’ What to make of this argument?

An initial difficulty is that, as with 2 Tim 3:16, the argument rests on its own presupposition. We can only know that Jesus cited frequently from Scripture if we believe that the Gospels are accurate records of his speech (which they are because the Bible is inerrant). This is circular reasoning.

However even assuming that we can be sure that Jesus’ words are reliably recorded, the fact that he frequently cites Scripture and upholds its authority does not of itself prove that he believed the Old Testament as a whole to be inerrant. The same can be said for Paul (with the circular flaws too – many scholars doubt all Paul’s letters were genuinely his work, for instance).

What I began to find fascinating is to see how Jesus and Paul use Scripture subversively. The famous ‘You have heard… But I tell you’ sayings from the Sermon on the Mount, or Paul’s identification of covenant Israel (‘Jerusalem’) with Hagar rather than Sarah in Gal 4 are great examples. In each case, the ‘plain’ received reading of the Scripture is upended to say something genuinely new. They hint that the best way to approach Scripture is not as an established ‘Truth’ to be defended and reinforced, but as a prophetic tool to challenge our deepest religious prejudices.