The view of the Old Testament held by Jesus and his apostles will naturally be of preeminent importance to all Christians. This lesson will survey the use of the Old Testament by Jesus and the New Testament writers, and their explicit declarations or implied views about the nature of its authority.

All four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) document that Jesus quoted from the Old Testament Scriptures with great frequency. Here are some examples from these Gospel accounts. Notice the various ways Jesus indicates the authoritative nature of these Scriptures.

Read the accounts of Jesus' temptation by the devil in Matthew 4:4ff. and Luke 4:4ff.

QUESTION: What is the authority Jesus responds with when he answers each of Satan's temptations?

Read Mark 12:36. "For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, 'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.'"

QUESTION: Notice that Jesus is quoting Psalm 110:1 which he attributes to a human author - David. But, to whom else does Jesus attribute these words?

Read Matthew 19:4,5. "And he answered and said unto them, 'Have ye not read, that he which made [them] at the beginning made them male and female, And said, "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?"'" Jesus is quoting from Genesis 2:24.

QUESTION: Even though Moses recorded these verses, to whom does Jesus attribute these words?

As shown by these verses, Jesus repeatedly quoted from the Old Testament as authoritative revelation from God.

For other examples see also: Matthew 26:53-56; Luke 18:31-33 and John 5:39,40, 46,47.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:18 "For verily I say unto you, 'Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.'"

QUESTION: Do you agree that the preceding statements of Jesus imply his total confidence that the Old Testament is the written Word of God?

The apostles of Jesus also quote extensively from the Old Testament Scriptures. It is interesting to note how they regard these writings. For example, Matthew, in chapter 1 verse 22 of his gospel, quotes from Isaiah and writes:

Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet."

The apostle Peter in Acts 4:24,25 quotes Psalm 2:1,2 and says, "... Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: Who by the mouth of David hast said, 'Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?'"

The apostle Paul, in Romans 1:1,2 refers to "... the gospel of God, Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures."

QUESTIONS: (1) Do you agree that in each of these cases, the apostles claim the prophecies they quote are the words of God? (2) Do you think it is fair to conclude that Jesus' apostles also viewed the Old Testament writings as the authoritative Word of God?

Jesus and his apostles quote extensively and exclusively from the Old Testament as sacred Scripture. The few allusions to non-Biblical books are never identified as to their source, let alone accorded the status of inspired Scripture. One scholar estimates conservatively that in the New Testament there are some 295 separate references to the Old Testament writings, and that these occur in 352 verses of the New Testament (Roger Nicole, "New Testament Use of the Old Testament," in REVELATION AND THE BIBLE, by Carl F. H. Henry, Baker, 1958, p. 137).

If we include clear allusions to the Old Testament the count goes up to as high as 4000 additional references. Nicole concludes from this evidence, "It can therefore be asserted, without exaggeration, that more than 10 per cent of the New Testament text is made up of citations or direct allusions to the Old Testament" (Ibid, p. 138). These quotations and paraphrases include nearly every one of the Old Testament books.

While the New Testament writers frequently quote specific passages from the Old Testament as the Word of God, they also recognize the authoritative nature of the whole body of Old Testament Scriptures. For example, the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:14-16:

"But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."

The Apostle Peter also wrote about the authority of the Old Testament writers. In 2 Peter 1:20,21 we read,

"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy

men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

The Greek word (pheromenoi) translated "moved" in verse 21 implies a forceful driving along, and is the same word used in Acts 27:15,17 of a ship that has dropped its sails and is driven by the wind. Thus, the idea is that as the Biblical authors wrote they were being carried along by the Spirit of God. He provided the motive force by which they wrote, so that the resulting message was not of men but of God.

QUESTION: Do you agree that the New Testament witnesses to the authority and divinely inspired nature of the Old Testament as a whole?

Another way in which the New Testament attests to the authority of the Old Testament Scriptures is by recording fulfillment of numerous Old Testament prophecies - many of which were made hundreds of years earlier. In particular we will look at the Messianic prophecies found throughout the Old Testament that are fulfilled in Christ. It is amazing to discover the scope and specificity of these prophecies and their fulfillment. What follows is a sampling taken in chronological order from the Old Testament.

(a) Genesis 49:10 [authored by Moses, c. 1400 B.C.] predicts that the scepter (symbol of rulership) would not depart from which tribe?

According to Luke 3:33, Jesus' ancestry is traced back to which tribe?

(b) Psalm 22:14-18 [attributed to David, c. 1000 B.C.] speaks of the suffering of the Messiah. The fulfillment of the specific events of this prophecy are written of in Matthew 27:35; Mark 15:24; and John 19:24,37. It is striking to note how well these verses fit the experience of a person being crucified, though they were written centuries before this Roman method of execution was devised.

(c) The entire 53rd chapter of Isaiah [c. 700 B.C.] is a Messianic prophecy. Some of the specific details fulfilled in the life of Jesus are:

Verse 7 -- though oppressed and afflicted he opened not his mouth; (fulfilled in Mark 15:3-5).

Verse 9 -- he made his grave with the wicked and the rich; in Matthew 27:57-60 we even learn the rich man's name.

Verse 12 -- he was numbered with the transgressors; read Mark 15:27,28. Jesus' fulfilled this prophecy when he was crucified with two thieves.

(d) The prophet Micah in Micah 5:2 [c. 700 B.C.] predicts the birth place of the Messiah as Bethlehem in Judah. This prophecy was so well known that when the wise men from the East arrive in Jerusalem to ask about the new king (Matthew 2:1-6), the chief priests and scribes give the exact town based on Micah's prophecy.

(e) One final example, of a very specific prophecy. Read Zechariah 12:10 [c. 500 B.C.]. The people "will look upon me whom they have pierced."

The speaker in this passage is the LORD, or Yahweh / Jehovah, the all-powerful God of Israel. What Old Testament Jew could have ever imagined that the Sovereign Creator God of the whole world would allow himself to be "pierced" or hurt in any way by his human creatures? Yet John, the beloved Apostle of Jesus, would write in John 19:34 that he saw a soldier pierce the side of Jesus, so that blood and water came out. In John 19:36,37 he gives the reason these things were done.

All of these are prophecies were fulfilled hundreds of years after they were written, yet they are only some of dozens that could be listed.

QUESTION: Do you think it is fair to say, based on the testimony of Jesus, the New Testament writers and fulfilled prophecy, that both Jesus and his apostles considered the Old Testament to be the authoritative and reliable Word of God?

Though there is compelling evidence that the Old Testament Scriptures were preserved completely and accurately up until Jesus' day (Lesson 1) and that Jesus and his apostles viewed these sacred writings as authoritative, how do we know they have been accurately preserved in the 2000 years since that time? Is there evidence that our copies of the Old Testament are as accurate and reliable as those used by Jesus? These are some of the questions to be answered by Lesson 4 - The Preservation of the Old Testament Text.

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