Jesus’ Use of the Jewish Bible
- Grantley Morris
- 2 days ago
- 27 min read
Jesus’ Reliance on the Old Testament
We are about to explore Jesus’ own words to see whether the Jewish Bible was foundational to everything Jesus said and did. This subject is of vital importance to two issues:
1. Is the Bible just a religious book or the uniquely divinely inspired, thoroughly dependable, Word of God?
2. Was Jesus in any way influenced by Indian religion or were his teachings and beliefs founded exclusively on the religion of what Christians call the Old Testament (but what I shall call the Jewish Bible or Jewish Scriptures)?
Depending upon which of the above most interests you, to get the most out of this webpage you should have read either:
2. Jesus Visited India?
Before plunging in, there’s a matter we need to face. For people like me who are not in any sense Jews, it initially seems weird or even offensive to put any emphasis upon Jews or the revelation they claim God gave them. Doesn’t God care about the rest of humanity? What’s so special about Jews?
It turns out that the Jewish Bible records God specifically telling the Jews there is nothing special about them:
Deuteronomy 7:7 The Lord didn’t set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples.
Deuteronomy 9:5-6 Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your heart, do you go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God does drive them out from before you, and that he may establish the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Know therefore, that the Lord your God doesn’t give you this good land to possess for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people.
Ezekiel 20:13-14 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they didn’t walk in my statutes, and they rejected my ordinances, which if a man keep, he shall live in them; and my Sabbaths they greatly profaned. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them in the wilderness, to consume them. But I worked for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them out.
Ezekiel 36:32 Nor for your sake do I this, says the Lord, be it known to you: be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel.
In fact, it would be quite a task to count all the times the Jewish Bible says that the Jews disappointed and angered God by their stubborn rebelliousness, worshipping other gods, and so on.
God Not Impressed With Jews
Just a Few Examples
Exodus 32:9-14 The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.” Moses begged the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?’ Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” The Lord repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people.
2 Kings 17:14-15 Notwithstanding, they would not listen, but hardened their neck, like the neck of their fathers, who didn’t believe in the Lord their God. They rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them.
2 Chronicles 30:8 Now don’t be stiff-necked, as your fathers were; but yield yourselves to the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified forever, and serve the Lord your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.
2 Chronicles 36:16 but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the Lord’s wrath arose against his people, until there was no remedy.
Nehemiah 9:17,26,29 and refused to obey, neither were they mindful of your wonders that you did among them, but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. . . . Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, and cast your law behind their back, and killed your prophets that testified against them to turn them again to you, and they committed awful blasphemies. . . . and testified against them, that you might bring them again to your law. Yet they dealt proudly, and didn’t listen to your commandments, but sinned against your ordinances, (which if a man does, he shall live in them), turned their backs, stiffened their neck, and would not hear.
Psalms 78:8 and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
Psalms 78:21-22 Therefore the Lord heard, and was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob, anger also went up against Israel, because they didn’t believe in God, and didn’t trust in his salvation.
Jeremiah 7:24 But they didn’t listen nor turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
Jeremiah 13:10 This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing.
Jeremiah 35:15 I have sent also to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and don’t go after other gods to serve them, and you shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but you have not inclined your ear, nor listened to me.
Ezekiel 2:4 The children are impudent and stiff-hearted: I am sending you to them . . .
Zechariah 7:11-12 But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law, and the words which the Lord of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the Lord of Armies.
Nevertheless, the Jewish Scriptures reveal that despite their many serious failings, God singled out the Jews specifically because he loves all peoples and that he chose the Jews as the means whereby God would bless all humanity.
The Bible reveals that before earth even existed, God planned to send the eternal Son of God into the world so that all humanity could be saved. In all human history, this special event would happen just once. In order to fulfil his task, he would need to become human and, of necessity, every human has a specific ancestry. In theory, it could have been any race of people that he was born into, but one race had to be selected and for centuries God prepared that race for this great event and he used his revelation to them and the history of his dealings with them to teach the rest of the world about God.
The promise was first given to Abraham:
Genesis 22:18 All the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring . . .
As Abraham’s descendants multiplied, the Lord kept narrowing down which descendants the promise applied to until finally revealing that this uniquely significant person would be a descendant of King David.
The Promised Blessing to All Peoples
When God chose Abraham, he told him:
Genesis 12:3 . . . All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.
This promise was later repeated; clearly specifying that it would be through his offspring that this blessing to all nations would come:
Genesis 22:18 All the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, because you have obeyed my voice.
The promise was further narrowed down to only one of Abraham’s children, Isaac, whom God told:
Genesis 26:4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and will give all these lands to your offspring. In your offspring will all the nations of the earth be blessed
Again this promise was narrowed down to just one of Abraham’s children, Jacob (Israel), to whom he said:
Genesis 28:14 Your offspring will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your offspring will all the families of the earth be blessed.
It was further narrowed down to descendants of David. In a psalm about the king (i.e. a descendent of David) we read:
Psalms 72:17 . . . Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed.
Other prophesies confirm that the promised Messiah (Christ) would be a descendant of David:
Prophecies in the Jewish Bible of the Messiah being a descendant of David:
Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on David’s throne, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will perform this.
Isaiah 11:1 A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse [David’s father], and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit.
Jeremiah 23:5 Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
Ezekiel 34:23-24 I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken it.
This was the common understanding of Jews in Jesus’ Day:
Luke 1:69-70 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been from of old)
Matthew 22:42 saying, “What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “Of David [i.e. descendant of].”
And, of course, Jesus was a descendant of David.
(In Jesus’ time they often used the expression son of to mean descendent of. David had, of course, died centuries ago.)
Matthew 1:1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Matthew 1:20 But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 9:27 As Jesus passed by from there, two blind men followed him, calling out and saying, “Have mercy on us, son of David!”
Matthew 12:23 All the multitudes were amazed, and said, “Can this be the son of David?”
Matthew 15:22 Behold, a Canaanite woman came out from those borders, and cried, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, you son of David! My daughter is severely possessed by a demon!”
Matthew 20:30 Behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!”
Matthew 20:31 The multitude rebuked them, telling them that they should be quiet, but they cried out even more, “Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!”
Matthew 21:9 The multitudes who went in front of him, and those who followed, kept shouting, “Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
The above outline raises another matter that is too complex and would be digressing too far from the purpose of this webpage to address here: What about those who, for such reasons as where or when they lived, die before hearing Jesus’ message?
I believe the Bible strongly hints that they do not all face the same eternal fate as those who deliberately reject Jesus. The Bible isn’t big on satisfying idle curiosity, however. It keeps its focus on the practical reality of what you and I who have the privilege of reading the Bible must do now that we know of Jesus. I am willing to take you to the very edge of my understanding of what happens to those who miss out on hearing Jesus’ message, but I need another series of webpages in which to do it. At the end of this current webpage is a link to that series.
Now, with introductions out of the way, let’s enter the heart of this webpage.
Casual readers will miss many of Jesus’ references to the Jewish Bible. To locate them, one must know that in Jesus’ day these sacred writings were sometimes referred to as Scripture, but a major part was often called the Law or [the writings of] Moses, another major part was called [the writings of] the Prophets, and yet another part was the Psalms. Sometimes Jesus introduced a reference to the Jewish Bible by saying, “It is written . . .”
Matthew 4:7 Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not test the Lord, your God.’ ”
Matthew 11:10 For this is he, of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’
Matthew 21:13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers!”
Matthew 26:24 The Son of Man goes, even as it is written of him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.”
Matthew 26:31 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of me tonight, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
Luke 4:4 Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”
Luke 4:8 Jesus answered him, “Get behind me Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’ ”
Luke 10:26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”
Luke 18:31 He took the twelve aside, and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written through the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be completed.
Luke 20:17 But he looked at them, and said, “Then what is this that is written, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the chief cornerstone?’
Luke 21:22 For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
Luke 22:37 For I tell you that this which is written must still be fulfilled in me: ‘He was counted with transgressors.’ For that which concerns me has an end.”
Luke 24:44 He said to them, “This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled.”
Luke 24:46 He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day
John 6:45 It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’’ . . .
John 8:17 It’s also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid.
John 10:34 Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’
John 15:25 But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
At times, however, one simply has to be highly familiar with the Jewish Scriptures to recognize a Bible quote or an allusion to one. Some Bible publishers make it easier by inserting into the text (sometimes via a footnote) the location in the Jewish Bible of the text that Jesus is referring to.
Here are some of the people from the Jewish Scriptures that Jesus specifically referred to by name, treating them all as historical figures who have much to teach us about God: Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Noah, David, Solomon, Queen of Sheba, Elijah, the widow in Zarephath, Elisha, Naaman, Isaiah, Jonah and Zechariah.
He referred to no Indian, (nor anyone from my own ancestry).
The Jewish Bible did not merely influence Jesus’ teaching, however, nor did he just keep referring to it, he frequently quoted it.
The following quotes might seem short but everything in the Gospels had to be brief because books – the raw materials and reproduction (meticulous copying by hand) – were extremely expensive. What is significant is that the quotes come from diverse parts of the Jewish Scriptures. Sometimes Jesus even rolled into one statement a compilation of quotes from different parts of the Jewish Scriptures, thus indicating that he was so devoted to it that he had memorized much of it – perhaps all of it.
Matthew 9:13 But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ . . .
Matthew 10:35-36 For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s foes will be those of his own household. [Micah 7:6]
Matthew 11:10 For this is he, of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’
Matthew 12:5,7 Or have you not read in the law, that on the Sabbath day, the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are guiltless? . . . But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.
Matthew 13:14-15 In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive: for this people’s heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again; and I would heal them.’
Matthew 15:4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’
Matthew 15:7-9 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, ‘These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. And in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrine rules made by men.’ .”
Matthew 19:17-19 He said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder.’ ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ‘You shall not steal.’ ‘You shall not offer false testimony.’ ‘Honor your father and mother.’ And, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
Matthew 21:13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ . . .”
Matthew 22:36-37 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ . .”
Matthew 22:43-44 He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?’
Matthew 23:39 For I tell you, you will not see me from now on, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ” [Psalm 118:26]
Matthew 26:31 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of me tonight, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
Mark 12:10-11 Haven’t you even read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord, it is marvellous in our eyes’?
Luke 4:4 Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”
Luke 4:8 Jesus answered him, “Get behind me Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’ ”
Luke 4:12 Jesus answering, said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
Luke 11:49 Therefore also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles; and some of them they will kill and persecute.
Luke 20:37-40 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ . . . Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you speak well.” They didn’t dare to ask him any more questions.
Luke 22:36-37 Then he said to them, “ . . . which is written must still be fulfilled in me: ‘He was counted with transgressors.’ . . .”
John 6:45 It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who hears from the Father, and has learned, comes to me.
John 7:38 He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.
John 10:34 Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’
John 15:25 But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
Examples of Jesus showing significant understanding of the Jewish Bible without specifically quoting it:
Luke 2:46-47 [When Jesus was only twelve] After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the middle of the teachers . . . All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.
Luke 11:53-54 As he said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be terribly angry, and to draw many things out of him; lying in wait for him, and seeking to catch him in something he might say, that they might accuse him.
John 7:23 If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me, because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath?
John 8:17 It’s also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid.
Jesus saw the Jewish Bible as so central to his earthly mission that he kept affirming over and over that minute details about him, and key events affecting his stay on earth, were prophesied in the Jewish Bible. Moreover, despite Jesus citing so many Jewish Scriptures as prophesying significant events in his life, the Gospel writers, in their comments, provide many additional ones. It seems likely that one reason for the Gospel writers doing this is that they were sharing what Jesus revealed to his disciples during these two events after his resurrection from the dead:
1. Jesus speaking to two of his followers as they walked to Emmaus
Luke 24:25-27 He said to them, “Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Didn’t the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?” Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
2. Jesus, addressing the apostles and others who had gathered in Jerusalem:
Luke 24:44-45 He said to them, “This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures.
Like many other people, I have found still more examples of Jewish Scriptures pointing to Jesus (a link at the end of this webpage cites some of them). Finding these is simply a manifestation of Jesus’ promise that when he left earth he would send the Holy Spirit into the hearts of believers:
John 16:13-14 However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth . . . He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you.
Here’s an indication of how much Jesus saw the Jewish Bible as being hand in glove with his own life and ministry:
John 5:39-40, 45-46 You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me. Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life. . . . Don’t think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed [the sacred writings of] Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me.
Besides Jesus seeing himself and events impacting his life as fulfilling the prophecies of the Jewish Bible, he saw himself as belonging to a long line of Jewish prophets. For example, he implied that true prophets die in Jerusalem like he did:
Luke 13:33-34 . . . for it can’t be that a prophet perish outside of Jerusalem.’ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you refused!
Such statements seem to exclude the possibility of Jesus seeing anyone from other races who preceded him as being true messengers from God. Jesus saw himself as the culmination of that line of Jewish prophets. For instance, in Mark 12 he told a parable in which he likened Jewish prophets to servants, each of whom was martyred. Finally, the owner of the vineyard (representing God) “still having one” – not a mere servant, but his very “beloved son” (representing Jesus).
The New Testament book of Hebrews crystallizes this with these words:
Hebrews 1:1-2 God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.
Most people underrate the full extent to which all of Jesus’ teaching were founded on and saturated with the Jewish Scriptures. Even aspects of Jesus’ message that are commonly thought to be departures from the Jewish Bible were actually taught there.
For instance, Jesus referred to God as being a father. Many people suppose that such an intimate view of God was a departure from Old Testament teaching. In reality, the Jewish Scriptures are filled with even more references to a tender, childlike attitude toward Almighty God than the New Testament, and their many descriptions of God’s tenderness are even more moving.
Yet another example of people thinking Jesus’ was teaching something new, when he was actually expounding Old Testament revelation, is what he said about loving one’s enemies:
Proverbs 25:21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
When, for instance, Jesus gave the parable of the Good Samaritan, he was specifically explaining what the Jewish Bible means by loving your neighbor.
When Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you . . .” (Matthew 5:43-44), he was not correcting the Jewish Scriptures (there is no such Scripture). He was citing a non-biblical saying that was contrary to a correct understanding of the Jewish Bible. As he said in the same sermon:
Matthew 7:12 Therefore whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them; for this is the law and the prophets. [i.e. the entire Old Testament]. (Emphasis mine.)
Yet another example of Jesus seeming to be acting contrary to the Jewish Bible is regarding the Sabbath. A closer look, however, reveals that Jesus kept emphasizing that his treatment of the Sabbath was in accordance with Jewish Scripture.
A very different type of example is when Jesus said:
Matthew 5:38-41 You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you, don’t resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.
This does indeed initially read like a contradiction, but Jesus saw much of the Jewish Scriptures as detailing not how we should treat others (which, as emphasized in other parts of the Jewish Bible, is by love and mercy) but establishing laws for a nation of hard-hearted people. This is seen most clearly in Jesus’ teaching about divorce where he quoted the Jewish Scriptures to prove his argument against divorce and then added:
Matthew 19:8 . . . Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so [which he proved by quoting the biblical account of creation]. (Emphasis mine.)
What nation on earth could keep from descending into chaos if thieves, thugs, wife-beaters and the like could do whatever they wanted without fear of being brought to justice? Our heart attitude toward those who personally hurt us, however, is an entirely different matter. It was not that Jesus and Moses were contradicting each other; it was that they were addressing quite different issues. Whereas Moses’ mission was more political – to reveal laws for a nation – Christ’s mission was to highlight God’s holy standards for individuals.
Jesus opposed the religious leaders of the day, only because they were straying from the religion of the Jewish Bible:
Matthew 15:6 . . . You have made the commandment of God void because of your tradition.
Matthew 23:2-3 saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sat on Moses’ seat [i.e. they teach Scripture]. All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don’t do their works; for they say, and don’t do.
Matthew 23:23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.
Mark 7:5-8 The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why don’t your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unwashed hands?” He answered them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ “For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men. . . .”(Emphasis mine.)
Jesus regarded the Scriptures as so powerful that if people refused to respond to them they would not even respond to God if the truth were confirmed by the ultimate miracle: someone rising from the dead. He cited this conversation between a man suffering in hell, who saw Lazarus and Abraham in heaven:
Luke 16:27-31 . . . I ask you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house; for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, so they won’t also come into this place of torment.’ “But Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’ “He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ “He said to him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.’ ”
It is hard for us in the modern era to grasp how prohibitively expensive books were in Jesus’ day. The exorbitant cost meant that, of financial necessity, documents had to be kept as brief as possible. To Jesus’ followers, the preservation of every unique word falling from Jesus’ lips and every detail of his life is priceless and yet so much had to be pruned out. This renders astonishing the amount of space devoted to quoting already existing, widely known documents (the Jewish Bible). It highlights just how central the Scriptures were to Jesus’ life and message. Even when producing bare summaries, writers could not quote him for long without being forced to include quotes from Scripture. They were so much at the heart of Jesus’ preaching and discussions that it was impossible to edit them out and the summary still make sense.
Jesus regarded the Jewish Scriptures in a way that staggers even many Christians. For a glimpse, consider how Jesus quoted Genesis 2:24 (part of the Jewish Scriptures):
Matthew 19:4-6 He answered, “Haven’t you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall join to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh?’ So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don’t let man tear apart.”
“He who made them . . . said . . .” affirmed Jesus, but the Jewish Scripture does not introduce the verse Jesus quoted with anything remotely like, “God said.” There are, of course, a vast number of instances when the Bible claims to be quoting God directly. Just a little earlier in the account, for instance, we read, “The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.” (Genesis 2:18). This is not such an instance, however. This statement reads like a comment by the human author.
And yet in quoting this passage, Jesus said these were the very words of the Creator.
We see something similar in Matthew 22:43 (NIV) where Jesus quotes a Bible Psalm, saying “David, speaking by the Spirit . . .”
He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? . . .”
Jesus treated the words of Scripture as having at the same time both a human author and a divine author, so that it was equally true to quote Scripture and say “Moses (or David and so on) said . . .” and to say “God said . . .” So, since Jesus said, “I and [God] the Father are one,” (John 10:30), he was claiming that he and the author of the Jewish Scriptures are one.
Jesus’ teaching is so saturated with the Jewish Scriptures that some non-Christian Jews criticize him for being unoriginal. In reality, if Jesus’ teaching stood out as being different from Old Testament revelation, something would be terribly wrong, since a key aspect of his teaching is that he is the prophesied Jewish Messiah and that he is the culmination of a long line of Jewish messengers from God and the fulfilment of the Jewish Bible.
Nevertheless, Jesus did not just cling to the Jewish Bible as the authoritative source of spiritual truth from which to instruct his followers and expose the errors of those who thought him mistaken; he relied on it privately as his personal weapon for fighting temptation and spiritual deception. We see this vividly when he was alone, being subjected to the Tempter’s concerted efforts to deceive and seduce him. Jesus’ response to each of the three temptations he faced, was to quote Scripture:
Matthew 4:4-10 But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ” . . .Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not test the Lord, your God.’ ” . . .Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’ ”
The second temptation was especially insightful. The evil genius was so aware of Jesus’ dependence upon Scripture that the devil tried to turn the Bible against Jesus by hoping to use it to dupe him:
Matthew 4:6 “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you.’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
Jesus had no Plan B. Rather than lessen his total reliance on the Bible for his spiritual protection, his response was to cite it yet again to expose the devil’s deceitful misuse of it.
Toward a Conclusion
Wherever we look in Jesus’ life and message we keep finding his profound reverence for the Jewish Bible. In a prayer to God, his Father, Jesus said, “. . . Your word is truth” (John 17:17). Another time, he said “. . . Scripture can’t be broken” (John 10:35). When under pressure to compromise, he said, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’ ” (Matthew 4:4). One of his greatest criticisms of people was, “ . . . You have made the commandment of God void because of your tradition” (Matthew 15:6). Not surprisingly, he said such things as “My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God, and do it.” (Luke 8:21. See also Luke 11:28). He proclaimed:
Luke 16:17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tiny stroke of a pen in the law to fall.
On yet another occasion he said:
Matthew 5:17-18 Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.
The more you delve into Jesus’ teaching and into the Jewish Bible the more you will discover how thoroughly Jesus’ teaching was based on the Jewish Bible. No wonder some Jewish critics accuse Jesus of being unoriginal!
He taught that after death everyone is judged by God, as a result of which some will spend the rest of eternity in the torment of hell, whereas others will live forever in glorified bodies. Some Jews who disagreed with this teaching approached Jesus. He told them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:29). Jesus was addressing people highly familiar with the Jewish Scriptures and yet he still insisted they did not know these Scriptures well enough to avoid falling into error. This yet again demonstrates how foundational to all spiritual revelation Jesus regarded the Jewish Scriptures (compare 2 Timothy 3:15-17).
We, too, will fall into error if we do not thoroughly know the Jewish Scriptures. This is not only true spiritually; there are obvious practical reasons why anyone failing to grasp how central these Scriptures are to Jesus’ teachings will repeatedly misunderstand him. We cannot be sure of understanding anyone without thoroughly knowing that person’s language and culture and the things that are critically important to him. For just one of a multitude of examples from Jesus’ sayings, consider how he often spoke of godly people as being sheep. He would not have done so if he were in a western Twenty-First Century megacity whose inhabitants usually think it an insult to be called sheep. Likewise, he would have been misunderstood in ancient Egypt, where shepherds were despised (Genesis 46:34). To understand Jesus’ meaning we must understand that Jesus’ Jewish contemporaries saw sheep as individuals and lovable and so precious that a shepherd would risk his life for one.
What makes a deep understanding of the Jewish Bible so critical is not only the unique role Jesus assigns to it as the prime source of spiritual truth, but there is a real sense in which the Jewish Bible is the theological dictionary containing all the definitions of the words Jesus used. This conclusion is inescapable, given how highly Jesus not only favored the Jewish Scriptures but revered them as the very word of God, and the overwhelming proportion of times Jesus quoted or otherwise alluded to the Jewish Scriptures in his teaching.
Like a laser, Jesus cut through the spiritual views of his contemporaries. He kept correcting religious authorities; rebuking them for straying from the truth of the Bible, but not once did he attempt to “correct” Scripture. For him, the Jewish Bible was rock solid truth; the spiritual standard by which everything else must be measured. Moreover, he kept insisting that these Scriptures speak of him. So if we are to understand Jesus and his message we must view him not through the lens of our own religious background but through the lens of the Jewish Scriptures; the spiritual authority he kept measuring everything by; the sacred writings that he revered as prophetically setting out his earthly mission.
Even more astonishing is that Jesus used these Scriptures to set the course for his own life. Being both sinless perfection and the eternal Son of God, Jesus was completely different from the rest of humanity. We can expect to need spiritual props that he could do without. Nevertheless, just as Jesus not only urged others to pray but relied heavily upon it to maintain his own spiritual well-being, so it was with his reliance upon Scripture.
The way Jesus reverenced the Bible boggles the mind, but to reject this attitude to Scripture is to claim to know God better than the world’s greatest Teacher and to pronounce Jesus Christ a deluded fool. Hopefully, I am not so vain as to consider myself a greater spiritual authority than Jesus. My goal is to have Jesus’ attitude to the accuracy and supreme authority of the Bible and to use it to better understand his heart and his meaning.
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