12. Chapter 12: His Use Of The Scriptures

Chapter 12 His Use Of The Scriptures Did Jesus know and use the Scriptures? What scriptures? Did he know and use any scriptures not in our Old Testament?

How did the Jews entitle their scriptures?

What is the Apocrypha?

Why as a rabbi would Jesus use the Jewish scriptures?

How is your answer related to the principle of apperception?

Make a list of direct quotations from the Old Testament that Jesus used. This can easily be done by using a New Testament with references, or the article on “Quotations” in Hastings’ “Dictionary of the Bible,” or “Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels.”

Omitting duplicates, how many direct quotations do you find?

Why is it that some of the quotations do not seem to be exact? Look up “Septuagint.”

Compare your list with the following:

1. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3).

2. “Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God” (Matthew 4:7; Deuteronomy 6:16).

3. “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve” (Matthew 4:10; Deuteronomy 6:13).

4. “Thou shalt not kill” (Matthew 5:21; Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17).

5. “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Matthew 5:27; Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18).

6. “Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement” (Matthew 5:31; Deuteronomy 24:1; Deuteronomy 24:3).

7. “Thou shalt not forswear thyself” (Matthew 5:33; Leviticus 19:12; Numbers 30:2; Deuteronomy 23:21).

8. “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” (Matthew 5:38; Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20; Deuteronomy 19:21).

9. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy” (Matthew 5:43; Leviticus 19:18).

10. “I desire mercy and not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:13; Matthew 12:7;Hosea 6:6).

11. “Behold I send my messenger before thy face” (Matthew 11:10; Malachi 3:1).

12. “By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand” (Matthew 13:14-15; Isaiah 6:9-10).

13. “Honor thy father and thy mother” (Matthew 15:4 : Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16).

14. “He that speaketh evil of father or mother, let him die the death” (Matthew 15:4; Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9).

15. “This people honoreth me with their lips,” etc. (Matthew 15:8-9; Isaiah 29:13).

16. “He who made them from the beginning made them male and female” (Matthew 19:4; Genesis 1:27; Genesis 5:2).

17. “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife” (Matthew 19:5; Genesis 2:24).

18. “Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother; and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 19:18-19; Exodus 20:12-16; Deuteronomy 5:16-20).

19. “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise” (Matthew 21:16; Psalms 8:2).

20. “The stone which the builders rejected,
The same was made the head of the corner” (Matthew 21:42; Psalms 118:22).

21. “My house shall be called a house of prayer: but ye make it a den of robbers” (Matthew 21:13; Isaiah 56:7;Jeremiah 7:11).

22. “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Matthew 22:32; Exodus 3:6).

23. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew 22:37; Deuteronomy 6:5).

24. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:39; Leviticus 19:18).

25. “The Lord said unto my Lord,
Sit thou on my right hand,
Till I put thine enemies underneath thy feet” (Matthew 22:44; Psalms 110:1).

26. “I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad” (Matthew 26:31; Zechariah 13:7).

27. “Eli, Eli, lama, sabachthani” (Matthew 27:46; Psalms 22:1).

28. “And he was reckoned with transgressors” (Luke 22:37; Isaiah 53:12).

29. . . . “into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46; Psalms 31:5).

30. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,” etc. (Luke 4:18; Isaiah 61:1-2).

31. “I said, ye are gods” (John 10:34; Psalms 82:6).

32. “He that eateth my bread lifted up his heel against me” (John 13:18; Psalms 41:9).

33. “They hated me without a cause’⁵ (John 15:25; Psalms 35:19; Psalms 69:4). This list is not complete.

What impression do you get as to the familiarity of Jesus with the letter of Scripture? From what portions of the Scriptures does he quote most?

Upon what occasions in his life does he draw upon Scripture? For example, the Temptation? the first sermon in Nazareth? the Sermon on the Mount? in meeting criticism? in answering questions? in asking questions? in his relation to John? in his explanation of the use of parables? in cleansing the Temple? in announcing his death? in announcing the betrayal? in explaining opposition? on the cross?

How did he regard his own teaching, life, and death as related to Scripture? (See John 5:39-40.) Is it likely that we have all the quotations he made from Scripture? In answering a question like this, recall that scholars say that all the incidents reported in the gospels fall on only thirty-five different days throughout a period of some three years. See also the remarkable last verse in the gospel of John.

Also take this little problem in arithmetic. One third of the gospel of John is devoted to one week in the life of Christ. Suppose all his weeks during three years of public ministry had been equally full and equally fully reported, how many gospels the length of John’s would have been necessary? Did Jesus ever write out any of his teaching for preservation? Why not?

Upon what principle did some of his words survive?

How did he obtain this intimacy with Scripture? When?

What is his attitude toward Scripture in the Sermon on the Mount? Did he accept it as final authority?

Continue this study by making a list of his references and allusions to the Old Testament without directly quoting it. This can be done by reading through one gospel with this thought in mind.

What will such a list show?

Compare your list with the following:

1. The Persecution of the Prophets, Matthew 5:12.

2. The Gift That Moses Commanded, Matthew 8:4.

3. Those Who Shall Sit Down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, Matthew 8:11.

4. Sodom and Gomorrah in the Judgment, Matthew 10:15.

5. “This is Elijah,” Matthew 17:12; Matthew 11:14.

6. A Man’s Foes (cf. Micah 7:6), Matthew 10:36.

7. What David Did, Matthew 12:3.

8. How the Priests Profane the Sabbath, Matthew 12:5.

9. Jonah and Nineveh, Matthew 12:40-41.

10. The Queen of the South, Matthew 12:42.

11. The Blood of Abel, Matthew 23:35.

12. The Days of Noah, Matthew 24:37.

13. The Mourning of the Tribes of the Earth, Matthew 24:30.

14. The Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven, Matthew 24:30.

15. Sitting at the Right Hand of Power, Matthew 26:64.

16. The Widows in Israel, Luke 4:25.

17. The Lepers in Israel, Luke 4:27.

18. The Days of Lot, Luke 17:28.

19. Lot’s Wife, Luke 17:32.

20. Searching the Scriptures, John 5:39.

21. Moses “wrote of me,” John 5:46.

22. The Witness of Two Men, John 8:17.

23. Ascending and Descending Angels, John 1:51.

24. Lifting Up the Serpent, John 3:14.

25. The Bondservant in the House, John 8:35.

26. The Rejoicing of Abraham, John 8:56.

You can easily identify these Old Testament allusions by using a reference Bible on the passages given. This list is not exhaustive.

You can also test your familiarity with the Old Testament by noting how many you need to look up.

How do you think your knowledge of the Old Testament compares with that which Jesus showed?

What do these allusions show as to the ability of Jesus to use the Old Testament? Was he bound by its letter? He evidently used its incidents freely and independently of the words reporting them.

Yet more. There are some references by Jesus to what tad been written that cannot be identified. Do you know of any?

Here is a partial list:

1. “The Son of man goeth, even as it is written of him.” (Where?) Matthew 26:24.

2. “How then should the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” (What Scriptures?) Matthew 26:54,

3. “But all this is come to pass, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” (What prophets?) Matthew 26:56.

4. “Elijah is come, and they have also done unto him whatsoever they would, even as it is written of him.” (Where?) Mark 9:13.

5. “Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send unto them prophets and apostles.” (Where? What is “the wisdom of God”?) Luke 11:49.

6. “For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled,” (What things?) Luke 21:22.

7. “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water.” John 7:38. (Cf. Isaiah 12:3 and Ezekiel 47:1.)

8. “Not one of them perished, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.” (What Scripture?) John 17:12.

There are other passages of this kind. How do you explain them? Was Jesus here referring to tie general tenor and spirit of the Scriptures? Is it conceivable that he may have referred to what was written in the mind of God? Did Jesus tend to regard what tad happened as the fulfillment of Scripture even when specific references are lacking? Would such an attitude of mind make the endurance of suffering easier?

These questions rather reveal our ignorance than lead to knowledge.

However, what do such passages indicate as to the reliance of Jesus on Scripture? as to the way in which the thought of Scripture filled his mind?

There is such a thing as knowing Shakespeare or the Bible so well that one’s literary or spoken style unconsciously reflects their form of expression. So Webster, Lincoln, and Buskin knew the Bible. Is it possible, similarly, that Jesus may have used Old Testament forms of expression naturally, without intending to quote? In the light of this question study the following pairs of quotations:

There are some forty similarly parallel passages.

What conclusion do you draw?

We have seen quotations, and allusions, and similar literary form connecting the teaching of Jesus with the Scriptures. A profounder line of inquiry would be to ask how his thinking is related to Old Testament thinking. Are the matters that he makes fundamental also to be found in the Old Testament? God as father? (See Psalms 103:13.) Love of God and neighbor? The Kingdom of God? (See Daniel 2:44; Daniel 7:27.) With this thought in mind, compare the following passages:

But is there any real Old Testament parallel for Matthew 5:44 : “Love your enemies”? Compare Job 31:29-30, Psalms 7:4, and Exodus 23:4.

Still another question. The Jews had religious writings which do not appear in our Old Testament, known as the Apocrypha. Was Jesus acquainted with these writings also?

Read the following passages and decide for yourself:

“Accustom not thy month to an oath; And be not accustomed to the naming of the Holy One.”

Sir 23:9. (Cf. Matthew 5:34-35.) “Reject not a suppliant in his affliction; And turn not away thy face from a poor man.

Turn not away thine eye from one that asketh of thee, And give none occasion to a man to curse thee.”

Ecclesiastics 4:4, 5. (Cf. Matthew 5:42.) “Lend to thy neighbor in time of his need; And pay thou thy neighbor again in due season.”

Sir 29:2. (Cf. Matthew 5:42.) “Forgive thy neighbor the hurt that he hath done thee; And then thy sins shall be pardoned when thou prayest.”

Sir 28:2, (Cf. Matthew 6:12; Matthew 6:14.) The book of Ecclesiasticus or The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach was probably written 100-50 B. C. It resembles the Proverbs, is probably superior to Proverbs in moral quality, and may be read with edification.

“But thou didst teach thy people by such works as these, How that the righteous must be a lover of men.” The Wisdom of Solomon, c. 100 B. C.

“And what thou thyself hatest, do to no man.”

Tob 4:15. (Cf. Matthew 7:12.) Tobit, like Confucius, gives the Golden Rule in negative form.

What is your conclusion as to whether Jesus knew the Apocrypha?

Jesus does not quote directly from the Apocrypha in what has come down to us, but it is evident his thoughts are similar. Should we then study the Apocrypha? (The Apocrypha was written in Greek and Latin. A revised version can be had from the Oxford University Press. It contains fourteen books. The original meaning of the term is “hidden.” In the second century the meaning changed to “spurious.” The titles of the fourteen books are: I and II Esdras, Tobit, Judith, The Remainder of Esther, The Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, Song of the Three Holy Children, History of Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, Prayer of Manasses, and I and II Maccabees, These books are accepted as canonical, that is, “genuine and inspired,” by the Roman Catholic Church, but are rejected by the Jews and the Protestant churches. Are writings or writers inspired? May inspiration be received from a writing not accepted as “inspired”?)

Let us turn briefly next to the question you have without doubt been raising all along, as we have been considering the relation of Jesus to the Scriptures existent in his day, namely, in what consists the originality of Jesus?

Original he was, else we should never have had a “New” Testament.

How do you answer the question? In the following list of statements, check off the ones with which you agree.

Jesus was original in teaching the love of enemies.

He was original in selection and emphasis, that is, out of a mass of Old Testament views he selected certain ones for primary emphasis.

He was original in clarifying, amplifying, and applying the views selected. (How many times is God referred to as “Father” in Old Testament, and in the New?) He was original in substituting the spirit of love which fulfills law naturally for the law itself and its letter.

He was original and unique in living what he taught.

He was original and unique in his personal claim to fulfill Scripture, to be the Messiah. Jesus’ becoming and being Christ is the new thing.

He is original in the universality of his vision, coupled with the individuality, not nationality, of his appeal.

He is original as is an artist who sits in the presence of the greatest of his predecessors, assimilating and absorbing until he comes into his own creative self-expression.

He is original and unique in being a racial man, that is, realizing the moral and religious capacities of the race— “the Son of Man.”

He is original and unique in his unbroken sense of union and communion with God—“the Son of God.” With which statements are you not in agreement? What statement of his originality would you add? What other religion besides Christianity has ever bound up with its own sacred writings those of another religion? What is the significance of this fact?

Summarizing our study of how Jesus used Scripture, let me append certain statements of scholars. Check the ones with which you agree:

“The mind of Jesus was saturated with the Book of Isaiah.”

“Jesus was an authoritative interpreter of the Old Testament.”

“He had so absorbed the Old Testament that its ideals were his commonplaces of thought.”

“Jesus joined the work which he did as closely as possible to that of the Old Testament prophets, using their authority for his teachings.”

“Jesus was also a Prophet greater than any that had gone before him.”

“The great ideas that were regulative of the Old Testament revelation were also those which guided the practice and conduct of our Lord” (cf. Matthew 3:15).

“The body of his teaching is everywhere permeated by Old Testament ideas and colored by Old Testament language.”

“He subjected himself to its spiritual authority.”

“Jesus recognized the process of evolution that took place in Old Testament revelation” (cf. his setting aside certain precepts of the law and his reference to Tyre and Sidon).

“Jesus used the Old Testament as the source of his own spiritual life.”

“The Old Testament presents to our souls characters that are supremely worthy of our reverence because consciously centered in God and full of his power. It permits us to share the enthusiasm of the men who discovered the fundamentals of our religion and the character of our God. It is indispensable to complete discipleship of Christ, because it is the creator of the mold which his soul expanded.”

“Higher values than these, religiously, there are not. No man save Jesus ever had the right to lay the book that offered these aside. And he made it immortal.”^[1] [1] A. W.Vernon, “TheReligious Value of theOldTestament,” 1907, pp. 80,81.

Why is the Old Testament “old”? Who made it so? Is the New Testament still “new”? Will it ever become “old”?

Some final practicalities:

Jesus used the Old Testament for the growth of his own soul. Do we need it for the same?

He also used it as the common meeting-ground with the religious minds of his day. What analogous use should we make of it?

What should be the attitude of Christianity toward the Jewish religion today? of Christians toward Jews?

What should be the attitude of the missionary toward the religion and the religious writings of the people to whom he goes? Can a Christian understand the mind of Christ without understanding Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets? Recall the Transfiguration.

What does this study mean to you personally? That the moral and religious teacher should be a student of religious literature? Especially of religious literature of the highest inspirational value?

Such acquisition will enter into the fiber of his own personality, will affect the quality of his speech and conversation, and will so become the basis of his conscious and unconscious appeal to others. It would even be profitable to study the world’s religious literature comparatively, and read some of the sacred writings of the Hindus, Persians, Chinese, and Arabs. In consequence biblical literature would mean not less but more. Do we know enough?

What are we going to do about it?