Compiled and introduced by Richard Peachey
The Lord Jesus Christ is the one who knows “all things” (Matthew 11:27; John 16:30; 21:17), “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). His commands carry all the authority in the universe, and they are what the church is to teach (Matthew 28:18-20). He declared, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33). It is imperative that we listen to him (Matthew 17:5; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26; Acts 3:19-23) because the things Jesus taught are actually from God, not from any mere fallible human source (John 3:34f.; 5:19f.; 7:15-18; 8:26-29,37-40,45-47; 12:44-50; 14:10,24,26; 15:15; 16:13-15; 17:6-8,14).
So, if we call ourselves his disciples, shouldn’t his view of the Bible be ours also?
Below are exhibited all of the gospel texts in which Jesus referred to what we now call the “Old Testament,” showing his high view of the authority and historical truth of Scripture. The English Standard Version (ESV) is the translation cited; bold print indicates emphasis added. Some selected quotations from biblical scholars are interspersed among the texts.
(Note: The 82 texts given below can be collapsed into 56 “episodes” if parallel passages are grouped together. This alternative arrangement can be accessed here.)
1. Matthew 4:4,7,10 — Jesus quoted Deuteronomy to counter Satan’s temptations (“it is written,” 3 times)
But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” . . . Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” . . . Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ”
“The suggestion that Jesus’ use of the Old Testament was of an ad hominem nature breaks down most obviously in the accounts of His temptation. He introduces each of His three answers by the decisive formula ‘It is written’. . . . Are we to believe that the opponent here concerned would not have strongly challenged an argument based on a false premise?”
— John W. Wenham, “Christ’s View of Scripture,” in Norman L. Geisler (ed.), Inerrancy (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1979), p. 15
2. Matthew 5:17-19 — Jesus held to the eternal authority of the Law and the Prophets, which will be fulfilled in detail as written, to the letter (“iota”), and even to a small fraction of a letter (“dot”)
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
3. Matthew 8:4 — Jesus accepted the historical reality of one of Moses’ commands
And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”
4. Matthew 8:11 — Jesus accepted the historical reality of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
“I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. . . .”
5. Matthew 9:13 — Jesus quoted Hosea 6:6 and advised taking it seriously
“Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
6. Matthew 10:15 — Jesus accepted the historical reality of Sodom and Gomorrah
“Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.”
7. Matthew 11:10 — Jesus quoted Malachi 3:1 as referring to John the baptizer (“it is written”)
“This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ ”
8. Matthew 11:21-24 — Jesus accepted the historical reality of Tyre, Sidon, Sodom
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”
9. Matthew 12:3-7 — Jesus accepted the historical reality of David’s action (“Have you not read?”) and of the Sabbath command (“have you not read in the Law?”); and he quoted Hosea 6:6 (“if you had known what this means”)
He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.”
10. Matthew 12:39-42 — Jesus accepted the historical reality of Jonah, the great fish, Nineveh, the Queen of the South, Solomon
But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.”
“Is it possible to understand a reference like this on the non-historic theory of the book of Jonah? The future Judge is speaking words of solemn warning to those who shall hereafter stand convicted at His bar. Intensely real He would make the scene in anticipation to them, as it was real, as if then present, to Himself. And yet we are to suppose Him to say that imaginary persons who at the imaginary preaching of an imaginary prophet repented in imagination, shall rise up in that day and condemn the actual impenitence of those his actual hearers. . . .”
— T. T. Perowne, Obadiah and Jonah (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1889), p. 51
11. Matthew 13:14f. — Jesus quoted Isaiah 6:9f. as having been fulfilled
“Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: ‘You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ ”
12. Matthew 15:3-9 — Jesus quoted Exodus (“commandment of God,” “God commanded,” “word of God”) and Isaiah 29:13 (“Well did Isaiah prophesy of you”); and he challenged his opponents on their failure to honour God’s word
He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
13. Matthew 19:4-9 — Jesus quoted Genesis 1:27; 2:24 (“Have you not read?”, “he who created them . . . said”); he referred to Deuteronomy 24:1 (“Moses allowed”); and he urged on the basis of Scripture, “What therefore God has joined together, let man not separate.”
He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”
“Our Lord honours Holy Scripture by drawing his argument therefrom. He chose specially to set his seal upon a part of the story of creation—that story which modern critics speak of as if it were fable or myth.”
— Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Popular Exposition of Matthew (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker), p. 158
“Perhaps the crowning example of Jesus’ attitude to the Old Testament comes in Matthew 19:4, 5.”
— Michael Green, The Books the Church Suppressed (Oxford, UK: Monarch Books, 2005), p. 42
14. Matthew 19:17-19 — Jesus quoted some of “the commandments” written in Exodus (or in Deuteronomy) and Leviticus
And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
15. Matthew 21:13 — Jesus quoted Isaiah 56:7 (“It is written”) against the practice of his hearers
He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
16. Matthew 21:16 — Jesus quoted Psalm 8:2 (“have you never read?”)
. . . and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”
17. Matthew 21:42 — Jesus quoted Psalm 118:22f. (“Have you never read in the Scriptures?”)
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
18. Matthew 22:29-32 — Jesus linked being “wrong” with not knowing the Scriptures; and he quoted Exodus 3:6 (“have you not read what was said to you by God?”)
But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”
19. Matthew 22:37-40 — Jesus quoted commands from Deuteronomy and Leviticus (“On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”)
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
20. Matthew 22:43-45 — Jesus quoted from, and argued based on, Psalm 110:1 (David spoke “in the Spirit”)
He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet” ’? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”
21. Matthew 23:35 — Jesus accepted the historical reality of the murders of Abel and Zechariah
“ . . . so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.”
22. Matthew 24:15f. — Jesus referred to Daniel’s prophecy of “the abomination of desolation,” which will be fulfilled
“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”
23. Matthew 24:37-39 — Jesus accepted the historical reality of Noah, the ark, the flood (“as were the days . . ., so will be. . . .”; “as in those days . . ., so will be. . . .”)
“For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”
24. Matthew 26:24 — Jesus pointed to the approaching fulfilment of Scripture in his own life
“The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
25. Matthew 26:31 — Jesus quoted Zechariah 13:7 (“it is written”) and indicated it is about to be fulfilled
Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ ”
26. Matthew 26:54 — Jesus pointed to the inevitability of Scriptural prophecy being fulfilled
“But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”
27. Matthew 26:56 — Jesus pointed to the fulfilment of Scripture
“But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.
28. Matthew 27:46 — Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
29. Mark 1:43f. — Jesus told the healed leper to offer “what Moses commanded”
And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”
30. Mark 2:25f. — Jesus accepted the historical reality of David’s action (“Have you never read?”)
And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?”
31. Mark 7:6-13 — Jesus quoted Isaiah 29:13 (“Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written”) and Exodus (“the commandment of God,” “Moses said,” “the word of God”)
And he said to 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; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)—then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
32. Mark 9:12f. — Jesus referred to prophecy about John the baptizer (called “Elijah”) and about himself
And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”
33. Mark 10:3-9 — Jesus referred to Deuteronomy 24:1; he quoted Genesis 1:27; 2:24; and he urged on the basis of Scripture: “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
34. Mark 10:19 — Jesus quoted some of “the commandments” from Exodus (or from Deuteronomy)
“You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ”
35. Mark 11:17 — Jesus quoted Isaiah 56:7 (“Is it not written?”)
And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”
36. Mark 12:10f. — Jesus quoted Psalm 118:22f. (“Have you not read this Scripture?”)
“Have you not read this Scripture: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
37. Mark 12:24-27 — Jesus linked being “wrong”/”quite wrong” with not knowing the Scriptures; and he quoted Exodus 3:6 (“have you not read . . . how God spoke to him?”)
Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”
38. Mark 12:29-31 — Jesus quoted commands from Deuteronomy and Leviticus (“There is no other commandment greater than these.”)
Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
39. Mark 12:36f. — Jesus quoted from, and argued based on, Psalm 110:1 (David spoke “in the Holy Spirit”)
“David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.” ’ David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly.
40. Mark 14:21 — Jesus pointed to the approaching fulfilment of Scripture in his own life
“For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
41. Mark 14:27 — Jesus quoted Zechariah 13:7 (“it is written”) and indicated it was about to be fulfilled
And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”
42. Mark 14:49 — Jesus expected fulfilment of Scripture
“Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled.”
43. Mark 15:34 — Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
44. Luke 4:4,8,12 — Jesus quoted Deuteronomy to counter Satan’s temptations (“it is written,” twice; “it is said”)
And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ” . . . And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ”. . . And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
45. Luke 4:16-21 — Jesus quoted Isaiah 61:1f. (“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”)
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
46. Luke 4:25-27 — Jesus accepted the historical reality of Elijah, the widow of Zarephath, Elisha, Naaman
“But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
47. Luke 5:14 — Jesus told the healed leper to make an offering “as Moses commanded”
And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”
48. Luke 6:3f. — Jesus accepted the historical reality of David’s action (“Have you not read?”)
And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?”
49. Luke 7:27 — Jesus quoted Malachi 3:1 as referring to John the baptizer (“it is written”)
“This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ ”
50. Luke 10:13f. — Jesus accepted the historical reality of Tyre and Sidon
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.”
51. Luke 10:26-28 — Jesus appealed to the Law to answer a question about obtaining eternal life
He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
52. Luke 11:29-32 — Jesus accepted the historical reality of Jonah, Nineveh, the Queen of the South, Solomon
When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”
53. Luke 11:50f. — Jesus accepted the historical reality of the murders of Abel and Zechariah
“. . . so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.”
54. Luke 13:28 — Jesus accepted the historical reality of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
“In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.”
55. Luke 16:16f. — Jesus held to the lasting authority of Scripture, even down to a small fraction of a letter (“dot”)
“The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.”
56. Luke 16:29-31 — Jesus pointed to Scripture as the most convincing source that must be attended to on eternal matters
“But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”
57. Luke 17:26-32 — Jesus accepted the historical reality of Noah, the ark, the flood (“Just as it was . . ., so will it be. . . .”); Lot and his wife, Sodom, fire and sulfur (“just as it was . . . so will it be. . . .”) — and note that Jesus did not treat Noah (Genesis 6–8, within Genesis 1–11) differently from Lot (Genesis 19, after Genesis 1–11); he referred to them both together in one speech
“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife.”
58. Luke 18:20 — Jesus quoted some of “the commandments” from Exodus (or from Deuteronomy)
“You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’ ”
59. Luke 18:31-33 — Jesus pointed to the fulfilment of all Scriptural prophecy about himself
And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”
60. Luke 19:46 — Jesus quoted Isaiah 56:7 (“It is written”)
. . . saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”
61. Luke 20:17 — Jesus quoted Psalm 118:22 (“this that is written”)
But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’?”
62. Luke 20:37 — Jesus referenced the words of Moses as authoritative
“But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”
63. Luke 20:42-44 — Jesus quoted from, and argued based on, Psalm 110:1 (“David himself says in the Book of Psalms”)
“For David himself says in the Book of Psalms, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’ David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son?”
64. Luke 21:22 — Jesus pointed to the fulfilment of all Scriptural prophecy
“. . . for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.”
65. Luke 22:37 — Jesus quoted Isaiah 53:12 (“this Scripture must be fulfilled in me”)
“For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.” [Note: the words “is written” in this verse are supplied by the translators from the context; these words are not directly represented in the Greek text.]
66. Luke 24:25-27,32,44-49 — Jesus spoke of the foolishness of being slow to believe all of Scripture (“all that the prophets have spoken,” “everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms”); he indicated that all the Scriptural prophecies referring to him must be fulfilled
And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. . . . They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” . . . Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
“For several reasons vv. 25-27 are vitally important. With great clarity they show that the sufferings of Christ, as well as his glory, were predicted in the OT and that all the OT Scriptures are important. They also show that the way the writers of the NT used the OT had its origin, not in their own creativity, but in the postresurrection teachings of Jesus, of which this passage is a paradigm.”
— Walter L. Liefeld, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Luke (Grand Rapids, MI: Regency Reference Library [Zondervan], 1984), p. 1053
67. John 3:14f. — Jesus accepted the historical reality of Moses and the bronze serpent
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
68. John 5:39f. — Jesus pointed out that the Scriptures testify to him
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”
69. John 5:46f. — Jesus pointed out the strong link between Moses’ writings and his own life and teaching
“For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
70. John 6:45 — Jesus quoted Isaiah 54:13 (“It is written in the Prophets”)
“It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. . . .”
71. John 6:49,58 — Jesus accepted the historical reality of Israelites eating manna in the wilderness
“Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. . . . This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
72. John 7:19 — Jesus accepted the historical reality of Moses as lawgiver
“Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?”
73. John 7:22f. — Jesus accepted the historical reality of Moses giving circumcision law; he also acknowledged the earlier patriarchal practice of circumcision
“Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well?”
74. John 7:38 — Jesus pointed to the Scriptural promise of heart renewal
“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
75. John 8:17 — Jesus cited Numbers 35:30 (“In your Law it is written”)
“In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true.”
76. John 8:37 — Jesus accepted the historical reality of Jewish people as Abraham’s descendants
“I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.”
77. John 8:39f.,56,58 — Jesus accepted the historical reality of Abraham, his faith and his deeds
They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. . . . Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” . . . Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
78. John 10:34f. — Jesus quoted Psalm 82:6 (“Is it not written in your Law?”, “the word of God,” “Scripture cannot be broken”)
Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken. . . .”
” ‘The Scripture cannot be broken’ (John 10:35). It is unalterable, indestructible in its truth, indifferent to every denial, to human ignorance and criticism, to charges of error, and to subjective attacks. Let us then be instructed and convinced!”
— Pierre Ch. Marcel, “Our Lord’s Use of Scripture,” in Carl F. H. Henry (ed.), Revelation and the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1958), p. 134
79. John 13:18 — Jesus quoted Psalm 41:9 (“the Scripture will be fulfilled”)
“I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ ”
80. John 15:25 — Jesus quoted Psalm 69:4 (“the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled”)
“But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’ ”
81. John 17:12 — Jesus spoke of the fulfilment of Scriptural prophecy
“While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” [See also John 19:28.]
82. John 17:17 — Jesus prayed for sanctification of his disciples through the truth of God’s word
“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
“He on whom the salvation of men depends, taught with the greatest of force the full inspiration of extant Scripture. He regarded God as its true Author, and bowed to its divine authority. Jesus constituted Christianity a religion of biblical authority; for although He showed tremendous freedom from human convention and tradition, and claimed divine inspiration for His own teachings, yet He bowed to the voice of His Father speaking in the Scriptures. His arguments were clinched by a text, His foes were rebuked for not knowing the Scriptures better, Satan himself was rebuffed by a simple appeal to the written Word of God, His ministry was governed down to the smallest detail by what Scripture predicted the Messiah would be and do. . . . Indeed, biblical critics whose views are anything but evangelical, freely admit that Jesus believed in the inerrancy of Scripture. . . . If Christ was in error in a matter so central to His message, His divine authority is plainly discredited. . . . Where Christ is Lord and Saviour, the matter of authority is settled: Scripture is divinely authored and absolutely trustworthy.”
— Clark H. Pinnock, Biblical Revelation (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed, 1985), pp. 58-60
“The notion that our Lord was fully aware that the view of Holy Scripture current in His day was erroneous, and that He deliberately accommodated His teaching to the beliefs of His hearers, will not square with the facts. His use of the Old Testament seems altogether too insistent, positive, and absolute. He unequivocally maintained that ‘the Scripture cannot be broken’ (John 10:35); ‘Not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law . . .’ (Matt. 5:18); ‘It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law’ (Luke 16:17). . . . It was no mere debating point that made Him say to the Sadducees, ‘You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God’ (Matt. 22:29). . . .
“The evidence is abundantly clear:
“To Christ the Old Testament was true, authoritative, inspired.
“To Him the God of the Old Testament was the one living God, and the teaching of the Old Testament was the teaching of this living God.
“To Him what Scripture said, God said.”
— John W. Wenham, “Christ’s View of Scripture,” in Norman L. Geisler (ed.), Inerrancy (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1979), pp. 14f., 30
[Regarding the “accommodation” idea, Tim Chaffey and Roger Patterson capably defuse the idea that Jesus did not mean what he said, or that he actually was in error: <https://answersingenesis.org/jesus-christ/jesus-is-god/was-jesus-wrong-peter-enns-says-yes/>. See also: “If Jesus Was Wrong: The Implications” <http://www.creationbc.org/index.php/if-jesus-was-wrong-the-implications/>]
Postscript
As I was reading my new ESV (English Standard Version) Study Bible, I was pleased to come across an article supporting what I have written above. The author is Erik Thoennes of Biola University. Here’s what he wrote:
Jesus’ View of Scripture
The most convincing reason to believe that the Bible is inspired, inerrant, clear, and sufficient is because this is what Jesus believed. His teaching assumed that the OT was the authoritative Word of his Father: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matt. 5:17–18). Jesus referred to dozens of OT persons and events and always treated OT history as historically accurate. He quoted from Genesis as his Father’s Word when he said, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matt. 19:4–6). Jesus not only assumed that the creation story was true, he also freely quoted words from the OT narrator as words that God himself “said.” It is not uncommon for Jesus’ theological arguments to depend on the truthfulness of the OT account (Matt. 5:12; 11:23–24; 12:41–42; 24:37–39; Luke 4:25–27; 11:50–51; John 8:56–58). Jesus’ view of the OT as the Word of God aligns with the way the OT regularly speaks of itself.
Jesus saw his entire life as a fulfillment of Scripture (Matt. 26:54; Mark 8:31). Throughout his life, Jesus used Scripture to resist temptation (Matt. 4:1–11) and to settle disputes (Matt. 19:1–12; 22:39; 27:46; Mark 7:1–13; Luke 10:25–26). At the end of his life, Jesus died quoting Scripture (cf. Matt. 27:46 with Ps. 22:1). On his resurrection day he explained Scripture at length on the Emmaus road and to his disciples in Jerusalem (Luke 24:13–17, 44–47).
Conscious of his identity as God the Son, Jesus saw his teaching as no less divinely inspired than the OT. Jesus taught with an authority that distinguished him from other teachers of the law. He interpreted the law on his own authority rather than depending on rabbinic sources (Matt. 5:21–48). He described his teaching and the law as sharing the same permanence: “heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matt. 24:35, cf. Matt. 5:17–18; John 14:10, 24). Jesus viewed both the OT and his own teaching as the Word of God. The NT apostolic witness was a result of Jesus giving his disciples authority and power through the Holy Spirit to impart spiritual truths in writing no less than by word of mouth (Mark 3:13–19; John 16:12–14; Acts 26:16–18; 1 Cor. 2:12–13).
Jesus took Scripture to be the authoritative Word of God upon which he based his entire life. Those who follow Christ are called to treat Scripture (OT and NT together) in the same way. For Christians, the Bible is a source of great delight and joy. God is to be diligently sought in his Word (1 Pet. 2:2). The Word of God is a precious treasure that deserves to be studied, meditated upon, and obeyed:
My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God (Prov. 2:1–5).