Fr Charles on How the Writers of the New used the Old

The Use of the Old Testament by Jesus and the Authors of the New Testament

  This writing will describe the use of the Old Testament by Jesus and the authors of the New Testament by examining the development of Sacred Scripture. Before the examination of Old Testament use by Jesus and the authors of the New Testament it would seem logical that a review of the development of Sacred Scripture be reviewed.

     First the review should begin with an understanding that Sacred Scripture is a collection and a combination of stories which were told over time and which records how God reveals himself to man and how He makes his hidden will known to humanity (Ephesians 1:9). Throughout salvation history God used men to convey this message, beginning with Adam and Eve and coming to fulfillment in Jesus Christ who is both our mediator to God and the fullness of God's revelation (Matthew 11:27). Sacred Scripture reveals the story of how God wants man to know him as our father and that salvation is a reality.

     In the beginning, God first revealed himself to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and despite their disobedience, God gave them hope for salvation (Genesis 3:15). Next, God revealed himself to Abraham, our father of faith and obedience, promising him a great nation and promising a great blessing for his faithfulness and trust in Him (Genesis 12:2-3). God continued revealing his plan for salvation through Moses and the prophets (Dei Verbum Ch. 2) with a very clear message that salvation will be given to those who trust and remain faithful to the God. Finally, God chose to reveal himself through Jesus the Christ. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14); Jesus was born and the history of salvation neared its completion. Jesus, the second person of the Holy Trinity lived among us performing signs and wonders while teaching us about God's infinite love. When he died, rose, and ascended into heaven salvation history was fulfilled, however complete fulfillment will not occur until Jesus returns in all his glory to restore the kingdom. To help us with our wait, He sent us the Holy Spirit to help build and strength our trust in God in order for us to remain faithful to God and remain obedient to God's commands (1 Timothy 6:14).
    

     The story of salvation history beginning with message to Adam and Eve, the messianic fulfillment, the establishment of church, and finally the spreading of the Gospel, is contained within seventy-three books we call the Bible. There are forty-six books in the Old Testament and twenty-seven books in the New Testament which together are called Sacred Scripture with the forty-six books of the Old Testament foretelling the messianic fulfillment while the twenty-seven books of the New Testament tell how the Old Testament was fulfilled.

     The Old Testament's forty-six books took shape over a period of a thousand years incorporating poems and narratives which revealed God's relationship and interaction with man. These poems, stories and narratives eventually became the thirty-nine books of the Jewish Bible from which Jesus and His disciples used with the teaching and preaching. However, the Church found that seven additional books revealing God's plan for salvation written after the Jewish Bible was finalized and added these important books into the Old Testament. These forty-six books of the can be divided into four sections each revealing a part of the of God's plan for Salvation. The first block is the Pentateuch containing the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth. The second section are the Historical books of first and second Samuel, first and second kings, first and second Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Ester and the first and second books of Maccabees. The third section of the Old Testament are poetic books called the Wisdom Books which includes the books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Songs, Wisdom, and Sirach also referred to as Ecclesiasticus. The fourth section of the Old Testament contains the writings of the former and later Prophets including the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
    

     It is essential that an understanding of the Old Testament is necessary in understanding of the New Testament because the Old Testament is the root of the New Testament with each book revealing more about God's plan which comes to fulfillment through Jesus. Take two examples; first, Nathan's oracle found in 2 Samuel tells of the change in God's relationship to man. It was the divine promise made to David with an unconditional grant that like the Abrahamic Promise that David's name would last forever, secondly, Israel will have a home of their own and God will grant rest from their enemies, and lastly, God promises David's kingdom to last forever. In addition, God promises not to withdraw His love from David should he fail to obey Him (2 Samuel 7:11-16). Here the relationship between David and God becomes a father-son relationship with David becoming God's adopted son. This changed and altered the Sinai Covenant vassal status between God and humanity from, "do as you are told, or else" (my quotes), to a loving parental status of "I love you even if you fail. I will punish your inequities but will not withdraw my love from you" (my quotes). The Davidic Promise fulfils the Abrahamic Promise by establishing a land promised to Abraham and continuing the blessing promised Abraham through David. A second example can be found in the Book of Jeremiah where Jeremiah announces that a "new covenant" is coming which cannot be broken and would last forever; "The days are coming says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah". Both of these are fulfilled in Jesus, the new covenant described in the New Testament.

     The New recognizes the Old as its roots and its divine authorship such as found in the Second Letter of Timothy, "All Scripture is inspired by God" (2 Tim 3:16). The New fulfils the Old because God's plan for salvation described in the Old cannot go unfulfilled and therefore the Christ of the New through his birth, suffering, death, and resurrection brings God's plan for salvation to fulfillment. Therefore the Good News of the New and the Laws of the Old blend together to reveal God's plan.
Thus the New Testament is a continuation of the Old Testament with phases from the Old used as reminiscence, allegorical or implicit quotes in the writings of the New. An example of reminiscent phrases used can be found in the Book of Revelations which contains no direct quotes from the Old Testament but the entire document contains numerous reminiscent texts (The Jewish People and their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible (2001). Examples of implicit and allegorical phrases used in the New Testament taken from the Old Testament can be found in the Gospels, Acts, and the Letters.
The Annunciation, Birth and Presentation of Jesus

     The prophecies of the Old Testament which foretells of the coming of Christ are found in Isaiah, Zachariah, and Micah. Isaiah writes, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14) and "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). Zachariah's hymn says, "Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey" (Zachariah 9:9). Micah writes, "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times" (Micah 5:2).

     In the Gospel of Luke, prior to the birth of Jesus, Mary sings the Magnificat declaring God as not only the Savior of the world but her personal savior. At the time of Jesus birth, the angels sang; "My spirit rejoices in God my Savior" (Luke 1:47) which is followed by the Zachariah's hymn of praise declaring salvation comes from the house of David; "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David" (Luke 1:68-69). Still further in the Gospel of Luke there are two more hymns of praise about the fulfillment God's salvation plan; The Gloria and Simeon's prayer. In the angel's song called the Gloria, the angels announce the fulfillment of God's plan for salvation declaring "To you is born this day a Savior" (Luke 2:11) "Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace to men whom His favor rests" (Luke 2:13) and when Jesus' is presented at the temple, Simeon declares that salvation has arrived by way of the birth of Jesus saying, "For my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the sight of all people" (Luke 2:68). These songs of praise reference the fulfillment of the God's promise to Abraham and to David and can be summed up in what St. John wrote; "Salvation comes from the Jews" (John 4:22) which is acknowledged by a Samaritan women speaking to Jesus who says; "We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world" (John 4:42).

JESUS THE PERSON AND HIS MISSION

     For the writers of the New Testament declaring Jesus as the Savior of the World meant that they had to show that God chose everyone to partake in his plan for salvation not just Israel. As referenced above, when Jesus was presented at the Temple, Simeon declared him to be the salvation of "all people" (Luke 2:68) and Matthew sees Jesus as a shepherd and uses the words from the book of Micah where God says; "He will shepherd my people" (Mat 2:6). God is the God of all and Jesus in the Savior of all, the fulfillment of the plan for salvation. Jesus clearly saw the words of the Old Testament as the inspired words of God; for example in Matthew Jesus to the elders, "And why do you break the commandments of God for the sake of your tradition?" (Mt 15:3) or again Jesus during his teaching about the Law, "Amen I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place" (Mt 5:18).

     Jesus himself used the Old Testament to describe himself and his mission. In Matthew, Jesus says "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill (Mt 5:17). Jesus used the Old Testament to tell of his resurrection saying, "Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights" (Mt 12:40). In Mathew, Jesus questions his disciples asking them "Who do you say that I am? (Mt 18:15) Simeon Peter replies, "You are the Messiah the Son of the Living God" whereupon Jesus replies, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my heavenly Father" (Mt 16:15-17). In the Gospel of John Jesus engages in a conversation with a blind man and he as "Do you believe in the Son of Man? and the blind man answered, "Who is he sir, that I may believed in him?" Jesus said to him, You have seen him and the one speaking with you is he" (John 9:35-37) In the book of Mark, Jesus responds to the question from the High Priest who asked "Are you the Messiah, the son of the Blessed One?" and Jesus answered, "I am; and ‘you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven" (Mk 14:61-62). The response is using the phrase found in the Book of Daniel "One like a son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven" (Dn 7:13).
    

     With his disciples in the upper room during the last supper, Jesus tells the disciples of the new covenant, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for, I tell you, I shall not eat it again until there is fulfillment in the Kingdom of God. Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and said, "Take this and share it among yourselves; for I tell you from this time on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. Then he took the bread said a blessing, broke it, gave it to them saying, "This is my body which will be given for you; do this in memory of me, and likewise the cup after they had eaten saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood which will be shed for you" (Lk 22-14:20). In this passage, according to the commentary of the New American Bible, Luke is referencing this Passover meal with the Passover which freed the Egyptians from slavery (NAB, pg 137).

     Paul validates this new covenant in his writing to the Corinthians when he writes, "In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This is the cup of the New Covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me'. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes" (1 Cor 11:26).

SACRED SCRIPTURE AND CHRIST ETERNAL

     Paul writes to the Ephesians and Colossians about Jesus being eternal. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes; "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens as he chose him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him" (Eph 1:3-4). To the Colossians, he writes; "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together" (Col 1:15-17).

     In the Old Testament, Psalm 2:7 says, "I will proclaim the degree of the Lord, who said to me, "You are my son; today I am your father". In the New Testament concerning Jesus being the Son of God, St. Matthew writes, "After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened (for him), and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove (and) coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (Mt 3:16-17). St. Luke writes, "He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end" (Lk 1:32-33). Paul writes to the Romans, "Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised previously through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel about his Son, descended from David according to the flesh, but established as Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness through resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom 1:1-4).

CHRIST THE NEW HIGH PRIEST

     Paul references Christ being the new high priest according to the order of Melchizedek three times in his letter to the Romans. The Old Testament, Psalm 110:4 says; "The LORD has sworn and will not waver: "Like Melchizedek you are a priest forever." At your right hand is the Lord, who crushes kings on the day of wrath, who, robed in splendor, judges nations, crushes heads across the wide earth". Quoting this text, Paul writes, "In the same way, it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest, but rather the one who said to him: "You are my son; this day I have begotten you"; just as he says in another place: "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." The second time Paul references Christ as the new high priest is found Romans chapter 6 verses 19 and 20, "This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil, where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner, becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek". And the third time Paul writes, "It is even more obvious if another priest is raised up after the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become so, not by a law expressed in a commandment concerning physical descent but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. For it is testified: "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." On the one hand, a former commandment is annulled because of its weakness and uselessness, for the law brought nothing to perfection; on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God (Hebrews 7:15-19).

JESUS THE HEALER

     In the book of Isaiah there is a foretelling of Jesus as the healer. In chapter 35 verses 5 and 6, Isaiah writes, "Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; Then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the dumb will sing. Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe" and in Chapter 53 verse 4, "He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, One of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem. Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed". The Gospel of Matthews says, "Jesus entered the house of Peter, and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand, the fever left her, and she rose and waited on him. When it was evening, they brought him many who were possessed by demons, and he drove out the spirits by a word and cured all the sick, to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah the prophet: "He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases" (Mt 8:14-18). Also in the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew writes, "Jesus said to them in reply, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me" (Mt 11:4-7).

The Death and Resurrection

     The prophet Isaiah foretells Christ death for the sins and offences of humanity. He writes, "Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; But the LORD laid upon him the guilt of us all. Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth. Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away, and who would have thought any more of his destiny? When he was cut off from the land of the living, and smitten for the sin of his people, a grave was assigned him among the wicked and a burial place with evildoers, Though he had done no wrong nor spoken any falsehood. (But the LORD was pleased to crush him in infirmity.) If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him. Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear. Therefore I will give him his portion among the great, and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty, because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked; and he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses (Is 53:4-12).

     The Gospels of Mark and John tell of the fulfilling of Isaiah's words. Mark writes, "For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mk 10:45) and John writes, "This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, 'A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.' I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel" (Jn 1:28-29)

     References in the Old Testament foretelling of Christ resurrection can be found in the writings of the Prophets Hosea and Jonah which the writers of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke demonstrate fulfillment. Hosea writes, "He will revive us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up, to live in his presence" (Hosea 6:2). In Jonah we have the story of the Jonah being swallowed by a big fish and after three days being spit out of the confinement to new life. Matthew writes, "He said to them in reply, "An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights" (Mt 28:39-40). And Luke writes, "Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, "Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem (Lk 24:45-47).
In conclusion, this paper briefly described the use of the Old Testament by Jesus and the authors of the New Testament in show that what the Old foretold the New fulfilled.

Works Cited

The Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Jewish People and Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible, Published: 2001
The Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church, Published: 1994
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, The New American Bible, New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co. 1992