Jesus' Use of Scripture

• Scripture Uses in order of Gospel chapters - this page.
• Scripture Uses in order of Scriptures referred to
• Analysis of Scripture Uses.

This page lists (most of) the Scriptures that Jesus referred to during his life on Earth. It is intended for reference and to assist further analysis. It is very interesting to see the spread of Scriptures he referred to, mainly by word but some by action, the diversity of purposes for which he referred to them, and the variety of ways he used them.

Contents:

• The Table of Scriptures
  • Matthew
  • Mark
  • Luke
  • John

• Description of Table
• Codes Used
• Notes

• Analysis of uses, summary
• Full Analysis.

The Table of Scriptures

The Table has the following columns:

• Code: see below, codes for analysis
• The Scripture Jesus refers to
• The passage where Jesus refers to it
• To whom it was directed
• The kind of argument employed
• The purpose Jesus seems to have had in referring to the Scripture

See also: Table in order of Scriptures Referred To.

See also: Analysis of How Jesus Used the Scriptures.

Description of Table

1: I include only Scriptures that Jesus himself used or referred to deliberately. I do not include those where the gospel writers are commenting on Jesus' fulfilment of them (e.g. John 19:24, where the soldiers casting lots for Jesus' clothes is seen as fulfilling Psalm 22, but Jesus does not say so). However, where it also seems likely that Jesus was aware of fulfilling them, as in riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, it is included.

2: Mostly, Jesus referred to the Scripture in words, often citing it directly, sometimes speaking similar words. But I also include a few times where what Jesus did seems to refer clearly to a Scripture; an example is when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, obviously fulfilling the prophecy about it.

3: If the same Scripture is referred to in two different gospels, if it is the same incident, I put them together, but if they seem to be different incidents, or they seem to have different purposes or contexts, then I treat them separately.

4. I read the accounts in the gospels 'as written', as accounts by honest people to various readerships. I do not subscribe to the speculative hypotheses that they were written for purposes of power, politics or polemic, hiding what was inconvenient or bigging up what supported their views.

5: The entries in the Table contain the following information:

• The Scripture Jesus refers to, in Column 2
• Whether Law, History, Writings,,Prophets, in Column 1 code, position 1
• How Jesus referred to it, in Column 1 code, Position 6. (5 = directly by words, 4 = by action rather than words, 3 = by similar words, 1,2 = less certain.)

• The passage in the Gospels where Jesus refers to it, in Column 3
• To whom it was directed (disciples, opponents, the crowds, etc.), in Column 4, and also in Column 1 code, Position 5.

• The kind of argument or interpretation employed (induction from event, deduction from statement, etc.), in Column 5, and also in Column 1 code, Position 4.
• The purpose Jesus seems to have had in referring to the Scripture, in Column 6 and also in Column 1 code, Position 3.

• Code used for analysis, with six positions (like below), in Column 1.

6: I sense that, nearly every time Jesus uses a Scripture to defend himself, it was not just to defend himself or argue with them, but to challenge them, giving them a basis they could reasonably accept on which to change their minds. To those who would know the Scripture, i.e. those educated.

I may have missed some references, and also duplicated some others; I crave your pardon; use your common sense.

Codes

The codes in column 1 are like "l1kc-5". They are there to assist sorting and analysis. They are six characters (positions 1 - 6), each of which has a different meaning, and each of which can have certain values, as follows:

• Position 1, Which type of Scripture Jesus was using:
  • l = Law (Torah, first five books)
  • h = History (Joshua - Esther)
  • w = Writings (Job - Song)
  • p = Prophets (Isaiah - Malachi)
  • a = All Scripture or unspecified

• Position 2, How the Scripture is treated:
  • 0 = Takes Scripture as is
  • 1 = Expands the Scripture's meaning
  • 2= Suggests a second or alternative or parallel applicaation

• Position 3, Purpose(s) of using Scripture,
  • u = To provide Understanding, or to correct misUnderstanding
  • d = To show Deeper reality, below the surface, especially about attitude; to reveal the root
  • n = To challenge to New way of seeing things, to stimulate people to think, especially about attitude
  • s = Urging people to take it Seriously
  • i = To Instruct or advise in what to do
  • k = To fend off an attacK, or to attacK
  • m = To make a claim (usually about himself)
  • b = to reBuke or show up inconsistency
  • e = To Encourage
  • f = To show or claim Fulfilment of prophecy

• Position 4, How Jesus argues:
  • v = Induce from an eVent or happening or situation
  • g = Deduce from Generic statement or e.g. command ("X, therefore Y")
  • c = Infer from Character
  • y = ApplY a scripture
  • m = Makes a claiM or assign a label
  • r = Reveals an unEXpected Scripture, or an unexpected interpretation
  • j = uses a Scripture as a Jumping-off point, maybe reinterpreting it, maybe showing a parallel

• Position 5, who to:
  • + = disciples or those positively disposed to him
  • 0 = people in general who are neither positive or negative
  • - = opponents and those negatively disposed to him.
  • * = God

• Position 6, how certain we are that Jesus was consciously using the Scripture mentioned:
  • 5 = certain; most will be this, because Jesus quotes it or responds to someone else doing so.
  • 4 = fairly certain, assuming that Jesus had had rabbinical training and so would have known the Scriptures well, and would expect others to know it well; this is especially used for his actions that seem to match closely the Scripture.
  • 3 = moderately certain; this is used when Jesus says something that closely matches the Scripture but might not cite it, e.g. some in Matthew 5.
  • 2 - 0 for less certain; none will be 0, because such would not be included.

ANALYSIS

With Whom Jesus Used Scripture: Scriptures were used by Jesus equally towards those positive and negatively disposed (around 40% each), and about half that for those neutral. The latter were usually the crowds, and perhaps with them, Jesus gave direct teaching rather than Scripture-based.

How Jesus Took Scripture: In the majority of uses of Scripture, Jesus took it as it was written, without expansion or second meaning, though he might have used it to deepen or challenge people to new thinking. 'Second meaning' refers to the Jewish idea that Scripture can have multiple interpretations; for example, a prophecy might refer to something at the time of the prophet, but also to something in Jesus' life or times. The degree to which Scripture was taken as is, expanded or given second meaning, seems not to correlate with whether he was addressing those positive, negative or neutral to him.

About Purposes of Using Scripture: Jesus used Scripture for a wide range of purposes, from giving understanding to challenging, rebuking or defending against attack. He seems to have tried to give understanding mainly for those positively disposed to him (his disciples). As expected, he would used Scripture to rebuke and defend against attack with opponents. What is interesting is that he used Scripture to deepen a perspective with those postively disposed to him, while he challenged to new ways of seeing things mainly with those negatively disposed.

Ways Jesus Used Scripture: It is interesting the variety of ways Jesus used Scripture and the kinds of reasoning he employed. With those positively disposed to him, Jesus might simply apply Scripture, or use a Scripture as a starting point for other thoughts; that might be expected, because those people would be willing to listen. With those negatively disposed to him, Jesus seemed to use stronger kinds of logic, such as deducing something from a generic Scripture and induction from events. Again, perhaps that is to be expected. But it perhaps casts doubt on the way we use Scripture.

For full analysis, see Analysis of Jesus' Use of Scripture. The following summarises some of the findings:

This page is offered to God as on-going work. Comments, queries welcome.

Copyright (c) Andrew Basden at all dates below. But you may use this material subject to certain conditions.

Part of his www.abxn.org pages, that open up discussion and exploration from a Christian ('xn') perspective. Written on the Amiga with Protext.

Created: 6 July 2015. Last updated: 7 July 2015. 12 July 2015 better intro, links, description moved after table. 11 July 2016 Mk 10 God's intention trumps Moses' law. 23 October 2024 canon, bgc.