Hello
Prepare to be shocked.
Jesus never told his followers to study scripture. Never. Not once.
Jesus lived on this earth after the books of the Old Testament were written, and before the books of the New Testament were written. So, obviously, Jesus didn’t say anything about the New Testament. None of the books of the New Testament existed when Jesus was teaching.
So, what did Jesus say about the books of the Old Testament?
It’s difficult to get a clear understanding of how Jesus regarded the books of the Old Testament. For example, he said:
“The law and the prophets were in force until John. Since then, the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone tries to enter it eagerly. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one stroke of a letter to drop out of the law”. (Luke 16:16-17. See also Matthew 5:17-20; Matthew 11:12-13)
The meaning of these verses is not clear. They can be interpreted as Jesus saying that the Old Testament law ceased to be in effect from the time of John the Baptist. But they can also be interpreted as Jesus saying that every little bit of the Old Testament law will remain in force until after the end of the universe. So, how can we resolve this problem? How are we, followers of Jesus today, to regard the Old Testament law? John points us in the right direction:
“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17)
It is important to understand that people in Jesus’ time did not think their scriptures were written by God in the way many Christians regard our modern Bibles today. Jesus, and the Jewish religious leaders with whom he was talking, usually referred to the Old Testament law as written by Moses, not by God (Examples: Matthew 8:4; 22:24; Mark 1:44; 7:10; 10:2-4; 12:19; Luke 5:14; 20:28; 24:44; John 1:45; 7:19; 7:23.). On one occasion, Jesus was asked a question on the law regarding divorce. His answer shows that the law written by Moses did not always accord with his Father’s law that had been in place “from the beginning”:
Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female? For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined 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 put asunder.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?” He said to them, “For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so…” (Matthew 19:5-9. See also Mark 10:2-9)
So, there is no clear understanding as to how Jesus regarded the Old Testament. However, there is no doubt that he set his own teachings above what was written in Old Testament scripture. (Examples: Matthew 5:21-22; 27-28; 7:12; 12:1-8) and, fortunately for us, he made it very clear that the Old Testament law could be summed up in just two commands:
“‘You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You will love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commands hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40. See also Mark 12:28-34; Luke 10:25-28)
All of the Old Testament law can be summed up in those two commands: “Love God” and “Love your neighbor”.
Simple, isn’t it. Our loving, heavenly Father just wants us to love.
Does our loving heavenly Father speak to us, today, through the Old Testament? Yes, of course he does. But that doesn’t mean we must carefully examine every word of the Old Testament law, looking for detailed rules that we should obey today. We don’t need to worry about keeping the Old Testament law. We have the two great commands and, importantly, we also have the commands of Jesus. Just before he left our planet, Jesus instructed the apostles to teach new disciples “to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). Jesus’ commands are simple, clear, practical and there are not very many of them. Also, I reckon, every one of these commands just gives us a bit more detail about either loving God or loving our neighbor. More about this in the article “What does Jesus want his followers to do?” (See link below).
Did Jesus say anything about studying the Bible?
Jesus only talked about studying scripture once. He was talking to religious leaders and said:
“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39-40).
Some Christians have taken the words “study the Scriptures diligently” out of context and have claimed that, in this verse, Jesus is instructing his followers to study scripture. This is not the meaning of his words. The word translated “you think” can also be translated “you imagine”, “you suppose” or “you presume”. Jesus is talking to the religious leaders of his day, not his followers, and criticizing them for thinking, imagining, supposing, or presuming, that they will find eternal life in their scriptures when the truth is those very scriptures talk about Jesus who, alone, can give them life. (Jesus repeatedly made it very clear that he, and he alone, had authority to give eternal life. See John 5:21-22; John 10:9; John 14:6; John 17:1-2; Matthew 28:18; Luke 10:22).
So, if Jesus doesn’t tell us to read scripture, what does he tell us to do? He tells us to pray. The first and most important command is that we love God and we do that in prayer. See the articles “What did Jesus say about loving God?” and “What did Jesus say about prayer?” (Link below).
Finally.
Although Jesus never commanded, or encouraged, his followers to study scripture, I’m not suggesting we shouldn’t read our bibles. We should read our Bibles prayerfully, asking our heavenly Father to guide us. But I think we should be centered on the words of Jesus. We should compare everything else we read with the teachings of Jesus, who always was and always will be God.
“You have one teacher, the Christ.” (Matthew 23:10)
May our loving, heavenly Father bless us, encourage us and give us peace, as we walk with him.
Peter O
Related Articles
“What did Jesus say about loving God?”
“What did Jesus say about prayer?”
“What does Jesus want his followers to do?”
“Do I need a knowledge of the Bible if I want to know God?”
“Why do people believe our Bible is inspired by God?”
“Who decided which books would be included in our Bible?”
“What did Jesus say about his own words?”
“God wants to be the object of our love, not the subject of our study.”
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Jesus (Yehoshua shortened to Yeshua) is the walking living breathing Torah, the 1st 5 books of the OT. ! That is FANTASTIC GOOD NEWS. Everything hangs on the Torah. It should be studied only with the Holy Spirit of YHVH teaching us (every Sabbath, Yeshua was in the synagogue where Torah was taught.)
How about we pay attention to how he shunned so much of the man made teaching/ heavy burdens of the Jewish religious leaders of the day , shake off our own “beliefs” and just know him /follow him. He serves his Father, YHVH, and shows us the way to do the same. The love he displayed, the hesed of YHVH, is so powerful.
Sadly, we can’t find that way of thinking/living in most “christian churches” today.
Peter.
Excellent analysis as usual.
I’d dispute this remark:
“However, there is no doubt that he set his own teachings above what was written in Old Testament scripture.”
Instead I’d say he set his own interpretation of what was written in Old Testament scripture above the interpretations and practices of the temple.
I think it difficult to understand Jesus’ teachings without reading scripture on which he relied. Indeed he opened his ministry with a reading from scripture.
Cheers
Wes
Excellent reading except we not know any of this from the scriptures as referenced without reading and knowing the scriptures. Jesus didn’t say we need to study the Bible, but He sure did quote it a lot especially during debates as previously mentioned and during His challenge from the devil while in the wilderness. So, my conclusion is Jesus who was our greatest and only example on how to live a Christ like life may not have said “read and know the Bible” but if He used it and thought it was important, we should follow suit and promote it. Sure we can use scripture all day to justify and win debates, but the scriptures are for me to change not use to change someone else. My lifestyle should illustrate that- Selah with the Love of Christ
Dear Peter,
You are my favorite christian writer. I enjoy your writings and your logic very much. I am not an English native speaker, It took me a while to finish reading the bible. After I finished reading the whole bible, I found out it is impossible the words of OT were all from God, or the same God of the NT. I can’t understand why would people ague about this such obvious fact?
Jesus said, ” Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” Mathew 19:14
Do God expected children how to read the OT? What about the people can’t read? Even people have never heard about the Gospel?
God will never ask us to read the bible diligently to enter the kingdom of heaven? Jesus came and simplified everything, yet many of you don’t like simplicity . Why? Why? Why?
Hi All
God used Prophets until John, by giving them revelation, visions or directly told by manifest angels, to deliver messages relevant of their times to the people
But once Jesus started His ministry, the word of God was delivered directly for all times and for all men, as to what is required of men, that no further prophesying is needed.
There are a few passages where God corrects some of what we read from Moses. Jeremiah 7 comes to mind:
Jeremiah 7:21-27 NKJV
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. [22] For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. [23] But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ [24] Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. [25] Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. [26] Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. [27] “Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.
I find this very interesting. Jesus references Daniel, Psalms, and the prophets, Abraham, Lot, days of Noah and so on. So Jesus came to fulfill and to bring the Truth. Yes there are men that wrote their experiences, but the example above speaks to burnt offerings and sacrifices. Men took what they heard and made the focus they deemed important (burnt offerings, sacrifices). I find this very interesting.
This is a nice debate. Jesus tells us very clearly that he will send the Holy Spirit to reveal all things to us. That is something that did not exist under the OT. He did not say that He will prepare a book that we should study.
If Jesus wanted us to read the Bible he would have clearly said so. The fact is that we have the Holy Spirit living within us to teach us all things.
Jesus also said “let no man teach you”.
I don’t think we can know God on an intellectual level by studying the Bible. Often, it is an obstacle. Many Christ like people are those who have never read the bible at all.
2,000 years later and we are still debating. We go in circles.
I like to view these verses about the “Helper” Jesus sends:
John 14:26 NKJV
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
He will go back to the words of Jesus. Bring to our remembrance what He said. He is the Word as in John 1:1, so the Holy Spirit points to Jesus and will not glorify Himself.
John 15:26-27 NKJV
“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. [27] And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
So yes the disciples have a job to do. Their testimony. They are witnesses of Jesus.
And the Holy Spirit takes what is Jesus’s and proclaim it to us:
John 16:13-15 NKJV
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. [14] He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. [15] All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
Again glorifying Jesus and His teachings.
Lets look at it in timeline.
1.Jesus is the Word that became flesh to bring the Truth.
2.Jesus taught the Truth and brought forth the fulfillment of OT scripture and prophecy of Him.
3.Jesus kept and did not lose the 11 dicisples.
4.Jesus explained the Helper will come only when He departs back and only when He goes back.
5.Jesus explains the “Helper” will lead them in Truth and Jesus words will come to life and they will understand afterwards.
6.Jesus explains they are witnesses of Him from the beginning (nullifying Paul also by the way, another topic).
7.They are to go into the world to all nations proclaiming the teachings of Jesus.
Hope I didn’t miss anything, but when we look at it Jesus had a process that the Holy Spirit lead the disciples back to His words. Jesus is the Word of God and is God.
Blessings in Christ.
Anther good verse
John 2:22 NKJV
Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
John 12:16 NKJV
His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.
So where were these things written of Him? Old Testament. I appreciate you believe Jesus says, ‘Let no man teach you”, but He does tell the disciples to teach in Matthew 28. The teach Jesus mentions is His doctrine. We have an obligation to abide in the teachings of Jesus and share (teach) His words with others.
Bless you.
Mike,
Also the Holy Spirit did work in the OT;
Nehemiah 9:30 NKJV
Yet for many years You had patience with them, And testified against them by Your Spirit in Your prophets. Yet they would not listen; Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
Isaiah 63:10 NKJV
But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; So He turned Himself against them as an enemy, And He fought against them.
The Holy Spirit will take us to the Words of Jesus. Will we reject the words? Will we resist the Truth?
Hope this help.
I agreed with what you said. When I was reading the OT , I felt angry many times. The OT drove away so many young people of our generation.
Jesus founded a Church. He said to Peter, “upon this Rock I will build my Church and the Gates of Hell will not prevail against Her.” And then the shocker. “This is my Body and this is my Blood. He who does not eat of my Body and drink of my blood will will have no life in him.” The early Christians were spied on for being cannibals but the report said that some Jews that were spied on said words over innocent food, bread and wine and believed it turned into the body and blood of a Jew who had been crucified. The Church became “catholic” which means all inclusive. Everyone has been saved by Jesus including all looked down upon gentiles
Jesus clearly considered the entire Old Testament as a historical narrative with actual people living in actual places, from Adam and Eve, all the way to the prophet Malachi, every time he quoted the books in reference to the people of the Old Testament he always considered them historical, just like all of the disciples.
Not necessarily. We quote Shakespeare, and use his characters to teach real life truths. Jesus did the same kind of thing with the characters of the Bible. Certainly many of them may have been historical, but Jesus didn’t go as far as to specifically say that they were.
But the old Testament claims that God poisoned the water by turning it into blood. Today the “blood” in water still happens but now it is known as red algae a poisonous plant. I read that in a Jewish publication.
I believe you have left out some key scriptures and examples from the life of Jesus concerning His use of and reference to the Old Testament Scriptures.
Such as His quoting OT scriptures as the standard of His conduct when dealing with personal temptation in Matthew chapter 4. Also, He told the Sadducees in Mat 22:29 “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God…”
Jesus said in Mark 12:36 “For David himself, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said, ‘The LORD said to my Lord, Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies beneath your feet.’ ”
Besides Matthew 22:29 Here is another example of whether or not He thought it was important for people to know and understand the scriptures… Luke 24:44-46
Then he said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day…”
As for the authority the Disciples had to write books…
in John 13:20
I tell you the truth, anyone who welcomes my messenger is welcoming me, and anyone who welcomes me is welcoming the Father who sent me.”
John 20:21-22
Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
There are numerous other examples from the life and teachings of Jesus and His followers that could be pointed out in support of the authority and importance of the Scriptures- both the Old and New Testaments.
Did you not already know these things?
(Scriptures taken from the New Living Translation)
Brother Chris
Sincere thanks for your comments.
You said, “I believe you have left out some key scriptures and examples from the life of Jesus concerning His use of and reference to the Old Testament Scriptures”. However, the article is titled “What did Jesus say about the Bible?” and that is exactly the question I have tried to answer. So, in the section titled “What did Jesus say about the Old Testament?”, I am not attempting an overview of Jesus’ use of, and reference to, Old Testament scripture – I am discussing what Jesus said about the Old Testament scriptures. In answer to your question “Did you not already know these things?”. Yes. I did know them. However, I try to keep all my articles short, simple, and on topic and, with respect, the scriptures you quote do not provide answers to the question “What did Jesus say about the Bible?”.
Let me address the passages you raise one by one.
In Matthew 4:1-10 Jesus quotes Old Testament passages but does not say anything about Old Testament scripture as a whole.
In Mark 12:36 Jesus tells his listeners that David spoke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I would never disagree with Jesus. I am sure he is right. But he is not saying anything about the Old Testament as a whole. I’m not sure if you are suggesting that this verse indicates that every voice in the Old Testament spoke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. If so, I would say there is no indication that this is what Jesus is saying.
In Matthew 22:29, Jesus is responding to a question, from religious leaders, about the resurrection of the dead. In his answer, Jesus says that they do not know their own scriptures. He is not saying anything about those scriptures.
In Luke 24:44-46 Jesus points out, as in other places, that his life, death, and resurrection were all foretold in Old Testament prophecies, which they undoubtedly were. Jesus is not saying anything about the Old Testament as a whole. He is saying that those prophecies were fulfilled. And they were. Praise God.
Again, with respect, in the passages you quote from John (13:20 and 20:21-22) Jesus is not saying that his disciples should, or would, write books.
I would be interested in hearing more from you on this. I’d be particularly interested in hearing whether there is anything in the article that you consider to be untrue or misleading.
Sincerely
Peter O
Jesus is Lord.
?
Thank you Chris! Yes, in response to Satan, Jesus said, ” Man cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”..He clearly knew scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit…as the many examples given, amd when he sat in the temple, read from Isaiah and declared ” Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” ( Luke 4.21). We ALL need to feed on His LIVING WORD , let nobody be decievwd that the gift of the scriptures can be taken lightly…or left!!!
I have a couple of questions.
You say Jesus referred to the law as “Law of Moses”, “your law”, “their law”, and “the word of God” and then say there is not a clear understanding of how Jesus saw the law, however these statements seem to paint a clear picture, of Gods word given to and written down by Moses, then given to and warped by the Pharisees and Israelites, whom Jesus is now correcting. I don’t see how that isn’t clear? what do you disagree with here?
I’m not shocked he never instructs his followers to study the scriptures, as being 30AD I don’t imagine many of them could read! what we do see Jesus do is teach his followers from the scriptures. (Luke 4:14-21, Luke 24:25-27). He also chastises the Pharisees for having access to the knowledge of the scriptures and keeping it from the general public (Luke 11:52). Jesus clearly knew the old testament thoroughly and held it in high regard, so why when we have amazing access to this very knowledge discourage people from studying to know and understand the old testament as Jesus did?
I study the old testament diligently, not in a vain attempt to be more holy or attain salvation, but to see the person of Jesus throughout and to wonder at the plan that God clearly set in motion before the beginning of creation to reconcile his people and raise them up to glory.
Hello Elliot
Thanks for your comment.
You say ” these statements seem to paint a clear picture, of Gods word given to and written down by Moses, then given to and warped by the Pharisees and Israelites, whom Jesus is now correcting”. My central text was “For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so…” (Matthew 19:8). This appears to be a reference to Deuteronomy 24:1. In what way do you think the Pharisees and Israelites warped this part of the law? Jesus is saying to them that Moses allowed them to divorce their wives but it was not so from the beginning. How do you interpret this passage?
I do not discourage anyone from reading the Old Testament or any other portion of our Bible. (See the article “I love our Bible”).
God bless you.
Jesus is Lord!
Peter O
This is false doctrine
Brother Johnny. Please say more. What have I said that is false doctrine? What have I said that is not true?
Hi Peter
We have to be careful, like you say, Jesus never told his followers to study scripture, it will let them off the hook, not to read scriptures daily !!
I get where you are coming from with your statement, but God doesn’t want us reading His Word because we feel like we have to. The same as going to church or tithing. Prayer is important because it is spending time talking with God and with that comes a relationship with Him and with that comes the desire to be in His Word, be in church, tithing ect.