The apostle Paul provoked an uproar up and down the Roman empire with a simple, two-point message:
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The Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead
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The Messiah is Jesus
He staked these claims in the soil of Scripture. Luke tells of his stint in Thessalonica:
And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.’ (Acts 17:2-3, ESV)
The citizens of Berea wouldn’t take it on Paul’s word alone. They had to see it for themselves:
Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica [who ended up attacking both Paul and his message]; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. (Acts 17:11)
Paul wasn’t the only one to use this method of reasoning. Every apostle used the Old Testament to explain this great message about Jesus, and many of them wrote it down for us in the New Testament. Some authors were more explicit in their use of the Old Testament than others. And we can learn much from them about how to read the Old Testament ourselves.
To that end, I’ve compiled a few lists to help launch you into the delightful world of intertestamental hermeneutics (a big phrase that simply means “how the New Testament authors understood the Old Testament”).
These lists won’t give you a complete understanding of the Old Testament and how it speaks of Jesus. But they will direct you to the passages that most explicitly influenced the apostles’ thinking. May they help you see Jesus more clearly.
10 OT books never quoted in NT
Top 13 OT chapters quoted in NT
Top 10 NT books that quote OT passages
10 NT books that don’t quote the OT
Now go, you Berean, and see if these things are so. Check out the Resources page for an exhaustive list of NT quotations of the OT.
Question: What do you think about how the NT authors used the OT?
I have been reading the epistles of Peter, and one of the things that caught my attention is this:
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Peter 1:2),
and
“but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.” (2 Peter 3:18)
Knowledge.
So I was just thinking that a way to increase my knowledge is to look for references to Him from the OT, as they are not as commonly studied as the ones in the NT, and seem to me a bit like “glory of king to search the matter” 🙂
The OT contains prophecies, metaphors, indications about Jesus, so I was looking for references in the OT that point to Jesus so as to increase my knowledge of Him… and this post shows up!
Thanks, Peter!
Elmer
I did my own blog post on this Subject recently, where I drew on your research and linked to this site.
http://solascripturachristianliberty.blogspot.com/2017/11/new-testament-quotes-of-and-refrences.html
Note, I’ll probably be editing it for typos in the near future.
This bible I have denotes OT and NT references to Jesus as a messiah and new Lord for all people. It is the KJV published by Thomas Nelson; Giant print reference bible. As a seeker I welcome dialogue: rigsrigsrigs@gmail.com