Scripture was important to Jesus, therefore, it should be important to His followers.

¹⁷ “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. ¹⁸ For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Matthew 5:17-18

Yesterday, we looked at the Old Testament and how it fits with the New Testament. Today, let’s look at what Jesus thought of the Old Testament. Taken from, “A Grand Illusion, by David Young, pages 57-58,

“Jesus frequently quotes from the Old Testament, and even when He’s correcting the Pharisees’ misinterpretations, Jesus acknowledges its authority. Consider these examples:

• Jesus declares that Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35).
• Jesus calls the OT “the commandment of God” (Matthew 15:3).
• Jesus refers to Scripture as “the Word of God (Mark 7:13).
• Jesus chastises the Sadducees for their partial disbelief of the Scriptures, quoting Genesis, while chiding them: “Have you not read what was said to you by God?” (Matthew 22:29-31).
• Jesus answers the temptations of Satan by quoting the OT (Matthew 4:4-10).
• Jesus believes in the historicity of Adam (Matthew 19:4), Cain and Abel (Luke 11:51), Noah (Luke 17:26), Jonah (Matthew 12:40), the creation account (Mark 10:6-9), and the reality of heaven and hell (Mark 9:44-46).

Undoubtedly, Jesus was a man of the Bible. Anyone who follows Jesus will be a person of the Bible, too.”

What Bible was it that Jesus quoted? From CA Q/A,

“Of the places where the New Testament quotes the Old, the great majority is from the Septuagint version. Protestant authors Archer and Chirichigno list 340 places where the New Testament cites the Septuagint but only 33 places where it cites from the Masoretic Text rather than the Septuagint (G. Archer and G. C. Chirichigno, Old Testament Quotations in the New Testament: A Complete Survey, 25-32).
For those who may not know, the Septuagint was the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. The common abbreviation for it—LXX, or the Roman numerals for 70—come from a legend that the first part of the Septuagint was done by 70 translators [between 300-200 BC].
By the first century, the LXX was the Bible of Greek-speaking Jews and so was the most frequently used version of the Old Testament in the early Church. For this reason, it was natural for the authors of the New Testament to lift quotes from it while writing in Greek to the Church.
…here is an example where the Greek gospels present Jesus as quoting the Septuagint: In Mark 7:6–7, Jesus quotes the LXX of Isaiah 29:13 when he says, “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 precepts of men.’”

The version we have in our Bibles is the Masoretic Text, which went into use in 1050 AD. It is a good translation, but we would do well to familiarize ourselves with both versions. Which version is the best? In the words of my good friend, Ricky Griffin, “The one you’ll pick up and read.” Let’s be diligent to search the Scriptures daily for truth and to hear God speak to us through them.

Abba, You are wonderful to give us a written letter of Your loving plan. May we read it and hear You speaking through it as You explain truth to us. May we worship You today in Spirit and in truth. Amen.