From John W. Wenham’s article, “Our Lord’s View of the OldTestament.” HT: Rob Bradshaw’s website Biblical Studies. For a summary of this article, see here.
Jesus referred to Old Testament passages as actual
historical accounts, to be interpreted literally:
Abel-Lk. 11:51, Noah-Mt. 24: 37-39, Lk. 17: 26-27, Abraham-Jn.
8:56, Institution of Circumcision-Jn. 7:22 (cf. Gen. 17: 10-12, Lv. 12:3), Sodom and Gomorrah-Mt.
10:15, 11:23-24, Lk 10:12, Lot-Lk 17: 28-32, Isaac and Jacob-Mt 8:11, Lk 8:28,
the manna-Jn 6:31, 49,58, the wilderness serpent-Jn. 3:14, David eating the
showbread-Mt 12:3-4, Mk 2:25-26, Lk. 6:3-4, David as psalm writer-Mt. 22:43, Mk
12:36, Lk. 20:42, Solomon-Mt. 6:29, 12:42, Lk. 11:31, 12:27, Elijah-Lk.
4:25-26, Elisha-Lk. 4:27, Jonah-Mt. 12:39-41, Lk. 11:29-30, 32, Zachariah-Lk.
11:51, Moses as giver of the Law-Mt. 8:4, 19:8, Mk. 1:44, 7:10, 10:5, 12:26,
Lk. 5:14, 20:37, Jn. 5:46, 7:19, the sufferings of the prophets-Mt. 5:12,
13:57, 21:34-36, 23:29-37, Mk 6:4 (cf. Lk 4:24, Jn. 4:44), Mk. 12:2-5, Lk.
6:23, 11:47-51, 13:34, 20:10-12, the popularity of the false prophets-Lk. 6:26,
Jesus sets the stamp of his approval on Gen. 1 and 2-Mt. 19:4-5, Mk. 10:6-8.
Wenham writes this following this list:
“Although these quotations are taken by our Lord more or
less at random from different parts of the Old Testament and some periods of
the history are covered more fully than others, it is evident that he was
familiar with most of our Old Testament and he treated it all equally as
history. Curiously enough, the narratives that proved least acceptable to what
was known a generation or two ago as ‘the modern mind’ are the very ones that
he seemed most fond of choosing for his illustrations.”
Wenham wrote this in 1953. What he called “the modern mind”
was outside evangelicalism. Today, much of this modern mind is the mindset of
some progressive evangelicals.
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