Old Testament messianic prophecies quoted in the New Testament
The books of the New Testament frequently cite Jewish scripture to support the claim of the Early Christians that Jesus was the promised Jewish Messiah. Scholars have observed that few of these citations are actual predictions in context; the majority of these quotations and references are taken from the prophetic Book of Isaiah, but they range over the entire corpus of Jewish writings.[1]
Jews do not regard any of these as having been fulfilled by Jesus, and in some cases do not regard them as messianic prophecies at all. Old Testament prophecies that were regarded as referring to the arrival of Christ are either not thought to be prophecies by biblical scholars, as the verses make no stated claim of being predictions, or are seen as having no correlation as they do not explicitly refer to the Messiah.[2][3][4][5][6][7] Historical criticism has been agreed to be a field that is unable to argue for the evidential fulfillment of prophecy, or that Jesus was indeed the Messiah because he fulfilled messianic prophecies, as it cannot "construct such an argument" within that academic method, since it is a theological claim.[8]
No view of the Messiah as based on the Old Testament predicted a Messiah who would suffer and die for the sins of all people.[9] The story of Jesus' death, therefore, involved a profound shift in meaning from the Old Testament tradition.[10]
Overview: prophecy and biblical scholarship[edit]
The Hebrew scriptures were an important source for the New Testament authors.[11] There are 27 direct quotations in the Gospel of Mark, 54 in Matthew, 24 in Luke, and 14 in John, and the influence of the scriptures is vastly increased when allusions and echoes are included,[12] with half of Mark's gospel being made up of allusions to and citations of the scriptures. [13] Matthew contains all Mark's quotations and introduces around 30 more, sometimes in the mouth of Jesus, sometimes as his own commentary on the narrative,[14] and Luke makes allusions to all but three of the Old Testament books.[15]
Gospel of Matthew[edit]
The Gospel of Matthew has the largest number of messianic quotations from the Old Testament.
An example of one is Matthew 1:23: "'Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,' which means, 'God is with us.'". This references Isaiah 7:14: "therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: the maiden is with child and she will bear a son, and will call his name Immanuel".
The word translated here as "maiden" is almah, meaning a young woman who is ripe for marriage (meaning aged less than 13,[16] or between 12 and 14 years old, according to other sources[17]) rather than a virgin. Matthew, however, used the Greek translation of Isaiah rather than the Hebrew original, and the word that appears there is parthenos, meaning virgin.
Jewish analysis
Evangelical Christian analysis
Skeptical and Critical analysis