The only Bible known to Jesus and his contemporaries was the Bible of the Hebrews, which we know as the Old Testament. In the Palestinian schools, including the synagogue school at Nazareth, which the Master doubtless attended, this Hebrew Bible was, indeed, the only textbook used, and this helps to explain not only Jesus' reverence for the Old Testament, but also his intimate acquaintance with it. As his ministry proceeded, however, he made it plain that despite its importance, it must be fulfilled or completed, and such fulfillment he himself provided. After reading a passage from Isaiah which described the nature of his mission, he cried (Luke 4:21), "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears;" while on another occasion he affirmed (Matt. 5: 18), "One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."
The difference between Jesus' use of the Old Testament and the use made of it by the orthodox Jewish rabbis, is both instructive and illuminating. The scribes looked upon it as primarily a book of legal decisions which must be literally obeyed, or as a code of ritual whose provisions must be meticulously followed; while the Master saw the inner meaning of its laws and regulations, its history, and its prophecy, and used these to give vital illustrations of his teaching and practice. He knew, as did the Apostle Paul, that "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." To the shocked surprise of his theological opponents, Jesus often ignored the externals of the law, but these men failed to realize that he retained its realities, so fulfilling it, in the best sense of the word.
The scribes forgot the original humanitarian purpose of the fourth commandment and forbade not only unnecessary physical labor on the Sabbath, but also needful and kindly activities. Thus, while they protested strongly against Jesus' healing of the sick on that day, he repeatedly vindicated his right to do so. In considering the other commandments, the Master further showed his independence of tradition by providing an interpretation of them which widened their application. The rabbis understood the sixth commandment simply as forbidding murder; but Jesus showed that, by implication, it prohibited also anger and spiteful accusation (Matt. 5:21,22); while their interpretation of the seventh commandment in its strictly literal sense was superseded by the Master's affirmation that it forbade impure thoughts as surely as immoral actions (verses 27, 28). These instances may be taken as typical of Jesus' use of the Old Testament.
