Old Testament messianic prophecies quoted in the New Testament
Introduction


The books of the [New Testament](/wiki/New_Testament "New Testament") frequently cite [Jewish scripture](/wiki/Jewish_scripture "Jewish scripture") to support the claim of the [Early Christians](/wiki/Early_Christians "Early Christians") that [Jesus](/wiki/Jesus "Jesus") was the promised [Jewish Messiah](/wiki/Messiah_in_Judaism "Messiah in Judaism"). 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](/wiki/Book_of_Isaiah "Book of Isaiah"), but they range over the entire corpus of Jewish writings.

[Jews](/wiki/Judaism "Judaism") do not regard any of these as having been fulfilled by Jesus, and in some cases do not regard them as messianic [prophecies](/wiki/Prophecies "Prophecies") at all. [Old Testament](/wiki/Old_Testament "Old Testament") prophecies that were regarded as referring to the arrival of Christ are either not thought to be prophecies by critical [biblical scholars](/wiki/Biblical_scholars "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.[Ehrman, Bart D.](/wiki/Bart_D._Ehrman "Bart D. Ehrman") (2000\). *The Historical Jesus. Part I.* The Teaching Company, p. 36\. "Early Christians began searching their Scriptures to see how these things could be. 1\. The Hebrew Bible did not discuss the messiah's suffering. Some passages refer to the suffering of a righteous man (cf. Isaiah 53\), who feels abandoned by God, but whose suffering is accepted as a sacrifice for others. 2\. Some passages, such as the Psalms of Lament (e.g., Pss. 22, 35, 69\) and the songs of the Suffering Servant of the Lord in the book of Isaiah (Isaiah 53\), were taken to refer not just to any person who was suffering, or even to Israel as a whole (cf. Isaiah 49:3\), but to the future messiah of Israel. 4\. Jews and Christians began to debate the meanings of these texts, and the debates continue to this day." [Historical criticism](/wiki/Historical_criticism "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.. "Historical criticism cannot argue that Jesus really did fulfill prophecy and then treat that fulfillment as evidence that he was the messiah. Historical criticism simply has no method by which to construct such an argument." Ancient Jews before the first century CE had a variety of views about the Messiah, but none included a Jesus\-like Savior. Mainstream Bible scholars state that 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, and that the story of Jesus' death, therefore, involved a profound shift in meaning from the Old Testament tradition.

While certain critical scholars have claimed that the Gospels misquoted the [Hebrew Bible](/wiki/Hebrew_Bible "Hebrew Bible"), some Christian scholars argue the [New Testament](/wiki/New_Testament "New Testament") authors read the [Bible](/wiki/Bible "Bible") through figural reading, where a meaning is realized only after a second event adds new significance to the first. Approaches include [sensus plenior](/wiki/Sensus_plenior "Sensus plenior"), where a text contains both a literal authorial meaning and deeper ones by God that the original writers did not realize.[Raymond E. Brown](/wiki/Raymond_E._Brown "Raymond E. Brown"), *The* Sensus Plenior *of Sacred Scripture* (Baltimore: St. Mary's University, 1955\), 92\.


What are some specific examples of passages used by Early Christians to support their claims about Jesus?