Can I Trust the Old Testament?

Several years ago, a nephew of mine was attending a large Christian University in the southeast of the USA. During a Thanksgiving break, he asked me, “Uncle Alec, do you believe everything in the Old Testament?”

I was shocked even at the question.

“Of course,” I answered.

“Well,” he said, “Dr. ………..says that much of the Old Testament is myth, with authors largely borrowing from legendary stories found in ancient texts.”

I was furious that he was getting this nonsense from an evangelical school.

A few days after he had returned to school, I happened to be in Matthew 12 for morning devotions, where Jesus says, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days…” (Matthew 12:39-40)

So I emailed my nephew, “Tell that professor of yours that even though Jesus did not have a theology degree from a prestigious seminary, he sure seemed to speak with great confidence on the stories of the Old Testament, accepting even the details of the stories as fact.”

To my nephew’s credit, he confronted the professor as I had suggested.

The answer he got pushed me over the edge and ended up in an email exchange with the president of the university re: whether or not I could, in good conscience, send any more of our students there.

The professor said, “Well, when you look at the totality of Jesus’ words in the Gospels and the small percentage of them appearing to corroborate Old Testament narrative, you can’t attach too much importance to a passing reference to Jonah.”

To which I responded, “So truth is now based on percentages?”

Unbelievable!

Fortunately, that professor did not receive tenure and is no longer at that institution.

I recently asked a similar question of a professor friend of mine, Dr. Rickie Moore, of Lee University, regarding Jesus’ quotation of the words of the prophet Isaiah, in Matthew 13:14 and 15:7, ascribing the words to Isaiah.

I asked Dr. Moore about all the disputation in the academy that the words of Isaiah really came from the prophet Isaiah…when Jesus Himself seems to think they do.

Dr. Moore’s answer below:

You could say Matthew 13:14-15 and 15:7 would negate arguments for the alternative authorship of Isaiah (or this part of Isaiah) for those who accept the authority of Jesus’ words.

But scholars who are prone to question or dispute the canonical claim for Isaiah’s authorship are usually just as prone to question or dispute the Gospel claims for the words of Jesus.

So there you have it, and from a leading OT scholar.

YES…you can trust the Old Testament revelation of God!