Jesus and the Old Testament

by R.T. France

Jesus and the Old His Application of Old Testament Passages to Himself and His Mission

286 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Richard Thomas France was a New Testament scholar and Anglican cleric, and Research Fellow in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Wales, Bangor.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not the first book—or primary book—to which I would point someone who is interested in learning more about the use of the OT in the NT. Nor was it written to be such a book. It is an edited form of the author’s dissertation. A reader will need some familiarity with the subject before reading this one.

As the title suggests, this study is primarily focused upon how Jesus himself interpreted and applied the Old Testament Scriptures. The chapter on typology is perhaps the best part of the book. It is, as it were, almost a self-contained and relatively succinct summary of the use of typology in the New Testament. The chapter on “The Use of Old Testament Prediction” is also very helpful, especially in its discussion of the impact of Daniel 7 and Zechariah on Jesus’ teaching and mission.

As an added bonus, an appendix describes, in detail, the text form of OT quotations. That is, do the quotations agree more with the Hebrew, the Septuagint, or some combination?

For students who are familiar with this subject and wanting to dive deeper, I highly recommend France’s study.

[Vanjr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book from RT France's dissertation. It has plenty of technical material-but even a layman such as myself can get a lot from it. The focus is on Jesus use and reference to the OT, limited to the synoptic gospels. It is not a thick book, but it is dense and one benefits from a slow read with a couple of Bibles close at hand. Highly recommend. Forward by FF Bruce. Definitely conservative in orientation.

[Joshua Reichard · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book was insightful and helpful in how Jesus saw himself in light of Daniel 7. I thought overall the layout as unhelpful and lacking in depth. Though, France says he is going to explain how Jesus saw himself in light of the OT and his application of them. I never felt like we got there. He did a lot of exegesis and explanation of the text but never went full circle. A little disappointed.

[Sean Rhoades · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many dissertations turned into books, this work badly needs an editor. It’s just clunky and dry throughout. The many excursus’ could be easily worked into the relevant chapters to make it more readable.

[G. Mark James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great resource for examining Jesus' self-understanding of His nature and mission/purpose. I would encourage you to have your Bible open and ready to take notes as you read through the book. I will come back to it when appropriate for sermon preparation to aid in my understanding. It can get pretty technical and is probably more on the intermediate or advanced level of reading.

[Cimuchowski]

John Singleton's Dad suggested this one.