Jesus refers to Genesis in just 7% of his Quotes & Actually Quotes from Genesis Just Once

Faith & Science Conversation
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"The website Blue Letter Bible has compiled exhaustive lists of all of Jesus’s references to Old Testament books. [They]… find 102 such references in Matthew, 39 in Mark, 68 in Luke, and 49 in John. That’s 258 references total. How many of these come from Genesis? The answer is 18. That means that 7% of all of Jesus’ references to the Old Testament were references to Genesis. "

Read more at Books Ranked by References:

If we examine actual quotes, instead of merely references we find the following:

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#1 Psalms: Psalms is the most-read book of the Bible, and it’s the one Jesus quotes most often.
Jesus quotes the Psalms on 11 occasions:

Pharisees on Psalms
Jesus outwits the Pharisees with the Psalms on several occasions (Ps 8:2, 110:1; Mt 21:16, 22:44; Mk 12:36, 14:62; Lk 20:42–43).

The End
He quotes the twenty-second Psalm while dying on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Ps 22:1; Mt 27:46; Mk 15:34). He then fulfills the thirty-first Psalm by committing his spirit to the Father (31:5; Lk 23:46).

Misc.
Jesus is hated without cause, which he says the Psalms foretold (Ps 35:19, 69:4; Jn 15:25).
He quotes the Psalms when talking about his betrayal (Ps 41:9; Jn 13:18).
Jesus recalls the manna in the wilderness after feeding a multitude (Ps 78:24; Jn 6:31).
When the Jews want to stone Jesus for claiming to be God, he responds with a line Psalms (Ps 82:6; Jn 10:34).

Jesus quotes Psalm 110 when Pilate asks if he is the son of God (Ps 110:1; Mt 26:64).
He quotes Psalms to the chief priests and elders, calling himself the chief cornerstone (Ps 118:22–23; Matt 21:42; Mk 12:10; Luke 20:17).

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#2 Deuteronomy: Jesus quotes Deuteronomy on 10 occasions in the gospels, and it’s the only OT book Jesus quotes when he speaks to the devil.

The Law
Jesus sums up the law and the prophets with a line from Deuteronomy (and another from Leviticus): love God, and love your neighbor as yourself (Dt 6:5; Mt 22:37; Mk 12:29–33; Lk 10:27).

The Commandments
The Ten Commandments are in both Exodus and Deuteronomy: Jesus references both books when he cites the commandments.

Divorce
Jesus references Deuteronomy when he discusses divorce (Dt 24:1–3; Mt 5:31, 19:7; Mk 10:4).

Witnesses
He mentions Moses’ rule of witnesses when he outlines church discipline (Dt 19:15; Mt 18:16).
When Satan tempts Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus responds with passages from Deuteronomy (Dt 6:13, 16, 8:3; Mt 4:4, 7, 10; Lk 4:4, 8, 12).

Jesus references Psalms when foretelling Jerusalem’s destruction (Ps 118:26; Matt 23:39; Lk 13:35).

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#3 Isaiah: Jesus quotes Isaiah to describe the disconnect between the people and their God. For example:

Prophecy
Jesus speaks in parables, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy concerning “eyes that do not see” and “ears that do not hear” (Is 6:9–10; Mt 13:14–15; Mk 4:12; Lk 8:10).

House of God
When Jesus turns over the tables in the temple, he references Isaiah’s words on how the house of God was intended to operate (Is 56:7; Mt 21:13; Mk 11:17; Lk 19:46).

Service to God
He calls out the Pharisees and scribes for their lip service to God—they honor God with their words, but their hearts are far, far from him (Is 29:13; Mt 15:8–9; Mk 7:6–7).

Vineyard Parable
He alludes to Isaiah in his parable of the vineyard (Is 5:1; Mt 21:33; Mk 12:1; Lk 20:9).
These messages aren’t always well-received, but that shouldn’t be a surprise—they weren’t very popular back when Isaiah wrote them, either.

Reconciliation to God
But Jesus doesn’t always dwell on the negatives. He also quotes Isaiah when describing how his ministry reconciles the people back to God:

He quotes Isaiah’s prophecy that Jesus would die a sinner’s death (Is 53:12; Lk 22:37).
His salvation ministry allows the people to be taught of God (Is 54:13; Jn 6:45).
He heals the blind and brings good news to the afflicted (Is 61:1–2; Mt 11:5; Lk 4:18–19, 7:22).
Jesus quotes Isaiah to highlight the disconnect between God and the people, but he also quotes Isaiah to remind people of the comfort God will bring through him.

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#4 Exodus: Jesus quotes Exodus seven times, usually referencing the laws God gives Israel in the wilderness—especially the Ten Commandments:

Burning Bush
Jesus references the burning bush incident when explaining the resurrection (Ex 3:6; Mt 22:32; Mk 12:26; Lk 20:37).

Commandments
He recalls the Ten Commandments when telling a rich man how to enter the kingdom of God (Ex 20:12–16; Mt 19:18–19; Mk 10:19; Lk 18:20).

Commandments
He mentions the fifth commandment (honoring parents) when exposing the Pharisees’ and scribes’ hypocrisy (Ex 20:12, 21:17; Mt 15:4; Mk 7:10).

Commandments
And of course, the commandments against murder and adultery show up in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Ex 20:12–13; Mt 5:21, 27).

Turn the Other Cheek
Jesus quotes the famous “eye for an eye” line right before telling his disciples to turn the other cheek (Ex 21:24; Mt 5:38).

Books Ranked by Quotes:

The one quote Jesus makes from Genesis is:

Matthew 19:4-6
And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”

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That can’t be true if this meme from ICR is correct. No, you are correct. This meme is one of my favorite examples of quote problems. It quotes from a YEC book that claims to be have been thoroughly fact-checked and so the meme author never thought to check for themselves.

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I have to look into this further on whether ICR did the things you are accusing it of. If it were the case that ICR is in error, then that would be wrong on their part, and they should recant. But there is two sides to every coin because, It is no different then when old earth creationists i.e. Hugh Ross and others promote that most of the early church fathers did not believe in a 6 twenty-four day creation. Furthermore. Just because an organization such as ICR may have allegedly promoted something in error, that in no way negates nor diminishes the validity of the book of Genesis being literal historical truth of the gospel.

(Exodus 20:11) “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

(Mark 10:6) “BUT FROM THE BEGINNING OF CREATION, God ‘made them male and female.’”

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Here is a quote from the comments section of the Patheos article George linked above:

it’s even more important to realize that even if true, Jesus quoting Genesis wouldn’t necessarily mean what they claim. Jesus was a Jewish man in a Jewish culture speaking mostly to other Jews, all of whom would have been familiar with Jewish religious texts, doctrines, and traditions. Alluding to, referencing, or quoting a religious text in that or any other context can mean that the speaker is endorsing the factual truth of that text, but it is at least as likely to be an attempt to invoke other ideas or doctrines that the text has been interpreted to support. If I say “a rose by any other name” or “sound and fury”, I’m not really making a statement of literal, factual truth. I am invoking the themes and interpretations of the Shakespeare plays and all the other great literary works that have used those allussions. It’s a shorthand for conveying complex and abstract ideas that is readily understood by my audience (assuming my audience consists of relatively well educated, English speaking westerners). Jesus referencing one of the creation accounts in Genesis doesn’t necessarily mean he is endorsing a literal, factual interpretation of a seven day creation a few thousand years ago - it could mean he is invoking the idea of man being created in God’s image, or of God wanting humans to be stewards of the earth, or any other of the tenets of Jewish theology or tradition that stem from Genesis.

In short, even if ICR were right, they would probably be wrong.

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That will be VERY useful, since one of the topics of my new YT channel is rebuttals to YEC arguments, and saying that Jesus talked about people in Genesis so they must have existed is one of their favourite ones.

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Psalm 90:4

A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.

2 Peter 3:8

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

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Well, which is it? Is it one day or one thousand years? They cancel themselves out. Furthermore. Theologically when placed in it’s proper context, because, a hermeneutic principle is to never give a verse it’s own context. Always read the verse before or the verse after; preferable to read the entire passage. Contextually that verse is speaking about the return of Christ and not creation. But we are off topic.

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You’re completely missing the point of these verses. The whole point of these verses is that there isn’t a one to one mapping between God’s time and man’s time. In other words, a “day” in God’s timescale could refer to any length of time in our timescale at all.

Wookin, I don’t know if you realise it, but my post was in response to you quoting verses out of context yourself. Besides, both 2 Peter 3:8 and Psalm 90:4 come from passages that talk about creation, among other things. In fact, YECs are adamant that 2 Peter 3:4-5 very much is about creation. You can’t have it both ways, you know.

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I would love to debate…itching really, but I do not want to get in trouble with the moderator. If you want to open a new thread. I would be only happy to do battle with you :slight_smile:

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[quote=“Wookin_Panub, post:3, topic:37649, full:true”]

I have to look into this further on whether ICR did the things you are accusing it of. If it were the case that ICR is in error, then that would be wrong on their part, and they should recant. But there is two sides to every coin because, It is no different then when old earth creationists i.e. Hugh Ross and others promote that most of the early church fathers did not believe in a 6 twenty-four day creation. Furthermore. Just because an organization such as ICR may have allegedly promoted something in error, that in no way negates nor diminishes the validity of the book of Genesis being literal historical truth of the gospel.

I have traced the quote in the meme back to the source. I got the book and it’s very clearly a direct quote from their own literature and the author was not quoting a person before them. I’ve written about this meme and my attempts to trace authorship here: https://thenaturalhistorian.com/2015/08/31/when-peer-review-lets-you-down-a-yec-quote-problem/

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@Joel_Duff

Not my accusation … I’m just the messenger.

I am quoting a former YEC who did the research … and was apalled…

Everything You’ve Heard about How Often Jesus Quoted Genesis Is Wrong
SEPTEMBER 10, 2015 BY LIBBY ANNE

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Sorry, bad quoting on my part above. That text block was not mine but rather Wookin’s. I didn’t notice it wasn’t blocked correctly until after I submitted.

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@Joel_Duff,

FYI - - just in case you didn’t already know (and you probably do) - - If you click on the icon that looks like a pencil (to the left of the REPLY link), you can edit posts every day, every hour…