He Gave Us Prophets: Essential Hermeneutical PerspectivesSample

Authority of OT Prophecy: Acts 2:29-31

Jesus and the New Testament apostles often showed that they were fully convinced of the authority of Old Testament prophets. They appealed to the writings of the prophets as authoritative, and they also appealed to the intentions of prophets as authoritative. 

In the first place, Jesus and his apostles affirmed their submission to the sacred Scriptures of the prophets. It nearly goes without saying that Jesus was faithful to the teachings of biblical Judaism in his day. Of course, one of the central teachings of Judaism of that time was the absolute authority of the Hebrew Bible, and this is why Jesus frequently affirmed that his ministry was in accordance with the sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament. For example, in Matthew 5:17, Jesus himself said:

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. 

Notice here that Jesus did not simply say that he recognized the authority of Moses, but he also recognized the authority of the prophetic writings. All the writers of the New Testament followed Christ in this way. They constantly referred to the prophets as authoritative Scriptures.

As important as it is to see that Jesus and his apostles loved the sacred texts of the prophets, it is just as important for us to realize that they were committed to the original intentions of the prophets as well. New Testament writers were not arbitrary in the ways they understood prophecy. They did not impose their own meanings on prophets. Instead, they were deeply concerned with discovering the original meaning of a prophecy and then building on that solid foundation. 

It is very popular today for people to think that New Testament writers had a God-given right to interpret the Old Testament any way they wanted to. But nothing could be further from the truth. Two passages from the New Testament will show that New Testament writers were very concerned with the original meaning of Old Testament prophecies.

We can see this deep commitment to the intentions of prophets in the ways that Peter explains himself in Acts 2:29-31. After quoting part of Psalm 16, Peter says this in verse 29:

Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ.

Notice that Peter did not claim some right to read his own Christian ideas into Psalm 16. On the contrary, he interpreted David's prophetic words in the light of David's experience and David's intentions.