“Don” writes:

The law and the prophets is shorthand for the Old Testament, which can be easily demonstrated. Another way of referring to it was ‘Moses and the prophets’. Sometimes Jesus spelt out all three categories: Law, Prophets and Writings/Psalms (Torah, Nevim, K’tuvim = TANAKH) and used them as authoritative (Luke 24:44). Genesis is certainly one of the books of Moses. In the context (yes, context is very important, just as I said!), I am not using this verse, or any other from the NT, to ‘prove’ the authority of the NT, merely the OT (yet Jesus also implied that His Apostles would write Scripture, as explained in http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2/4306apol_v3n21994.asp ). Note the heading: “I am a Christian, a follower of Christ, and so I follow his example in his attitude to the *Old Testament scriptures*” – (and this includes Genesis, which I thought was the focus of our discussion ;).

Ken responds:

Not really accurate, Don.

The verse you quoted is the only one (if my memory is correct) which adds teh word “writings”.

In all other cases the phrase is simly “the law and the prophets”.

There is considerable doubt that in the time of Jesus the canon had been finally decides.

And certainly there was considerable fluidity about the content of Psalms.

Athanasius will confirm that the LXX contains 151 psalms. The Syriac Church accepts 155 psalms. Three of these additional psalms are now known in Hebrew from the finds at Qumran And the Psalm Scroll there (I can’t remember the code under which it goes) had a large number of additional songs/prayers. And some of the more widely known 150 psalms were in a rather different form, though recognisable.

These are just some of the things which raise problems about just what we mean by “the original autographs”.