If jesus was the Messiah, then he could not have been wrong becuase the Messiah was sent by God, with full knowlege of the history of the world. Jesus had a prehuman existence and therefore he would not have used that book if it were a fake.
Except that Jesus quotes from outside the canon
all the time.
As for example
Mark 11:25,26 writes:
And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
From here
Sirach 28:2 writes:
Forgive thy neighbour the hurt that he hath done unto thee, so shall thy sins also be forgiven when thou prayest.
Of course, Jesus the son of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) is just ordinary wisdom literature, it's not like it's attributed falsely or something ...
John 15:6 writes:
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast [them] into the fire, and they are burned.
from here
Wisdom 4:5 writes:
The imperfect branches shall be broken off, their fruit unprofitable, not ripe to eat, yea, meet for nothing.
Here's the same reference again, in Matthew, this time given by name rather than substance, as he is wont to do
Matthew 12:42 writes:
The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon [is] here.
Of course, that's still just wise sayings, even if misattributed, it's not like it's a totally fictional work ...
Luke 6:31 writes:
And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
like this one
Tobit 4:15 writes:
Do that to no man which thou hatest
Still, Tobit isn't completely historically falsified, it's not like it's one of those Maccabean-period books where Nebuchadnezzar is just a code word for the Greeks
Mark 9:48 writes:
Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
but this is
Judith 16:17 writes:
Woe to the nations that rise up against my kindred! the Lord Almighty will take vengeance of them in the day of judgment, in putting fire and worms in their flesh; and they shall feel them, and weep for ever.
There's also this
John 3:13 writes:
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, [even] the Son of man which is in heaven.
from a source that has already been cited in this connection
Baruch 3:29 writes:
Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds?
I can do this for hours, there are several from each of these, but I think I will close this post up with one of my favorites, not the least because it gives us some insight into how Jesus works with his crowd.
Here he is, with an uncanny prompt from the proverbial innocent bystander, referencing a teaching from the story of Samuel
Mark 12:32,33 writes:
And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love [his] neighbour as himself, is
more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
While Jesus takes the lead from this and uses it to launch a sermon against the Pharisees, let's take a sneak peek at his real source
Antiquities 6:7.4 writes:
But the prophet said, "God is not delighted with sacrifices, but with good and with righteous men, who are such as follow his will and his laws, and never think that any thing is well done by them but when they do it as God had commanded them; that he then looks upon himself as affronted, not when any one does not sacrifice, but when any one appears to be disobedient to him. But that from those who do not obey him, nor pay him that duty which is the alone true and acceptable worship, he will not kindly accept their oblations, be those they offer ever so many and so fat, and be the presents they make him ever so ornamental, nay, though they were made of gold and silver themselves, but he will reject them, and esteem them instances of wickedness, and not of piety. And that he is delighted with those that still bear in mind this one thing, and this only, how to do that, whatsoever it be, which God pronounces or commands for them to do, and to choose rather to die than to transgress any of those commands; nor does he require so much as a sacrifice from them. And when these do sacrifice, though it be a mean oblation, he better accepts of it as the honor of poverty, than such oblations as come from the richest men that offer them to him.
We know that this is the text, rather than the actual book of Samuel, because the real prophet leaves out the part about small offerings. As Jesus gets to the end of his sermon, up steps another convenient person acting out:
Mark 12:40-44 writes:
Which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.
And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.
And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
And he called [unto him] his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
For all [they] did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, [even] all her living.
What's Jesus doing quoting from Josephus, by the way? It's almost as if, after he was executed under Pontius Pilate, he didn't really stay dead. He seems to have gone on talking to people and teaching them for years and years after that ...
But you don't really believe that, do you?
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