Ed Walsh
Puritan Board Senior
Is the answer below adequate? Do any of you believe in "Two Isaiahs"?
It is common for biblical critics to teach that there were at least two Isaiahs, one of whom lived after the events described in the latter chapters (40–66) and the other of which lived earlier and wrote chapters 1 to 39. But Jesus quoted from both sections of the book as the writing of “the prophet Isaiah” (see ISAIAH, DEUTERO). In Luke 4:17 Jesus cited the last part of Isaiah (61:1), reading: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor” (Luke 4:17–18). In Mark 7:6 Jesus cited from the first section of Isaiah (29:13), saying, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me’ ” (Mark 7:6). Jesus’ disciple John made it unmistakably clear that there was only one Isaiah by citing from both sections of Isaiah (chapters 53 and 6) in the same passage, claiming of the second that the same “Isaiah said again” (John 12:37–41).
It is common for biblical critics to teach that there were at least two Isaiahs, one of whom lived after the events described in the latter chapters (40–66) and the other of which lived earlier and wrote chapters 1 to 39. But Jesus quoted from both sections of the book as the writing of “the prophet Isaiah” (see ISAIAH, DEUTERO). In Luke 4:17 Jesus cited the last part of Isaiah (61:1), reading: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor” (Luke 4:17–18). In Mark 7:6 Jesus cited from the first section of Isaiah (29:13), saying, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me’ ” (Mark 7:6). Jesus’ disciple John made it unmistakably clear that there was only one Isaiah by citing from both sections of Isaiah (chapters 53 and 6) in the same passage, claiming of the second that the same “Isaiah said again” (John 12:37–41).
Geisler, N. L. (1999). Bible, Jesus’ View Of. In Baker encyclopedia of Christian apologetics (p. 102). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.