Matthew 15:4

For God said, Honor thy father and thy mother: and, He that speaketh evil of father or mother, let him die the death.

This and Matthew 15:6, below, prove that Christ considered God to be the author of the Old Testament, and of the Decalogue in particular. Also, in John 10:34-36, Christ referred to the Old Testament as "your law," "the Scriptures," and "the word of God," all in a single statement. Irenaeus wrote that "The true God (Christ) did confess the commandment of the law as the word of God."[2]

Note too that Christ approved, as God-given, this law that prescribed capital punishment; and some of the ancients justified such a penalty for blasphemy on the basis that cursing the heavenly Father is a greater crime than cursing father or mother. Cyprian spoke of those who "still heap up evil words on the person of the Father, and sin with the unceasing wickedness of a blaspheming tongue."[3]

In this verse, Christ focused attention upon the word of God rather than upon the traditions of the Pharisees, indicating this his primary concern was the former.

[2] Irenaeus, Against Heresies in the Ante-Nicene Fathers (10 vols.; Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1951), Vol. I, p. 473.

[3] Cyprian, Epistles in Ibid., Vol. V, p. 384.