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Did Jesus make use of the Malachi document? It is hard to say whether the historical Jesus made active use of the Malachi document. Among the quotations and allusions to Malachi that are placed in the mouth of Jesus only a single passage can, in fact, lay claim to having a historical kernel: namely, the discussion about the scribal opinion that Elijah must be the precursor of the coming of the day of Yhwh (Mark 9:11–13; cf. Matt 17:10b–11; Luke 1:17). Jesus may have understood John the Baptist as Elijah redivivus (Mark 9:13) without having regarded himself as surpassing him.

John the Baptist Even if Jesus did not think so himself, his followers in any case found in the promise of a precursor a scriptural proof they could use to relate the appearance of Jesus and that of the Baptist. In this way, they honored John as an eschatological figure while at the same time subordinating him to Jesus.

The reception of the Jewish scriptures into the Christian Bible of the ancient church as the “Old Testament” accorded the Malachi document enduring canonical status as well. From the point of view of the Christian editors this was the last in the sequence of prophets that, as a whole, pointed forward to Christ as the Son of God.