When Jesus said search the Scriptures,,,there was only the new testament.
None of the rest had been recorded nor was it finished.
I beg you parddon. When Jesus enters his hometown and is preaching in the synagogue, he unrolls the scroll, finds Isaiah on the scroll, reads from Isaiah, and then carefully rolls it back up again. The people were amazed at his knowledge and wisdom since they thought of him only as the carpenter's son, and did not view him for who he was. In fact, the story continues, they drove him out of town to the edge of a clifff, but he walked, unharmed, right through them.
The Old Testament had been recorded on scrolls. What did Jesus say to the people in his town that got them so upset?
"The phrophecy has been fulfilled in your sight today."
It's right there in the Bible, I don't see how you can say that the Old Testament was not recorded. It was -- on scrolls. (Many that have been preserved and/or found, BTW.