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Oral tradition and the Gospels

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Craig Blomberg has written extensively on the historical reliability of the Gospels.  In the relevant article in the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, he identifies a number of factors that support the probability that the Gospels faithfully preserve the oral traditions on which they are based.

1. Jesus was perceived by his followers as one who proclaimed God’s Word in a way which demanded careful retelling.

2. Over ninety percent of his teachings has poetic elements which would have made them easy to memorize.

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The moral argument for God’s existence

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The moral argument, stated at its simplest, asserts that moral facts, or imperatives, exist, and that the best way of explaining these is in terms of a supernatural moral Being (i.e. God).

In asserting that moral facts exist, the Christian apologist is on common ground with the majority of philosophers, including those who are not theists.

Fewer, however would accept that the existence of moral facts necessarily entails the existence of God.

Some would try to explain the moral impulse in terms of social pressure and cultural conditioning. …

Mt 27:11-25; 33-54 – On trial – sermon notes

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Note: this short message was delivered in two parts during the course of an all-age service.  The service was held on Palm Sunday, but the Anglican lectionary set this passage, covering the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, and I was anxious to try to do something worthwhile with it within the time (2 x 6 minutes) available to me.

Text: Matthew 27:11-25; 33-54

1.

This is, of course, the most famous trial in history. And it’s obvious who is on trial here.…

The Curious Case of Madalyn Murray O’Hair

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Madalyn Elizabeth Mays was born in Pittsburgh on Palm Sunday (April 13) 1919.  She married John Henry Roths in 1941.  During the war, she worked as a cryptographer in Italy.  While apart from her husband, she became pregnant with her first child.  Although William J. Murray, a senior American officer, did not acknowledge the child as his own, she seemed to regard herself as married to him.  She divorced Roths, and called her son William Joseph Murray III and referred to herself as Madalyn Murray. …

John 19:1-16a – Rejected – sermon notes

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Of all the different kinds of pain that men and women have to suffer, few can be more agonising than the pain of rejection. For a wife to hear her husband of 20 years say, “I can’t stand the sight of you; you no longer have a place in my life”; for an employee to be told by her boss, “Your knowledge and skills are surplus to our requirements; you no longer have a place in this organisation; you are redundant”; for a student to be notified by his university, “You have failed your examination, you no longer have a place on this course”; all are deeply wounding.…

Who Crucified Jesus?

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To the question, Who crucified Jesus?, the New Testament gives us four distinct answers: the Jews, the Romans, the human race – and God!  The first answer tells the tragedy of a people who, despite their long preparation in providence and grace, failed to recognise their true Messiah and rejected him.  The second reminds us that the contempt against Christ was the calculated response of the Gentile world to the King of Love, not just a Jewish response, Acts 4:24-27. …

The Ironies of the Cross

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In the following address, D.A. Carson sets out four ‘ironies of the cross’ as presented in Matthew 27:27-51.

The Ironies of the Cross

In summary:-

  1. The man who is mocked as king, is the king.
  2. The man who is utterly powerless, is powerful.
  3. The man who can’t save himself, saves others.
  4. The man who cries out in despair, trusts God.
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Inerrancy as an evangelical ‘boundary marker’

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According to one commentator, when Matthew came to write his narrative of Jesus’ birth, he based it on Luke’s account.  Matthew, however, was writing for a different readership, and so changed Luke’s true story about the humble shepherds coming in from the fields to visit the baby Jesus into a fictitious one about some high-ranking Magi coming from the East to pay their respects, offering costly gifts.  Matthew re-told the story because he wanted to emphasise Jesus’ mission to the Gentiles. …

Beware the disjunctive fallacy!

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Ephesians 5:23 says: ‘The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour.‘

Lawrence O. Richards argues that headship in the NT has nothing to do with authority: ‘Authority, with its right to control and demand obedience, is not suggested.  The fact that the living head of the church, Jesus, is a person with supreme authority is presented to comfort and assure it of His ability to meet its needs…As head He is the source and origin of our life. …

Christ’s illegal trial and condemnation

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Outline of a sermon on Luke 23:23f by John Flavel (1628-1691).

I.  The trial of Christ was conducted most maliciously and illegally by his unrighteous judges.  The righteous Judge of all the world is judged most unrighteously.

1.  He was inhumanly abused, both in word and action.

2.  He was falsely examined by a court (the Sanhedrin) that had no authority to try him.

3.  He was absurdly accused of perverting the nation, and of denying tribute to Caesar.…