Matthew 10:28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Luke 12:4 “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more they can do. 12:5 But I will warn you whom you should fear: Fear the one who, after the killing, has authority to throw you into hell.…
Romans 10:1 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites is for their salvation. 10:2 For I can testify that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not in line with the truth. 10:3 For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law, with the result that there is righteousness for everyone who believes.…
From Genesis to Revelation – and especially during the earthly life of Jesus – the Bible witnesses to the reality of evil supernatural beings who oppose God and seek the harm of his good creation.
In addition to this plain witness of Scripture, a number of other factors should be considered.
Clinton E. Arnold writes:
This event is rightly unsettling. Christopher Wright offers some points to help us evaluate it ethically:
Mt 8:21 ‘[One] of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 8:22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”’
Lk 9:59 ‘Jesus said to another, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 9:60 But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”’…
Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”
Richard Dawkins, after expressing approval for some of Jesus’ moral teaching, then objects,
…‘Jesus’ family values were not such as one might wish to focus on. He was short, to the point of brusqueness, with his own mother, and he encouraged his disciples to abandon their families to follow him.
The more I read the Gospels, the more I’m struck by the vivid and provocative teaching style of Jesus. He never merely imparts information: he makes people think.
This certainly gives the lie to ‘gentle Jesus, meek and mild’ (as commonly understood) and to the picture of our Lord as the ‘pale Galilean’.
But it also catches out the unwary, or the careless, reader. Or, indeed, the reader who is simply looking for trouble. (Just as there were listeners like that in Jesus’ day, so there are readers like that today).…
Matthew 10:34 – “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword.”
(See also the parallel saying in Luke 12:51- “Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!”)
Looking no deeper than the literal meaning of the words used here, some sceptics see in this verse evidence that Jesus was a warmonger.…
Mt 10:28 – “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
The traditional view
The traditional interpretation goes back at least as far as Tertullian, who espoused a Platonic view of the immortality of the soul (see Fudge, The Fire That Consumes).
Blomberg asserts that
…‘”kill,” like “destroy,” does not imply annihilation but eternal suffering, as the qualification “in hell” makes clear.’
Matthew 12:30 – “Whoever is not with me is against me.” (Also Luke 11:23)
Mark 9:40 – “Whoever is not against us is for us.”
Bart Ehrman (Jesus, Interrupted) asks:
‘Did [Jesus] say both things? Could he mean both things? How can both be true at once? Or is it possible that one of the Gospel writers got things switched around?’
Ehrman has failed to notice that these are not two versions of the same saying, but rather two distinct sayings uttered in different circumstances and for different purposes. …
