The so-called ‘Parable of the Sower’ is recorded in all three Synoptic Gospels. And, in each case, the parable itself is followed by an explanation by Jesus of why he taught in parables.
Luke’s is the briefest account, followed by Mark’s and then Matthew’s:
…Preachers should always pay close attention to the biblical text. That is a given. But there is a danger of paying such close attention to the text of Scripture that we see more in it than is actually there. I came across an example of this in a little book of Christmas Sermons preached by D.M. Lloyd-Jones. Lloyd-Jones is speaking about the opening words of Mary’s ‘Magnificat’ (Luke 1:46-47)
The preacher said,
…‘First, let us notice the depth of feeling with which she spoke, which is conveyed in these words.
Icebreaker
Tell us something about your name. What does it mean? Why were you given it? What do you like, or dislike, about it?
Read verses 17-19
Which of these men do we know most about? And which do we know least about?
What do you think these disciples were expecting when they first responded to Jesus’ call to follow him?
Look back at Luke 1:1-4. What aspects of this list of disciples gives us confidence that they were reliable ‘eyewitnesses’ of Jesus?…
‘Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.’
This is the one passage in the NT that seems to speak of the return of Jerusalem to the custody of the Jews.
For some, the ‘times of the Gentiles’ came to an end on 14th May, 1948, when Israel became an independent state, or Jane 1967, with the capture of East Jerusalem.
For Derek White, of Christian Friends of Israel, there is no doubt:
…‘The plain meaning of these words of Jesus is that the imposition of Gentile rule and possession of Jerusalem is to have an end, and that it will come again into the possession of the Jewish people as their Capital.
This difficult saying has been understood in various ways:-
1. Some, such as Barnes, think that this is a promise of supernatural protection to a particular people at a particular time. Barnes thinks that this was fulfilled at the time of the fall of Jerusalem, when it has been thought that Christians suffered no serious harm. But Kidner (commenting on Psa 121:7f) notes that
…‘God’s minutest care (‘not a hair of your head will perish’) and his servants’ deepest fulfilment (‘you will win true life’, NEB) are promised in the same breath as the prospect of hounding and martyrdom (Luke 21:16f.).’
22:6 Train a child in the way that he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.
This well-known proverb has been understood in a variety of ways.
In popular Christian thinking, it is thought to constitute an unconditional promise to parents. It is taken as a guarantee of the success of early training of children. But not a few parents find that, despite their best efforts at bringing up their child ‘in the way he should go’, when he is old he does turn from it. …
Josh 3:14 When the people left their tents to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 3:15 When the ones carrying the ark reached the Jordan and the feet of the priests carrying the ark touched the surface of the water—(the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest time)—3:16 the water coming downstream toward them stopped flowing. It piled up far upstream at Adam (the city near Zarethan); there was no water at all flowing to the sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea).…
Prov 26:4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you will be like him yourself.
Prov 26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes.
Here is one of the most famous, and seemingly most blatent, of all the Bible ‘contradictions’.
This pair of verses is marked up by the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible as ‘absurd’. And, according to Kidner, even some rabbis thought that they were inconsistent, leading them to doubt the authority of the entire book.…
Exodus 14:21 Moses stretched out his hand toward the sea, and the LORD drove the sea apart by a strong east wind all that night, and he made the sea into dry land, and the water was divided. 14:22 So the Israelites went through the middle of the sea on dry ground, the water forming a wall for them on their right and on their left…14:26 The LORD said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward the sea, so that the waters may flow back on the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen!”…
Distinguished biblical scholar Walter Brueggeman certainly thinks so.
On the question of human sexuality (and homosexual practice in particular) he finds ‘texts of rigor’ such as Leviticus 18:22, 20:13 and Deuteronomy 23:1 to be incompatible with ‘texts of welcome’ such as Isaiah 56, Matthew 11:28–30, Galatians 3:28 and Acts 10.
One of the problems with Brueggemann’s position, as Ian Paul has pointed out, is that the supposed contradictions are not only between disparate parts of Scripture and different authors. …
