Category Archives: Bible

Mark 1:12 – Did the temptations immediately follow the baptism?

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Mark 1:12 ‘The Spirit immediately drove him into the wilderness.’

This verse indicates that Jesus’ temptation happened ‘immediately’ after his baptism.

For Ehrman (Jesus, Interrupted) this is a problem:

In John there is no account of Jesus being tempted by the Devil in the wilderness. The day after John the Baptist has borne witness to the Spirit descending on Jesus as a dove at baptism (John 1:29–34), he sees Jesus again and declares him to be the Lamb of God (John is explicit, stating that this occurred “the next day”).

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The law of the Lord in the Psalms

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A.T. Pierson notes that three psalms – Psa 1, Psa 19 and Psa 119 – pay special tribute to the law of the Lord.

The second and third pick up the subject where the previous left it, and no two cover the same ground.

Psa 1 depicts the blessedness of him whose delight is found in meditating upon Holy Scripture.  Here, the lover and doer of God’s word and the hater and scorner are contrasted in character, conduct and destiny.…

Rom 2:13 – ‘Those who do the law…will be declared righteous’

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Rom 2:13 – ‘It is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous.’

How are we to understand the place of works (‘obedience to the law’) in relation to justification in this passage?

The main options are:-

1. The self-contradiction view – that Paul is drawing on rabbinical thinking here, without bothering to assimilate it into, or reconcile it with, what he will say later about justification by grace. …

Gal 2, Rom 3 – ‘The works of law’

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The expression ‘the works of law’ (lit. ‘works of law’; NIV: ‘Observing the law’) occurs eight times in Paul’s writings:

Gal 2:16 – We know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.…

Judges 11:29-40 – Jephthah’s vow

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11:30 Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, saying, “If you really do hand the Ammonites over to me, 11:31 then whoever is the first to come through the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites—he will belong to the LORD and I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.”

Summary.  This passage appears to teach that Jephthah made a vow that resulted in him killing his own daughter. …

2 Thess 1:9 – ‘Eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord’

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2 Thess 1:9 ‘They will undergo the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength,’

The apostle reassures his readers that God will reward afflicted believers with rest, and that he will punish the afflictors with eternal destruction on the day of judgement.

Two aspects of the present verse are relevant in debates about the duration and nature of eternal punishment.

1. Does ‘eternal destruction’ imply,

(a) everlasting torment, or

(b) annihilation after a period of suffering?…

Matthew 21:7 – One animal or two?

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Matthew 21:7 ‘They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.’

The Triumphal Entry is also recorded in Mark 11 and Luke 19.  Only Matthew, however, mentions that there were two animals.

Matthew’s account raises a couple of questions.

1. Does Matthew means that:

(a) Jesus sat on both animals at the same time or in succession?  This (especially the first option) would imply an absurdity on the part of Matthew, and can be set aside.  …

Mk 15:42-47 – Would Jesus’ body have been ‘placed in a tomb’?

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Mark 15:42 Now when evening had already come, since it was the day of preparation (that is, the day before the Sabbath), 15:43 Joseph of Arimathea, a highly regarded member of the council, who was himself looking forward to the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 15:44 Pilate was surprised that he was already dead. He called the centurion and asked him if he had been dead for some time.…

Undesigned coincidences in the Bible

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The term ‘undesigned coincidences’ was coined by J.J. Blunt in his 1851 book, ‘Undesigned Scriptural Coincidences‘.  The idea has been popularised by a number of modern authors, most notably Lydia McGrew in her book ‘Hidden in Plain View‘ (2017).  There is also a chapter on ‘Undesigned Coincidences’ in Peter J. Williams, Can We Trust the Gospels?.

(I am aware that atheist Richard Carrier has denied the existence of ‘undesigned coincidences’. …

Mt 12:28/Lk 11:20 – Has the kingdom already come?

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Matthew 12:28 – “If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has already overtaken you.’

Luke 11:20 – “If I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has already overtaken you.”

This saying has featured prominently in scholarly discussion about the kingdom of God.  If ephthasen is correctly translated as ‘has come’, as most scholars think, then the kingdom was to be regarded, in at least some important senses, as present. …