Category Archives: Bible

The Gospels as catachetical documents

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It would seem that the four Gospels are ‘carefully crafted and culturally contextualized catechetical documents.’

Matthew seems to be explicitly catechetical, in that he arranges his material according to subject matter rather than chronological sequence.  The result is a handbook on the words and deeds of the Church’s founder.

Mark is often found, in our own day, to provide an excellent basis for catechetical courses such as Christianity Explored.

Luke (along with Acts) was written, in the first place, to provide initial or follow-up catechesis for Theophilus.…

Luke 4:18 – “Good news to the poor”

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Luke 4:16 Now Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 4:17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.…

Mt 3:17/Mk 1:11/Lk 3:22 – What did the voice say?

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The three Synoptic Gospels each record the voice from heaven using different wording.

Ehrman summarises the differences:

Mt 3:17 – “This is my one dear Son; in him I take great delight.”  The voice seems to be addressing the people around Jesus, or possibly John the Baptist.

Mk 1:11 – “You are my one dear Son; in you I take great delight.”  Here the voice addresses Jesus directly.

Lk 3:22 – “You are my one dear Son; in you I take great delight.” …

1 Peter 3:7 – ‘The weaker partners’

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1 Peter 3:7 Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as the weaker partners and show them honor as fellow heirs of the grace of life. In this way nothing will hinder your prayers.

This expression tends to raise eyebrows nowadays.

According to Hillyer, this does not refer to ‘physical strength, not to intellectual powers, moral courage, or spiritual standards.’

So what does it refer to?

Several older commentators (including, Calvin, Leighton, JFB) do not discuss it: presumably, they thought that its meaning was self-evident and indisputable.…

Ruth 3:6-9 – Did Ruth seduce Boaz?

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Ruth 3:6 [Ruth] went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law had instructed her to do. 3:7 When Boaz had finished his meal and was feeling satisfied, he lay down to sleep at the far end of the grain heap. Then Ruth crept up quietly, uncovered his legs, and lay down beside him. 3:8 In the middle of the night he was startled and turned over. Now he saw a woman lying beside him!…

1 Thessalonians 4:17 – the ‘rapture’

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It was J.N. Darby who in 1830 first articulated the idea that in the end times the church will be secretly taken up to heaven, leaving behind a sinful and godless world.

The key text is 1 Thessalonians 4:17 –

‘Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.’

The Thessalonian believers had been troubled that in the time between Paul’s evangelistic activity among them (in AD 49) and the time that this letter was written (up to two years later), some of their number had died. …

Jn 20:22/Acts 2 – How many Pentecosts?

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John 20:22 And after he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

The relationship between this gift of the Spirit and the Pentecostal outpouring is debated (Klink outlines seven different interpretations).

Some, such as Barrett, think that the two accounts cannot be harmonised.

Among those who do look for harmonisation, the following interpretations have been proposed.

1. Two versions of the same event?

Many modern commentators argue that there is one gift of the Holy Spirit, independently witnessed to by Luke and John. …

‘The Making of Biblical Womanhood’ – 5

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The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth, by Beth Allison Barr, Brazos Press, 2021.

Chapter 5 is entitled, ‘Writing Women out of the English Bible.’  Barr’s main point is that some popular translations of the Bible (she singles out the ESV for particular mention) distort Scripture by projecting an unduly patriarchal view of the text.  This, she claims, is a relatively modern, ideologically-driven phenomenon: in the Middle Ages, the biblical text was presented in a much more gender-inclusive way.…

Genesis 1:27 – a hint of male headship?

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Genesis 1:27 God created humankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them,
male and female he created them.

Raymond Ortlund argues that this Scripture, in referring to the human race as ‘man’ (and not ‘woman’, or ‘person’) is hinting at male headship. (Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, p97f.).  This view is repeated by the Kostenbergers (God’s Design for Men and Women).

Although I regard this view as rather speculative, I think that Giles (What the Bible Really Teaches on Women) is quite wrong to dismiss it as ‘special pleading’, and not based on ‘serious scholarship’.…

Acts 1:6 – a misguided question?

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Acts 1:6 So when they had gathered together, they began to ask him, “Lord, is this the time when you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

1. Misguided?

For many commentators, the disciples’ question was misguided.  It amounted to an expectation of a political kingdom of Israel with Jesus as King.  This would be equivalent to the request of the mother of James and John in Mt 20:21.

Edersheim:

‘Such questions became them not. Theirs was to be work, not rest; suffering, not triumph.

…