Category Archives: Bible

Ten ways in which we subtly undermine the authority of Scripture

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The authority of Scripture can be forthrightly denied; “I don’t believe that!”  But, amongst Christians who claim to believe in biblical authority (including scholars, preachers and pastors) there can be more subtle types of denial.

So writes D.A. Carson in this recent piece in Themelios.  What follows is a precis.

1. Appeal to selective evidence

This is clearly at work in advocates of the ‘prosperity gospel’, who cherry-pick texts that appear to support their message, while ignoring those which speak of cross-carrying and suffering with Christ.  …

Erastus of Corinth

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‘During the eighteen months he was in Corinth (Acts 18:11) Paul evidently converted a man named Erastus, who provides an interesting cross-cultural link in the Corinthian church. One of the most imposing structures in Corinth was the fourteen-thousand-seat theater, located northwest of the forum and renovated about five years before Paul arrived. About this time (c. 50, during the reign of Claudius) a large stone plaza was also laid at the northeast corner of the theater area.…

Matthew 27:46/Mark 15:34 – ‘Why have you forsaken me?’

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Mark 15:34 ‘At the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” – which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”‘

Six hours after he was nailed to his cross, the dying Jesus shouted out these awesome words.

The cry is also recorded in Matthew 27:46.  Mark’s quotation from Psa 22:1 is in Aramaic; Matthew’s mainly in Hebrew.

The difficulty of this saying

According to Hard Sayings of the Bible,

‘this is the hardest of all the hard sayings.

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Tax collectors

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Peter Oakes (in ‘We Proclaim the Word of Life’, eds Paul & Wenham) suggests that preachers (and scholars) might take note of the ‘urban assumptions’ that are apparent in Luke’s Gospel.

For instance, if a preacher…is handling Luke’s substantial material on tax collectors, the temptation is to view this in purely Galilean and Judean terms, focusing solely on the role of Tax collectors in that region.  A common consequence of this is that interpreters give priority to the role of tax collectors as collaborators with an occupying power.  
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Approaching the Gospels

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The Gospels are about Jesus – his coming, his earthly ministry, his cross and resurrection.  The preacher should remember this for the following reasons:-

  1. The early Christians did not talk about four Gospels – the Gospel of Matthew, of Mark, and so on – but about the one gospel according to Matthew, according to Mark, and so on.  This approaches emphasises what they have in common (in contrast to their diversity, which is often stressed in modern scholarly circles).  
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Ten principles for interpreting narratives

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The following ‘ten commandments’ will help keep the preacher on the straight and narrow when dealing with Old Testament narratives:-

  1. An Old Testament narrative usually does not directly teach a doctrine.
  2. An Old Testament narrative usually illustrates a doctrine or doctrines taught propositionally elsewhere.
  3. Narratives record what happened-not necessarily what should have happened or what ought to happen every time. Therefore, not every narrative has an individual identifiable moral of the story.
  4. What people do in narratives is not necessarily a good example for us.
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The world’s favourite Bible verses

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The YouVersion Bible app has been installed on 250 million devices worldwide.

Which Bible verses form within this app have been most highlighted, bookmarked and shared?  Here’s a list of all the verses that were favoured by more than one country:-

  1. Jeremiah 29:11 (27 countries)
  2. Zechariah 14:9 (9 countries)
  3. Romans 8:28 (9 countries)
  4. Joshua 1:9 (4 countries)
  5. Philippians 4:6-7 (3 countries)
  6. Isaiah 41:10 (3 countries)
  7. Luke 24:25 (2 countries)
  8. Philippians 4:13 (2 countries)

It is perhaps surprising that John 3:16 does not feature at all in the list (i.e.…

Jesus, the true and better

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‘All the major figures and leaders of the Scriptures point us to Christ’, writes Tim Keller.  Consider the following:-

Jesus is the true and better Adam, who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us (1 Corinthians 15).

Jesus is the true and better Abel, who, though innocently slain, has blood that cries out for our acquittal, not our condemnation (Hebrews 12: 24).

Jesus is the true and better Abraham, who answered the call of God to leave the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void “not knowing whither he went” to create a new people of God.

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Christ is Isaac…Jacob…Joseph…

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Tim Keller, in his recent book, Preaching: Communicating Faith in a Sceptical Age, has this fine quote from Calvin, showing how the great characters of the Old Testament point forward, in different ways, to their fulfilment in Christ:-

He [Christ] is Isaac, the beloved Son of the Father who was offered as a sacrifice, but nevertheless did not succumb to the power of death. He is Jacob the watchful shepherd, who has such great care for the sheep which he guards.
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