Category Archives: Bible

More urban legends of the New Testament

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I have previously listed and summarised the forty ‘urban legends’ discussed by David A Croteau.

Here are some more New Testament passages that are frequently misunderstood or misapplied:-

1. ‘Going the second (or ‘extra’) mile’ (Matthew 5:41).  When people are willing to make an effort above and beyond the call of duty, they often refer to this as going the second (or extra) mile.  This is not a complete misapplication of the text, but common usage does tend to mask its radical nature.  …

Urban legends of the New Testament

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Urban Legends of the New Testament: 40 Common Misconceptions.  By David A Croteau.  Published by B&H Publishing Group (1 Aug. 2015).

This book discussed 40 misinterpretations of New Testament passages.  Strictly speaking, only some of them could be regarded as ‘urban legends’ (i.e. they are misreadings that have passed uncritically into public consciousness).  Others are passages which are liable to interpretations that simply add something to the text that isn’t really there, or subtract something that really is there.…

The ‘heresy’ of inerrancy

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[Note: I’m using the word ‘heresy’ in the old-fashioned sense of ‘divisiveness’ as in Titus 3:10 (Authorised Version): ‘A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject.’]

When Mike Licona published his book on the resurrection, he ventured to suggest that some elements in the Gospel story might be symbolic in character, rather than strictly historical.  The passage which has received most attention is the one in Matthew 27:52f, about the raising to life of many dead saints.  …

What we learn from creation

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Bible commentator Matthew Henry notes that in creation we observe:-

1. Great variety, several sorts of beings vastly differing in their nature and constitution from each other. Lord, how manifold are thy works, and all good!

2. Great beauty. The azure sky and verdant earth are charming to the eye of the curious spectator, much more the ornaments of both. How transcendent then must the beauty of the Creator be!

3. Great exactness and accuracy.…

Adam and the Fall

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Donald MacLeod writes:-

Do not forget that God pronounced man, the apex of his creation ‘very good’ too. Modern theories of sin, in so far as they deal with the origin of sin at all, assume that man must have been sinful from the very beginning. It is, according to such theories, ‘only natural’ to sin. Sin is inevitable; a central and unavoidable part of our nature. But Scripture does not teach this at all.

The Bible’s story of the Fall is, apart from all else, a relief from the problems inherent in such a doctrine.…

Messianic secret

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It has long been recognised that in the Synoptic Gospels (Mark especially) Jesus is frequently recorded as commanding people not to speak about certain aspects of his identity and activity.

For example:

  1. Jesus commonly taught the disciples separately from the crowds (Mark 4:13, 34; 7:17; 9:28–29, 30–31; 10:10–11; 13:3).
  2. Jesus asked several people whom He healed and the family of a girl He brought back to life not to speak of it to anyone (Mark 1:43–44; 5:43; 7:36; 8:26).
…

The role of the apostles as authoritative eyewitnesses

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‘The role of the apostles as witnesses to the fact that the crucified and buried Jesus rose from the dead is central for Luke. This role is emphasized in the commissioning of the apostles (Lk 24:48; Acts 1:8), and it is central both in the description of the criteria of apostleship when the need arose to replace Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:21–22) and in Peter’s preaching and teaching (Acts 2:32; 3:15; 4:2, 10, 33; 5:32; 10:41). The apostles are “distinctive in their role as Jesus’ authorized delegates, witnesses to the reality of his resurrection and expounders of its significance” (Clark, 178).…

Genesis 3 – traditional and revisionist readings

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I must admit that I’m not sure about where to place Genesis 3 on a scale between the two extremes of ‘literal history’ and ‘pure fiction’.  Here’s a summary of some the options:-

An historical account of a ‘Fall’

Traditionally, this account has been understood as a more or less literal description of an historical event in involving a ‘fall’ on the part of our first parents from a state of innocence.  According to Kreeft & Tacelli, for example,

‘there are three reasons why the Fall can’t be mere moral parable or fiction:-

First, if the Fall is not historical at all, then its effects—suffering and death—also are not historical.

…

Were the patriarchs real people?

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A century ago, many Old Testament scholars had arrived at the view that the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their families) were fictional characters, or, at least, were based on vague historical reminiscences.

It must be acknowledged that, to this day, so-called ‘main-stream’ OT scholarship takes a more sceptical view than that summarised above. Ronald Helden, for example, states:-

‘We do not know whether Abraham actually existed. But even if he did, many (or most) of the details in the Abraham stories are legendary and not historical.’

…

Abraham in Luke’s Gospel

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The first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel contain many allusions to the story of Abraham (Genesis 11-21).  In addition to the two explicit references to Abraham Lk 1:55; 1:79, S. Young (DJG [2nd ed.], art. ‘Birth of Jesus’ mentions:-

  • Elizabeth’s barrenness (Lk 1:7 // Gen 11:30);
  • the great age of the parents-to-be when receiving angelic visitation (Lk 1:7, 11 // Gen 17:1);
  • the promise of a son, to be given a certain name and assigned a future role (Lk 1:13, 31 // Gen 17:16, 19);
  • Mary’s presentation of herself as a “servant” (Lk 1:38, 48 // Gen 18:3–5);
  • Zechariah’s questioning of the possibility of the angel’s message (Lk 1:18 // Gen 17:17; 18:11–12);
  • the mention that nothing is impossible for God (Lk 1:37 // Gen 18:14); and
  • the removal of Elizabeth’s disgrace together with the expression of the joy of her neighbors (Lk 1:25, 58 // Gen 21:6)

J.…