Category Archives: Tough texts

Luke 2 – Was Joseph from Nazareth, or Bethlehem (or both)?

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It is generally supposed that Joseph, like Mary, came from Nazareth.  At the time of the census, he travelled, with his wife-to-be, to Bethlehem, his ancestral home.  After Jesus’ birth he took his little family to Egypt, in order to escape the threat of Herod.  And then, after that threat subsided, they returned to their hometown of Nazareth.

Stephen Carlson argues that Bethlehem was Joseph’s actual family home, and not just his ancestral home.  Two reasons: (a) the is no record of a census requiring a man to return to his ancestral home; (b) Lk 2:39 (‘…to a town of their own’) implies that Joseph and Mary made Nazareth their home after the birth. …

Philippians 2:10 – ‘The name that is above every name’

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2:9 God exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
2:10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow.

At first glance, this passage seems to teach that ‘the name that is above every name’, which God has given to his exalted Son, is ‘the name of Jesus’.

But there are at least two reasons why this cannot be so.  Firstly, the name ‘Jesus’ was given to our Lord at the time of his incarnation, not at the time of his exaltation. …

Rev 7:4; 14:1 – The 144,000

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Rev 7:4 – I heard the number of those who were marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed from all the tribes of the people of Israel.

Rev 14:1 – Then I looked, and here was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were one hundred and forty-four thousand, who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

There has, of course, been much debate over the identity of the 144,000.…

John 21:11 – One hundred and fifty three fish

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Jn 21:11 Simon Peter went aboard and pulled the net to shore. It was full of large fish, one hundred fifty-three, but although there were so many, the net was not torn.

Many weird and wonderful attempts have been made to find special meaning in the number of fish in the net.

  1. Jerome, for example, reported that ancient writers believed that there were 153 different species of fish in the net, thus symbolising all the nations of the world.
…

John 7:40-44 – Did John know about Jesus’ birthplace?

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John 7:40-44  Some of the crowd began to say, “This really is the Prophet!”  Others said, “This is the Christ!” But still others said, “No, for the Christ doesn’t come from Galilee, does he?  Don’t the scriptures say that the Christ is a descendant of David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”  So there was a division in the crowd because of Jesus.  Some of them were wanting to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.…

Acts 5:34-37 – ‘Some time ago Theudas rose up’

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‘A Pharisee whose name was Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was respected by all the people, stood up in the council and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time. 5:35 Then he said to the council, “Men of Israel, pay close attention to what you are about to do to these men. 5:36 For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him.…

Genesis 3:16b – ‘You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you’

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Gen 3:16 To the woman he said,
“I will greatly increase your labor pains;
with pain you will give birth to children.
You will want to control your husband,
but he will dominate you.”

NRSV –

Gen 3:16 To the woman he said,
“I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children,
yet your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.”

ESV (2011):

“Your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.”…

Daniel 7:13 – ‘Coming with the clouds of heaven’

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Daniel 7:13f – “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.  He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.…

Genesis 5 – The ages of the antedeluvians

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Aside from textual difficulties (there are many differences between the most ancient texts on this matter) we are faced with the question of how to explain these exceptionally long life spans (all these individuals were at least 65 when their first child was born, and most lived for up to 1,000 years!).  The problem is compounded by the fact that if we put the various data together, we come up with a date for the creation of Adam (about 4004 BC) which would be even more recent if we assumed normal life spans for his descendants!…

1 Corinthians 15:29 – ‘Baptized for the dead’

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What will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they baptized for them?

As Thiselton (Shorter Commentary) says, Paul’s main point is clear enough:

“baptism for the dead” (whatever this means in detail) would be pointless and senseless if there were no resurrection. But since, evidently, they have themselves baptized for the sake of the dead, either some people tacitly assume the truth of the resurrection or else their action is self-contradictory.

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