Category Archives: Tough texts

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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Acts 5:1-11 – Ananias and Sapphira

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5:1 Now a man named Ananias, together with Sapphira his wife, sold a piece of property. 5:2 He kept back for himself part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge; he brought only part of it and placed it at the apostles’ feet. 5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of the land? 5:4 Before it was sold, did it not belong to you?…

Jonah – history or fiction?

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Is the book of Jonah historical narrative or fictional narrative?  Are we really expected to believe that a man was swallowed by a large fish, survived for three days, and was then spewed out alive?

Does it matter?

For some, the historicity of Jonah is closely tied in to the doctrine of inspiration.  Allen quotes F.A. Maloney:

If the book of Jonah is history, it is part of the evidence for the most important truth imaginable, namely that the Almighty God seeks to bring men to repentance and will pardon those who truly repent.  

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Mt 15:21-28/Mk 7:24-30 – Jesus and the Canaanite woman

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Mt 15:21-28 Jesus went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that area came and cried out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is horribly demon-possessed!” But he did not answer her a word. Then his disciples came and begged him, “Send her away, because she keeps on crying out after us.” So he answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”…

John 7:53-8:11 – The woman caught in adultery

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John 7:53-8:11 records the famous and well-loved account of a woman caught in adultery.

This text is ‘troublesome’ because of the high level of doubt about whether it belongs in John’s Gospel, or, indeed, whether it belongs in our Bibles at all.

The earliest manuscripts do not contain this passage, and it is very rarely mentioned by Christian teachers during the 1st millenium AD.

Few scholars would argue that even if it is canonical, it belongs to this particular place in John’s Gospel. …

Galatians 3:28 – ‘All one in Christ Jesus’

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Gal 3:28 – There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

It is a real shame that, as with a number of ‘problem texts’, there is a danger of losing the positive meaning in the flurry of controversy that surrounds it.

But controversy there is, and we must face up to it.  For this verse has, in recent years, become the locus classicus for social egalitarians.…

1 Timothy 2:4 – ‘God wants all people to be saved’

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2:3 Such prayer for all is good and welcomed before God our Savior, 2:4 since he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Various interpretations have been offered:

1. ‘God wants all people to be saved.  Since his will cannot be thwarted, all therefore will be saved.’

This is the view of Hanson.  But, as Moo states, the problem with a universalistic interpretation

‘is that Paul teaches quite explicitly in this very letter—indeed, in the next verse—that faith, which Paul confines to this life and limits only to some people, is necessary for salvation (see also 1 Tim 1:16; 3:16; 4:10).’

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Mark 12:41-44/Luke 21:1-4 – ‘The widow’s mite’

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Mk 12:41 Then he sat down opposite the offering box, and watched the crowd putting coins into it. Many rich people were throwing in large amounts. 12:42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, worth less than a penny. 12:43 He called his disciples and said to them, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the offering box than all the others. 12:44 For they all gave out of their wealth.…

Romans 5:18 – ‘Life for all?’

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Some have taken Paul to be teaching universalism here. For Kasemann, ‘all-powerful grace is unthinkable without eschatological universalism.’

In The Lost Message of Paul (ch 19), Steve Chalke insists that, for Paul, ‘all people’ must mean ‘all people without exception’.  The gift of life is co-extensive for ‘all men’ with the sentence of condemnation ‘for all men’.  To interpret otherwise, he says, is not only ‘disingenuous’, but also renders Paul’s language incoherent.  I think that Chalke’s summary rejection of alternative views, together with his dismissal of those who hold them as ‘disingenuous’ is irresponsible.…