Category Archives: Tough texts

Titus 1:6 – ‘Believing’ children, or ‘faithful’ children?

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1:6 An elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife, with faithful children who cannot be charged with dissipation or rebellion. 1:7 For the overseer must be blameless as one entrusted with God’s work, not arrogant, not prone to anger, not a drunkard, not violent, not greedy for gain. 1:8 Instead he must be hospitable, devoted to what is good, sensible, upright, devout, and self-controlled. 1:9 He must hold firmly to the faithful message as it has been taught, so that he will be able to give exhortation in such healthy teaching and correct those who speak against it.…

Mk 14:51 – The young man who ran off naked

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14:51 A young man was following him, wearing only a linen cloth. They tried to arrest him, 14:52 but he ran off naked, leaving his linen cloth behind.

Who was this young man?  Mark Strauss lists thirteen(!) possibilities.  Here are some of the contenders:

(a) Mark himself.  This is the traditional view.  Cole inclines to this view, as do Lange, Hendriksen and others.  This would then be Mark’s way of saying, “I was there,” without mentioning himself by name.  …

Mt 26:39/Mk 14:36/Lk 22:42 – “Let this cup pass from me!”

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Mt 26:39 Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Mk 14:36 He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Lk 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me.…

Lk 17:21 – “The kingdom of God is in your midst”

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Lk 17:20 Now at one point the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was coming, so he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, 17:21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

Various interpretations have been proposed:

(a) Some think that this is a later addition to the Gospel, attempting to deal with the so-called ‘delay of the Parousia’ and seeking to ‘spiritualise’ the notion of the kingdom of God.…

Rev 19:13 – ‘He is dressed in clothing dipped in blood’

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Rev 19:11 Then I saw heaven opened and here came a white horse! The one riding it was called “Faithful” and “True,” and with justice he judges and goes to war. 19:12 His eyes are like a fiery flame and there are many diadem crowns on his head. He has a name written that no one knows except himself. 19:13 He is dressed in clothing dipped in blood, and he is called the Word of God.…

1 Cor 10:8 – ‘Twenty-three thousand died’

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10:6 These things happened as examples for us, so that we will not crave evil things as they did. 10:7 So do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 10:8 And let us not be immoral, as some of them were, and twenty-three thousand died in a single day.

The reference is to Num 25:9 which, however, puts the number who died in the plague as twenty-four thousand. …

1 Sam 15 – Saul and the Amalekites

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1 Samuel 15 tells of the command of God to Saul that he should completely destroy a people called the Amalekites.

What are we to make of this?

Steve McAlpine tackles it as follows (this is a precis):

(a) From a philosophical perspective, the Christian apologist should refuse to allow the discussion to be framed by secular thinking.  Such thinking demands that we not only prove that God exists, but that he/she/it is that kind of god we find believable. …

1 Tim 6:11; 2 Tim 3:18 – ‘Man of God’

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1 Tim 6:9 Those who long to be rich, however, stumble into temptation and a trap and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evils. Some people in reaching for it have strayed from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pains.
6:11 But you, as a person dedicated to God [lit. ‘O man of God’], keep away from all that.…

Eze 28:11-19 – Is Satan a fallen angel?

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28:11 The word of the LORD came to me: 28:12 “Son of man, sing a lament for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘This is what the sovereign LORD says:
“ ‘You were the sealer of perfection,
full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
28:13 You were in Eden, the garden of God.
Every precious stone was your covering,
the ruby, topaz, and emerald,
the chrysolite, onyx, and jasper,
the sapphire, turquoise, and beryl;
your settings and mounts were made of gold.…

Mk 6:8f; Mt 10:10; Lk 9:3 – Staff, or no staff?

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Mk 6:8 He instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts—6:9 and to put on sandals but not to wear two tunics.

Mt 10:9f ‘”Do not take gold, silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for the journey, or an extra tunic, or sandals or staff, for the worker deserves his provisions.”‘

Lk 9:3 ‘He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, and do not take an extra tunic.”‘…