Category Archives: Tough texts

Acts 4:13 – Were the first disciples illiterate?

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Acts 4:13 ‘When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and discovered that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus.’

Terms such as those translated ‘uneducated’ and ‘ordinary’ were sometimes used of illiterate persons, leading some sceptics to conclude that such men could not have written the letters ascribed to them.

Sceptics such as Bart Ehrman take agrammatoi to mean that Peter and John were illiterate, and that they could not therefore have penned the NT documents attributed to them. …

Matthew 2:6 “Bethlehem…in no way least”

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Matthew 2:4 After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, [Herod] asked them where the Christ was to be born. 2:5 “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they said, “for it is written this way by the prophet:
2:6 And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are in no way least among the rulers of Judah,
for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

1. Some think that Matthew has deliberately reversed the meaning of the Micah text. …

Genesis 1 & 2 – Two creation accounts

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Why do the first two chapters of Genesis give two very different accounts of creation?

A sceptical approach is to say that they are contradictory, and therefore neither can be relied on as divinely inspired.

Among believers, an attempt is quite often made to fit the two together by making the account in chapter 2 part of the events of Day 6 as recorded in chapter 1.

Another approach is to regard the narrative in chapter 2 as introductory to the longer narrative about the Fall:

‘Many writers have sought to find a second creation story in Gn.

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Mt 28; Mk 16; Lk 24; Jn 20 – Do the resurrection accounts add up?

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[This is an update of a piece first posted in 2013]

The difficulties involved in reconciling the details of the resurrection narrative of the four Evangelists are well known.

Let us begin with the question of how many women went to the tomb.

Mt 28:1 Now after the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

Mk 16:1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought aromatic spices so that they might go and anoint him.…

Mt 16:23; Mk 8:33 – “Get behind me, Satan!’

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Mt 16:23 ‘He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.”’

Mk 8:32f ‘Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 8:33 But after turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.”’

The actual words of Peter’s rebuke are recorded in Mt 16:22 – “God forbid, Lord!…

Colossians 1:15 – ‘The firstborn over all creation’

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Col 1:15  ‘He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.’

How can Paul use ‘firstborn’ language here? Does this mean that he conceives of Christ as simply the first thing that God created?

In the 4th century, the Arians taught that Jesus was the highest-ranking being in God’s creation.  He was above the rest of creation, but below God himself in rank and divinity.

This heresy is followed today by the Jehovah’s Witnesses.  …

John 19:14, etc. – On which day of the week was Jesus crucified?

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The story of the last week of Jesus’ earthly life (‘Holy Week’, or ‘Passion Week’) is told in great detail in the four Gospels.

But there are some apparent discrepancies which sceptics seize on in order to undermine the historical accuracy of the narrative.

For example, Judith Redman supposes that she is speaking for many when she states that

‘scholars who have looked at what we can know about the historical Jesus from the Gospels have generally decided that the answer is “not much”.’

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Mt 13/Mk 4/Lk 8 – Why did Jesus speak in parables?

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The so-called ‘Parable of the Sower’ is recorded in all three Synoptic Gospels.  And, in each case, the parable itself is followed by an explanation by Jesus of why he taught in parables.

Luke’s is the briefest account, followed by Mark’s and then Matthew’s:

Lk 8:9-10
8:9 Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. 8:10 He said, “You have been given the opportunity to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that although they see they may not see, and although they hear they may not understand.”
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Luke 21:24 – Israel to become an independent state?

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‘Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.’

This is the one passage in the NT that seems to speak of the return of Jerusalem to the custody of the Jews.

For some, the ‘times of the Gentiles’ came to an end on 14th May, 1948, when Israel became an independent state, or Jane 1967, with the capture of East Jerusalem.

For Derek White, of Christian Friends of Israel, there is no doubt:

‘The plain meaning of these words of Jesus is that the imposition of Gentile rule and possession of Jerusalem is to have an end, and that it will come again into the possession of the Jewish people as their Capital.

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Luke 21:18 – “Not a hair on your head will perish”

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This difficult saying has been understood in various ways:-

1. Some, such as Barnes, think that this is a promise of supernatural protection to a particular people at a particular time.  Barnes thinks that this was fulfilled at the time of the fall of Jerusalem, when it has been thought that Christians suffered no serious harm.  But Kidner (commenting on Psa 121:7f) notes that

‘God’s minutest care (‘not a hair of your head will perish’) and his servants’ deepest fulfilment (‘you will win true life’, NEB) are promised in the same breath as the prospect of hounding and martyrdom (Luke 21:16f.).’

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