Category Archives: Tough texts

2 Thess 1:9 – ‘Eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord’

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2 Thess 1:9 ‘They will undergo the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength,’

The apostle reassures his readers that God will reward afflicted believers with rest, and that he will punish the afflictors with eternal destruction on the day of judgement.

Two aspects of the present verse are relevant in debates about the duration and nature of eternal punishment.

1. Does ‘eternal destruction’ imply,

(a) everlasting torment, or

(b) annihilation after a period of suffering?…

Matthew 21:7 – One animal or two?

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Matthew 21:7 ‘They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.’

The Triumphal Entry is also recorded in Mark 11 and Luke 19.  Only Matthew, however, mentions that there were two animals.

Matthew’s account raises a couple of questions.

1. Does Matthew means that:

(a) Jesus sat on both animals at the same time or in succession?  This (especially the first option) would imply an absurdity on the part of Matthew, and can be set aside.  …

Mk 15:42-47 – Would Jesus’ body have been ‘placed in a tomb’?

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Mark 15:42 Now when evening had already come, since it was the day of preparation (that is, the day before the Sabbath), 15:43 Joseph of Arimathea, a highly regarded member of the council, who was himself looking forward to the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 15:44 Pilate was surprised that he was already dead. He called the centurion and asked him if he had been dead for some time.…

Mt 12:28/Lk 11:20 – Has the kingdom already come?

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Matthew 12:28 – “If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has already overtaken you.’

Luke 11:20 – “If I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has already overtaken you.”

This saying has featured prominently in scholarly discussion about the kingdom of God.  If ephthasen is correctly translated as ‘has come’, as most scholars think, then the kingdom was to be regarded, in at least some important senses, as present. …

Matthew 17:27 – the fish and the coin

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Matthew 17:24 After they arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Your teacher pays the double drachma tax, doesn’t he?” 17:25 He said, “Yes.” When Peter came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly kings collect tolls or taxes—from their sons or from foreigners?” 17:26 After he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free.…

Romans 2:1 – ‘You are without excuse, whoever you are’

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2:1  Therefore you are without excuse, whoever you are, when you judge someone else. For on whatever grounds you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.

Who is this judgemental person?

Some think that Paul is directly addressing some in the Roman church:

‘When Paul’s letter was read in the Roman church, no doubt many heads nodded as he condemned idol worshippers, homosexual practices, and violent people. But what surprise his listeners must have felt when he turned on them and said in effect, “You have no excuse.

…

John 16:5 – “Not one of you is asking me, ‘Where are you going?'”

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16:5 But now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking me, ‘Where are you going?’

Some scholars think they have detected a contradiction between Jesus’ words recorded here and those recorded in Jn 13:36 and Jn 14:5.

Did the disciples ask Jesus where he was going, or did they not?

Ehrman (Jesus, Interrupted) writes:

‘One of my favorite apparent discrepancies—I read John for years without realizing how strange this one is—comes in Jesus’ “Farewell Discourse,” the last address that Jesus delivers to his disciples, at his last meal with them, which takes up all of chapters 13 to 17 in the Gospel according to John.

…

John 15:25 – ‘The Spirit…who goes out from the Father’

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John 15:26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.”

A long doctrinal debate about the ‘procession of the Holy Spirit’ has centred on this expression.  The idea of the Holy .Spirit’s ‘procession’ from the Father was understood in ontological terms.  To the basic formula the Western church added the ‘filioque’ (‘and the Son’) clause, and this was a point of division between the Eastern and Western branches of the church. …

Luke 22:44 – ‘His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground’

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Luke 22:44 And in his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

The first thing to note is that vv43-44 are text-critically disputed.  Garland, along with others, considers the debate finely balanced.  I shall proceed on the assumption of their authenticity.

1. ‘Bloody sweat’ affirmed

Some old writers, and some modern apologists, eager to squeeze the last drop(!) out of this passage, take it to mean that Jesus actually sweated drops of blood.…

Matthew 2:11 – ‘Gold, frankincense, and myrrh’

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2:11 As [the magi] came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, they bowed down and worshiped him. They opened their treasure boxes and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Summary.  Rather than supposing that the gifts brought by the magi carry symbolic meaning, it is probably better to view them as gifts ‘fit for a king’.

Do the gifts have symbolic meaning?  I have some hesitation about this, but I’ll put this out as a gentle warning to my fellow-preachers anyway.…