Just thought you might like to see Sean’s list (or the .pdf file of Sean’s hard verses list) of verses he wants explained. I find these verses cropping up in all kinds of places on the web, in conversation, with doubters and in Bible studies. Why? For most of the past 200 years Jewish background studies of the New Testament were negligible. The gospels are Jewish documents, not Greek or Roman. Everything must be filtered through authors who wrote to Jews. None wrote to a Gentile audience. Luke may come closest since he is a gentile, but never forget that Christianity in it’s infancy was a Jewish cult. Jesus went to the Jews. “He went to that which was his own but his own received him not!” John 1:10.

Jesus is a Jewish Rabbi. You can read Geza Vermes brilliant outline of Jesus the Jew to see how this is so true. Vermes is not a Christian, but a Jewish scholar fascinated by Jesus, yet remaining in unbelief. If you cannot see Jesus using Rabbinical teaching methods or teaching through a Jewish lens on the world, many of his teachings are bizarre and contradictory.  For instance. “hate your mother”, he says. This is simple hyperbole or exaggeration to get a point across about your devotion to God. “Carry your cross,” is again a mystical view of the greatness of living for Christ in the face of overwhelming odds against living for Christ. Jesus poses questions and riddles to people who are seeking his identity. He does exactly what Rabbi’s do all through history. In Luke 20:1-5, Jesus doesn’t answer the question about where he gets his authority or who sponsors him. He poses a riddle about John the Baptist. He’s helping the Pharisees to see their ladder of inference, their basis for their assumptions. Of course, they don’t, but that’s his point. Self-delusion blinds people to his identity.

And today is no exception. People are so full of themselves and their ability to discern truth that questioning their assumptions is sacrosanct. NADA! Don’t go there. We are supposed to allow people to make up their beliefs and then coddle them with ooh’s and ahh’s at their high sounding arguments. “I’m not exclusive!” “How can I believe in a God who wipes out thousands of Philistines or kills his own son?” “I’m a Buddhist Christian!” Sounds profound, but of course, Jesus would ask a question in return or prod them with a parable. (Maybe the parable of Lazarus and the rich man might work. The rich man made up his religion, lived for himself and ended up on the short side of the chasm. The beggar understood a need for God, as he was stripped of any sense of self aggrandizement in his poverty.)

So, if you want to probe Sean’s Hard Verses List, (or in .pdf format)go ahead. See how my friend is thinking. If you are interested in more theological discussion check out “FAbricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospel,” by Mark Evans. He’s not a hyper ventilating apologeticist, but a theo-historian with a pragmatic and comprehensive view of the first Century world Jesus and other Jews inhabited. You may also want to read, “Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus (Hinges of History)”, by Thomas Cahill.

Anyone who reads the New Testament must understand the division between Paul and all the others. Remember, he’s the only apostle who understood the mystery of the gospel.

Romans 16:24-26 (New International Version)

²⁵Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, ²⁶but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him—