Bible Difficulties (82 page)

Too much should not be made of the precise official status. But we do know that between 12 B.C. and 2 B.C., Quirinius was engaged in a systematic reduction of rebellious mountaineers in the highlands of Pisidia (Tenney,
Zondervan Pictorial
Encyclopedia
, 5:6), and that he was therefore a highly placed military figure in the Near East in the closing years of the reign of Herod the Great. In order to secure efficiency and 372

dispatch, it may well have been that Augustus put Quirinius in charge of the census-enrollment in the region of Syria just at the transition period between the close of Saturninus's administration and the beginning of Varus's term of service in 7 B.C. It was doubtless because of his competent handling of the 7 B.C. census that Augustus later put him in charge of the A.D. 7 census.

As for the lack of secular reference to a general census for the entire Roman Empire at this time, this presents no serious difficulty. Kingsley Davis (
Encyclopaedia Britannica
, 14th ed., 5:168) states: "Every five years the Romans enumerated citizens and their property to determine their liabilities. This practice was extended to include the entire Roman Empire in 5 B.C."

Why is "in spirit" lacking in the Lucan version of the first beatitude?

Matthew 5:3 gives the first beatitude as "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." But in the parallel statement of Luke 6:20, Christ simply says,

"Blessed are you poor people, for yours is the kingdom of God." Is there a real discrepancy here? Not at all! These are two different speeches, given on two different occasions, in two different settings.

As the term "Sermon on the Mount" implies, Matthew 5-7 was delivered on a mountainside in Galilee. It was addressed primarily to Jesus' disciples rather than to the multitude as a whole (cf. Matt. 5:1). The setting for the somewhat condensed version of the Beatitudes as recorded in Luke was not on any mountain but on a plain (
epi topou
pedinou
-- Luke 6:17). It was not addressed to the limited circle of disciples but to a large multitude of disciples and a great throng of people from all parts of Judea, Jerusalem, Tyre, and Sidon--hence a far different audience. Matthew's second beatitude appears in a greatly altered form as Luke's third. Matthew's third does not appear in Luke at all.

Matthew's fourth is Luke's second, with the omission of "and thirst for righteousness."

Matthew's fifth, sixth, and seventh are missing in Luke altogether; and Matthew's eighth appears as Luke's fourth, in a considerably altered form. Nothing could be clearer than that these were two different messages, delivered at different times. Hence there can be no discrepancy involved here at all.

How can Luke 11:23 be reconciled with Luke 9:50?

Luke 11:23 reads (with Christ speaking): "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth." Luke 9:50, however, quotes Jesus as saying,

"Forbid him not, for he that is not against us is for us." The latter dictum seems much more charitable and kindly than the former.

The difficulty is greatly alleviated by the fact that virtually all the Greek manuscripts that are older than the eighth century A.D. do not read "against us...for us" (
kath' hemon
...

hyper hemon
) but rather "against you...for you" (
kath hymon
...
hyper hymon
). In other words, prior to that, all available evidence is for the reading "you." (The reason for this confusion is that by the eighth century these two Greek words of such different meaning 373

were pronounced exactly the same--
emon
--and are so pronounced by modern Greeks even to this day. There is a considerable difference between Christ Himself and His disciples, and there is therefore no contradiction whatever between the two statements.

However, it should be noted that even if "us" had been the true, original reading in Luke 9:50, there would have been no true contradiction. The reason for this is that the whole preceding context of Luke 11:23 is a series of hostilities and oppositions: Christ versus Beelzebul (v.15); kingdom against kingdom (v.17); Satan imagined to be in opposition to himself (v.18); a powerful householder set in a posture of defense against a would-be intruder or burglar (v.21). It is against this background that Christ says, "He that is not with me is against me." His hearers (some of whom had suggested that Jesus' healing power came from Satan) needed to be faced with the fateful decision that confronted them as they saw His miracles and heard His teaching. They had to commit themselves either to Christ or to Satan. They needed to understand that unless a person is really on Christ's side, his life leads to dissolution and tragic failure.

In the context of Luke 9:50, however, the question at issue is whether a (presumably sincere) believer not a member of the apostolic band should be allowed to cast out demons from a demoniac in the name of Jesus. Our Lord answered that in such a case, even though the exorcist was not one of the inner circle, he still believed in Christ just about as the twelve disciples; and he was therefore really to be acknowledged and encouraged as one of their own party. From this perspective, then, one who preached or attempted healings in the name of Jesus
was for
them and should not be regarded as against them. Thus there is no contradiction whatever between these two statements when considered in their own contexts--whether we read "for us" or "for you."

How could the dying thief be with Christ in paradise on the day of his death?

Luke 23:43 records Christ's promise to the repentant thief who hung on an adjacent cross: "Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise." But was it not until the following Monday that Christ rose from the grave and ascended to heaven? If Christ Himself was not in paradise until Sunday, how could the repentant thief have been there with him? The answer lies in the location of "paradise" on Good Friday.

Apparently paradise was not exalted to heaven until Easter Day. Jesus apparently refers to it in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus as "Abraham's Bosom," to which the godly beggar Lazarus was carried by the angels after his decease (Luke 16:19-31). Thus

"Abraham's Bosom" referred to the place where the souls of the redeemed waited till the day of Christ's resurrection. Presumably this was the same place as paradise. It was not yet lifted up to heaven but it may well have been a section of hades (Heb.
se'ol
), reserved for believers who had died in the faith but who would not be admitted into the glorious presence of God in heaven until the price of redemption had been actually paid on Calvary.

Doubtless it was to the infernal paradise that the souls of Jesus and the repentant thief repaired after they each died on Friday afternoon. But then on Easter Sunday, after the 374

risen Christ had first appeared to Mary Magdalene (John 20:17) and her two companions (Matt. 28:9), presumably He then took up with Him to glory all the inhabitants of infernal paradise (including Abraham, Lazarus, and the repentant thief). We read in Ephesians 4:8

concerning Christ: "Ascending on high, He led captivity captive; He gave gifts unto men." Verse 9 continues: " But what does `He ascended' mean but that he also descended to the lowest parts of the earth?"--i.e., to hades. Verse 10 adds: "He who descended is the same as He who ascended above all the heavens." Presumably He led the whole band of liberated captives from hades (i.e., the whole population of preresurrection paradise) up to the glory of the highest heaven, the abode of the Triune God.

375

John

How can John 5:28-29 be reconciled with the gospel of grace?

John 5:28-29 reads: "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out--those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned" (NIV). Such a pronouncement as this, when taken out of context, might seem to establish the principle that men are saved by good works, by deeds of the law, rather than by grace through faith. But taken in its own context, it becomes clear that Jesus did not intend to preach salvation through good works, but only to furnish a valid criterion for
saving
faith. In v.24 of the same passage, He had affirmed, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life" (NIV). The requirement for salvation involves careful attention to Christ's word and faith in God, who sent His Son to save sinners from death.

In order to grasp what Jesus meant here by doing good and doing evil, we must remember that it is God's viewpoint rather than man's that finally determines what is good and what is evil. Whatever man does in his own interest or for his own credit or glory is devoid of true goodness in God's eyes, no matter how helpful or admirable it may seem to the human observer. "The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:7-8). From God's standpoint, then, no unconverted person is capable of performing a good work. It is only as the indwelling Spirit of Christ takes control of the heart, head, and hand of the born-again believer that a truly good work is accomplished.

And it is good only because God is the one who performs it, working through a yielded human instrument (Rom. 6:12-14).

Yet it should be observed that the fruit of genuine faith is good works, not merit-earning good works, of course, but Christ-expressing and Christ-glorifying good works. As the Epistle of James makes clear, a counterfeit faith is of no value before God; but a true faith will be a working faith. "Faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, `You have faith, and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works" (James 2:17-18, NASB).

This principle pervades Christ's teaching throughout the Gospels. In Matthew 7 the Sermon on the Mount closes with a contrast between the foolish man who heard Christ's teaching but failed to carry it out and the wise man who faithfully obeyed the teaching of his Lord. In the previous paragraph Jesus described the sorry plight of those at the final judgment who would come before Him and plead their own good works, even though ostensibly performed in Christ's name and service, as a ground for admission to heaven.

Because they have not truly done "the will of My Father who is in heaven" (v.21) by sincerely submitting their heart to the Lord, the verdict for them is "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness" (v.23, NASB). All their ostensibly good works performed in Christ's name go for nothing, because they have been going about to 376

establish their own righteousness (Rom. 10:3) rather than yielding their "members as instruments of righteousness unto God" (Romans 6:13).

In other words, the Lord insists that a true and living faith expresses itself in deeds of righteousness and love that are motivated and directed by His Spirit. In the memorable scene described by Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46, He sits as judge over the entire professing church, made up of believers from every nation ("all the nations will be gathered before Him," not, of course, to be judged as national units, but as individual Christians from every nation), and applies the test of godly behavior to gauge the sincerity of faith. All before Him are professing Christians, for they all address Him as "Lord" and suppose that He considers them His own. But only those who have expressed His love and compassion by feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger with hospitality, clothing the naked, and visiting those imprisoned for righteousness' sake (vv.

35-36) have displayed a true and living faith. They have shown all these kindnesses as unto the Lord Himself, out of a sincere love for Him. Those who have failed to carry out His will by a life of kindly service to others--and especially to those of the household of faith ("the least of these My brethren") betray a counterfeit faith that is not unto salvation.

They are therefore appointed a portion in hell, along with all other hypocrites (cf. Matt.

24:51; 25:46).

From this perspective we are in a better position to understand 2 Corinthians 5:10: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad" (NIV). In this latter passage we are not dealing with counterfeit professors of the faith but rather with the evaluation of the fruitfulness and faithfulness of each born-again believer during his years of stewardship on earth. The appropriate reward and status in heaven will be awarded by Christ to each servant of His according to the measure of the servant's faithfulness and zeal.

The same principle obtains at the judgment of the Great White Throne in Revelation 20:12. The time locus of this judgment is at the close of the Millennium, and so there is a need to pass judgment on those of the newer generations who have grown up during the Millennium itself. While all the earth will be subject to the authority of Christ during that thousand-year period, there will be some who will outwardly conform to the Christian ethic and profess to love the Lord but will never have been truly born again. These will have performed no works recognized by Christ as truly "good". It is for this reason that the heaven-kept books of record will be consulted as each soul comes before the Lord for judgment, not only those books that record the sins of the unsaved, but also "the book of life" (v.12), which contains the names of the sincere believers of the centuries of the Millennium. All will be judged "according to their deeds," to be sure; but only those who are truly regenerate followers of Christ will have any "good deeds" entered on their record, deeds that are genuinely good because they are the works of God performed through His yielded instruments. As Jesus said to the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:17,

"There is none good but God." Therefore there are no good works except those that are done by the Lord Himself through truly surrendered believers.