Hot answers tagged gospels
13
Two-thousand years ago a rabbi was a teacher and advisor but not, by himself, a legal authority. Questions of interpreting the law were argued in rabbinic courts, study halls, and ultimately the sanhedrin. The talmud is in large part a written record of those arguments. A typical argument might go as follows: R. Yehoshua said that the law (on some topic) ...
11
Manuscript Evidence
While the Codex Sinaiticus dates from the 4th century, other manuscript fragments date much earlier. The Greek unical codices provide important clues to the development of the Canon, but are less important as evidence of the date of composition. For instance, this is a fragment of the Gospel of John:
Dating the papyrus scrap is ...
11
The Hebrew phrase in Psalms 118:25 from which the Greek Hosanna (ὡσαννά) derives is actually two words: הוֹשִׁ֨יעָ֥ה נָּ֑א (hoshi'ah na):
הוֹשִׁ֨יעָ֥ה (hôšîâ) is Hiphil imperative masculine singular fromישׁע` (ysh'), which means to help, save, rescue.
נָּ֑א (na) is a particle which indicates urgency or sincerity, and takes different meanings based on ...
8
Although Jesus healed many, he did not heal everyone he came across, for example at the pool of Bethesda in John 5 there were "a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed", and we are told of Jesus healing one man.
The healings Jesus did perform were done both for reasons of compassion and to show that he is "the one who is to come" (ie the Messiah).
...
7
My reading of the Gospels—especially Mark—is that Jesus operated in grey territory from the perspective of human authority. For instance, right at the beginning of his ministry, the people were amazed at his authority:
And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.
—Mark ...
7
During the Intertestamental period, Judas the Maccabee (the Hammer) led a major revolt in Israel. This is the Hasmonean revolt (beginning in 167 BC). After Judah and the other Hasmoneans led the people to victory in a major battle, the people had a celebration. They cut off palm branches, waved them in the air, and shouted "Hosanna!"
Judah was killed in ...
6
The Wikipedia article Hosanna makes a reference to the Bauer Lexicon, explaining the etymology of the Greek word ὡσαννά:
derived from Aramaic (הושע נא) from Hebrew (הושיעה נא) (Psalm 118:25, הוֹשִׁיעָהנָּא), meaning "help" or "save, I pray", "an appeal that became a liturgical formula; as part of the Hallel... familiar to everyone in Israel."
So by the ...
6
There is one time when He visits Nazareth that might be like what you are asking. The Matthew and Mark accounts seem to be parallels.
Matthew 13:53-58 53 ¶ When Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there. 54 He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man ...
6
They are named that way by tradition and we cannot be 100% sure that the tradition is accurate.
While the early Christians say that Matthew was written in either Hebrew or Aramaic, more recent scholarship suggests otherwise. Our only sources, though, are from at least a half generation later.
The only evidence we have of Mark's authorship are writings ...
6
We could also probably argue the inverse of your question - that it became a symbol because of its usage in the Gospels, vs. being used in the Gospels because of its symbolism.
Note that at least four of Jesus' disciples (Peter, Andrew, James and John) came from a background of professional fishermen, and this was an extremely common profession in the ...
6
Ehrman is a fascinating scholar, swinging radically between perspectives throughout his career. He's obviously quite intelligent and it also seems like he wholeheartedly throws his entire being into his research, which is why you can account for such radical opinions. They become a part of his very being.
The primary medium by which information was ...
5
The Hebrew word שמיים (shamayim), which is translated into English, is what is known in Judaism as a כנוי (kinnui), or a "substitute," "nickname."
The reason why Matthew uses "kingdom of Heaven" more often than "kingdom of God" is because he wrote to a Jewish audience, and the Jews did not pronounce the Tetragrammaton יהוה, and sometimes not even the word ...
5
Some say the "Kingdom of Heaven" refers to the a physical/political kingdom on earth while the "Kingdom of God" is the spiritual, coming reign of Christ.
Arguments against the two being the same often come down to hair splitting and misinterpretation of verses. For example, the site listed above relies on a single verse in an attempt to say they are ...
5
The original washing of hand before eating applied only sanctified food such as to cohanim (descendents of Aaron) when eating trumah, Levites when eating maaser and to other people when eating maaser sheni in Jerusalem on the pilgrimage holidays of Passover, Weeks and Tabernacles.
About the time of Jesus, the Pharisees began a custom of eating hulin ...
4
I don't see an inherent conflict between these passages. Specifically, the John passage describes how both Andrew and Simon initially met Jesus; the Matthew passage describes how He called them as disciples. Matthew never claims that the event by the seashore was Jesus' first encounter with the brothers.
4
Jesus had the legal authority to cleanse the temple not because he was a rabbi but because he claimed to be like Solomon, the "Son of David" and thus the builder of God's house (2 Samuel 7). This is evident from a careful reading of the gospels through the lens of the Hebrew Bible.
In the synoptics the temple cleansing is immediately preceded by Jesus' ...
4
Judaism of the time expected two messiahs to come. One of them was called Messiah ben David, and he was to be a warrior king who would run the foreigners out of Judea and Galilee. Messiah ben David would restore the kingdom to the Israelites and reign from the throne as God's right hand. The other was Messiah ben Levi (sometimes called Messiah ben ...
4
Below are a few different entries for the Greek word ὡσαννά (copied from BibleWorks 8):
Friberg Lexicon
29106 ὡσαννά a particle transliterated from the Aramaic; strictly, a cry expressing an appeal for divine help save! help, we pray! in a liturgical usage, a shout of praise and worship hosanna, we praise you (MT 21.9)
Louw-Nida Lexicon
33.364 ...
4
Though Jesus was called 'Rabbi' the term was used in it's primitive meaning of 'great' one. He was not formally educated as a Rabbi[1] and had no earthly credential to teach as one, and certainly no man made institution gave him authority. He claimed it as his own Father's house [2], and they were unwilling to challenge him on it.
[1] Joh 7:15 And the ...
4
It seems that there were probably two incidents, one described in Matthew, Mark and John, and one described in Luke.
The accounts in Matthew, Mark, and John all seem to be one account:
All take place in Bethany
Mark and John both mention that it is pure nard
Mark and John both mention the figure of 300 denarii
In all three, some of the disciples are ...
3
Looking at the previous chapter in John, I think the text implies it was a single event. John 11:2 says:
This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.
John doesn't say, "one of the women..." but "the... one". This implies (to me) that it was a unique event.
2
The scriptural support for Jesus descending into Hell at all is weak:
http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/did-jesus-spend-saturday-in-hell
We don't want to put words in God's mouth, but the Bible doesn't give us any hope for Judah. In fact, Jesus calls him the one destined for destruction in John 17:12:
While I was with them, I protected them and ...
2
Beyond all possible doubt, the context is Christ as a High Priest. This is clear by a cursory review. Therefore, As we approach the High Priest's ministry we need to identify the prayers and supplications he performed -- then how they were answered.
The day of atonement brings the high point of this ministry into view. There were three beasts to be ...
2
The text says nothing about confusion or doubt. John knew from his infancy that Jesus was the promised Messiah. He knew from Jesus' baptism that He was also the God's Son, the King. But kings, messiahs, never do miracles. As Frank says, many Jews interpreted the prophecies to mean that both a new David and a new Moses would come. But was Jesus also the new ...
2
An alternative answer:
The NT is not a history, neither were the apostles historians nor were their followers. The intent of the writings is to transmit a religious message, not to record historical fact. So even if the oral transmission was reliable, the motivation and the outlook of the authors was not historical.
Besides the oral transmission of the ...
2
In the case of Moses the manna is clear. In dire straights God provided what was needed to be sustained in a desert without food and water. God preserved them. Therefore ‘man shall not live by bread alone’ means man must rely on God who gives life and sustains life in providing anything we need.
In the case of Jesus, He is referring to the manna as God’s ...
2
According to the gospel account by John, Jesus was asking for clarification from Pilate through a rhetorical question. That is, Jesus was clarifying with Pilate as to whether or not the indictment was second-hand (i.e., is it that others say that I am a King of the Jews?) versus Pilate himself. In other words, was the indictment because Rome saw Jesus as a ...
2
I'm going to focus on just the explanation of the parable of the sower and not (for the moment) consider other explanations. Conveniently, that text is found in all three Synoptic gospels. Assuming Mark was the first written, we can get a pretty good idea of how Matthew handled the material:
When you look at the diffs, the changes are:
Plural => ...
1
Among the commentaries there is some disagreement as to whether the first offering of wine was in kindness with a wine mixed with frankincense or other herb (in relation to Proverbs 31:6-7 which advised to give strong drink to the condemned), or that both wines were the simply the cheap common Roman sour wine often drank by soldiers. In either case, it does ...
1
The Lord Jesus' use of the text, taken in the wider context of his teachings, is perfectly aligned with the original account of the manna in Exodus 16, and also with Moses' epexegetical comments, when they are understood in their context.
The Giving of the Manna
The people were truly, legitimately hungry.
Yahweh had just delivered them from Egypt, and ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
