Hot answers tagged luke
18
There's a condition known as Hematidrosis, which has reportedly occurred in people other than Jesus.
It could be metaphorical, but the "easy reading" of that passage suggests it's not, and I don't know that there's any outside sources to suggest that we shouldn't take it to mean he literally sweat blood.
13
One thing to remember here is that Luke was a physician. He knew (should have known?) his symptoms. This does not preclude the metaphoric interpretation, but it does give the literal interpretation a lot more credence in this case. Even if it was not something he had seen before, it makes it far less likely that he would describe it this way in error.
13
No, I don't think we are dealing with a case of "Oh, this doesn't line up with everything else Jesus said, therefore..."
However, I will say we need the entirety of Luke 14 to make sense of this gnarly truth that Jesus is making.
To start off, don't overlook the fact that Luke 14:26 includes more than family members - it also includes ourselves -
If ...
10
Was the Luke of Colossians the author of Luke/Acts?
Probably. As the two volumes do not themselves include the author's name, we can't be sure that the author was named Luke at all. However, Luke is only mentioned 3 times in Paul's letters and there is no indication there that he was a particularly prominent personage. Therefore, any external evidence ...
10
There have been several proposed reconciliations of the Matthew and Luke genealogies. Among the popular ones are:
Matthew's genealogy traces legal heirs; Luke's traces biological ancestors.
Matthew's genealogy traces the ancestry of Joseph; Luke's traces the ancestry of Mary. This view takes the phrase "as was supposed of Joseph" in 3:23 as a parenthetical ...
10
According to the notes on the NET Bible:
This is one of the hardest verses in the gospels to interpret. Various views exist for what generation means. (1) Some take it as meaning “race” and thus as an assurance that the Jewish race (nation) will not pass away. But it is very questionable that the Greek term γενεά (genea) can have this meaning. Two other ...
9
I decided to build a canonical answer to this question, since it seemed that all three answers had something to offer.
Greek and Hebrew
The Hebrew word yare (Strongs H3372) carries a number of meanings. There is both the definition being "terrified" or "afraid" along with the definition of having "reverence", "awe", or "respect".
In Greek, the word ...
8
The NET Bible includes this textual criticism note:
Several important Greek mss (Ì75 א1 A B N T W 579 1071*) along with diverse and widespread versional witnesses lack 22:43-44. In addition, the verses are placed after Matt 26:39 by Ë13. Floating texts typically suggest both spuriousness and early scribal impulses to regard the verses as historically ...
8
Their responses seem similar and I don't believe it's possible to examine the language and come with the phrasing that leads to the rebuke. His mirrors Gen 15:8 which is not received as harshly.
In comparison with Mary's response while hers seems more technical ("How is this going to happen?" - which perhaps implies a belief in something supernatural ...
7
While punctuation did not exist in the original manuscripts, there are good reasons for preferring in our translations the rendering, "Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise."
Here are several arguments in support of this conclusion:
In "I say unto thee today," the word "today" is rather superfluous. Quite clearly Jesus is talking ...
7
I've often heard that 'fear' as in 'fear the LORD' should not be understood to be 'fear' as in 'afraid', but rather 'awe' and 'reverence'.
But myself, I want to be cautious about watering down the 'fear' as in 'afraid' side, because:
I feel a sort of cultural pressure to do so which I think I then read back into the bible
There are usages that clearly ...
6
---- Answer just looking at Luke 14:26 ----
According to Thayler's lexicon, (as I understand (in the below scan) .. people in the culture were really much like modern Italians and Greeks, and it was common to both love and hate something at the same time, so the greek word used could be interpreted 'love less than':
Also from Vine's Expository Dictionary ...
6
"Paradise" is a transliteration of παράδεισος, a word used only three times in the New Testament. Furthermore, the context of each of the three uses is different from the others, and by three different authors.
In 2 Corinthians 12:4 it appears to parallel or point to the term "third heaven" in verse 2. Since God is apparently immediately present there, ...
6
No. You'd have to ignore Acts 1:1 which states first that it is a sequel to a prior account and secondly names Theophilus as the intended audience. That is the same person named in Luke 1:3.
Acts 1:1 The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach,
Luk 1:1-4 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an ...
6
Jesus always uses the mustard seed to represent something small. The mustard seed was popularly known to be the smallest of all seeds.1 Of course, it also has the property of being a seed (i.e. it germinates), but that part of the metaphor is not unique to being a mustard seed. There is no record of Jesus using any other of the mustard seed's unique ...
5
In Dr. Thomas Constable's commentary (click the "Constable's Notes" tab), he posits a fourth option:
Jesus’ assessed Zaccheus’ promises as an evidence of saving faith.
Salvation had come to that house because Zaccheus had exercised saving
faith and had thereby proved to be a genuine descendant of Abraham,
the spiritual father of all believers. His ...
5
First, I should note that other translations make clear that Simeon was specifically taking about a sword piercing someone's soul:
And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that ...
5
Tithing was an institute of the Mosaic Law and consisted of agricultural produce and reared livestock (Lv 27:30-33). The Israelites offered the tithe to the landless Levites who in turn offered a tenth of the tithe to the Aaronic priesthood (Nm 18:26-28). Unlike the other tribes, the Levites were denied any inheritance or land ownership in Israel. They were, ...
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 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
According to wikipedia, there is no name of the person who was the Roman Governor of Syria listed for the time specific period in question (4-1 BC). Is it possible that an individual with the cognomen of "Quirinius" was governor for the time in question?
Please note that...
Gaius Sentius Saturninus was governor between 9-7/6 AD
Lucius Volusius Saturninus ...
4
Eschatology makes hypocrites of us all. The most figurative book in the Bible is interpreted literally, and literal texts are interpreted figuratively to meet our preconceived expectations, making a secondary issue into one of the most incendiary.
Using methods of sensus plenior:
Matthew writes in a Hebrew form similar to poetry, but has nothing to do with ...
4
A Generation is 40 years in Bible. Here are some examples.
Numbers 32:13 (ESV) - And the Lord's anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone.
Deuteronomy 1:34-36 (ESV) - And the Lord heard your words and was angered, and he swore, ‘Not ...
4
Speculation: there is precedent for old people having children (Avraham and Sarah), so perhaps Zechariah should have had faith that if (1) it happened before and (2) an angel of God is telling him it will happen for him, he should accept it. On the other hand, a virgin giving birth is a new situation.
(I am taking the translation in the question at face ...
4
The way I always have read that is that Luke 22:36 is meant to be taken metaphorically: "Dangerous times are coming and you must be prepared." But as usual, the disciples don't get it. A possible parallel situation is:
Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; ...
4
The name “Theophilus” may indicate a primarily Gentile audience, perhaps in Rome, given its decidedly Greek nature and that Luke’s account ends with Paul’s arrival in Rome. However, Theophilus could have just as easily been a diaspora Jew living in Rome. Heinz Joachim Held takes this perspective further by hypothesizing that Luke’s intent was to reach the ...
4
Actually, I don't know of any Christian denomination or individual that tithes according to the Torah of Moshe. Tithing (עישור) is a relatively complicated process in Judaism, and of course, it's hardly (if at all) practical without a Temple. If Jews cannot tithe without the Temple, then Christians certainly cannot.
With that being said, the general concept ...
4
Whatever the solution to this problem, and there are good solutions, It appears to me that Luke mentions Quirinius at least in part to connect Jesus’ birth in the mind of his original readers with the census of A.D. 6. Here’s why
The census that year sparked a major Jewish revolt. Luke knows of this event because he refers to it in Acts 5:37.
After this ...
3
Could they have innovated separately?
Certainly, but they didn't as "apolgias" were common in those days. Unbiased accounts of history are as much a myth then as today. They did not report just to report. History was written for a purpose. Luke tells us straight out in Luke and Acts that he is writing to show what Jesus began to do and teach and what ...
3
Carrier's thesis1 is highly improbable. He overstates the similarities between Luke and Josephus, and ignores the possibility that the similarities that do exist could be the result of two historians writing as contemporaries.
Carrier makes several claims in his conclusion. I'll discuss a few of them:
Luke-Acts was written in the late 1st or early 2nd ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
