Grateful we can be confident in God’s true and living Word that is without error. Thankful He chose to impart it to us. May we never forget what a treasure it is.
Thank you for this, Justin! Very clear and well stated. I love this - "We should actually expect such differences if the accounts were not the product of collusion." I couldn't agree more. If the whole Bible was made up by some people gathered in a room somewhere, it would be odd to find the variations we do. I was sharing with my class today about the resurrection, and how, if Luke was making it up, he shouldn't have started with the women coming to the tomb. But if that is what actually happened, then it makes total sense. He wasn't trying to sell us something. He was simply recording what actually happened.
I also appreciate your point on the emphasis of the Gospel writers. If they are 4 neutral biographies, we would have more questions. But the Gospels are not photographs. Instead each writer was given permission to "paint" Jesus with their brush of choice. Matthew's Gospel leans on the "Messiah and King" brush. Mark paints boldly with the brush of "Suffering." (And so on). We can understand Jesus from each, but the picture is so much greater when we have all 4.
Amen! Thanks for the feedback. Great point regarding Luke. If they were making up the gospels, then there are a lot of counterproductive details that wouldn’t make sense.
This was a great read Justin and I love a good "apologetics" lesson!
In particular, I love the first paragraph under Manuscript Variations - I would imagine we all think of the Bible in terms of how we have read it for decades (type-written/printed); never stopping to think of what writers did prior to computers and typewriters and printers.
Grateful we can be confident in God’s true and living Word that is without error. Thankful He chose to impart it to us. May we never forget what a treasure it is.
Thank you for this, Justin! Very clear and well stated. I love this - "We should actually expect such differences if the accounts were not the product of collusion." I couldn't agree more. If the whole Bible was made up by some people gathered in a room somewhere, it would be odd to find the variations we do. I was sharing with my class today about the resurrection, and how, if Luke was making it up, he shouldn't have started with the women coming to the tomb. But if that is what actually happened, then it makes total sense. He wasn't trying to sell us something. He was simply recording what actually happened.
I also appreciate your point on the emphasis of the Gospel writers. If they are 4 neutral biographies, we would have more questions. But the Gospels are not photographs. Instead each writer was given permission to "paint" Jesus with their brush of choice. Matthew's Gospel leans on the "Messiah and King" brush. Mark paints boldly with the brush of "Suffering." (And so on). We can understand Jesus from each, but the picture is so much greater when we have all 4.
Those are a couple thoughts I have. Carry on!
Amen! Thanks for the feedback. Great point regarding Luke. If they were making up the gospels, then there are a lot of counterproductive details that wouldn’t make sense.
This is good Justin
What a great article! Appreciate your work in this, especially for this time er are living in where we need to have solid answers.
Thank you Brandee, I greatly appreciate the kind words.
This was a great read Justin and I love a good "apologetics" lesson!
In particular, I love the first paragraph under Manuscript Variations - I would imagine we all think of the Bible in terms of how we have read it for decades (type-written/printed); never stopping to think of what writers did prior to computers and typewriters and printers.