Bart; Jesus, Interrupted Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (and Why We Dont Know About Them)

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.Jesus then says, And come, followme but note: following Jesus comes only after the man will haveinherited heavenly treasure by giving all away.I wonder what would have happened if the same man had comeup to Paul, twenty years later.If Paul were asked how someone couldhave eternal life, would he have said, Keep the commandments ?Not Paul.The commandments have nothing to do with it.Jesusdeath and resurrection do.Would Paul have said that giving awayall he owned would earn him treasure in heaven? No way.Only faithin Jesus could bring eternal life.One can t argue that Jesus was talking about salvation before hisdeath, and Paul about salvation afterward, because Matthew waswriting after Paul.Moreover, in Matthew, Jesus is talking aboutthe last judgment, which obviously would take place after his deathand resurrection.And so the problem is this: if Matthew s Jesus wasright, that keeping the law and loving others as yourself could bringsalvation, how could Paul be right that doing these things were ir-relevant for attaining salvation?A Mass of Variant Views 93SEVERAL OTHER DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVESIN THE NEW TESTAMENTThere are other large and small differences in the books of the NewTestament.The best way to cite a few examples is by asking pointedquestions.Why Did Jesus Die?The death of Jesus is central to both Paul and to each of the Gospelwriters.But why did he die? And what relation did his death have tosalvation? The answer depends on which author you read.Mark is clear that Jesus death brought about an atonement for sin.As Jesus himself states in an early chapter of Mark: The Son of Mancame not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransomfor many (Mark 10:45).The death of Jesus ransoms others from thedebt they owe to God because of sin; it is an atoning sacrifice.Luke used Mark s Gospel as a source for his own, adding, deleting,and altering Mark s words as he saw fit.And what did he do withthis current verse? He completely deleted it.Why would Luke deletethe verse? Possibly he has a different understanding of Jesus death.In this connection it is striking that in Mark, the evidence thatJesus death brought an atonement is found immediately after Jesusdies, when the curtain in the Temple is ripped in half, showing thatin Jesus death people have access to God.But Luke changes thetiming: the ripping of the curtain occurs while Jesus is still living.Many scholars think this is significant: the ripping of the curtain nolonger signifies the atoning significance of Jesus death but the judg-ment of God on the Temple of the Jews, a symbolic statement that itwill be destroyed.So what is the reason for Jesus death in Luke? The matter be-comes clearer in Luke s second volume, the book of Acts, where theapostles preach about the salvation that has come in Christ in orderto convert others to the faith.In none of these missionary sermons is94 j e s u s , i n t e r r u p t e dthere a single word about Jesus death being an atonement.Instead,the constant message is that people are guilty for rejecting the onesent from God and having him killed.The death of the innocent one(Jesus) should make people repent of their sins and turn to God, sohe can forgive them (see Acts 2:36 38; 3:17 19).Luke s view is thatsalvation comes not through an atoning sacrifice but by forgivenessthat comes from repentance.8But aren t atonement and forgiveness the same thing? Not at all.It s like this.Suppose you owe me a hundred dollars but can t pay.There are a couple of ways the problem could be solved.Someoneelse (a friend, your brother, your parents) could pay the hundred dol-lars for you.That would be like atonement: someone else pays yourpenalty.Or, instead of that, I could simply say, Never mind, I don tneed the money. That would be like forgiveness, in which no onepays and God simply forgives the debt.The death of Jesus is important to both Mark and Luke.But forMark, his death is an atonement; for Luke, it is the reason peoplerealize they are sinful and need to turn to God for forgiveness.Thereason for Jesus death, then, is quite different, depending on whichauthor you read.When Did Jesus Become the Son of God, the Lord,and the Messiah?The missionary speeches of Acts deal not only with issues of salva-tion; they also make bold statements about Christ and how Godexalted him after his death [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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