Craig Blomberg refers to one of his colleagues, Professor Elodie Emig, who “once suggested to me a remarkably concise big idea that incorporates all three lessons of the similarly structured parable of the two sons in Matthew 21:28-32. In this parable in which a son who refuses to work in his father’s vineyard later changes his mind and goes to the vineyard, in which a son who says he will work in fact doesn’t, and in which the father pronounces the former rather that the latter as having done his will, the three prongs of the passage can be neatly summed up with the affirmation, “Performance takes priority over promise.”[1]
Read moreJesus used shock value in his parables
I had a homiletics teacher, Steve Brown, who taught us, that if you have a thought in the study that you think is to bold or shocking to say in the pulpit, say it. I would not go that far. But Jesus, in his parables, did make some shocking statements or at least introduced the element of surprise. Craig Blomberg acknowledged this dimension of parables: “More often than not, there was a surprising reversal between the character a first-century Jewish audience would have expected to be the hero or good example and the one who actually turned out to play that role.”[1]
Read moreHow do you study parables? (Part One)
Craig L. Blomberg in his Preaching the Parables noted: “Preaching a parable is a novice preacher’s dream, but often an experienced preacher’s nightmare .... At first glance, the parables appear familiar and straightforward, but thoughtful students soon realize they have fallen into a quagmire of interpretive debates.”[1]
Read moreReview of Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith by Douglas Groothuis
Craig L. Blomberg in discussing apparent contradictions comes close to denying inerrancy: “But if Matthew does not satisfy modern, scientific standards of precision, it is unfair to impose those standards on a first-century world that had not yet invented them. None of the differences affects the point of the story, which is the miraculous resurrection of the girl” (page 454). To this Blomberg adds, “No historian on any ancient document operates this way. A document that has proved generally reliable is not suddenly discounted because of just one demonstrable mistake.” So, Blomberg sounds like if the Bible has only “one demonstrable mistake” it is not out of step with other historical documents.
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