The Bible answers many of life’s biggest questions, but there are also mysteries that remain.
Is there a question from Scripture that you’ve always wondered about and hope to understand more fully one day?
2 Likes
I have one. (Not important but looking for interesting theories and conjectures…)
How was Peter, James, and John able to identify Moses and Elijah during the Transfiguration of Jesus?
I don’t think Moses and Elijah had name tags on them but it seems even though the disciples were still in the physical realm, they were able to discern their identities because they, the disciples, were in the spiritual realm of the transfiguration.
What do you think? God bless.
I have two. One serious, and one, huh? The serious one may people seem to have an answer for. Both claim they are right with Bible verses to back them up. OSAS. I would love to be able to ask this directly to Jesus Himself.
And this.
“And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.” Mark 14:51-52
Why was this guy following them around in the cold in a loincloth?
Peter
2 Likes
Pastor @PeterC
RE: The two “questions” you mention. First…
…and I would love to be standing beside you when you do.
For me, at this point in my spiritual growth, OSAS is more than just a statement of doctrine, but it is also a undeniable conclusion. OSAS is the conclusion one must come to after accepting the full implications of predestination (Rom.8 & Eph 1). If, as the scripture says, “all have sinned” and there are none worthy of redemption, yet God “draws” some out of their condition of death, the implication is God made the decision, and it cannot be reversed; God revived the unrighteous person, making him eternally righteous, so the implication is what God has done in perfection (eternally complete) cannot be undone, or it would have to have been imperfect. It comes down to “who made the salvation decision”. If fallible man makes the decision for himself, surely it can be reversed (salvation can be lost), if Infallible God makes the decision, surely it cannot be.
Regarding your second question:
This unique recounting in Mark always plays in my head like he just came out of the shower to find a mob had gathered outside the bathroom. I’ve been there. I think the mid-night event is more likely to be explained by what one might be wearing to sleep on a hot Meditranian night. However, the need to tell this unusual occurnce reads, to me, much like a humble confession, an honesty, a contrite willingness to admit, in writing, that Jesus was right when he told them,
"All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ (Matthew 26:31)
It seems the unnamed young man was in such fear that maintaining his dignity was of less importance than facing that angry mob, but afterward was moved to admit his shameful fear resulting in his embarrasing escape.
Just some friendly thoughts.
KP
1 Like
Wow! That is a totally in-the-air question. What would that signify?
All it requires is a thorough acquaintance with Hebrew, the Greek of the LXX, grammar and morphology, and, of course, your unique writing style brother @Kpuff.
You have a profound, unique gift of teaching.
…this is not merely gnōsis, the accumulation of knowledge, but epignōsis, a full, mature, and transformative knowledge that culminates in the highest doxology and eulogy for what our Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished on our behalf.
J.
And here you made me smile, I had to show this to my brother.
J.
"I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, so that you may become rich; and white garments so that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed*; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see"" (Rev. 3:18)
It could be tied to this verse.*
How do you know it was cold, @PeterC? The Bible doesn’t say what temperature it was. I’m serious.
I truly, 100 percent, hope you are correct.
Perhaps you are right. Only it was cold, not sure they had showers.
"And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, 'You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” Mark 14:66-67
Peter
Actually, it kinda does. Not the actual temp, but it does say this.
" And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, 'You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” Mark 14:66-67
Also in John.
“Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.” John 18:18
Peter
1 Like
That’s a GREAT point. I stand corrected. Thanks for the insight.
KP
You’re right, @PeterC. I sit corrected!
One question I would like answered is what Paul thought Peter was doing when he accused him of living after the manner of the Gentiles. (Galatians 2:14)
Great question. To understand what Paul thought Peter was doing, we have to look at the phrase “living after the manner of the Gentiles” through first-century eyes. Paul isn’t accusing Peter of acting like a wild pagan; he is talking specifically about table fellowship and Jewish dietary laws (kosher)
Before the trouble started, Peter had been openly and happily sitting down at the table with Gentile Christians, eating whatever was served. By doing this, Peter was “living like a Gentile,” meaning he had dropped the strict Jewish customs that forbade Jews from eating with non-Jews or consuming non-kosher food. Peter knew this was perfectly okay because God had already given him the famous vision of the sheet in Acts 10, explicitly telling him,
"And the voice came to him again a second time, 'What God has made clean, do not call common.” Acts 10:15.
Galatians 2:12 tells us
“For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.”.
When these legalistic Jewish believers arrived, Peter got scared of what they would think. To avoid conflict, he stood up, walked away from the Gentile table, and refused to eat with them anymore. Because Peter was the lead Apostle, his actions caused a domino effect. All the other Jewish Christians in Antioch, even Barnabas, followed his lead and segregated themselves from the Gentiles.
When Paul saw this, he was furious because it compromised the core truth of the Gospel. When he confronts Peter in verse 14, his logic is a brilliant, devastating trap.
“If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?”
Paul is exposing Peter’s glaring hypocrisy. He is saying, "Peter, you yourself don’t even keep the strict Jewish laws anymore when you’re by yourself, you’ve been living with the freedom of a Gentile, so by walking away from their table now, your actions are sending a silent, terrifying message to these Gentiles: “If you want to sit with the Apostles, you need to start keeping the Jewish law and get circumcised.'”
By physically withdrawing, Peter wasn’t just making a personal dietary choice; he was socially engineering a dynamic that forced Gentiles to become culturally Jewish just to be fully accepted in the Church.
Hope this helps.
Peter
Some of the questions I might have I suspect I just won’t care about in the life beyond the eschaton.
For example, I really wish I could ask St. Paul what the heck he was talking about in 1 Corinthians 15 when he mentions those who were baptized for the sake of the dead. That statement feels like it comes out of no where, and it has no explanation. It’s weird, and nobody today has a clue what he’s talking abou.
But when the end of all days has come, and my flesh is made new, and I stand before the King of kings, I’m not going to care about that. I’ll be too busy crying out Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty.
2 Likes
PeterC,
re: “Great question. To understand what Paul thought Peter was doing, we have to look at the phrase “living after the manner of the Gentiles” through first-century eyes. Paul isn’t accusing Peter of acting like a wild pagan; he is talking specifically about table fellowship and Jewish dietary laws (kosher)”
Table fellowship I would agree, but what evidence do you have that Paul also meant that Peter was ignoring the Lord’s dietary laws?
Ever tried Utley @rstrats?
J.
When Paul confronts Peter, he doesn’t just mention who Peter sat with. He specifically addresses how Peter had been living:
“If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?” Galatians 2:14
What did “living like a Gentile” (ethnikōs zēs) mean to a first-century Jewish Christian?
To a Jew, the primary distinction separating Jewish living from Gentile living was observing the Torah’s ceremonial boundary markers. Chief among them were dietary laws (kashrut) and circumcision. For Paul to state that Peter had been “living like a Gentile” before the arrival of James’ men means Peter had intentionally dropped his observance of Mosaic food restrictions to share full, unrestricted meals with non-Jewish believers.
In the ancient Greco-Roman world (and specifically in a mixed Jewish-Gentile church like Antioch), table fellowship wasn’t just sitting at neighboring tables; it meant sharing common meals (including the Agape feast/Lord’s Supper). Gentile believers did not keep Levitical dietary laws (clean vs. unclean meats, slaughtering methods, tithes on food).
If Peter was eating at the same table with Gentiles before the Judaizers’ arrival, he was necessarily consuming food that was considered non-kosher or ritually “unclean” by traditional Jewish standards. The moment the “circumcision party” arrived, Peter withdrew because he knew his neglect of Levitical dietary standards in front of Gentiles would outrage the strict Torah-observant Jews from Jerusalem.
This wasn’t Peter’s first time dealing with this exact issue. In Acts 10:13–15, God gave Peter the vision of the sheet containing unclean animals, commanding him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat,” to show him that God had cleansed what was once called common.
When Peter returned to Jerusalem in Acts 11:3, the strict Jewish believers criticized him, saying: “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” In Jewish thought, eating with uncircumcised Gentiles automatically meant violating dietary purity laws. Peter himself had already been divinely instructed that the Old Testament ceremonial food barriers were abolished in Christ.
Peter
Lazarus, Mary and Martha. Where were there wife and husbands?