Six Recommendations for dealing with
difficult questions
1. Have faith that an adequate explanation
exists.
2. Have patience if the answer does not
come right away.
3. Examine the context and background of
the passage.
4. Study the specific words and phrases as
best as you can.
5. Check several conservative commentaries
if necessary.
6. Remember that a claim is not
proof.
Illustrations
1.
Was Peter mistaken about the timing of the last days (Acts
2:14-21)?
Peter
paraphrased Joel 2:28-32, which compresses a long span of time into a single
passage
The
phrase ‘in the last days’ is not referring to a limited, 3 ½ year
period
Many
other prophecies are also highly compressed (Isa 9:6-7, Rev 22:12, Mark
1:15)
The
Church Age ushered in the final phase or ‘latter days’ of God’s
plan
Peter
was speaking from God’s point of view
2.
Was Paul mistaken when he said that “the time is short” (1 Cor
7:29)?
Paul
was giving advice that was specific to of his day
The
Greek essentially means “the favorable season is ending”
NT
Prophets warned the church of troubles to come (e.g., Acts 11:28,
21:10-11)
Paul
was not saying that the return of Jesus Christ was
immanent
He
was saying that tough times lay ahead and that physical life is
temporary
3.
Was Paul wrong when he said that “the love of money is the root of all evil” (1
Tim 6:10)?
This
wording is only found in the King James Version
The
Greek term should be
understood as “a root” of all evil
Most modern translations render this
passage accordingly
4. Did Satan influence Pilate to try to
release Jesus?
Both God and Satan wanted the crucifixion
to proceed but for very different reasons
Satan possessed Judas for the express
purpose of betraying Jesus to death (John 13:27)
Pilate knew that the chief priests had
handed Jesus over because of envy (Matt 27:18)
He realized that they would blame
By releasing Jesus, Pilate could escape
their trap and not release a dangerous criminal
His wife warned him to avoid the case
because of a dream that she had (Matt 27:19)
There is no indication that Satan
influenced Pilate to try to release Jesus
5. How do we avoid “doing our own pleasure
on the Sabbath” (Isa 58:13-14)?
The passage is emphasizing the distinction
between the holy and the profane
God is not forbidding all pleasurable
activities on the Sabbath, only secular ones
6. Does the creation teach us that the
Creator is unfair, cruel, or perverse (Rom 1:18-21)?
Creation is not always teaching us
something about God’s nature
Sin and demonic activity can pervert
nature (Mark 5:1ff)
God cursed the ground after Adam and Eve
sinned (Gen 3:17-19)
Creation was subjected to futility until
the kingdom comes (Rom 8:20-22)
We can learn valuable spiritual lessons
from nature (Prv 6:6, Matt 13, 1 Pet 5:8)
7. Does God know the future or can He be
surprised by the unexpected (Isa 5:1-4)?
Isaiah 5:1-4 records God’s indictment
against
The Hebrew verb qavah means that
God was watching or waiting
God gave
Scripture indicates that God knows all
things including the future:
God is omnipresent (Jer 23:24) and
omniscient (Isa 40:28)
He foretold the fate of Jacob and Esau
before their birth (Gen 25:23)
He predicted Josiah (1 Kgs 13:2, 2 Kgs
23:16) and Cyrus (Isa 44:28, 45:1, Ezra 6:14)
Jesus foretold Peter’s denial in precise
detail at the Last Supper (Mt 26:34, 75)
God predicted
God’s “expectation” was not a belief that
Rather, He had waited long enough for them
to bring forth good fruit
8. Since Jesus was tempted, could He have
sinned and lost eternal life (Heb 4:15)?
Jesus is both fully human and fully divine
through the miracle of the Incarnation
There was no risk that He would sin or
fail to become our Savior at His first coming
The success of His mission was
foreordained (e.g., Gen 3:15, Isa 53)
Since God’s Word cannot be broken, there
was no chance of failure (John 10:35)
The term “tempted” means that Jesus was
tested or tried to reveal His inner character
It is referring to His external
circumstances, not to His internal
inclinations