Greetings,
Dr. Ehrman, thank you for sharing all this valuable knowledge with us. I’ve joined your blog mostly for the selfish reason of wanting to gain more knowledge and 40 percent to help the needy; I had to be honest with myself here. Being a voracious seeker of knowledge, I have indulged in your online lectures, which have significantly enriched my understanding of the Bible’s historicity. I wanted to ask you two questions, and your response, irrespective of its nature, will undoubtedly elevate my spirits to celestial heights. Although you might have encountered these inquiries previously, I venture forth with them nonetheless:
1. Considering the directive in Matthew 15:24, alongside the explicit instructions from Jesus in Matthew 10:5-6, how might we reconcile the apparent shift in approach reflected in Matthew 28:19-20? Furthermore, could the Greek term ἔθνη carry multiple interpretations within this particular scriptural context?
2. In reference to the profound declaration in Exodus 3:14, “I am who I am,” where the phrase “I am” is equated with God, does John 8:58 suggest, “before Abraham existed, I am God”? Or does it imply “God existed before Abraham and He conveyed these truths to me”? If Jesus’s intention was to express “before Abraham was, I embodied divinity,” wouldn’t a more accurate rendition align closely with Exodus 3:14, such as “Before Abraham was, ‘I am’ ‘I am’”?
Thank you so much, Dr. Ehrman. You have been/are an invaluable beacon of wisdom and insight.
Hi Bart,
A bit of topic: I have heard that pre-Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus was more commonly viewed as a warrior. And that post-Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus has been more commonly viewed as a peace activist.
Did the behaviors and common image of Gandhi impact/change the common image of Jesus?
Is this true?
Thanks!
David
Welcome! FYI Prof Ehrman rarely responds to questions in this forum. This spot is more for the inmates of the asylum, so to speak, to chat amongst ourselves. Prof Ehrman does respond over at the Recent Posts page. It doesn’t matter what his topic is for any particular day. So ask your questions for him there. But please participate here as well. Always happy to hear new voices.
Hi Stephen apologies this is unrelated I’m never sure where to send my musings. Was just curious what everyone’s views were on Luke’s baptism. Prof Ehrman claims Luke originally wrote “You are my son today I have begotten you” instead of “You are my beloved son in you I am well pleased”. However apparently (according to some random Christian website so I question its accuracy) this is quite a minority view among scholars considering its not in a lot of our manuscripts with the few manuscripts and also authors such as Justing Martyr that citing or writing lots of interpolated Bible verses like a “terrifying light interpolation). Thus was just curious whether any of you held Prof Ehrman’s view and that the website’s information was flawed or if indeed you also disagree with him on this occasion?
By the way this was the website I was on about just in case anyone was interested:
** you do not have permission to see this link **
Tomos, no apologies necessary. I have no authority on this forum. I’m just a contributor like everyone else. Not being a specialist, in a lot of these controversies I am frequently content to try to understand the arguments without necessarily having an opinion one way or another. Back in 2018 Prof Ehrman posted a series of comments about Luke 3:22.
Go ** you do not have permission to see this link ** and scroll through the following series of posts.
In my opinion Ehrman makes a compelling argument. Luke depends heavily on Mark and Mark seems to have an Adoptionist Christology. And there is a real reason to think there might have been a “proto-Luke” that showed Adoptionist tendencies. We are limited by our lack of surviving sources. It is hard though to see why the reference in Luke 3:22 would be changed from “well pleased” to “today I have begotten you” and easy to see why it would go the other way given the trajectory of gospel Christology.
ps: The writer of the aricle forgets to mention the reading in Hebrews 5:5.
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert