- Context and harmony, continued:
- Hebrews 13:4 – “Marriage is a holy institution. Any marriage is acceptable to God.”
- Context – Hebrews 13:1-7 – The context itself forbids fornication and adultery.
- Harmony – Matthew 19:5-9; Luke 16:18
- Conclusion – It is possible for a marriage to not be approved by God. Adultery in particular is repeatedly denounced as sin. Marriage is always described as one man and one woman.
- Hebrews 13:4 – “Marriage is a holy institution. Any marriage is acceptable to God.”
- Figures of speech
- What Jesus said (John 2:19-21) vs. what they heard (Mark 14:58; 15:29-30)
- Exodus 5:22-23
- Matthew 10:26 – “Take eat. This is my body.” Jesus was standing there with them, so it could not have been His actual body. Also, drinking blood was prohibited by the Law of Moses, so Jesus would have been encouraging them to break the law.
- Dangers of figurative language
- Taking figurative language literally.
- Taking literal language figuratively.
- Matthew 16:5-12
- John 16:25
- Psalms 23:4 – hyperbole
- Mark 10:25
- Understand a passage literally unless there is a good reason not to.
- II Peter 2:22
- When should we take a word or phrase figuratively?
- When it is said to be figurative
- Galatians 4:24
- John 2:18-22
- Revelation 1:20; 5:8
- Acts 2:16-21; Matthew 4:12-17 – Old Testament figurative prophecy is often explained in the New Testament.
- When a literal understanding contradicts another passage
- Remember to harmonize!
- Mark 1:5; Luke 7:29-30 – The lawyers and Pharisees had not been baptized by John, so we know that “all” in Mark 1:5 didn’t literally mean all, but “a lot” or “most.”
- Luke 14:26; Ephesians 5:25; Matthew 5:44
- When it matches a pattern of figurative language in other passages.
- I Peter 3:3 – “not-but” passage
- Genesis 17:1 – “walk” is figurative
- Isaiah 9:2 – “light” is figurative
- When it is said to be figurative
DW
January 10, 2018
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