Bock

Parables – Nov 5

I have been asked to do a series on parables. It will start at the end of November. Keep those requests coming in. If you have specific parables you’d like to know about, please let me know.

I have been asked to do a series on parables. It will start at the end of November. Keep those requests coming in. If you have specific parables you’d like to know about, please let me know.

10 Comments

  • jogly

    Emergent vs. Divergent
    Emergent is not our problem, like the providence of God. However, how we are seen by the secular media is. Why no comments?

    John Glynn

  • Trishbabe

    Minas
    I’d love to know more about the parable of the minas in Luke 19:11-27. I’ve got some questions. Maybe it’s common knowledge but with the overrealized eschatology of v.11 how popular in the palestinian culture of the day was the anticipation of political freedom, military conquest and enthronement of Messiah in Jerusalem? Was it a fringe expectation or pervasive? If the kingship motif is an allusion to Archelaus then what precisely is the rhetorical effect for original hearers? In the parable would Jesus/Luke intend irony in selecting a “perspiration cloth” for the servant who did not perspire, or is this just the fanciful guess of commentaries? Is the delay factor weighted with significance like it seems to be in the parallel of the talents in Matthew or does it simply serve the stewardship motif? Does the mina represent responsibilities in general or money in particular? How can you determine? If the wicked servant pictures rejecting Jews back in the day, does the modern application highlight anyone who outrightly rejects Christ or just modern day Jews who do? How can you tell? Is the dispensationalist interpretation of unfaithful ethnic Israel being cut off from the consummation of the kingdom wrong?

  • pjohns35

    New topic requests – hemeneutical authority; the temple
    I would appreciate your thoughts on two questions, subject of course to your time and interest.

    1. The Authority of Scripture and the teaching of the early church fathers.
    I have spent time in Romania in the last three years and have had to learn about Eastern Orthodoxy. I have been taught the principle that Scripture alone has authority in my life and doctrine. The Reformed and evangelical attitude that I have been taught is very negative about listening to the early church fathers and allowing them to influence my interpretation of Scripture. However, it insists that I listen very closely to Luther and especially Calvin. It seems inconsistent that we give priority and submission to the Reformers and not to all of the church’s teachers. It also seems inconsistent to depend only on my private interpretation of Scripture. The Apostle John (1 John) points Christians to both apostolic doctrine and the teaching of the Spirit they have experienced, which implies that there is an anointing in the history of the church to which we need to pay attention.

    Do you have some thoughts or articles on the relationship between the authority of Scripture and of church teachers, about the level of influence we should give to the significant teachers of the church when we interpret Scripture?

    2. The millennial fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prediction about the temple.
    I am moving from amillennialism back toward a Progressive Dispensational understanding of the kingdom of God. Your writings have helped me rethink dispensational concepts, which I had rejected in seminary. One issue I can’t accept at this point is the expectation that Ezekiel’s description of the temple will be fulfilled literally; e.g. Eric Sauer holds to this. But the NT moves away from a temple building.

    What are your thoughts on this? Any recommended writings on this?

    Thank you for your writings.
    Paul Johnston

    • bock

      New Topics DLB – Nov 13
      Ezekiel:

      My take is that the chapter looks at a new temple, while the dimensions may be exaggerated. Jesus spoke of celebrating the Passover again in the kingdom in Luke 22:16-20. That requires sacrifices and a temple.

      As for authority, the issue is teaching that parallels Scripture, regardless of who it comes from. So we listen to all, but all are subject to Scripture.

      Sorry this is so short but I am on the road. Feel free to follow up.

      • PLJ

        RE: the temple
        RE: the temple, I had considered Lk 22:16 as a reference to the Lord’s Supper, as the new form of the Passover. What books would you recommend on eschatalogy that are consistent with PD? Are you in basic agreement with Eric Sauer?

        RE: authority, determining when teaching is consistent with Scripture is the point in contention. Many heretics see themselves as consistent, but the church leaders rejected their interpretations. Who determines when a teacher is consistent with Scripture? Only my own sense of the Spirit and my personal reading of the text? Or does a wider circle of teachers have to make a collective judgment?

        Thanks…plj

  • henke

    Parable Hermeneutics
    I noticed in your Luke commentary where you summarize the Prodigal Son you point out that there are several key points to take away from the parable. This parable is a classic example where you will hear different teachers/preachers stress different aspects of it as THE central message. In other words, you will hear something like, “It’s really about the older son because Jesus was comparing him to the Pharisees.” Do parables generally make a single point or do they go deeper and broader than that? I would assume context plays a big role in our understanding of a parable’s breadth of teaching.

    • bock

      Parable Hermeneutics – dlb
      In my view parables are complex metaphor stories. Several have multiple points. The parable of the wicked husbandmen has several so does the Prodigal. Craig Blomberg makes a general observation that there are one point, two point, and three point parable, usually dependent on the number of characters (or character objects) present. This is a good rule of thumb.

  • Jeremy Pierce

    parable suggestion
    Since you’re already on record for all of Luke’s parables, it would be good to see your take on parables not in Luke and parables whose non-Lukan versions are significantly different from the Lukan versions.

  • Ivan Karel

    Reinventing Jesus
    Dr Darrell.

    I just got the this book “Reiventing Jesus”. I appreciate what’s Wallace,Sawyer and Komoszewski done. You also give a contribution about this book. At least this book not only to help the believer from Davinci issue but also anothers issue like “Misquoting Jesus”.

    Regards
    Ivan-Indonesia