https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/RespectingSilence.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Mark 10:46-52 <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I. What do you do when witnesses to an event give two different sets of details?<\/p>\n A. Matthew 28:1-7 mentions an angel rolling away the stone blocking the entrance\nand sitting upon the stone. The angel talks to the women when they get to the\ntomb.\n B. Mark 16:1-7 mentions an angel inside the tomb standing on the right side who\ntalks to the women.\n C. Luke 24:1-8 mentions two angels appeared while they were in the tomb trying to\nfigure out what happened to the body of Jesus. The angels speak to the women\n
D. Do we have a contradiction or different details of the same event?<\/p>\n 1. The accounts that mention one angel do not state that there was only<\/i> one\nangel present.\n 2. Luke’s account mentions two angels, but he doesn’t say that both angels\ntalked at the same time or even that both angels spoke, only that the angels\naddressed the women\n
3. There is a difference in time.<\/p>\n a. Matthew talks about the angel rolling away the stone and sitting on\nit while the guards were present and before the women came. He\nmentions the angel speaking to the women, but he doesn’t say\nwhere they were at that moment\n b. Luke mentions that the tomb was empty when they first went in\nand then angels appeared who talked to them\n c. Mark mentions that they went into the tomb and that the angel on\nthe right spoke to them.\n d. All of these are compatible if you realize that there was a time\norder and some details were being skipped.\n E. When people claim there is a contradiction, it is because they assume<\/i> things when\nthe author didn’t mention something\n
1. Some assume that if one angel is mentioned, then there must be only one<\/p>\n 2. Some assume that if a location is mentioned, then everything happened at\nthat spot\n 3. Some assume that not mentioning a fact means the author didn’t think it\nhappened (i.e. the initially empty tomb).\n
F. What can you assume when an author doesn’t say something?<\/p>\n
1. The only reasonable answer it that you can assume nothing<\/i>.<\/p>\n
II. God expects us to respect His silence<\/p>\n
A. If He hasn’t said something, don’t fill in the gap! <\/p>\n
1. Do not add or take away – Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32<\/p>\n
2. Do not add or you will be found a liar – Proverbs 30:6<\/p>\n
3. Do not alter – Galatians 1:6-10<\/p>\n
B. God is not an author of confusion – I Corinthians 14:33<\/p>\n
1. He cannot lie – Titus 1:2<\/p>\n 2. Thus, if two accounts have different details, we cannot assume a\ncontradiction. We should look to see if there is a way that the accounts\nblend together.\n
III. Other examples<\/p>\n
A. The rich young ruler<\/p>\n
1. Matthew 19:20 – mentions he is young<\/p>\n 2. Mark 10:17 – mentions that he ran up to Jesus, but doesn’t say anything\nabout me being a ruler or young\n
3. Luke 18:18 – mentions that he is a ruler<\/p>\n
4. Are there conflicts or just different views of the same event?<\/p>\n
B. The blind men<\/p>\n
1. Matthew 20:29-34 – Says there were two blind men<\/p>\n
2. Mark 10:46-52 – Says there was a blind man named Bartimaeus<\/p>\n
3. Luke 18:35-43 – Says there was a blind man<\/p>\n 4. Did the fact that both Mark and Luke mention one blind man and Matthew\nmentions two meant that Matthew got the story wrong?\n a. Notice that neither Mark or Luke eliminate additional people. They\nonly focus on one particular person.\n
C. The demon possessed men<\/p>\n
1. Matthew 8:28 mentions there were two men from the tombs<\/p>\n
2. Mark 5:1ff only mentions one man from the tombs<\/p>\n
3. Luke 8:26ff mentions one homeless man from the city<\/p>\n 4. Again, different details but none are worded exclusively, so there is no\nconflict.\n
IV. What happens if two commands appear to conflict?<\/p>\n
A. The Sabbath requires that a person not work – Deuteronomy 5:12-15<\/p>\n 1. But the priest were required to offer sacrifices on the Sabbath – Numbers\n28:9-10\n 2. Boys were to be circumcised on the eighth day. What happens if the eighth\nday fell on a Sabbath? – Genesis 17:12\n B. These were not conflicts. Since God commanded them, then they don’t count as a\npart of the forbidden work \n
1. Matthew 12:1-8 mentions that priests were not wrong in offering sacrifices<\/p>\n
2. Mark 2:23-28 and Luke 6:1-5 do not mention the exception for priests<\/p>\n 3. John 7:21-23 mentions that circumcision is allowed but not the mercy\nextended to David or the sacrifices done by priests\n 4. Is there a disagreement? No. One mention is enough to establish the\nprinciple. Together they show things authorized by God can be done on\nthe Sabbath.\nV. I had someone write claiming there cannot be any divorce because Mark, Luke, and Paul\nonly mention forbidding divorce. It is only Matthew that mentions an exception. That is 3\nagainst 1, so Matthew must not be talking to Christians (in the person’s opinion).\n
A. Matthew 5:31-32 – Focuses on what happens to the one divorced<\/p>\n
1. Divorcing your wife makes her become an adulteress<\/p>\n a. Exception: If the divorce was due to fornication, the divorce does\nnot make her become an adulteress\n
b. Why? Because she would already<\/i> be an adulteress<\/p>\n
2. Marrying a divorced woman is adultery<\/p>\n
B. Matthew 19:9 – Focuses on what happens to the one divorcing<\/p>\n
1. Divorcing your wife and marrying someone else makes you an adulterer<\/p>\n a. Exception: If the divorce was due to fornication, marrying\nsomeone else does not make you an adulterer\n b. Why? Jesus is allowing an exception when the woman violated the\nmarriage covenant\n 2. Some texts include the same second point as found in Matthew 5:32,\nmarrying a divorced woman is adultery\n
C. Mark 10:11-12 – Shows that it doesn’t matter who initiates the divorce<\/p>\n
1. Divorcing your wife and marrying another commits adultery<\/p>\n
2. Divorcing your husband and marrying another commits adultery<\/p>\n D. Luke 16:18 – Shows that it doesn’t matter if you are the one divorced or the your\nspouse was the one divorced, it is still adultery.\n
1. Divorcing your wife and marrying another commits adultery<\/p>\n
2. Marrying a woman who is divorced commits adultery<\/p>\n
E. Romans 7:2-3 – Emphasizes that marriage is for the life of the two partners<\/p>\n
1. Marriage lasts until the death of the spouse<\/p>\n
2. Being married to someone else while the original husband lives is adultery<\/p>\n 3. Being married to someone else after the original husband is dead is not\nadultery\n
F. I Corinthians 7:10-11 – Focuses on avoiding divorce<\/p>\n
1. Neither a man or woman should divorce their spouse<\/p>\n 2. If woman does divorce her husband, she must remain unmarried or be\nreconciled to her husband\n G. While Matthew 19:9, Mark 10:11-12, and Luke 16:18 are parallel accounts of the\nsame event, notice that every discussion has a different focus; that is, a different\npoint is being brought out.\n
1. No one passage is the complete discussion of divorce and remarriage<\/p>\n
2. Why is Mark the only one to mention that the wife can initiate a divorce?<\/p>\n
a. Actually, it is not ruled out by the other passages.<\/p>\n b. But consider that if you had to list every possible permutation, the\ncomplexity of the statements would get mind boggling.\n
(1) Does a marriage end because of death or divorce<\/p>\n
(2) Is it the death of the husband or wife?<\/p>\n
(3) Does the husband or wife initiate the divorce?<\/p>\n
(4) Is the divorce due to fornication or some other reason?<\/p>\n
(5) Is it the husband or the wife who commits the fornication?<\/p>\n
(6) Can there be a remarriage and when?<\/p>\n (7) What about the third party who marries someone formerly\nmarried?\n
(8) What happens if there was a divorce and then later a death?<\/p>\n c. Thus, it seems the Holy Spirit makes the point once and we assume\nit for al the rest.\n 3. Why does only Romans mention that marriage ends at the death of one\nspouse?\n a. Because that one mention is enough to cover all other passages that\nmention marriage\n
4. Why does only Matthew mention the exception?<\/p>\n a. Because these establish that the exception exists and covers all\nother passages that mention divorce\n
VI. We must be careful not to insert our personal assumptions into the text.<\/p>\n A. When we have multiple accounts on a subject, everything<\/i> said on the topic needs\nto be considered together\n B. This is how the Baptists come to the wrong conclusion about baptism. They find\npassages that say faith saves and conclude that only faith saves, even though\n“only” never appears in the passages.\n
C. Many false doctrines could be avoided if we just stop to think<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Mark 10:46-52 I. What do you do when witnesses to an event give two different sets of details? A. Matthew 28:1-7 mentions an angel rolling away the stone blocking the entrance and sitting upon the stone. The angel talks to the women when they get to the tomb. B. Mark 16:1-7 mentions…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[37,78,167,912],"class_list":["post-54549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-apologetics","tag-authority","tag-divorce","tag-silence"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9359,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-the-gospels-contradict-each-other-regarding-jesus-empty-tomb\/","url_meta":{"origin":54549,"position":0},"title":"Do the gospels contradict each other regarding Jesus’ empty tomb?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a Christian but my friend has pointed out several contradictions in the Bible I when the women went to the tomb of Jesus I was hoping you could help me to resolve: Matthew - Earthquake with an angel sitting outside on the recently moved stone; Mark -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25277,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-timeline-of-resurrection\/","url_meta":{"origin":54549,"position":1},"title":"The Timeline of the Resurrection","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford Recently, I've become aware that there is this thing floating around on the Internet called \"The Easter Challenge\". The inventor of this challenge is an atheist. He asserts that the Biblical accounts of the resurrection of Jesus contradict each other so significantly that they are clearly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/IMG075-300x169.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":38750,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/claims-of-contradictions-in-the-resurrection-accounts\/","url_meta":{"origin":54549,"position":2},"title":"Claims of Contradictions in the Resurrection Accounts","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I John 1:1-4 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0People who don\u2019t want to hear a message will try to find some way to discredit either the messenger or the message \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If there is a perceived flaw, then they feel justified in tossing out everything they don\u2019t want to accept\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46777,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-the-resurrection-accounts-so-different\/","url_meta":{"origin":54549,"position":3},"title":"Why are the Resurrection Accounts so Different?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier If skeptics jump on anything about the gospel records of Jesus Christ, it is the differences between the four authors' accounts of the resurrection events and appearances. For example, Matthew mentions an angel who met the women at the tomb sitting on the rolled-away stone (Matthew 28:2).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19710,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-contradictions-about-jesus-burial\/","url_meta":{"origin":54549,"position":4},"title":"Are there Contradictions about Jesus’ Burial?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier At the end of Luke 23, we learned some women, having seen where Jesus was buried, prepared spices and ointments for His burial. Then in Luke 24:1, they were coming to the tomb early on the first day of the week with those prepared spices, presumably to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/top_34_bmp-275x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17189,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-resurrection-of-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":54549,"position":5},"title":"The Resurrection of Jesus (Hamilton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Acts 13:16-41 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Central to every Christian\u2019s belief in his salvation is the resurrection of Jesus - I Corinthians 15:12-19 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If Jesus was not raised, . . . \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then every preacher has been teaching falsehoods \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Our faith in the Bible would be useless \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a03.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Our hope\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}