zaitzeff

I have previously written that Mark and Matthew seem to teach justification by works as we find in Mark 10:17ff and Matthew 19:16ff. Matthew also has two of the prooftexts which are used to establish eternal punishment, in
Mt 25:46 and mt 25:41, 18:8.

I suspect that these two teachings are theological errors in Mark and Matthew. If there are in fact errors, are there any other similar theological errors?

Suppose that the scholars are correct and that Mark was written around 70 AD and that Matthew was written, based on Mark and Q, around 90AD. These dates would place their authorship 40 years or more from the time of Jesus. What seems to happen is that people ascribe to their heroes their own beliefs. So, we may ask the question, is the Jesus described by Mark and Matthew the historical Jesus, if there was such a person (as I believe)
or are parts of Jesus as described in fact from the pen of "Mark" "Matthew" or some other person?

According to Mark and Matthew, Jesus killed a fig tree by cursing it. Supposedly he was angry at it for having leaves but not fruit, on a day when Jesus was hungry. In addition to causing this death by miracle, we are to believe in another miracle, which was that the fig tree had leaves on it at the time of Passover. I could be wrong, but this story reminds me of what I thought I had heard or read: some story about Jesus as a youth who in his anger curses and destroys things. Does anyone remember that story and where it is found?

"Matthew" is so intent on issuing new laws for Christians that some of the new laws he issues contradict each other:

Matt 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Matt 6:1 “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

the way to be great in the kingdom is to keep more of the commands of God found in the gospel of Matthew than the other Christians who keep fewer of them? Elsewhere, the same gospel and others say that the way to be the greatest is to serve others.

Matt 5:20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

However, a student of Paul would say that the only way our righteousness would exceed that of the Pharisees would be to have the righteousness of Jesus imputed to us, which does not seem to be what "Matthew" is implying.
Otherwise, the way to heaven is usually to have worse righteousness than the Pharisees do, i.e. that of the publicans and sinners.

Matt 5:22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother[b]will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,[c]’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

"Matthew" seems to be right this time, or at least headed in the right direction, in light of Gal 5:19-23. However, Christians who are angry with others justify their anger by citing Matthew 23, a long speech of "Jesus" manifesting anger and abuse against the scribes and Pharisees. See also
Mark 3:5.

This leads us to another question. Suppose that Jesus was in fact an anti-anger guy and that Mark 3:5 and Matthew 23 reflect, not the anger of Jesus, but the anger of "Mark" and "Matthew" against the Pharisees and scribes who weren't going along with their view of Jesus. What then of the "cleansing of the temple"? Is it possible that Mark made this story up?

Some believe Jesus was angry at seeing the money changers in the Passion week. And, supposedly, this anger led him to make whips of cords and drive out the animals and overturn the tables.

Mark 11:15 After Jesus and his disciples reached Jerusalem, he went into the temple and began chasing out everyone who was selling and buying. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of those who were selling doves. 16 Jesus would not let anyone carry things through the temple.

Jesus was around 30 at the time. If changing money or selling doves was wrong, why had He done and said nothing about it in the previous 20 years?

Supposedly Jesus is a pretty pacifistic guy, as we read in Matt 5:39-42. This creates other problems, but for now, we note that Jesus's actions in cleansing the temple seem to be "resisting evil," which Mt 5:39 says not to do.

Further, is Mark 11:15 reasonable historically? Christians who read the story and believe it assume that the ordinarily meek and mild Jesus had made a whip of some rope and once he asserts his view, the money-changers and dove-sellers sheepishly and inwardly admit he is right and put up no resistance! Why? Because the idea of Jesus getting into a fist-fight with either a money-changer or the temple police is so far removed from our idea of Jesus as to be inconceivable to the modern Christian. How does the fellow who says "Don't fight back" and "Give to him who asks" get into a fist-fight with someone else over money? If that happened, then, the credibility of the guy who says, "Don't fight back" is destroyed because he is unmasked as a hypocrite.

So, not only are we to believe that Jesus cleanses the temple, but that, while and after cleansing the temple, none of the greedy money-changers or the temple police either laid a hand on Jesus. None of them attempted to restrain Jesus; none of them, despite losing their money and property, got angry enough to try to hit Jesus, a Jesus who, to them, was in fact an upstart, an unrecognized "rabbi" from Galilee.

Please note that in the gospel of Mark, Jesus doesn't just knock over a few tables and disappear into the crowd. Jesus "would not let anyone carry things through the temple." That is, after knocking over the tables with money and doves, Jesus remains in the temple observing. And, if and when Jesus sees money, animals or birds being brought through the temple, Jesus puts a stop to it. Hey, since there were temple police at this time, what exactly were they doing while Jesus shut down the sacrifices for a day or two? And, how did Jesus respond when the temple police came to him and say, "You are coming with us"?

rlogan

Of course not. It's ridiculous.

But HB passages are being used to construct the gospel Jesus, and in this case Jeremiah 7:11.