Undesigned Coincidences: Feeding the 5000

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What are undesigned coincidences?

An undesigned coincidence occurs when one account of an event leaves out a bit of information that doesn’t affect the overall picture, but a different account indirectly supplies the missing detail, usually answering some natural question raised by the first.

Ronald Knox wrote ‘Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes’ in which he satirically recorded his study of the stories about the famous detective. In this piece, treating the stories as if they are real, he examines whether the stories were all written by Dr. Watson (vs. a deutero-Watson) and whether they are all genuine.

If there is anything pleasant in criticism, it is finding out what we aren’t meant to find out.  It is the method by which we treat as significant what the author did not mean to be significant, by which we single out as essential what the author regarded as incidental.  …

There is, however, a special fascination in applying this method to Sherlock Holmes, because it is, in a sense, Holmes’s own method.  ‘It has long been an axiom of mine,’ he says, ‘that the little things are infinitely the most important.’

He uses methods similar to the undesigned coincidences (even mentioning them) and ends up deciding that Watson wrote them all, but fabricated some of the stories later in life based on the various inconsistencies in “the little things”.

As to actual inconsistencies.  In the mystery of the ‘Solitary Cyclist’ a marriage is performed with no one present except the happy couple and the officiating clergyman.  In the ‘Scandal in Bohemia’ Holmes, disguised as a loafer, is deliberately called in to give away an unknown bride on the ground that the marriage will not be valid without a witness.  In the ‘Final Problem’, the police secure ‘the whole gang with the exception of Moriarty.’  In the ‘Story of the Empty House’ we hear that they failed to incriminate Colonel Moran.  Professor Moriarty, in the Return is called Professor James Moriarty whereas [we] know from the ‘Final Problem’ that James was really the name of his military brother, who survived him.

Doyle responded to Knox’s study with the following:

I cannot help writing to you to tell you of the amusement- and also the amazement- with which I read your article on Sherlock Holmes. That anyone should spend such pains on such material was what surprised me. Certainly you know a great deal more about it than I do, for the stories have been written in a disconnected (and careless) way without referring back to what had gone before. I am only pleased that you have not found more discrepancies, especially as to dates. Of course, as you seem to have observed, Holmes changed entirely as the stories went on.

This video explores the work of Dr. Tim McGrew  who does a similar study. He explores how each gospel author records otherwise insignificant facts in their account of the feeding of the 5000 that when taken together, unlike in the Holmes study, end up providing good evidence that the gospels contain accurate accounts of the event.

In a comment on a blog post, Dr. McGrew says:

The undesigned coincidences among the gospels provide a cumulative case that at numerous points the authors of the gospels were faithfully and independently reporting actual events rather than merely copying one another or engaging in mythic elaborations.

In the same post he writes:

the interesting thing about this argument is that it is completely independent of the ordering of the synoptics. It matters not one whit whether you take the position of Streeter or of Griesbach or of Wenham or of Lindsey and Bivin. The undesigned coincidences provide evidence for the authenticity of these documents and the veracity of their contents no matter who came first.

You know my methods, Watson: apply them. McGrew certainly applies them here.

Mouw, Mohler, and Mormonism (or is the gospel polytheistic)

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It all started at the Value Voter Summit when Rev. Robert Jeffress, a senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Dallas, called Mormonism a cult.

Since then two seminary presidents have weighed in on this. Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary and Dr. Al Mohler Jr, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  In reading through these responses and engaging in discussion over at the Jesus Creed blog here and here I see that three distinct questions that have been raised. The first is are Mormons Christians, the second is are there individuals who profess to be Mormons who are Christians, and lastly should evangelicals support a Mormon candidate for President.

While this issue has been raised primarily in the context of the 2012 GOP Presidential Primary, I don’t want to focus on that particular aspect. I will simply say that I agree with both Mouw and Mohler that each voter must evaluate the candidates and take responsibility for their own vote.

Mitt Romney deserves what every politician running for office deserves: a careful examination of his views on policy and his philosophy of government. – Mouw

The stewardship of our vote demands that we support those candidates who most clearly and consistently share our worldview and combine these commitments with the competence to serve both faithfully and well.  – Mohler

Enough said there.

Here is Richard Mouw’s answer to the question: Are Mormons Christians?

So are Mormons Christians? For me, that’s a complicated question.

My Mormon friends and I disagree on enough subjects that I am not prepared to say that their theology falls within the scope of historic Christian teaching. But the important thing is that we continue to talk about these things, and with increasing candor and mutual openness to correction.

And here is Dr. Mohler’s answer to the same question:

Is Mormonism just a distinctive denomination of Christianity? The answer to that question is definitive. Mormonism does not claim to be just another denomination of Christianity. … It is neither slander nor condescension to state clearly that Mormonism is not Christianity. Taking Mormonism on its own terms, one finds a comprehensive set of teachings and doctrines that are self-consciously set against historic Christianity.

Is this an issue of generous orthodoxy vs. stingy orthodoxy? Is this issue so complex that a seminary president can’t determine whether Mormon teaching falls within the scope of historic Christian teaching?

I admit I don’t know all that the Mormon/LDS church claims to believe or reject. However, I do know that Mormon teaching is unequivocally polytheistic. Don’t take my word for it, let’s see what Joseph Smith had to say on this issue. In a sermon entitled “Plurality of Gods”:

I will preach on the plurality of Gods. I have selected this text for that express purpose. I wish to declare I have always and in all congregations when I have preached on the subject of the Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods. It has been preached by the Elders for fifteen years. I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and that the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods. If this is in accordance with the New Testament, lo and behold! we have three Gods anyhow, and they are plural: and who can contradict it!

…  Many men say there is one God; the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are only one God! I say that is a strange God anyhow—three in one, and one in three! It is a curious organization.

and in the King Follet Sermon found in two parts here and here:

In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted [prepared] a plan to create the world and people it. When we begin to learn this way, we begin to learn the only true God, and what kind of a being we have got to worship.

and that God was not always god but a man who was exalted and became so:

In order to understand the subject of the dead, for consolation of those who mourn for the loss of their friends, it is necessary we should understand the character and being of God and how He came to be so; for I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see.

If Mormonism teaches polytheism and that God was not always God, then the question becomes – has Christianity ever taught these things?

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:2-3)

Hear, O Israel:The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (Deut 6:4)

Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. (Isaiah 43:10 b)

Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel andhis Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. (Isaiah 44:6)

I am the LORD, and there is no other,  besides me there is no God; (Isaiah 45:5 a)

And this is eternal life,that they know youthe onlytrue God, andJesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3)

I can applaud Mouw for dialoging with individuals and for separating Romney the Mormon from Romney the candidate. But he has failed in his role as a leader of an evangelical seminary to not make it clear that the tenets of Mormonism are well beyond the boundaries of historic Christian teaching (orthodoxy). No matter how “generous” one wants to be there is nothing that would support the claim that polytheism was ever considered orthodox. I applaud Mohler for coming out and explaining that there is a difference.

The last question raised is can an individual claiming to be Mormon and worshiping in the Mormon church be a genuine follower of Jesus? The heart of that question goes beyond Mormonism.

Is the gospel polytheistic?

This is a different question then is Mormonism within the scope of historic Christian teaching. This question touches on what does it mean to have saving faith? What must we actually be placing our trust in?

Some in the Jesus Creed discussion were uncomfortable with monotheism being  a key doctrine or “requirement” to saving faith. Interestingly some attenders in a Sunday school class I taught recently were as well. In that class we were reviewing ideas on orthodoxy and discussing what the basics of the gospel entailed.

One objection to monotheism being part of the gospel is that God is too hard too understand and He wouldn’t make it that difficult for people to be saved. There is much truth in part of this statement. Finite and fallen beings cannot fully grasp God, for we still see as in a mirror and dimly. However, that does not mean that nothing about God can be comprehended. One God, eternal and without cause who created all things is something we can understand. This is a major theme of the Bible and all other truths flow from this one truth – there is only one God. Consider what God told Moses when He gave the Law:

12 Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. 13You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim 14(for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, 16and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods. (Exodus 34:12-16 ESV)

The problem the inhabitants of the land had was that they were without God in the world. They had gods but they did not have the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The only true God. The command – “you shall worship no other god” is just as true now as it was then (Eph 2:11-16).

Another objection is that we are adding something to the gospel. Isn’t the gospel only about trusting in Jesus – His death, burial, and resurrection? The gospel message is that spiritually lost people are being reconciled to God and provided an entrance into the kingdom of God.  The Gentiles and the Jews are both reconciled to God through the cross of Jesus (Rom 5:10-11; Eph 2:11-16). But if reconciliation with God and becoming part of His kingdom is the good news – then should we also know what God we are being reconciled too – not just how or through Whom?

Didn’t Jesus say:

Truly, truly, I say to you,whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24 ESV) emphasis added

Doesn’t Paul teach that those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of Jesus are those that will face eternal destruction (2 Thes 1:5-12)? Can you have faith in Jesus and believe what ever you want about the one who sent Him? Can one really say they know God and are trusting the promises of God when they reject such clear testimony that He is One and there is no other?

Does a proper response to the gospel (saving faith) require monotheism? What do you think?

Looking it up [Greek Lexicons]

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Struggling to learn the vocabulary seems like facing the invading Persian army at Thermopylae and I often have the same attitude as the Spartan solider in the video – ‘I don’t think I want too, what exactly are our chances here’. But I haven’t given up even if it is a daunting task. The tools we have to do battle with are as Greek students are not shields and cloaks, but the lexicon – an alphabetical listing of the words with their meanings. If you are thinking to yourself that this sounds a lot like a dictionary then you would be right and that is essentially what it is. The word lexicon actually comes from the Greek word – λεξικος – which means “of or for words”.

There are multiple Greek Lexicons that are available for use. This post from Biblical Studies and Technical tools lists several including the three most common:

  • A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature [BDAG] – a very popular and comprehensive lexicon used in seminaries focusing on ancient Greek words used in Christian literature.
  • Liddell, Scott, & Jones [LSJ] – a comprehensive lexicon containing entries for ancient Greek words covering a larger range of time period (1200 BC – 600 AD)  and a larger range of literature types than just Christian literature. It is available on line at Perseus Digital Library.
  • Louw-Nida – a lexicon focused on the NT Greek. Its grouping of Greek words allows the reader to find synonyms for words similar to a thesaurus.

What is interesting is that the entries for Greek words in these lexicons are not what we might expect if we were to compare that to looking up an English word in an English dictionary.

For example the word “compassion” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary online is listed as:

compassion – noun

sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it

However when we look up an equivalent word in a Greek Lexicon (like BDAG) the entry is listed as:

σπλάγχνον, -ου, τό

1) the inward parts of the body

2) the seat of emotions, heart

3) the feeling itself of love, affection

We will quickly notice that the entry does not list the part of speech. We have to figure out that this is a noun. It also does not tell us the declension of the noun. At least not explicitly, we have to be able to figure that out too. Knowing the declension of the noun is an important part of understanding how to parse the word when it appears in a sentence.

As a side note we also see that this word in Greek can take on a much more diverse set of meanings than its English counterpart. The context is going to drive the meaning in any particular text. For example Acts 1:18 uses the word with the first meaning (guts), Philemon 1:7 uses the word with the second meaning (heart), while Philippians 2:1 uses the word with the third meaning (mercy, compassion).

Lexical Entry for a Noun
This entry in the lexicon is for a noun and it provides numerous pieces of information besides the English meaning(s):

σπλάγχνον the Greek word in its nominative singular form.
-ου the genitive singular ending.
τό the nominative singular definite article.

It is important to understand that Greek words in lexicons are listed in the nominative singular form not their stem. That means we have to learn our vocabulary words in that case form.

The definite article τό, let’s us know (if we have memorized the definite articles) that the gender of this noun is neuter.

Reviewing the nominative and genitive case endings provided in the lexical entry we can derive the stem by dropping the letters after the last vowel giving us:

σπλάγχνο

The stem ends in an omicron so this is a 2nd declension noun.

Using the information from the lexicon we can decline the word as a 2nd declension neuter noun as follows:

nominative singular σπλάγχνον
genitive singular σπλάγχνου
dative singular σπλάγχνῳ
accusative singular σπλάγχνον
nominative plural σπλάγχνα
genitive plural σπλάγχνων
dative plural σπλάγχνοις
accusative plural σπλάγχνα

We may also recognize that this is a second declension noun based on the endings ον and ου being the neuter case endings for the nominative and genitive singular forms.

Lexical Entry for an Adjective
An entry for a Greek adjective – say for the word “bad” would be listed as:

κακός, -ή, όν

The entry is still listed in the nominative singular form of the word. However since an adjective must agree with the noun it describes in case, number, and gender the entry in the lexicon has a different form. The entry provides the following information instead of the definite article or the genitive singular:

κακός the masculine nominative singular form.
-ή the feminine nominative singular form.
-όν the neuter nominative singular form.

Adjectives are inflected the same way as the noun.

Lexical Entry for a Preposition or Conjunction
An entry for a Greek preposition also has a different form. Since the preposition in Greek is not inflected it has a simple entry, similar to an entry for an English word in a dictionary. It looks like this:

μετά
1) with genitive: with
2) with accusative: after

The meaning of the preposition will vary based on the case ending of the noun it is associated with.

Other words that have a simple lexical entry are conjunctions. An example is “and”:

και

Hopefully this post will help understand the Greek vocabulary that appears in the lexicon. This was a concept I found confusing as I struggle to memorize Greek vocabulary and work with the words in translation exercises.