Due to the amount of information I desired to communicate about Beth-shean / Scythopolis, this site required two posts. Post #15 covered Old Testament Beth-Shean and this post covers New Testament Scythopolis. Scythopolis During the Greek period Beth-shean became known as Scythopolis (and, later, Nysa Scythopolis), one of the ten cities of the Decapolis. In …
Capernaum The city of Capernaum in Galilee gained its greatest attribute when Jesus chose it as the location of His residence after leaving His boyhood home in Nazareth. The name of the city is more accurately Kepher Nahum, “the village of Nahum.” Capernaum was the seat of customs for goods entering Galilee and then on …
This final post reporting on my research trip to Jordan includes two sites we visited on our first day. I’ve done so in order to tie together some of the significance aspects of our visit to Gerasa and our later examination of sites in Israel. Elijah’s Hill / Tell Elias In order to identify sites …
Rabbah Ammon / Amman Citadel Today Amman serves as the capital of the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan. In ancient times it was known as Rabbah of the Ammonites. In the Hellenistic and Roman periods the city was named Philadelphia (honoring Ptolemy II Philadelphos, ruler of Egypt 285–247 BC). Philadelphia was the southernmost city of the Decapolis (see …
The synoptic Gospels seem to put different words into Peter’s mouth when he makes his statement regarding the identity of Jesus. Compare the following: Matthew 16:16, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Mark 8:29, “You are the Christ.” Luke 9:20, “The Christ of God.” In our thinking the event was so …
The Synoptic Gospels’ Inerrancy: What Did Peter Say? Read More »
Let’s return to the synoptic Gospels’ reporting of the healing of the demon-possessed men (or man?) from Gadara (Matthew 8:28–34; Mark 5:1–20; Luke 8:26–39). We dealt with the apparent geographical contradiction in our first post. At least one more problem exists when we compare these passages. According to Matthew, two demon-possessed men approached Jesus. However, …
The Synoptic Gospels’ Inerrancy: How Many People? Read More »
Matthew 8:5–13 reports the miracle of Jesus healing a Roman centurion’s servant. Matthew seems to say the centurion himself approached Jesus with the request. Luke 7:1–10, however, speaks only of some Jewish leaders coming to Jesus with the centurion’s request. Is there a mistake in one of these two Gospel accounts? A possible answer to …
The Synoptic Gospels’ Inerrancy: Misrepresentation of Persons Read More »
Four Gospels, four viewpoints—do they lead to inconsistency in their testimony concerning the words and deeds of Jesus Christ? Apart from all of their similarities, what should readers do when they find apparent contradictions? Are the Gospels fully trustworthy or in need of some sort of adjustment? Those who deny the inerrancy and authority of …
The Synoptic Gospels’ Inerrancy: Geographical Realities Read More »
