Correcting Assumptions
Books on how to study the Bible are in no short supply. The word used to categorize this kind of book is “hermeneutics”, or more specifically “biblical hermeneutics.” This kind of book is usually filled with principles designed to help you come to terms with the meaning of texts, and with examples to illustrate the principles.
I think I have run across an interesting aspect true of some of the dialogues of Jesus. It is true of a number of texts I have studied through the years, but it took an observation from another source to put it into words.
In a commentary on Augustine’s Confessions, Peter Kreeft observes:
Frequently in the Confessions, as in the Bible, God corrects the perspective that we assume in our questions rather than simply answering our questions (I Burned for Your Peace, p. 28).
Jesus would, on occasion, correct the assumption implied by a question rather than answer the question directly. Here are a couple of examples.
The Sadducees asked Jesus a question centering on the resurrection. The assumption behind their question was that there is no resurrection. Matthew even begins the account by identifying the Sadducees as those “that say that there is no resurrection” (Matt. 22:23). The question centers on the hypothetical case of a woman who had successively married 7 brothers: “whose wife shall she be of the seven?”
In this particular incident, Jesus actually answers the question by affirming that “in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as angels in heaven” (22:30), but He also corrects their assumptions concerning the resurrection by saying,
But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Matt. 22:31, 32).
The mindset of the Jewish worldview was that if the spirit survives death, a resurrection of the body naturally follows. If there is no survival of the spirit after death, then there is no resurrection. Jesus affirms by the Scriptures that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob exist, that they did not cease to exist at their death. Therefore, there is a resurrection. He addressed the assumption in their question, and in this case, he answered the question directly. In arguing so, He put them to silence (Matt. 2:34).
There is another incident in which Jesus addresses the assumptions in the question asked rather than answering the question directly. Matthew 24 begins with the disciples of Jesus showing Him the buildings of the temple. Jesus says, “See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (24:2).
The disciples asked Jesus several questions the assumption being that the temple will be destroyed at the same time Jesus returns, which will be at the end of the world (24:3).
Jesus’ response to their questions takes up all of Matthew 24 and 25. If my understanding of these two chapters is correct, rather than answer the question, Jesus addresses the assumptions in their questions by giving a list of signs they can expect to see prior to the destruction of the temple, but with no signs accompanying the end of the world. In other words, the destruction of the temple will occur at one time—to be announced by the signs catalogued by Jesus—and His return will be at another time, a time unannounced. The transition between the two subjects can be found in Matthew 24:34-36:
Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knowers no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only.
Keep your eyes open for other examples of Jesus addressing the assumptions of a question rather than directly answering the question itself.
SML