Matthew 24:34

Steven Craig Miller scmiller at www.plantnet.com
Sun Jan 30 03:34:07 EST 2000


To: Paul Dixon,

<< If GENEA refers to the generation then alive, then the PANTA TAUTA 
GENHTAI implies everything Christ prophesied in Mt 24:4ff, certainly 29-31, 
will be fulfilled before that generation passes away. At first glance; yea, 
even after many glances, verses 29-31 seem to refer to the second coming of 
Christ at the end of the age. >>

I would concur with you here. But the rest of what you wrote doesn't make 
any sense to me.

<< Yet, taking GENEA as referring to that generation means we should at 
least consider taking verses 29-31 as a reference to the coming of Christ 
in judgment upon Jerusalem in AD 70, if those verses are to be included in 
PANTA TAUTA GENHTAI. >>

This is not an interpretation which makes any sense to me. In fact, it 
appears to contradict your previous paragraph. Most scholars assume that 
Matthew wrote after 70 CE. But either way, if Matthew wrote before 70 CE 
then he had no knowledge of  the destruction of Jerusalem, and if he wrote 
after 70 CE, then he knew that the destruction of Jerusalem didn't include 
Christ's second coming.

<< This, of course, is the preterisit position. >>

"Preterisit"? It is my usual habit to correct typos (or misspelled words) 
without comment (I'm a poor speller myself). But unfortunately I have no 
guess here as to what was meant.

<< You do see the tension, don't you? >>

Frankly, I don't see any problem at all. Let's go back to your suggestion 
in the first paragraph. Surely there is no GRAMMATICAL problem with Matthew 
or the Matthean Jesus thinking that some of Jesus' contemporaries would 
live to see the final "end of the age." Whatever problems anyone else might 
have, one cannot claim that such is a GRAMMATICAL or LOGICAL impossibility, 
yes?

-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
scmiller at www.plantnet.com
FWIW: I'm neither a clergy-person, nor an academic (and I have no post-grad 
degrees).




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