Mohammed Hijab
LecturesChristianity & Other Faiths

Excellent point by the Champ

While the "Islamic dilemma" lacks academic backing, the "Christian dilemma" in Matthew 23, where Jesus instructs disciples to follow the Pharisees' teachings from the "seat of Moses" but not their practices, presents a scholarly puzzle, as Jesus later criticizes Pharisaic "made up traditions," leading to the dilemma that if Jesus absolutely affirmed Pharisaic tradition, Christianity is false, but if he didn't, he's a false prophet, a conundrum often resolved by scholars as a "general confirmation" despite its apparent contradiction.

#christianity#jesus#pharisees
TranscriptTranscribed from the video above. Speaker: Mohammed Hijab.

The Christian Dilemma in Matthew 23

You know how I just mentioned that the Islamic dilemma doesn't have any academic support? Did you know that on the other hand, the Christian dilemma in Matthew 23 has scholarly support? I could bring you several scholars. I could bring you a consensus.

In Matthew 23, Jesus says to his disciples, he says, "The Pharisees and the teachers of the law sit on the seat of Moses." The seat of Moses is a reference to the interpretation that Moses would give, the legal rulings. Torah says that Moses would sit on his seat and he would give legal rulings. They would come to him and he would give legal rulings.

"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit on the seat of Moses. So be sure to do everything they tell you. Observe everything they teach you, but do not do as they do for they do not practice what they preach." So all their preaching, all their teaching is good. They're authoritative. Everything they say, it's as if Moses himself said it.

But in the same chapter, Jesus says to the Pharisees that you have made up traditions. You have made up traditions that we're not going to follow you on. They don't come from Moses. So then it's either Jesus is absolutely confirming the Pharisaic tradition and the interpretation of the Torah, or he's generally confirming it.

If he's absolutely confirming it, then you have that Christian dilemma. If Jesus is a true prophet, then Christianity is false. If Jesus does not align with the Pharisaic tradition, then he's a false prophet. Either way, Jesus is a false prophet.

They could say it's a general confirmation. And guess what? They do say it's a general confirmation. If you go to contemporary commentaries on that verse, ancient commentaries on the verse, you know what they say? Jesus was confirming their teachings generally. And we have scholarship that says this has baffled many scholars on exactly what Jesus meant here because he later seems to contradict his own.

Excellent point by the Champ — Mohammed Hijab Archive