Authentic Sayings of Jesus: The Date of Consummation

When speaking about the subject event in which He will return and the final judgement takes place, Jesus stated the following as recorded in Mark 13:32:  “Now concerning that day or hour no one knows - neither the angels in heaven nor the Son - except the Father.”1  

Because this passage ascribes a limitation to the Son it is unlikely that it was added later by the church for it clearly fulfills the criterion of embarassment (awkward or counterproductive for the persons who serve as the source of information2).  This embarassment is evident by the fact that the passage is absent from Luke and it is only found in the best manuscripts of Matthew.  Finally, that we see Mark record the predictive ability of Jesus in other places (Mark 11:2; 13; 14:13-15, 18, 27-28, 30) speaks to the authenticity of this passage.3

This series identifying authentic sayings of, or events surrounding, Jesus will continue again next week.

Stand firm in Christ,
Chase

Footnotes:
1.  Holman Christian Standard Bible is used here.
2.  Craig, William Lane. Reasonable Faith:  Christian Truth and Apologetics; Third Edition. Page 298.

3.  Ibid. Pages 312-313.

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