C.S. Lewis said that the verses about Jesus returning in the lifetime of his followers are the most embarrassing verses in the Bible.
Here is the Scripture to which he’s referring. It occurs in three of the four Gospels.
Matthew 24:34, Mark 13:30, and Luke 21:32
Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened.
Here is what Lewis said as recorded here and here.
“Say what you like,” we shall be told, “the apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be false. It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the Second Coming in their own lifetime. And, worse still, they had a reason, and one which you will find very embarrassing. Their Master had told them so. He shared, and indeed created, their delusion. He said in so many words, ‘this generation shall not pass till all these things be done.’ And he was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else.”
“It is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible… …. The one exhibition of error and the one confession of ignorance grow side by side…. The facts, then, are these: that Jesus professed himself (in some sense) ignorant, and within a moment showed that he really was so.”
The World’s Last Night: And Other Essays, page 97
So this is a problem for Christians. Many atheists and Muslims will point to these verses to show that Jesus was a false prophet.
How do you respond to this:?
Do you really think Jesus was wrong? Do you believe Jesus didn’t know what He was saying?
Or is our understanding of Scripture and history incorrect?
The only eschatological view that fully addresses this question is preterism. Preterism has its own issues as well, but it is fully able to answer this criticism. The rest of the views have no solid answer for this.
This is an area I am still figuring out because of your posts on these issues. I have not had the time to do that kind of digging currently. This is all very interesting and good food for thought…
Hi Kris,
I’m still figuring it out, too. It’s like peeling the layers of an onion. You realize the interpretation of one thing doesn’t make sense so then you have to look at another thing. Then you realize there is a much better interpretation offered for that which then forces you to reconsider something else.
Fortunately, every layer I’ve removed has made the entire whole make more and more sense.
Sallie
Sallie, I was surprised that Mr. Lewis found issue with this passage. I seemed to intuitively understand from the context that Jesus was speaking of the generation that experiences Jacob’s trouble. Maybe I am too simplistic but I know that Jesus and the Word are infallible. If there is an error, it is human based understanding and not His person or His Word. I can lack understanding of the Word but it should not be allowed to let doubt as to His person creep in.
I agree that the error is human based understanding. But atheists and Muslims point out that Christians seem to miss what Jesus and the apostles were clearly saying throughout the New Testament. They were very clear about what people in that generation (THEIR generation) should expect. It’s everywhere.
“the context that Jesus was speaking of the generation that experiences Jacob’s trouble”
So was this a past event or future event? What is/was Jacob’s trouble?
Andrew Torba discusses these passages in a series of tweets I wrote about here:
https://sallieborrink.com/andrew-torba-tweets-on-preterism
This is a very good statement by Torba on his tweets: “This is actually why critics—like Muslims and atheists—bring up these verses when they argue against Christianity. They’ll ask, If Jesus said this stuff would happen soon, why didn’t it? If it didn’t happen, was Jesus wrong, or are Christians just reading the Bible wrong?”.
Since we believe and know that what Christ said was not wrong, because he would never lie, then it would seem apparent that many Christians are reading the Bible wrong. I’ve been amazed at how much language in Revelation echoes a lot of Old Testament themes in a fulfillment, and the book was written before the fall of Jerusalem. I think most of us have just taken other people’s words as truth rather than look for ourselves.
This is also related. Read through the New Testament books in the order in which they were WRITTEN.
Take note of the language used about the coming of Christ. It gets progressively more intense and indicates the fulfillment is very, very soon by the time you get to the latest books.
https://sallieborrink.com/reading-the-new-testament-books-in-the-order-they-were-written
Thank you Sallie. This is the second time that reading the bible in the order that they were written has been raised. My bunny ears are up.