Jesus claimed Moses authored the first 5 books - what do liberals say about this?

[Johnv]

I did a search and could not find any place where the Jesus says so. I stated this in a previous post. If it's there, post the scriptural reference.

You take the time to call those who don't agree "liberals" yet you fail to post scripture supporting your view. None of the scripture posted supports the statement that Jesus said Moses was sole author of the Pentateuch.

BTW - Helen is not a liberal, either. Neither am I.

 

[HankD]

Nor anything to exclude the possibility of one author, Moses.
Sure there is. Moses' death is discussed. Therefore, Moses could not have been the sole author. But that aside, I think you miss the point. The matter of Moses writing the Torah should not be a doctrinal issue among baptists.

That's a given Johnv as I said in a previous post.
There is the possibility that Moses could have written his own epitath.

Everyone is entitled to believe what they will.
That the matter of Moses writing the Torah and its not being a doctrinal issue among baptists is your opinion and I repect it but disagree.

Not that someone is not a believer if they don't accept the sole human authorship of Moses as the writer of the Torah. I would (as you have pointed out) give exception to his epitath (although its possible he could have written it).


HankD

 

[Baptist Believer]

Originally posted by Daniel David:
Johnv and BB, do a search in the N.T. and find the number of times that Jesus said Moses is the author of the Law. [

It is overwhelmingly stating that Moses is the author.

Not really.

Jesus did not directly discuss the authorship of “the Law” (I’m assuming you mean the Pentateuch.) However, He did use the term “Moses” as shorthand for the first five books of the Bible. Have you noticed that Jesus occasionally used the phrase “Law of Moses” to describe both the entire Pentateuch (Luke 24:44) and also the ceremonial law (John 7:23) that was apparently dictated directly by God. I believe we can all agree that the ceremonial law was God’s law, not Moses’ law, so it can easily be concluded that Jesus is referring to the writings themselves instead of the authorship.

A natural reading of the text in the context of the material reveals that the intent of these statements is as a reference to the content of the writings, not the authorship.

Now after saying all of that,, I need to point out that the name of Moses is traditionally attached to the text and is the basis of these statements using “Moses” as a shorthand for these texts. As Helen and others have pointed out, it is likely that Moses himself (and probably some assistants) gathered ancient texts and put together a history of the children of Israel (especially the book of Genesis which all took place before Moses). This likely possibility does not preclude the inspiration of scripture at all or diminish the contribution of Moses. And as others have noted, the death and obituary of Moses was likely written by someone else, possibly Joshua or perhaps a scribe who worked with Moses.

Johnv, it should be a doctrine becuase it was important to the Lord to say it over and over again.

The Lord did not address the authorship even once. (That was the point of my joke much earlier in this thread.)

Again, this just smacks the liberal idea that Christ is the criterion by which Scripture is understood. Even when he explicitly says something, the libs don't want to listen.

As one who holds to that allegedly liberal idea that Jesus the Christ is the both the focus and interpreter of scripture, I don’t think you truly understand what you are criticizing.

And who are you calling a “lib”?

 

[Haruo]

Jesus claimed Moses authored the first 5 books - what do liberals say about this?

That it's a misstatement of fact. That's what this beyond-liberal says.

When Jesus walked the earth, he many times referred to Moses as the author.

I don't think Jesus ever said Moses wrote any book, much less the five specific ones that we call Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. If you're not going to provide any basis for assessing the matter beyond your own say-so, then you're not going to get any informed responses.

Haruo