HOW LIBERAL LOGIC LOOPS

Luke 9:20-22

Luk 9:20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Christ from God.”
Luk 9:21 But he forcefully commanded them not to tell this to anyone,
Luk 9:22 by saying, “The Son of Man has to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

circular reasoning

It really is remarkable how some scholars arrive at the conclusion that Jesus did not know He was going to die on the cross, especially when passages like this one speak so plainly. But as you noted, the conclusion is often reached before the evidence is examined. Once that assumption is in place, the Gospels must be reinterpreted to fit it.

The reasoning usually unfolds in a predictable pattern. First, a scholar begins with the premise that Jesus was primarily a Jewish mystic or apocalyptic preacher—someone deeply spiritual, perhaps even inspired, but not someone who consciously embraced a divine, messianic mission that included suffering and death. If that starting point is accepted, then the Gospel accounts that portray Jesus predicting His death cannot be taken at face value. They must be reclassified as later theological reflections, not historical memories.

From there, the next step becomes almost inevitable: passages in which Jesus speaks clearly about His coming suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection are treated as inventions of the early church. The logic goes something like this: “Since Jesus could not have known He would die, any passage in which He predicts His death must have been written after the fact.” But that is circular reasoning. The conclusion is smuggled into the premise.

The result is that the Jesus of history becomes a figure stripped of the very things the Gospels emphasize most—His self-awareness, His mission, His obedience to the Father, and His deliberate journey toward the cross. The Jesus who speaks openly about His coming suffering in Luke 9, or who sets His face toward Jerusalem, or who interprets His death at the Last Supper, must be explained away rather than believed.

But the Gospel writers present a very different picture. Jesus speaks repeatedly, clearly, and purposefully about what awaits Him. He is not surprised by the cross; He walks toward it with intention. He knows who He is. He knows what He has come to do. And He reveals these things to His disciples long before the events unfold.

So we pray: Lord, give us the wisdom to trust the word You have revealed, rather than the fragile logic we sometimes use to avoid its implications. Keep us grounded in the truth You have spoken, and guard us from explanations that diminish the clarity of Your voice.