[Letterhead:]

Dear Mr. McQuesten,

Thank you for your letter.

You will not be surprised when I say there is no unanimity of opinion on the two questions you raise. However, I think the majority of scholars today believe there was only one cleansing of the temple and only one rejection at Nazareth.

That is my own view--and not just because it is that of most NT scholars!

You have kindly spared me the necessity of giving all my reasons but I should like to suggest some considerations.

(1) John's placing of the Cleansing is logical, rather than Chronological. He could present Jesus from the beginning as Messiah and the founder of His: own new Church--"the temple of his body"(2:21). That there were two cleansings in highly improbable.

(2) Luke is a literary artist as well as an evangelist. He puts his longer account of the Nazareth rejection earlier in his gospel, partly because it gives a preview of the whole Galilean ministry--popularity and then rejection. Note that Luke 4:14,15 implies a prior period in Galilee (Capernaum?) as Luke 4:23 suggests and Matthew and Mark indicate.

My best wishes to both of you!

Sincerely,

Herold Lang