by Rod Thomas | Jun 16, 2015 | Blog
Shalom, everyone! My name is Carmen and I love to help people become Torah observant! To help you along the way, I have made up this questionnaire for our Christian friends. Enjoy!
QUICK INTRODUCTORY QUESTION:
Is it really true that to gain eternal life, all we have to do is “believe” in Jesus? Well, yes…but there’s a little more to it.
Children “believe” in their parents, but unless they obey the parents (who are constantly teaching them for their own good) they cannot thrive in this world. For instance, if we let our babies raise themselves, they’ll die. If they make it to toddler age, they’ll constantly get into trouble because they don’t know right from wrong and cannot yet discern what will and won’t harm them.
Our Creator YHWH has had rules since the very beginning – for our own good (Don’t eat from that tree in the middle of the Garden or you’ll die! – Genesis 2:15-17.) As the world’s population grew, He kept adding to those rules. While most were meant for the Levite priests, YHWH gave some that were only for men, others only for women, and some only for a certain point in time….But the “forever” commands (i.e., Seventh Day Shabbat, feasts and eating kosher) are the ones we must watch out for because “Forever” hasn’t ended yet! Those are the ones that set us apart!
Yes, we are “saved” because Yeshua was the Final Sin Sacrifice and all we have to do today is to “believe” in Him. But there is more to having a real relationship with God. If you wish to serve Yahweh, you must follow His rules! Christianity has come up with their own name for the Messiah, and has changed the dates of His birth, death and resurrection and concocted their own man-made “holy days”….How is that pleasing to God?
If this peaked your curiosity, please take this quick questionnaire….These questions all have a purpose. I am asking them because most Christians do not know what Torah is, but they will adamantly reject it, citing, “We are under grace, not under the law!”
1. Do you love God with all your heart, mind and soul?
2. If so, what do you DO to show you love Him?
3. Are you living a holy/set apart life? How do you know?
4. Since most Christians believe that the “Old Testament” was only for the Jews, are only Jews expected to live holy lives? Show scriptural proof that Torah was “only for the Jews.”
5. In your own words, explain what “the law” is and what “under the law” means.
6. Find a scripture commanding us to celebrate the Messiah’s birth and that this holiday should be called “Christmas.”
7. Provide scripture showing the Seventh Day Sabbath was changed to Sunday.
8. Provide scripture to show there are only two commandments.
9. Provide scripture to show why His seven Feasts/Appointed Times wouldn’t apply to Christians.
10. Find scripture that says God’s Divine Instructions in Righteousness (Torah) were ever negated.
11. Do you adhere to the commands of YHWH/The Father and the teachings of Jesus, or do you constantly quote from the writings of Paul to show that God’s Divine Instructions in Righteousness have been abolished?
12. If the law was nailed to the tree/cross, how can it now be in your heart?
Once you have answered those questions, please read the below and compare my comments with your answers:
QUESTION 1: Do you love God with all your heart, mind and soul?
Scriptural response:
Of course the answer from ALL believers should have been a resounding “YES!” But did you know that, while loving God is a “gut feeling”, it’s also a Bible command?
Deuteronomy 6: 4 “Sh’ma, Yisra’el! ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI echad [Hear, Isra’el! ADONAI our God, ADONAI is one]; 5 and you are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart, all your being and all your resources. (CJB)
Deuteronomy 11: 1 “Therefore, you are to love ADONAI your God and always obey his commission, regulations, rulings and mitzvot. (CJB)
Luke 10: 27. And he answered and said to him, to love Master YHWH (pronounced Yah-weh)your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. (AENT)
Matthew 22: 37. And Y’shua (Jesus) said to him, that “You should love Master YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and with all your mind.” (AENT)
Note that loving ADONAI our God includes “always obeying his commission, regulations, rulings and mitzvot (words/commands).” How many are actually doing that? Are you?
QUESTION 2: If so, what do you DO to show you love Him?
Scriptural response:
Scripture actually shows us how to love, respect and fear Him:
Deuteronomy 10: 12 “So now, Isra’el, all that ADONAI your God asks from you is to fear ADONAI your God, follow all his ways, love him and serve ADONAI your God with all your heart and all your being; 13 to obey, for your own good, the mitzvot and regulations of ADONAI which I am giving you today. (CJB)
Deuteronomy 13: 1 “If a prophet or someone who gets messages while dreaming arises among you and he gives you a sign or wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder comes about as he predicted when he said, ‘Let’s follow other gods, which you have not known; and let us serve them,’ 3 you are not to listen to what that prophet or dreamer says. For ADONAI your God is testing you, in order to find out whether you really do love ADONAI your God with all your heart and being. 4 You are to follow ADONAI your God, fear him, obey his mitzvot, listen to what he says, serve him and cling to him; (CJB)
Deuteronomy 30: 6 Then ADONAI your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your children, so that you will love ADONAI your God with all your heart and all your being, and thus you will live. 7 ADONAI your God will put all these curses on your enemies, on those who hated and persecuted you; 8 but you will return and pay attention to what ADONAI says and obey all his mitzvot which I am giving you today. (CJB)
Joshua 22: 5 Only take great care to obey the mitzvah and the Torah which Moshe the servant of ADONAI gave you – to love ADONAI your God, follow all his ways, observe his mitzvot, cling to him, and serve him with all your heart and being.” (CJB)
John 14: 11. Believe that I am in my Father and my Father is in me; otherwise believe even because of the works. 12. Amen, amen I say to you that whoever believes in me, these works that I do, he will do also, and more than these he will do because I go to the Father. 13. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do for you that the Father might be glorified by His Son. 14. And if you ask of me, in my name, I will do it! 15. If you love me, keep my Commandments. (AENT)
1 John 2: 3. And by this we will be sensible that we know him, if we keep his Commandments. 4. For he that says I know him, and does not keep his Commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him. 5. But he that keeps his Word, in him is the Love of Elohim truly completed: for by this we know that we are in him. 6. He that says I am in him, is bound to walk according to his halacha. 7. My beloved, I write no new commandment to you, but the old Commandment which you had from the beginning; and the old Commandment is the Word which you have heard.[1] (AENT)
Note John 14:15 and 1 John 2:3-6 wherein both Y’shua and John tell us to keep His Commandments? This refers to His Torah (Divine Instructions in Righteousness, without which, we would have NO blueprint for moral,holy living!). This doesn’t mean just the Ten Commandments which are a summation of His “do’s” and “don’ts”; or the “two” which some insist are all we need to bother with….You’ll see further explanation as you continue reading below.
QUESTION 3: Are you living a holy/set apart life? How do you know?
Scriptural response:
Many truly believe themselves to be living holy lives – and many are! What we need to ask ourselves is this: “How we KNOW what constitutes a holy, set apart life?” The answer can be found only in the Bible, which – contrary to the opinions of all other “religions” – is the ONLY God-breathed entity we have (2 Peter 3:15, 1 Peter 1:3-25; 2 Timothy 3:16):
1 John 2: 3. And by this we will be sensible that we know him, if we keep his Commandments. 4. For he that says I know him, and does not keep his Commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him. 5. But he that keeps his Word, in him is the Love of Elohim truly completed: for by this we know that we are in him. 6. He that says I am in him, is bound to walk according to his halacha. 7. My beloved, I write no new commandment to you, but the old Commandment which you had from the beginning; and the old Commandment is the Word which you have heard.[1] (AENT)
Footnote from the AENT:
[1] “Elohim is light”, (1 John 1:5); therefore, it can be argued that at Creation when YHWH (the Name of our Creator as given to Moshe/Moses in Exodus 3:13-15) said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3) that He in effect brought a part of Himself out to accomplish the creative act. The “Word” does this same feat, Psalm 33:6; John 1:1; a few lines earlier we read the “Word of Life.” We have also seen before the direct linguistic relationship between the Hebrew and Aramaic roots for “Light” and “Torah” such as: “Your word (davar) is a lamp to my feet, a light (aur) to my path.” Psalm 119:105. “For the commandment is a lamp. The teaching is a light (aur), and the way to life is the rebuke that disciplines.” (Proverbs 6:23)
What makes this citation in Proverbs most profound is the word mitzvah (commandment), since tradition commonly calls the revelation at Sinai the Ten Commandments when in fact the Tanakh uses davarim (words)! Keep this in mind while considering 1 John 2:4. “He who says I know Him and does not keep His Commandments (poqadona) is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word (miltha) in him, verily is the love of Elohim perfected; hereby we know that we are in Him.” (1 John 2:4 (Lamsa)).
Aramaic could not make a more forceful point. The fact is, poqadona and miltha are exceedingly close matches for their Hebrew counterparts mitzvah in Proverbs, and davar in Psalms. However, it is in this next passage that the full measure of John’s brilliance is shown: “My beloved, I do not write a new commandment to you, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard from the beginning.” (1 John 2:7 – (Lamsa)) The Commandment is the Word, which comes from the beginning.
We must now realize that to translate this as “his Commandments” is wrong, but “His Commandments” is correct. “His Commandments” is the WORD which came from the very beginning of time. Many fail to understand this truth: It is impossible for Torah to have passed away during the lifetime of the Shlichim/Apostles if John himself writes about the Word they have heard from the beginning. What else could this WORD be, except the living Torah!
John is a native Aramaic speaker and follower of Y’shua who knows that the WORD (or the Torah of YHWH) comes from the “Light”; he states that Elohim is Light and that we abide in that Light when we do His Mitzvot/Poqadona/Commandments. Furthermore, the interchanging of “Word” and “Commandment” simply does not happen in any other language except Hebrew and Aramaic; the “word that you have heard” is the Shema!
QUESTION 4: Since most Christians believe that the “Old Testament” was only for the Jews, are only Jews expected to live holy lives? Show scriptural proof that Torah was “only for the Jews.”
Scriptural response:
There are no scriptures to show that Torah was “only for the Jews.”
Those who believe God’s “forever” commands were only for the Jews, need to be reminded that Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden for disobeying YHWH’s command; that Cain and Abel offered sin sacrifices; and Noah knew the difference between “clean and unclean” – and none of them were Jews!
There were no Jews until our third Patriarch, Jacob, had one of his 12 sons whom he named Yehudah [Judah] who became the Tribe of Judah, where the word “Jew” comes from. But yet, EVERYONE up until that time (except, of course, the pagans and heathens who were believers in other gods) was Torah observant!) Yes, YHWH ordered the Tribe of Yehudah to guard/preserve the Torah (Genesis 49:10, Micah 4:2) but that didn’t mean it was only for “the Jews”:
Genesis 49: 10 The scepter will not pass from Y’hudah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his legs, until he comes to whom [obedience] belongs; and it is he whom the peoples will obey.
Micah 4: 2 Many Gentiles will go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of ADONAI, to the house of the God of Ya’akov! He will teach us about his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For out of Tziyon will go forth Torah, the word of ADONAI from Yerushalayim.
Does the above in any way allude to the idea that Gentiles could ignore YHWH’s Torah? Please read and re-read it until you can see exactly what Micah said. And let’s not forget that YHWH caused our Messiah to be born into the Tribe of Judah. Yes, this makes them “special” – in the same way that it made Miryam (Mary) special because she was chosen to carry and give birth to YHWH’s Son….
Scripture tells us that ALL who accept YHWH as their Elohim and Y’shua as His divine Messiah MUST be holy. They MUST do “exactly” as HIS people do. YHWH repeats this four times in a row in Numbers 15:
Numbers 15: 13 “‘Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when he brings an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. 14 For the generations to come, whenever an alien or anyone else living among you presents an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the LORD, he must do exactly as you do. 15 The community is to have the same rules for you and for the alien living among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the alien shall be the same before the LORD: 16 The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the alien living among you.'”
Please re-read the above in case you missed it: Any Torah-less non-Jew/Hebrew/Israelite who does not yet believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is an “alien”/foreigner. However, if they do wish to accept Him, then they are to do exactly as those who are already belong to Him!
“Living among” means not necessarily physically, but rather, it refers to all those who have accepted the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They MUST be Torah observant, just like the Houses of Israel and Judah were with whom God made His New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:32)!
Romans 10: 12. And in this, it discriminates neither Jews nor Gentiles. For there is one, Master YHWH, over them all, who is abundantly generous towards every one that calls on him. 13. For everyone that will call on the name of Master YHWH, will have life.
QUESTION 5: In your own words, explain what “the law” is and what “under the law” means.
Scriptural response:
Plain and simple: Greek versions of the Bible have mistranslated TORAH (Divine Instructions) into “law.” When YHWH gives us DIVINE guidance, it’s for a reason; not up for negotiation! “Legalism” is when one expects salvation from keeping “the Law”. It can also be when we impose our personal habits/customs upon someone else for our own personal gratification or reasons.
YHWH never said that “works” save us! However, He expects us to OBEY His do’s and don’t’s….Just look at what has happened to our world because we keep refusing His Divine Instructions! Decadence, weirdness, evil and all manner of perversion are considered “normal” today because most don’t know YHWH or His Word! Christianity has totally perverted and confused the difference between “legalism” and “obedience!”
“Legalism” or being “under the law” is NOT what we are doing when we obey YHWH’s Divine Instructions! We “keep the law” (properly referred to as Torah), out of love and obedience and reverence.
In order to explain the erroneous “under the law” idea, let’s turn to the Book of Galatians – specifically, Galatians 3 and 4 – and employ some Bible hermeneutics, simply allowing Scripture to explain Scripture:
Galatians 3: 23. But before faith came, Torah[1] was guarding[2] us while we were confined from the faith about to be revealed. 24. Torah was therefore a tutor for us, going towards the Mashiyach that we, by faith, might be made righteous. 25. But since faith came, we are no longer under tutors.[3] 26. For you are all the children of Elohim by faith in Y’shua the Mashiyach. 27. For those who have been immersed in Mashiyach have been clothed[4] with Mashiyach. 28. For there is neither Jew nor Aramean, nor slave nor free, nor male nor female, but you are all one in Y’shua the Mashiyach. 29. And if you are of the Mashiyach then you are seeds of Awraham and inheritors by the promise. (AENT)
[1] In this regard “Torah” can be compared with any righteous values a soul voluntarily imposes upon himself. However, as a spiritual relationship is established with YHWH and His Mashiyach, a soul is elevated to much higher levels of spiritual awareness and accountability. Therefore, it is a complete farce when Christians claim to follow Mashiyach, but willfully violate Torah according to their denominational authorities. See Matthew 7:23.
[2] Most Greek translations have “kept in (ward) under the law” which is indicative of popular anti-Torah theology. However, many fail to understand that without the Torah of YHWH, there would be no Standard with which to prove Mashiyach, therefore NO Mashiyach.
[3] In the most ancient manuscripts in the Peshitta, taraa is ‘tutors’; however, it was translated as the singular ‘tutor’ in Greek. Although the word taraa has the same spelling for both singular and plural, there are times such as here, when the grammar of the sentence does not directly reveal whether it is singular or plural. To correct this problem, the earliest scribes of the Peshitta inserted two dot plural markers called a syame above such words, as in this case.
A Greek redactor could easily miss these and mistake a singular word for a plural, or vice versa. Aramaic texts are unanimous for when the syames appear, making these readings highly reliable. That being so, what we have here is the true tutor, Torah, being contrasted against false tutors, the Pharisees, who put their oral tradition above the written code of Moses and the Prophets. Such is a common refrain of Y’shua as well in places such as Matthew 15. Unfortunately, this passage was twisted into a “proof text” by anti-Torah Christians who wanted to distance themselves from the Faith of Avraham, Yitzak and Ya’akov.
[4] That is, as a garment wraps a person inside, which is a very common idiom in both Hebrew and Aramaic. Rav Shaul uses it elsewhere in Ephesians when talking about putting on the armor of Elohim and the breastplate of righteousness. A very similar idiomatic usage, “clothed with zeal like a cloak”, is found in Isaiah 59:17.
Also, let’s take a look at Galatians 4:
Galatians 4: 1. But I say that for a period of time the heir is a child, no different from the servants, even though he is the Master over all of them; 2. However, he is under guardians and stewards of the house until the time which his Father has set. 3. Even so with us, when we were young, we acted as if subject to the elements of this world. 4. But when therefore the fullness of time had come, Elohim sent His Son who was born of a woman, and was subject to Torah, 5. To redeem those who are under Torah[1] that we might receive adoption as sons. (AENT)
[1] Notice the difference between being “subject to Torah” or being “under Torah”; the lack of discernment between these two has propelled many souls into anti-Torah lifestyles. Torah is to be written upon the heart by the Ruach haKodesh by Grace; it is by Grace that a person refrains from sin, as they become subject to the Word of YHWH. It is by Grace that a person comes to know and accept the Redemptive work of Y’shua Mashiyach; however, the correct response to Y’shua is to live a life subject to Torah (instruction in righteousness).
Being “under the torah” is to be under the authority of any religious regime that postures itself as authorities on YHWH or His Word. For example, the Word of YHWH instructs that we are to rest on Shabbat, but some religious authorities teach that a person must attend a service on Sunday or during the week to discharge their obligation. Those who are under religious authority are “under Torah” which is a much different thing than being transformed into the image of Elohim, according to Mashiyach.
QUESTION 6: Find a scripture commanding us to celebrate the Messiah’s birth and that this holiday should be called “Christmas.”
Scriptural response:
There are no scriptures commanding believers to celebrate the birth of Messiah, period. See http://therefinersfire.org/christmas1.htm Christmas is a man-made “holy day” that has nothing, whatsoever to do with the birth of Messiah, as he was born on the first day of Sukkot/Tabernacles and circumcised on the 8th day. Please see http://therefinersfire.org/christmas_is_unbiblical.htm and http://therefinersfire.org/feasts3.htm
QUESTION 7: Provide scripture showing the Seventh Day Sabbath was changed to Sunday.
Scriptural response:
The simple answer is there are no Scriptures even suggesting the Sabbath was changed to Sunday! You can, of course, worship any day you like, but the commanded Sabbath REST has always been the 7th day (Saturday). See http://therefinersfire.org/calendar_origin2.htm
YHWH’s commanded Seventh Day has always been a “sign” between Him and those who are His, and there is no scripture to suggest that would change upon the death of His Messiah. See http://therefinersfire.org/true_sabbath_day1.htm
Ezekiel 20: 11 I gave them my laws and showed them my rulings; if a person obeys them, he will have life through them. 12 I gave them my shabbats as a sign between me and them, so that they would know that I, ADONAI, am the one who makes them holy.
Exodus 20: 8 “Remember the day, Shabbat, to set it apart for God. 9 You have six days to labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Shabbat for ADONAI your God. On it, you are not to do any kind of work -not you, your son or your daughter, not your male or female slave, not your livestock, and not the foreigner staying with you inside the gates to your property. 11 For in six days, ADONAI made heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. This is why ADONAI blessed the day, Shabbat, and separated it for himself.
Isaiah 56: 2 Happy is the person who does this, anyone who grasps it firmly, who keeps Shabbat and does not profane it, and keeps himself from doing any evil. 3 A foreigner joining ADONAI should not say, “ADONAI will separate me from his people”; likewise the eunuch should not say, “I am only a dried-up tree.” 4 For here is what ADONAI says: “As for the eunuchs who keep my Shabbats, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant: 5 in my house, within my walls, I will give them power and a name greater than sons and daughters; I will give him an everlasting name that will not be cut off.
6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to ADONAI to serve him, to love the name of ADONAI, and to be his workers, all who keep Shabbat and do not profane it, and hold fast to my covenant, 7 I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
Isaiah 58: 13 If you hold back your foot on Shabbat from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call Shabbat a delight, ADONAI’S holy day, worth honoring; then honor it by not doing your usual things or pursuing your interests or speaking about them. 14 If you do, you will find delight in ADONAI – I will make you ride on the heights of the land and feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Ya’akov, for the mouth of ADONAI has spoken.”
Isaiah 66: 23 And it shall be that from one New Moon to another New Moon and from one Sabbath to another Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says the Lord.
Jeremiah 17: 21 Here is what ADONAI says: “If you value your lives, don’t carry anything on Shabbat or bring it in through the gates of Yerushalayim; 22 don’t carry anything out of your houses on Shabbat; and don’t do any work. Instead, make Shabbat a holy day. I ordered your ancestors to do this, 23 but they neither listened nor paid attention; rather, they stiffened their necks, so that they wouldn’t have to hear or receive instruction. 24 However, if you will pay careful heed to me,” says ADONAI “and carry nothing through the gates of this city on Shabbat, but instead make Shabbat a day which is holy and not for doing work;
Many have cited Acts 20:7 as supposed proof that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday because “Paul taught on Sunday.” They don’t realize they have confused the Havdallah (end of Shabbat) services with Paul’s continuing to teach through sunset (end of Shabbat), on into the “first day.” Someone wrote to challenge us on this, saying: “Paul did not keep the 7th day Sabbath because he was teaching Christians. When the ‘Sabbath day’ is mentioned in Acts, it is the Christian Sabbath day – Sunday! See Acts 20:7 for proof.”
No it isn’t! Let’s read this in context! Acts 20:7 says “And on the first day of the week, when we assembled to break bread, Paul spoke with them, because he was to depart the next day; and he continued his discussion till midnight.” (AENT)
Since “Jesus” was a Jew who taught only from the Tanach – the “Old Testament” – the earliest “Christians” were taught by him to observe HIS Sabbath, which was the 7th day. A study of early Christian writers reveals that Sunday observance of a Sabbath was a second century invention, not around in Paul’s time. No, we can be sure that when Acts mentions the “Sabbath day”, it is the 7th day and not Sunday.
Let’s discuss the “Sunday” allegation:
First, Acts 20 in no way suggests the Sabbath was somehow changed to Sunday. Second, the scripture itself explains that Paul was departing the next day, which is why they were meeting on Sunday. Third, there is a traditional Jewish ceremony after sunset on the seventh day Shabbat known as havdalah. The havdalah is an intentional observation of the separation between Shabbat and the first day of the week. Though the Shabbat ends at sunset, the fellowship often continues far into the night, which by definition of the Hebrew day it has become the “1st day of the week”. So Acts 20:7 simply records that the Apostles met in a continuation from the 7th day Sabbath.
For those who really wish to believe a 1st day Sabbath was condoned and expected by Paul, then please explain 1 Corinthians 16:2. Here Paul is explaining to the Corinthians: “On each first day of the week, let every one of you lay aside and preserve at home what he is able; that there may be no collections when I come.”
The fact that here, Paul is telling the Corinthians to WORK on the 1st day and make preparations for his visit, most certainly means that he did not see the 1st day of the week as a “day of rest” and he decidedly did not consider the 1st day of the week a “Sabbath” day!
Some attempt to use Matthew 12:8 which says “For the Master of the Shabbat is the Son of man” (AENT) and conclude that “it doesn’t matter what day you keep as Shabbat.” First, this scripture does not answer the question as it does not demonstrate that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday. Second, the scripture says that the Messiah is the Master of Shabbat, which means that the Messiah is the REASON for Shabbat; not that he is the REPLACEMENT for Shabbat! The 7th Day Shabbat is a “forever” command, see Exodus 31:16-17.
And finally, some suggest that since “Jesus” rose on a Sunday, that changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday. All we really know about the resurrection from the Gospels is that the tomb was found empty on a Sunday morning. No Scripture actually states the time of the resurrection, so it very well might have been in the last hours of the 7th day Shabbat, or after sunset of the Shabbat, so the Hebrew day had become the 1st day of the week – or it could have been moments before the first person (Mary) arrived. Also there are no Scriptures attesting that when the Messiah rose, the Shabbat would change! If it were supposed to change, then why would YHWH have said that observance of His Shabbat is forever?
Now that you know a Sunday Sabbath is not Scriptural, would you like to know the real reason Christians observe Sunday as the Sabbath? It is this: It was dictated as such by Constantine the Great in 321 CE who said:
“On the Venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost–Given the 7th day of March, [321 CE].”
In the nearly 1700 years since, the “Sunday Sabbath” has become very entrenched, such that it seems like the 7th Day Sabbath really was somehow “changed”! But as as been shown here, it has not.
QUESTION 8: Provide scripture to show there are only two commandments.
Scriptural response:
The only scripture you can cite is Matthew 22:37-39 where Y’shua says “You should love Master YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and with all your mind” and “You should love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you read Matthew 22 carefully, it does not say “there are only two commandments!” Y’shua was only answering the question posed to him which was “Which commandment is the ‘greatest’?” He was not saying the commandments had been done away with, leaving only two! Read on:
YHWH wasn’t “cursing” man when He gave man rules to live by! (God doesn’t do anything without good reason – and, as a matter of fact, God Himself didn’t number those “613” commandments; MAN did!) These commandments taught man right from wrong and how to obey God and worship Him properly. Most of the “613” commands were for the priests of that day; some were only for men; some only for women (i.e., to sleep outside the camp whenever they had their periods – which made sense since in those days women had no way to keep clean during their menstrual cycle).
The main ones that were meant for everyone, were the ones God eventually consolidated into the Ten Commandments – which all pointed back to the Torah. Yet, many Christians today believe they only have to bother with TWO Commandments (love God and love your neighbor as yourself) without ever connecting the fact that those two “hang” on Torah!
Matthew 22: 36. “Teacher, which Commandment in Torah is the greatest?” 37. And Y’shua said to him, that “You should love Master YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and with all your mind.” 38. This is the first and the greatest Commandment. 39. And the second is like it. That “You should love your neighbor as yourself.” 40. On these two commandments hang Torah and the prophets.
Note, they HANG on Torah. It doesn’t say they REPLACED the Torah! Most Christians don’t mind adhering to the Ten Commandments (even though they don’t bother to keep even the Fourth Commandment concerning the seventh-day Sabbath) which are part of Torah, as well. Man has always liked to “pick and choose” when it comes to God’s Word, but it’s time to realize that seventh-day Sabbath command, along with His seven Biblical feasts were NEVER abolished – on the cross, or anywhere else! There were parts of Torah that God said would endure FOREVER – and the Seventh Day Sabbath and the Biblical Feasts are among them….
If you are still having a hard time trying to understand exactly what Torah is and is not, please read our short articles entitles Torah, the condensed version and Simple Torah: http://therefinersfire.org/torah_condensed2.htm and http://therefinersfire.org/simple_torah.htm
QUESTION 9: Provide scripture to show why His seven Feasts/Appointed Times wouldn’t apply to Christians.
Scriptural response:
As we saw above, Numbers 15:13-16 show that ALL who accept YHWH as their God are to OBEY Him. No exceptions…Same God, same rules! Consequently, Christians are not exempt from keeping their “dates”/Appointed Times with YHWH. See http://therefinersfire.org/jewish_holidays1.htm
Since there are no Scriptures negating the commanded Feasts/Appointed Times, it begs the question “Why don’t Christians keep them?”
Christianity already observes a Passover which came from Pesach; a “Pentecost” which came from the Feast of Weeks and Shavuot. The other feasts are ignored. The answer lies in the early authorities of “the Church” such as Constantine who was mentioned above. Here is another:
“The festivals of the pitiful and miserable Jews are soon to march upon us one after the other and in quick succession: the feast of Trumpets, the feast of Tabernacles, the fasts. There are many in our ranks who say they think as we do. Yet some of these are going to watch the festivals and others will join the Jews in keeping their feasts and observing their fasts. I wish to drive this perverse custom from the Church right now.” (From John Chrysostom, Homily 1 in Adversus Judaeos, c386 CE.)
In the 1600+ years since these awful words were penned, is it any wonder why Christianity has completely forgotten why their religious obsrvances are so far away from Scripture?
QUESTION 10: Find scripture that says God’s Divine Instructions in Righteousness (Torah) were ever negated.
Scriptural response:
There are no Scriptures saying Torah was negated! Some will attempt to cite Paul, but they do so only because they do not understand Paul’s writings. (See the next question.)
Many Christians, in order to show Torah observant believers the “error of their ways,” gleefully and with undertones of sarcasm bring up the fact that “no one can keep those old 613 commandments.” See http://therefinersfire.org/original_commandments1.htm Fact is, hardly any of these Christians realize what the 613 commandments were, in the first place, nor that no one (including Y’shua) has ever kept them all – because most were for the priests; some were only for men while others only for women; some were only for a certain point in time; some for Nazirite vows, and 200+ related to the Temple which is not standing!
However, there were some “forever” commands…and last time we checked, “forever” hasn’t ended yet…. See http://therefinersfire.org/torah_rules1.htm
In fact, we know that in the end of time, only those keeping Torah will be in Heaven! It’s not that Torah is required for salvation; no – only faith in Y’shua is required for salvation. It’s that Torah-keeping is a condition of that faith! It’s true! See Revelation! With whom is the dragon at war? “And the dragon was enraged against the woman; and he went to make war upon the remnant of her seed who keep the Commandments of Elohim and have the testimony of Y’shua.” (Revelation 12:17, AENT)
If you are going to accept Y’shua as your savior, you must also obey Him! And to obey Him is to keep His Torah. See question 1! Indeed, Y’shua tells us that He wants no part of us if we rejected His Words! “I know your works, that you are neither hot, nor cold; I would desire that you would be either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to vomit you from my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16, AENT)
QUESTION 11: Do you adhere to the commands of YHWH/The Father and the teachings of Jesus, or do you constantly quote from the writings of Paul to show that God’s Divine Instructions in Righteousness have been abolished?
Scriptural response:
Let’s be honest: Christianity is based upon the writings of Paul, which are misunderstood. Most Christians will always refer you to “Paul wrote”…But the bottom line is: (1) Paul was a mere man, trying to explain Y’shua and Torah; and (2) contrary to popular belief, he never spoke against YHWH’s Torah or the things that Y’shua taught.
Acts 24: 14. But this indeed I acknowledge, that in that same doctrine of which they speak, I do serve the Elohim of my fathers, believing all the things written in Torah and in the prophets. (AENT)
Peter warned us that people would misinterpret/misunderstand the writings of the Apostle Paul:
2 Peter 3: 15. And account the long suffering of Master YHWH to be redemption; as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom conferred on him, wrote to you; 16. as also in all his letters speaking in them of these things in which there is something difficult to be understood; (and) which they who are ignorant and unstable pervert, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. (AENT)
It’s rather shocking that Peter writes of how Paul’s letters had already been turned into a Torahless fiasco, even in Peter’s day! Certainly it was not the Pharisees who were renouncing Torah Observance, but the humanist, pagan and materialist, “modernists” who operated under “Christian” labels.
The scriptures of Rabbi Sha’ul (Apostle Paul) whose native tongue was Hebrew, have been mistranslated or misunderstood since the advent of the “church age.” This is because people are viewing his teachings through a “Greek” as opposed to a “Hebrew” mindset. See http://www.therefinersfire.org/hebrew_mindset.htm Paul never went against Y’shua’s teachings, nor did he forsake the Torah. The following article shows that Paul’s declarations have either been misunderstood, mistranslated, or wrongly interpreted – not to mention, used by some Gentile churches as an excuse to negate God’s Torah and thus continue the age-old, anti-Semitic stance against the Jews.
Many people tend to forget that Paul was a Jew whose teachings NEVER contradicted Torah (God’s original teachings/instructions). If he had, he would have rendered Scripture contradictory.
Acts 21:15-21 – which was written after Paul had written the Galatians – clearly reveals Paul was Torah observant. It is commonly misunderstood that Paul’s teachings – especially the idea that Paul said in Galatians, “if one is led by the Spirit, he or she is not under law…” – that the authority of the law has been abolished for believers in Y’shua and that the Torah has been superseded. Many people are confusing legalism (man’s requirements) with Torah observance.
When Paul speaks of being “under the law” or the “works of the law”, he is speaking against legalism, and not against the Torah. There is no Hebrew word for the concept of “legalism” or “legalist” so Paul was hindered in his attempt to explain to the Gentiles that legalism was not what God intended. Paul was not teaching against Torah observance by believers of Y’shua; rather, he was being careful in his language to make it clear that Torah was not given by God to be used in a legalistic manner.
Some people insist that there is no explicit text in the New Testament that commands us to “walk in Torah” or in any way continue to adhere to any of the commands of the old covenant. However, Romans 3:31 clearly says: 31 Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law….
QUESTION 12: If the law was nailed to the tree/cross, how can it now be in your heart?
Scriptural response:
Please think and pray long and hard about this question, because YHWH’s Divine Instructions were NOT what was “nailed to the cross.” The certificate of our debt/sin was!
Colossians 2: 12. And you have been buried with him by immersion; and by it you have risen with him while you believed in the power of Elohim who raised him from the dead. 13. And you who were dead in your sins and by the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has resurrected with him; and he has forgiven us all our sins: 14. and, by his mandates, he blotted out the handwriting of our debts which (handwriting) existed against us, and took (it) from the midst and affixed (it) to his stake. (AENT)
Y’shua wiped away the documented opinions of men (bill of charges) against us and took them from our midst….He never, ever suggested His death would abolish His Father’s Divine Instructions in Righteousness. EVER!
The Torah is holy, righteous and good. To suddenly have it “nailed to the cross” would mean that the things of God were originally evil, something to be done away with.
For the online version of this article, please click here: http://therefinersfire.org/answers.htm
by Rod Thomas | Jun 1, 2015 | Blog, Podcasts
Understanding the Bible Part 3—A Question of Inspiration or Perspiration
What is the Bible?
As it relates to the Bible, how many of you have heard the Bible described and labeled as the Holy Bible? What about the bible as the “unadulterated Word of God?” How bout this: The Bible is God’s love-letter to the Church. And you can’t forget this one: “The Bible is your sword.” I remember a Christian friend once asked me, “Hey brotha, where’s your sword?” of course asking me where my Bible was at the time as it appeared to him that I was Bible-less. As I was coming up in the Baptist Church of my youth, I recall hearing quite frequently, that the Bible—especially the “Authorized King James Version,” was the “66-Special.”
All these titles and descriptors about the Bible. Indeed, so much is made of the Bible within and without Christian circles, but as we’ve seen in the previous two-episodes of this series on “Understanding the Bible,” the Bible in all it’s preeminence and centrality to the Christian Faith, is not only misunderstood by most but is hardly ever read. I suggested also that we have a “Biblical-illiteracy” crisis that is plaguing the Body of Messiah (as well as the whole of Christianity) and little if anything is being done amongst the church’s movers and shakers to rectify this problem. Till now, we’ve come to the conclusion that (1) the Bible is the greatest book never read and (2) despite being the greatest book never read there remains many benefits to be had when one “shama’s” the content of the Bible. In this episode of Sabbath Thoughts and Reflections, I begin an examination of just what this book that the world knows as the Bible really is—if that is at all possible to do in our alloted time.
So how do we address this issue of biblical illiteracy in the Body of Messiah? I’ve given this issue quite a bit of consideration over the course of the last few weeks. I’ve been especially stymied over the question why do so many of us hate to read our Bibles? I briefly examined in the previous parts of this series potential reasons why we tend to avoid reading our Bibles. The most prominent excuses given is that the Bible is just too hard to understand and that we are simply too lazy to pick up the book and read it. Certainly, I agree that there are aspects of the Bible that make reading and studying it a chore. Take for instance the many names of the characters and places mentioned in the Bible. Many, if not most, of these can be confusing and foreign to most of us, as well as the many “begat” passages scattered throughout the Bible (that is—so and so begat so and so, etc., etc., etc.) that bring so much reading pleasure to most of us in the West—unless, that is, you’re a genealogist of some type. I began to think that much of these and other less than desirable attributes underscore the fact that the Bible is unlike any other book known to man. Because the Bible was authored by so many different men over such an extended period of time, the Bible is disjointed and often difficult to fully comprehend and follow. There are often huge gaps in many of the recorded stories, leaving the reader to either “go out on a limb” and make guesses as to what occurred between the written lines or simply ignore the missing pieces altogether. (Please note, there are methods of interpretation that we will get into in future parts of this series that will provide us the means whereby we can fill in the missing pieces of the Biblical puzzle. But for now, suffice to keep up with me and my line of thinking and discussion until we get out of this storm of confusion.) The book of Genesis for instance contains some of the most poignant stories of the entire Bible, yet so much is left unsaid. The creation story has so many holes in it that theologians and thinkers have had field days trying to explain what actually happened during the week of creation. Was the creation week a literal 7-day week or was the seven days actually dispensations or ages? What was the time frame between the time Adam was made from the dust of the earth to the time the Creator created the woman from the rib of the man, to the fall, to the expulsion from the garden? Did all of this occur in one day? Or was it a few days; a week; a month or years; centuries or millennia? These are just a few questions in a long list of questions, the answers to which are not contained in the content of the books of the Bible.
Let’s face it, the Bible is not very reader friendly. Indeed, the Bible leaves a lot to be desired as a consummate work of literary genius that the world has elevated it to be. Granted, the King James Version of the Bible reads beautifully and is genius in its grandeur and use of the English language. But when one is desiring to hear from the “author” of the Book, the LORD Almighty, the great I AM, the Creator of the Universe, the Beginning and the End, all the flowery fluff seems to get in the way much of the time—especially having to navigate through the countless thee’s, thou’s, hasts, etc, it can often be quite frustrating. Yes, I’m primarily referring to the Authorized King James Version that has become the foundation upon which most other translations have been built.
But let’s be open and honest in this discussion. The Bible is a tough book to crack—literally speaking. But then, the Bible was never meant to be read and or understood as we would any other books that have been written throughout history. And that, my friends, is the problem as well as it is the beauty of the Bible. Those dusty bibles that line our household bookshelves were written, according to some sources, by 40 or so men; the work itself spanning some 2-milllennia by writers residing at the time they composed their histories, poems, prophecies and epistles in possibly 3-continents. In every sense of the term, the Bible is a book of books. We of course run into problems when we have so many variables—that is different authors writing over a period of about 1,600-years (some say even longer), each documenting his own unique experiences and associated stories. Thus we have contrasting writing styles, turns of phrases that can in most cases only be understood by individuals who lived in the writer’s culture and time frame. I mean, what can be said about the Apostle Paul? There is absolutely no doubt that this man was a brilliant Torah scholar and just an outright smart fellow. To endure what he endured for the Kingdom is by no means a small thing. That which he experienced on the road to Damascus was certainly life altering and you have to give the man his props. He lived his calling. But when you read his writings—oh boy, it’s not always easy to understand what he was writing about, even for the most knowledgeable of us. And I’ll even say, a few of his passages I just don’t get at all. (Please note: I’m not interested in having a debate over how easy it is to understand the writings of Paul. Most people’s understanding of Paul’s writings is based upon their denomination’s interpretation of the man’s writings. But when we strip away denominational influences and examine the writings of Paul based solely on what is written in the pages of our Bibles, one must admit that his writings are at times quite difficult if not impossible to understand. Even Peter commented on the complexities of Paul’s writings and how unscrupulous men have taken Paul’s writings and twisted them to their own devices–reference 2 Peter 3:15, 16.) Because Paul was writing to a specific audience, addressing a set of specific issues transpiring in a specific assembly of believers, at a specific time in history, within a specific culture with its own historical context with unique unmentioned external and internal influences, we can not always fully comprehend the meaning of Paul’s writings. We living in the 21st century, especially in the West, tend to apply Western sensibilities Paul’s writings. This will inevitably lead to certain failure when we attempt to interpret some of Paul’s writings. This my friends is one of the causal effects that is responsible for our Biblical illiteracy problem.
Have you ever been cc’d in an email or string of emails addressing a topic or subject that you knew nothing about? Do you recall how it drove you to stop and go to the person responsible for including you in the email and having them explain to you in depth what that email was about. Why did you have to do that? Because, if you didn’t conduct an inquiry into that email you would remain in the dark and possibly run into the problem that that email was addressing, completely unaware. So you were forced to retrieve missing elements of the story or issue that the email was addressing in order for you to make sense of that email. Unfortunately, we don’t have the writers of the various books of the Bible available to clarify the various nuances of their writings. Fortunately today, we have access to tons of information compiled and published by experts in various fields that we can tap and hopefully gain a clearer understanding these men’s writings. However, we cannot be certain as to the validity of these experts’ claims and suggestions as they are often basing their conclusions on subjective findings. Unfortunately, much of the content contained in our Bibles is shrouded by centuries that were filled with cover-ups and lies; lost and altered Biblical texts; cultures and peoples that were wiped out by crusading powers; denominational and pagan influences; and the like. But…we do have the Holy Spirit (aka Ruach HaKodesh) to fill in the missing pieces, as long as we are willing to put in the work of delving into the pages of the Bible to learn what “thus saith the LORD.” And of course, this is part and parcel of what we got into in the previous 2-parts of this series—and that is that many of us are simply unwilling to invest the time, energy and gray-matter to build a spiritual foundation whereby the Ruach Kodesh can actively reveal the full picture; the full story; the full message of the bible to our souls. I am a firm believer most of us can gain a firm understanding of the Bible if we desire to do so; are willing to eliminate denominational influences from our lives; seek out spirit-filled Biblically-based teachers; are willing to invest in available resources; are not afraid to accept information that challenges former beliefs and understandings; and have an undying love for Yahovah.
Inspiration and Francis Scott Key
Let’s face it, many things must occur before we can ever expect to remedy the biblical illiteracy plague that exists in the body of Messiah. One of those things that must occur beforehand is for us to gain as clear an understanding as possible of what the Bible is; and just as important, gain an understanding as to what the Bible is not.
Now, I’d bet you dollars to a doughnut that if you were to ask the average Christian on the street; for that matter, ask even the average Hebraic Roots/Messianic believer to define or describe what the Bible is, you’d probably get one or more of the descriptors I mentioned at the top of this post. More times than not, however, you’ll probably get the answer of “the Bible is the word of God.” Hey, that’s how I saw the Bible for many years and how I saw and described the Bible up till just a short while ago. So okay, you say the Bible is the word of God, right? Yes? Okay. So you’re saying that the Bible is actually the “words of God,” right? I would imagine that you’ll get a lot of head shaking to the affirmative to that question. So you’re saying that every word, every story, every epistle, every prophecy is the actual words of God. Correct? I would guess that you’ll then get a few folks who may throw in a a disclaimers or two at this point. These will probably say that, well, not every word written in the Bible is from God. But they will still contend that the Bible is the word of God. Okay, that explanation and descriptor is as clear as mud! Right?
So is the Bible the word of God? Or does the Bible contain the words of God? Or is there something else to describe the relationship between God and the Bible? Well, I was curious as to what the various Christian sects thought of the Bible and I came up with some interesting definitions and descriptors.
Let’s start with Catholicism. Now, don’t start booing. Just hear this out. Face it, protestant Christianity is an off-shoot of Catholicism and a great many of us came from either catholicism, protestantism or both. So we mustn’t throw stones in glass houses. Just remember that.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Bible is described as a collection of writings which the Church of God has solemnly recognized as inspired. So, according to Catholicism, our Bibles are a collection of writings that the Church of God has determined to be inspired. Okay, let’s break this bad boy down. We see here that Catholicism sees the Bible as a collection of writings. Pretty cut and dry, right? Indeed, we can all agree that the Bible is a collection of writings or books. So then, we can safely say that the Bible is a book of books. Oh, and here’s a fun fact: the Catholic Bible has some 73-separate books or writings, compared to the protestant Bible that contains just 66. Somewhere along the line I lost 7-books. How disturbing. Can I get my money back?
The next thing is that the Church of God compiled these writings into a collection or books or into what we know as the Bible today. So the natural question is, who and or where is the “Church of God?” Is it the Baptist Church on the corner? Is it the Episcopal Church down the street? Is it the Lutheran, or the Pentecostal, or the Interdenominational Church, or any of the 100s of 1,000s of Christian churches and denominations that are scattered throughout our communities and neighborhoods? Nope! Context here clearly suggests that the “Church of God” is the Catholic Church. Bottom line brothers and sisters, the Catholic Church sees herself as the “Church of God.” Okay. That was news to me, but I get it. They—the Catholic Church or the Universal Church-assumed the lead role in Church history after the death of the Apostles and going into the latter-half of the 2nd and into and through the 3rd centuries. So being the dominating organization of believers very early in the church history game, I can see how they would call themselves the Church of God. I’d say pretty presumptive, given that Catholic men assumed total control of the Church, officially throwing God out the front door in the 4th century C.E. So it seems pretty silly to me that Catholicism sees herself as “God’s Church” when they’ve clearly stated in their various publications and documents that the Church herself makes the rules and sets the course for her 1.3 billion adherents. Certainly, if God were in full control of that organization, it wouldn’t be in the mess she’s gotten herself itself in recent years, now, would it? But I digress.
Lastly, this proclamation contends that these writings were “recognized” by Catholicism as “inspired.” Now, this is where things get somewhat interesting. There are select writings that the Catholic Church has identified as special, what they call “inspired.” I was interested to learn how the Catholic Church defines the term “inspire,” “inspired,” or “inspiration.” Well, search as I might, I really never got a satisfactory definition of this term. I have an idea of what our western society considers as inspired.
I remember growing up in Baltimore and going on elementary school class trips to “Fort McHenry” and looking out towards the Chesapeake Bay and being told by tour guides that just out in one section of the bay, adjacent to the Fort, Francis Scott Key was on board the HMS Minden, a prisoner, watching the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the Royal Navy in September of 1814. It was said of the successful defense of the Fort that Francis Scott Key was elated and overwhelmed with emotion. So affected by the successful defense of the Fort, Francis Scott Key was “inspired” to write a poem entitled “The Defense of Fort McHenry.” This poem later became the basis for our “National Anthem.” So in this particular example, a 35-year old lawyer and amateur poet, was led or prompted by the events he witnessed at one of the most pivotal battles of the War of 1812 to write a poem. Indeed, there may be key events in our lives that prompt us to act and do something special. In Francis Scott Key’s situation, his special act was to write a poem. In other people, certain events or circumstances may lead them to compose a song; chisel a sculpture; climb a mountain; build a monument; etc. We are an emotional and sentimental lot, us humans. And important events can be just too powerful for us to idly sit by and not do something in response. So we act. And we tend to react to those unique events in a special way.
So back to Catholicism and the writings that the Church of God identifies as “inspired:” what then is the Catholic Church saying about these writings? She seems to be saying that this compilation of writings has been recognized by the Church as being “inspired” or of an “inspired nature.” So one of the questions that we could ask is where did the “Church of God” get this idea that the compilation of writings that ultimately became the content of our Bibles centuries ago, were of an “inspirational” sort and how does the “Church of God” define “inspiration” as it pertains to these writings? Clearly, the concept of the writings found in the Bible being of an “inspired nature” originated from Paul’s letter to his young Messianic apprentice Timothy. The specific passage pointing to the inspirational nature of these writings is found in 2 Timothy 3:16, 17. The Complete Jewish Bible rendering reads as follows: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that athe man of God may be adequate, bequipped for every good work. Certainly,no human cognitive effort could ever come to such a profound conclusion about the body of work that we refer to as Scripture. Such a revelation as this one, made by the Apostle to the Gentiles as recorded in this passage, must be of the Ruach Kodesh (aka: the Holy Spirit). Here, not only does Paul provide us with a framework upon which to build an understanding of the nature of the Bible, but he also provides an explanation of the Bible’s intended purpose.
There are a couple things we must bear in mind here as it directly relates to this passage. First and foremost, I believe that Paul was strictly addressing the writings contained in the Tanakh, also known as the Old Testament to Christians. By this time in history, much of the writings that now make up the canon of books in the Brit Chadashah, also known as the New Testament to Christians, either had not been written or had existed solely as hand-written historical accountings or letters directed to the various churches that were popping up throughout the Near East and the Mediterranean. These specific writings were likely dispatched by devoted couriers to the various churches and home fellowships throughout the region. Those writings were then copied by hand and then forwarded to others for purposes of getting out the word to would-be-believers in Yahoshua HaMoschiyach. So none of these first-century writings should be classified as Scripture, despite what many liberal Christians contend. Paul was not applying the term Scripture to any first-century writings and that would include his own. Why do I take this position? Well, we understand that the writings of Paul were in their truest form, letters that he wrote to specific people and assembles, addressing specific issues and topics pertinent to those individuals and assemblies. Quite simply, they were letters or correspondences. One would be hard pressed to believe that Paul envisioned his letters assembled into a single book and seen as Scripture or as holding the same authority and place as the writings found in the Tanakh. I would imagine that Paul would have been heart stricken to see how Christianity has taken his body of writings and created a religion that is completely divorced from its Hebraic Roots and Torah. It is because of Biblical illiteracy that Christians as a whole have become easily scammed by their denominations over the centuries. Certainly, back in the early years of Christianity, having access to these writings was a rarity–and that’s assuming you could read and understand what was written. Thus, those believers had to rely primarily upon their Church leaders and teachers for Biblical instruction. I personally believe that those people will face a significantly lesser judgment than us today who have ready access to the Bible along with untold amounts of extra-Biblical resources. So it behooves us to be diligent in our efforts to read and understand and obey that which is contained in pages of our Bible.
I get so frustrated with individuals and so-called scholars who want to elevate the status of these first-century writings to that of Scripture when most of these books hadn’t even been written or, at very least, their existence known to the Body of Messiah. Sensibility demands that we pay attention to context and that context must include time. Now that’s not to say that for convenience sake we can’t refer to the New Testament as Scripture. But we must always be careful to not confuse these first-century writings with those of the Tanakh. I believe that when people so adamantly insist that Paul is referring to all the books that make up the Bible, they are unknowingly diminishing the authority and preeminence of the writings that make up the Tanakh. Listen, it is no secret that Christianity has turned a blind eye toward Torah and that blind eye began to take firm shape as far back as the 1st-century C.E. (Reference Jude 3,4) What better scheme to disavow the validity of Torah to the self-professing Christian than to manipulate Paul’s statement that “all scripture is given by the inspiration of God” and to postulate that Paul was also including his own writings.
Now I realize that many individuals who will be reading this transcript or listening to this podcast episode will pooh-pooh my position on this issue. I’m certainly inclined to take the beating on this. But I can not in good conscious ever twist the writings of the Bible to suit whatever Churchianity-based leanings I might have remaining in my pea-brain. Am I rejecting the Brit HaDashah (aka the New Testament to the Christian) or reducing its relevance to the Body of Messiah? Absolutely not! I believe the writings that make up the New Testament portion of our Bibles were of an inspirational nature—the term inspiration we have not as yet adequately defined. Without the writings contained in the New Testament, we’d have no understanding of the life and work of Yahoshua HaMoschiyach nor would we know how to live Torah to its fullest potential as the elect of Yahovah. The Torah will always remain as our “constitution” and the writings and prophecies supporting documents that provide a deeper understanding of Yahovah and his plans for mankind. We must never allow an anti-Semitic mindset to influence how we see this book that we call the Bible.
Back to this Pauline passage of 2 Timothy. Paul applies the term “inspiration” to Scripture. We are in desperate need, however, to figure out what this term inspiration truly means as it relates to the Bible. Earlier in this post I gave an historical example of inspiration found in United States history—that of Francis Scott Key and his penning of what has become the Star Spangled Banner or our National Anthem. Is that which Francis Scott Key experienced during the Sea Battle of Fort McHenry the same experience the writers of the Bible had when they penned their books? Honestly, I wasn’t certain, although I was pretty certain that the writers of the Bible were somehow influenced by the Father to write while Francis Scott Key was influenced by the events he was witnessing at Fort McHenry to write. Both examples highlight the concept of an external influence causing one to write. In both examples, something external was stirring up something within these two-classes of writers.
The “Google” definition of “inspire” is to fill one with the urge or ability to do or feel something, especially to do something creative. The “Google” definition of “inspiration” is the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something , especially to do something creative. Clearly, this definition seems to apply quite aptly to the story of Francis Scott Key. But does it apply to those who wrote the books of the Bible? To some degree I’d say yes, to another degree I’d say there seems to be something glaringly different. That difference seems to be a bit more complicated than a simple infilling of an individual to do something creative such as write.
The term “inspired” as found in 2 Timothy 3:16 is “theopneustos.” Breaking down this word to its base meaning we find “theopneustos” to mean “God” (i.e., Theo) “breathed” (i.e., pneustos). So Paul, assuming he wrote this in Greek—we can only assume although He may have written it in Aramaic or Hebrew. One can safely assume that Paul was multi-lingual given his Roman citizenship and his notable Jewish education and traveling experience, he certainly could have written the two books of Timothy in Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic. On the other hand, given that Timothy’s mother was Jewish and his father was a Greek (ref. JFB), Paul could have very easily written the two books of Timothy in either of these 3-stated languages. Obviously the conventional wisdom holds that Paul wrote his epistles, especially 1st and 2nd Timothy, in Greek. So let’s, just for the sake of discussion, assume Paul wrote 2 Timothy in Greek. Thus, the term “theopneustos” presents a most unique term that implies that the writing of scripture was of some divine nature. According to the Commentator Matthew Henry, this rare form of inspiration separates the Bible and “elevates it above any other literary work in history.” This form of inspiration, being God-breathed as Paul describes, makes the resultant work or writings “by default the Creator’s Word.” Thus the Bible, according to Henry, does not belong to man as some would pompously assert. Furthermore, “the inspiration is of divine revelation; the prophets and apostles did not speak of themselves; thus, what they received of God that they delivered unto us.” Thus, the Greek understanding of “inspiration” in this context, according to Jamieson, Fausett and Brown, “can never be used of writings in a general sense, but only of the sacred Scriptures.” In fact, the term “theopneustos” is used nowhere else in the whole of the Bible. It is in this section of JFB’s commentary where they assert that because most of the Brit Chadashah/New Testament had already been written, that Paul’s epistles as well as the Gospels and other apostolic writings, qualified to be viewed and revered as Scripture. As I suggested earlier, I take exception to this belief. I don’t believe that Paul was acutely or intimately aware of the other writings in existence at the time he was penning his letters, nor do I sense him to be so pompous as to dub his own writings on par with the class of writings contained in the Tanakh. The “Church of God” assigned Scripture status to the writings that are contained in our Bibles today. Again, I’m okay with calling the Bible itself Scripture. I personally take exception, however, in classifying letters written by the Apostles to the various churches and assemblies on an equal footing with Torah, the writings and prophets. That’s just me. I believe the writings that make up the New Testament were definitely inspired of the Father, but I do not believe they should be placed on equal footing with Torah. Just saying. These books that make up the New Testament were likely inspired of Yahovah for purposes of revealing His Son to the world and for purposes of showing us how to live Yahovah’s way. Thus, I would describe the writings of the New Testament as our Bill of Rights, compared to the Torah, that is our Constitution.
Continuing on: the JFB commentary describes this concept of “inspiration” found in 2 Timothy 3:15 as placing “an extraordinary divine agency upon the teachers while giving instruction, whether oral or written, by which they were taught how and what they should speak or write.” So if we were to adopt JFB’s explanation of “inspiration” as it relates to the writing of the books of the Bible, then compare and contrast the inspiration that leads one to write poems, sculpt, build, etc, as Francis Scott Key did in response to the unsuccessful bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814, we will see one glaring difference. The inspiration experienced by the writers of Scripture was more of a direct instruction of what they were to write. In other words, can we assume from such an explanation as found in JFB that God in some form or another, directly told the writers of the Bible to write that which He wanted them to write? We can, for the sake of discussion, assume that we’re talking about the Holy Spirit being the agent that influenced these writers of the books of the Bible. So right away after reading this section of Jamieson, Faucett and Brown, I wondered if this unique form of inspiration caused the writers of the books of the Bible to, what, go into a trance at the time they wrote? Or did the Ruach Kodesh take control of each writer’s hand and writing utensil as each wrote? Did each writer have the ability to control his writing or was his will somehow briefly deactivated at the time of the divine inspiration? Or did the Father’s Spirit simply speak to each writer, sort of dictating to them, the content which they were to write, and then the writer would simply jot down what he’d heard or received from the the the Creator?
So going back over to Catholicism and her view of the Bible (reference the Catholic Encyclopedia), we find that the writer of each book of the Bible was “invested with divine power at the very moment of writing or when thinking about writing.” Thus, the Catholic view of inspiration as it relates to the writing of Scripture, tends to lean over towards the thinking that the Creator’s power directly overshadowed each writer at the time they were “inspired” to write. The writer’s “will, intelligence and executive faculties” came under the direct control of the Father. According to a Catholic Encyclical (a papal letter sent to all bishops of the Roman Catholic Church—google definitions), “God stirred up and compelled the sacred writers to determine to write all that God meant them to write. God moves the will of the writer directly or decides it by proposing motives of an intellectual order.” Please keep mind my friend that I’m just reporting what I’ve uncovered in my research on this subject. I am not, at this point, rejecting or accepting the Catholic position on the subject of the Bible or their concept of “inspiration.” Just wanted to clear that up. I don’t want you to be misled by the content that I’m delivering here. I fully plan to outline in a future episode the Bible’s concept and explanation of itself—that is, if we are able to arrive at such a conclusion.
Continuing on. This explanation of “inspiration” as it relates to the writing of Scripture led me to suspect that the Roman Catholic Church saw each writer of the Bible as being temporarily under some type of trance at the time he was inspired to write. Or did the writer become some type of “automaton” or “robot” that simply followed the writing commands of the Father without any ability to add or subtract from the content of what they were writing. Well, the Catholic Church disavows any belief that these writers experienced some type of ecstasy at the time of their inspiration. However, the following things are believed to have happened to each writer:
1. The writers’ intellect was commandeered by Yahovah (my wording by the way)
2. The writers’ cognitive functions were under the control of Yahovah
3. The writers’ personal efforts remain their own
4. There is no guarantee that the resultant work would be perfect, at least from a literary perspective
5. The Spirit of Yahovah simply assisted the writers’ intellect
6. The resultant text is “destined of God for the Church and is readily recognized as God’s written word.”
As I mentioned earlier, the whole concept of inspiration seems not to be an easy thing to explain as we can clearly see in the description of “inspiration” that has been provided by the Catholic Church. The Church Triumphant places absolute responsibility upon the Creator as it relates to the content of the Bible. It appears as though, according to Catholicism, that Yahovah (they refer to Him as God) wants His message to get out, so He handily selected these writers, commandeered their cognitive and physical abilities to some unclear degree and for a define period time, and caused them to write that which He desired them to relay to the Church. Bear in mind, the intended receivers of that message was the Catholic Church and no others.
But here’s an interesting tidbit to throw onto the fire of discussion: according to gotquestions.org/, the Church (speaking about the Catholic Church still), rejects the concept of “sola scriptura.” What is “sola scriptura” you ask? Sola scriptura is a Latin ablative meaning “scripture alone.” The concept of “scripture alone” has been adopted by Protestantism to establish a doctrine within the Body of Christ that contends that the Bible is “the supreme authority in all matters of doctrine and practice.” (ref. Google definitions) Clearly, the Catholic Church does reject such a concept in that she holds to the belief that both the Bible and Roman Catholic traditions are on equal footing. Thus, throughout the centuries, whenever the “Church” (again, speaking about the Catholic Church) would devise traditions—and let’s be honest, many of those traditions were based upon the pagan practices of the people the church assimilated throughout the world, in addition to the papacy’s own contrived practices—those traditions would become just as relevant as the laws, prophecies and teachings contained in the pages of the Bible. In many cases, the Church even subordinated the laws and teachings contained in the Bible and replaced them with their own laws and teachings. What did Yahoshua say about such things: “Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the atradition of men.” (Mar 7:8 NAS). Indeed! One must admit, however, that the Catholic Church is honest in communicating her views of the Bible from this or any other perspective.
But friends, let’s not let Protestantism off the hook. Although protestantism singly adopts the concept of “sola scriptura,” she too has fallen into the trap of equating tradition with the absolute authority of the Bible. I know, there are probably several individuals out there who are taking exception to what I’ve just said. But all one has to do is step back and critically examine Christianity. No, I’m not talking about examining Christianity from the perspective of her many missteps throughout the years. I’m talking about Protestantism’s perpetual death grip on the things that originated from Catholicism such as the wearing of crosses; the celebrating of pagan holidays such as Christmas and Easter and the belief in the Trinity—to name just a few. Nowhere in the Bible will one find these traditions and practices condoned by the inspirer of the Bible. In fact, in several places throughout the Bible, the Father commands that we not adopt the ways of the heathen. Yet Protestantism without giving so much as a second thought holds ever so tight to her formerly Catholic traditions that she by default places on equal footing with the authority of Scripture. So the belief in “sola scriptura” by Christianity is definitely a misnomer.
So it would be difficult at best to base any understanding of what the Bible truly is through the lenses of Catholicism and to some extent the lenses of Protestant Christianity. We will, however, still examine the Protestant’s concept of inspiration and the Bible in the next installment of “Understanding the Bible.” In that episode we will pick up where we’re leaving off and try to arrive at a Biblically-based understanding of the concept of inspiration and its relationship to the creation of the Bible. (End Recording)
by Rod Thomas | Apr 19, 2015 | Blog
Introduction
What is the bible? Some would contend the bible to be the “unadulterated Word of God.” Others would similarly contend that the bible is NOT the word of God per se, but rather it contains the Word of God. Others would say that it is an instruction manual for mankind, containing instructions on how mankind is suppose to live in the sight of both God and one’s neighbor. Or how about this: the bible is a “love letter” from God to man that reveals God’s love for mankind through the work of Jesus Christ. Some would conservatively say that the bible is a compilation of thoughts, some good and some bad, and that it is a piece of work that is useful in dealing with the various and many issues facing mankind throughout the ages. Still others will contend that the bible is a book of fables and wise sayings geared to appeal to the vanities and insecurities of the human race.
Regardless how one sees the bible, the Bible holds a prominent place in the lives of millions of people in the world. Of those millions, countless hundreds of thousands revere the bible as more than just a book of wise sayings with questionable historical documentation. These individuals see the bible as some form of medium that connects them to the Creator.
In this episode of a multi-episode series on Understanding the Bible, I explore the problems that are inherent to reading, studying and understanding the bible. Furthermore, I explore the remedies associated with these inherent problems. This is not for the spiritually faint of hearts deary—for I am going to challenge the status quo that is traditional and fundamental Christianity and even the Hebraic and Messianic communities as it relates to the viability of the Bible in the 21st century as well as how we view and approach the reading and study of the bible as so-called believers in Yeshua Messiah.
Part 1: Do I Really Need to Read the Bible? It’s so hard to Understand
Churchianity has taught us, the laymen, the masses, the followers, to be lazy and wholly dependent upon the clergy to understand the things contained in our Bibles. Believers are rarely ever encouraged to embark upon a regimen of serious Bible “study”, with the exception of the Christian publishing companies who are constantly generating new and in some cases, innovative ways to consume the Bible. Each new way is designed to take the “drudgery” out of “study,” which most of us (if we are truly honest with ourselves) despise. We as a people hate to “study” anything, much less the Bible. We much prefer to simply have someone tell us what to believe or what the deal is with God. Most of our Bibles sit and collect dust. They show very little signs of use. Instead, many of us stack up our questions each week and when we head on out to the church, at the end of the service we target and hit up the pastor or a minister with the questions we’ve stored up for the week. Not wanting to be viewed as a jerk, and wanting to appear helpful to the parishioners, these “labeled” men and women of God answer our questions to the best of their denominationally trained abilities. We then walk away from the conversation, dumb, fat and happy and most of us will never take the next step, which is to verify for ourselves that what the pastor or minister has told us in response to our question is actually true. Cognitively we rationalize that he or she has been formerly placed over the congregation by the powers to be (and maybe we even believe that he or she has been placed over us by Yehovah Himself). They have been trained in theology. They have a genuine concern for our physical and spiritual wellbeing to boot. Thus, we feel pretty confident that whatever he or she tells in answer to our questions and concerns is valid and true. Little do we suspect that just maybe our pastors and ministers are just as ignorant as we are and the answers provided to our questions are based upon that which our denomination has provided them. They were told by some teacher and they in turn tell us. It would be nice to know, however, that our pastor or minister who is responding to our questions has actually delved into the Scripture to fish out the answer to the question and that they provide you and I the wherewithal to confirm the answers they are giving us (i.e., chapter and verse and whatever resource they used). But then, that not likely is it? Because if you have knowledge of the resources the pastor or minister is using, then you really won’t need them in the future to answer those deep penetrating questions that keep you awake at night. You can sort it out yourself.
How many of us have read a portion of Scripture or the New Testament (aka Brit HaDesha) and completely missed key learning and instruction because our denomination has taught us to interpret the Bible a certain way or because we have set in our minds to read the Bible for purposes of simply completing the act of reading the Bible? Not for learning sake but for purposes of get the reading over with? I’ve done this over and over throughout my traditional and Hebraic Roots life. It is just within the last 3 or so years that I’ve come to understand the importance of reading the Bible for understanding. The primary elements of effective reading of the Bible is context, revelation, available resources and untainted desire to understand. I say available resources because there are so many Biblical resources on the market to aid us in our understanding of the Bible. There is little excuse for not understanding the vast majority of the Bible today. Bear in mind, I’m not talking about denominational resources as these are written solely through a denominational filter and can not, for the most part, provide a true explanation of most of the passages contained in our Bibles. I said untainted desire to understand because without a desire to understand what is contained in our Bibles without denominational influence, our understanding will be heavily influenced by the denominational leanings of the author.
Now, please understanding me: I’m not so naïve to think that one can never gain renewed Biblical insight through the referencing of denominationally based bible reference books and resources. Certainly, the Father in His infinite wisdom has spread His truth amongst many Christian communities. We must not be under any delusion that we in the Hebraic Roots/Messianic communities hold the monopoly on truth. Holding such thinking is a lie from the pit of hell. Indeed, truth has found a home in many places in the Christian and Jewish/Hebrew world. The challenge, of course, is finding the truth. We know that finding the truth comes primarily through the auspices and leading of the Ruach Kodesh (aka the Holy Kodesh) and a tenacious pursuit of the truth wherever it may rear it’s golden head!
Part 2: Practical Examples of Biblical Illiteracy
Mat 28–records the Great Commission as spoken to the Talmidim (aka disciples) by Yeshua HaMaschiyach. This most famous of passages reads as follows in the King James Version: “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Mat. 28:19, 20). How many times have we read this passage and never captured the nuances of what the Master was passing on to His disciples? Part of the reason could be the translation or translations we are using at the time. Based upon the level of literacy one has related to reading a particular translation, especially when we’re talking about the King James Version, will determine how well one will understand the passage in question. Clearly, the bible was not written in Elizabethan English; yet I’d bet you dollars to a donut that countless thousands if not even millions have never given that central piece of information any thought. I wouldn’t even put it pass some to conclude that the Master actually delivered this directive to His disciples as written. Come on: you remember the bibles of old that had the supposed words of Jesus in red? I vividly remember growing up in the Baptist Church of my youth, believing like so many other members of the church, that those red-lettered words were the actual quotes of the Savior. It wasn’t until much later in my Christian walk that I learned bible development history and understood that the bible we have on the shelves of our homes have undergone quite a metamorphosis over the centuries. In fact, it was even more powerful to come to an understanding that our bibles were not delivered to us in the form of books, but were originally separate pieces of writing projects–we call them books, written on papyrus or leather other living material–written by 36 or more authors, spread out over more than 1600-years, in the Middle East and in other parts of the Mediterranean. There were dozens of other writings out there that never made it into our current canon of Scripture, but that doesn’t mean that those extra-biblical works are not of value to the truth seeking believer in Yeshua Messiah. I won’t get into that in this post, but we should be cognizant of the existence of these writings.
So we have in front of us an interesting conundrum: we have a compilation of writings that are in some cases upwards of 3600-years old. So we have an issue of antiquity to deal with. In other words, we don’t have those folks available to us to gain an understanding of what life was like in their time here on earth and in their area of the globe. Thus we know very little about the nuances of the authors’ respective cultures and lifestyles apart from what is contained in their writings and what archaeologists have uncovered in their excavations. Additionally we have the complication of language, the writings having their origins in several languages that include Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and no doubt other related dialects. Without the reader having an understanding of the language the manuscript was original written in, requires the work be translated into the reader’s language. Many words or turns of phrases often do not have an equal in the reader’s language. Thus the translator is forced to extrapolate and find the closest word, term or turn of phrase common to the reader’s language in order to complete the translation. The chances for a mistranslation or misinterpretation by either the translator or the reader is then heightened. 2 Timothy 2:15 is a classic example of this. The passage reads: 15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2Ti 2:15 KJV) The term in question here is “study.” In the west,the term study applies to the application of the mind to the acquisition of knowledge as by reading, investigation or reflection (Dictionary.com). We all know, for instance, that when one enters into college or some institution of learning, that they have embarked upon a study of whatever subject matter their major requires, with the ultimate goal of being awarded a certification, diploma or degree for their chosen field of study: be it language, mathematics or the sciences. Thus the use of the term study in this verse of 2nd Timothy would lead us here in the west to assume that Shaul (aka Paul) is encouraging his young apprentice to embark upon a regimen of applying his mind to the acquisition of knowledge of scripture, the purpose being for Timothy to be approved unto God and a workman who does not need to be ashamed of his vocation. Since this passage is found in the Bible, Christians automatically assume that (1) Shaul is speaking not only to Timothy but to us, even today; and (2) that we are compelled as Christians to study the bible so that we can be worthy of God’s approval. (Wait a minute, I thought the doctrine of grace said that we don’t have to do anything as it relates to our salvation or anything related to our walk with Christ. That being the case, why are we even bothering to “study” the bible? Curiouser and curiouser.) But when the astute, well grounded disciple of Yeshua takes the time to break down this verse of Timothy, a shocking reality will occur to him or her: the term “study” as written in this verse is translated from the Greek as “spoudazo.” Spoudazo in the Greek means: “to hasten; to exert one’s self; to endeavor or give diligence.” Hmm. The term spoudazo doesn’t seem to refer to anything having to do with the cognitive process of acquiring knowledge from the Scriptures does it? This being the case then, the whole concept of Christians believing that Shaul was instructing Timothy to study the Scriptures so that he would be approved of God and worthy of his chosen vocation is a mistranslation of “apocalyptic” proportions. So then, what is Shaul saying to Timothy here? Well, quite simply, Shaul is saying to Timothy that he should strive to do his best in the vocation that he has chosen to be his own. The New American Standard Bible translates this passage as follows: NAS 2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to apresent yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately bthe word of truth. (2Ti 2:15 NAS). Then we have the Complete Jewish Bible Translation which reads: CJB 2 Timothy 2:15 Do all you can to present yourself to God as someone worthy of his approval, as a worker with no need to be ashamed, because he deals straightforwardly with the Word of the Truth. (2Ti 2:15 CJB). So do you see how a simple misapplicaton of a term or phrase by the translators of the bible can have tremendous ramifications for the Faith? Doctrines, beliefs and traditions could easily be constructed upon such mistranslations or misinterpretations. It’s not to say, by any stretch of the imagination however, that we should not “study” the bible in the classic English sense of the term “study.” On the contrary. What we are saying here folks is that the bible is a tool that must be understood first and that every believer in Yeshua Messiah must be cognizant of the complexities associated with the reading of the bible. It is not for kids—I mean kids in an allegorical sense.
Furthermore, the original manuscripts have been lost, due to the ravages of time and environment. There are thousands of early manuscripts to be found throughout the world today; in major universities, museums and even private collections. These manuscripts were not the original works of the writers of the various books of the bible. The works of the bible were originally written by each book’s presumed author or that author’s chosen scribe onto papyrus or leather or whatever material the author had available to him at the time. That work was later copied and re-copied by hand by other scribes and interested individuals for purposes of making it available to others who would not have access to the original manuscript. As humans, we are prone to make mistakes. So we must always maintain a cognitive allowances for errors in the transference of the original content that is contained in the Holy Writ. Now many Christian sects will strongly oppose any insinuation that there could be any physical errors in the transference of data over the centuries–be they mistakes or intentional errors. But we know that errors do exist in the bible. I’m not going into examining or exposing those errors in this post as it is not the focus of this content. My goal here is to simply point out the potential for errors in the texts contained in our bibles of today, beginning with copying of the texts from the original manuscripts, all the way up to the translations that are available to readers today throughout the world of the 21st century. Various sects of Christianity have strongly stood by the contention that there are no errors contained in our bibles. These sects believe that God the Father would never allow such a thing to happen. I attended a home bible study once where the leader of our group asserted that there are no errors in our bibles because our God is bigger than that. On the surface his statement seemed to be sound, for indeed our God is more than capable of preventing such problems associated with the bible. But then, by saying that our God is bigger than allowing errors in the bible to occur, we are actually saying that God was directly guiding the writers’ hands and writing utensils at the moment each author or scribe sat down to write. The whole concept of “inspiration” then—gleaned from 2 Timothy 3: 16 which reads: KJV 2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (2Ti 3:16 KJV)—as understood by many Christians throughout the world, is that God turned the authors of the various books of the bible into automatons (for lack of a better descriptor). These Chiristians believe that the inspiration that Shaul was addressing in this passage of 2nd Timothy could be better translated as “control;” that God caused the authors to go into some trance and then the Spirit of God made these authors write the content of their books without any human input or effort. This event was then duplicated time and time again as the texts were copied and re-copied for distribution, thus resulting in the error-free Word of God that we call the Bible today. So thousands, if not millions, hold to a false illusion that the bibles that are collecting dust on their household bookshelves are pristine and flawless as it relates to accuracy of translation. This mindset too lends itself heavily to the problem of biblical illiteracy that is so prevalent in the Christian Faith today. Errors do exist in our bibles. The question that must be asked instead of whether or not errors exists is, whether or not the issues, the subject matter or events that each author is addressing in their writings are accurate. When posed this way, we can say with extreme certainty that there is no error. The Ruach (aka the Spirit of the Almighty) of the Creator moved the authors to write whatever it was that they witnessed, felt or envisioned. In this sense, God is indeed bigger. For one to be inspired to write down the things of Yehovah is a big deal and the focus should always be on the intentions or purposes of the author and his text. We must be acutely aware of the social, chronological, historical and revelatory aspects associated with each text. With all that I’ve just pointed out regarding the composition and history and application of the bible, it is a precarious act to think that one can pick up their bible and gain complete understanding of what the Father is trying to relay to us as if we are reading an instruction manual for a new product we’ve just purchased or as if we are reading a newspaper. Sadly, this is the common thinking and practice of many of us today. We treat the bible like we treat any book that we purchase from Amazon or the library—we simply open it and read it and expect to gain a full understanding of what it is that God is trying to get across to us through His word. I’m certain it’s possible to gain a great deal of understanding of the ways of the Creator by reading the bible in this stated way—that is by conducting a simple read of the texts. But the deep things of Yehovah come only by applying proper exegetical techniques and through the revelation of the Ruach Kodesh (reference: NAS 1 Corinthians 2:10 1aFor to us God revealed them bthrough the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the cdepths of God. (1Co 2:10 NAS))
Part 3: The Bible and the Question of Grace
Our western mindset over the centuries has for some reason led us to assume that the bible is a simple book of instruction that every believer is required to read from time-to-time for purposes that aren’t always clear—especially given that most Christians are under the delusion that grace requires them to do nothing in this life. In fact doing something in this life is deemed “works” by this crowd and God forbid, if you so much as insinuate that we must keep the Sabbath and the Feasts and the dietary laws and imitate Christ in all our ways, you are effectively described as having fallen from grace. So with this same line of reasoning, why even read the bible? If all that was necessary for one’s salvation, or for that matter, one’s walk with Jesus Christ is grace, then there is no reason to read the bible. If we are fixed in our hearts and minds to NOT do what is commanded of us to do by the Father through the inspired writings of the various writers of the bible, why read or study the bible? It’s interesting when you think about it. The overwhelming belief in Christianity is that we must do nothing in this life related or in connection to our election and salvation, yet the bible has retained its place as the best selling book of all time. More and more bibles are being churned out by Christian book publishers each year, offering its customers various bible reading experiences that are designed for what purpose? What is the purpose–will someone please tell me? Certainly very few of us take the time to truly read for understanding, this book. Oh we’ll give her an obligatory glossing over and maybe even memorize a verse or two, but in general we don’t read the bible to gain a true understanding of its content. Indeed the words of the prophet ring ever so loudly through the din of this insane world throughout the centuries: the ears of the people have grown dull of hearing and their eyes have become closed to the things of Yehovah (Isa 6:10). The Christian Faith has fallen asleep and is completely unaware of what is going on around them. We have no idea as to what is taking place behind the scenes nor where we’re heading in our lives. We read our bibles expecting to come across nuggets that will inspire us and make us feel good. On rare occasions, when things aren’t going quite so well for us, we might search the pages of our bibles for some direction or advice for handling our problems; typically out of desperation. But generally, our reading of the bible for purposes of actually hearing the Word of the Most High—of learning what it is the Creator of the Universe requires of us–is a messy effort in futility. Why? Because we have married ourselves to our respective denominations. No matter how crystal clear a passage might otherwise be on some crucial issue–logically, spiritually, historically clear–we will always tend to defer to the instructions and teachings of our denominations over what is clearly written and expressed by Yehovah in the pages of our bibles. Interpretation of the content of the bible in most cases comes only via the filter that is our denominations.
A key example of this is the hijacked doctrine of “grace,” the primary focus of the traditionalists. The traditionalist has been taught to hone in on the free-gift which is salvation as a result of grace and that no matter how hard one works towards trying to please the Father, salvation can not be purchased. Indeed, the bible is very clear about salvation being something that can never be purchased or achieved through one’s physical efforts. Shaul writes to the Ephesian ekklesia (aka assembly): “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:8-10). The traditionalist will focus only on the “for by grace are ye saved…that it is a gift of God.” He or she will ignore the part about “through faith.” So then the traditionalists’ reasoning—on a logical basis–contends that salvation is something that every person on the planet will have, because a casual—soundbite, selective read of this passage, clearly suggests this, right? But does that even make sense? Is every person on the planet, regardless where they are in terms of their relationship with the Creator, going to receive salvation? We know that the traditionalists will never accept that understanding of salvation. Despite the traditionlists’ speaking with a fork-tongue, so to speak; even they must contend that there is something that must be done to qualify for this free gift of salvation and that is faith–faith in Yeshua HaMaschiyach. Faith? Faith in what is another post entirely. Nevertheless, faith is a “qualification” for salvation and to have a true relationship with Yehovah. Salvation is free to every one as stated by Shaul in this passage, but to receive this free gift, there must be faith. So then we must get into what exactly faith in Yeshua Messiah actually means. And if we force people to look at that, they will probably shut down and refer us to their pastors and ministers for what exactly the phrase “through faith” actually means. In that case, the bible is of no use them. It’s effectively a brick.
But do you see how biblical illiteracy is manifested in this very clearest of verses? Shaul contends that salvation is a free gift from the Father. But then Shaul clarifies that faith is a qualifier. Few traditionalists see the clarity here because the story regarding salvation coming to us as a result of the Creator’s grace extended to us does not end there. The caveat is that salvation is achieved through faith. The traditionalists might understand that faith is a qualifying element for receiving the free gift of salvation, but he or she will not go further to examine what the writer Shaul means by “through faith.” Western understanding of the term “faith” means to have confidence or trust in what? Most likely (in this instance) confidence and trust in Jesus Christ, right? So then, faith becomes simply a cognitive exercise. I have faith (or trust or confidence) that my spouse will not cheat on me. Faith from a western perspective is simply believing that something exists or will (or will not) happen. But if we gain effective biblical “literacy” and practice due diligence in our search of the bible, we will find that there is more to simply having a cognitive understanding that Jesus is our Savior. When we get up off our lazy spiritual behinds and search the Holy Writ, we find that virtually every incidence of faith was proceeded by an act or by actions. So then faith in the biblical sense is manifested in an action of some type. Going deeper, we will find that many, if not most, manifestations of an individual’s faith was manifested in an act of “obedience.” That obedience was generally in response to directives given by the Master or His appointed Apostles or overseers. Those directives were typically commands or commandments. So now we are coming into the realm of obedience to a command or commandments of Yeshua. Thus, being the biblically literate believers that we claim to be, we then connect the dots that in order to belong to the Father through Yeshua HaMaschiyach, we must have faith in Yeshua and having faith in Yeshua is manifested in one’s obedience to the commands and commandments of Yeshua. The Master instructed His disciples to: 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:1 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Mat 28:19, 20 KJV) Biblical literacy is more than simply reading passages of the bible because it’s expected of us as Christians. It’s more than going through the motions to get it over with. I say get it over with because most westerners hate reading or studying the bible. Reading the bible for most is like going to the dentist for millions—it’s not a comfortable thing to do. It’s tedious and painful. Why? For many, the bible is very hard to read and understand. Unfortunately, most of us are not interested in investing the time and resources to make reading and understanding the bible a viable spiritual endeavor. So I contend that the bible is not for everyone. Unless we’re willing to hunker down and do the work that is involved in truly gaining an understanding of Yehovah’s word, the bible is as I said, nothing more than a brick—a brick that can be problematic if not properly used.
Friends, I would go even so far as to suggest that placing a bible in the hands of most Christians today is like putting a child behind the wheel of an operating car. A child is ill-prepared to handle a car (in most cases) because they’ve not received the appropriate training or possess the experience to safely and effectively operate that car. The same holds true with many Christians and their bibles: they tend to not have the proper training nor do they possess the experience to properly use this most powerful tool and resource. Like a car being operated by the uninitiated child, operating that vehicle poses tremendous potential for bystanders as well as the child driving the car being harmed or even killed, bibles in the hands of many Christians pose the potential of leading others as well as the reader his/herself down a wide-road of destruction. Again, it all comes back to the problem of biblical illiteracy that is so rampant in the Christian Faith today. This is why discipleship is so critical to the believer in Yeshua Messiah–especially new believers. I’m going to say something that I may get some rolled eyes over or some gasps from some of you out there, but I’m going to say it anyway. I believe that bibles should be kept out of the hands of any new believers until such a time as they have been properly discipled into the Faith–until such a time as it has been explained to them what Yehovah expects of them–until such a time as he or she has been shown how to properly divide the Word of Yehovah through proper biblical exegesis and utilizing proper methods of interpretation.
With that, we will pick this up in our next post, part 2 of Understanding the Word of God, where we will discuss how widespread biblical illiteracy is today and explore ways to combat this problem.
by Rod Thomas | Apr 1, 2015 | Blog
6 aYour boasting is not good. bDo you not know that ca little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?7 Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our aPassover also has been sacrificed.8 Let us therefore celebrate the feast, a not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1Co 5:6-8 NAS)
Preparation is a key factor in getting the fullest possible spiritual, cognitive and physical benefit from the Feasts. Failure to adequately prepare in every aspect of our being could lead to a less-than optimal experience. That old adage: you only get what you put into a thing certainly applies to the Feasts. You only get what you put into the Feasts and that includes preparation–preparation in advance of the actual Feast day and celebration.
It’s like the parable and analogy of sowing seeds and reaping a harvest. The more we sow into our preparation of and then participation in the Feasts–be it hosting a gathering such as a Passover Seder or attending a gathering such as a service–the more we stand to reap a great spiritual harvest. That great harvest will not only be realized and enjoyed by us as individuals, but also those with whom we share the Feasts; these too will be blessed abundantly. The harvest? Spiritual growth and physical blessings.
Preparations for the Feasts don’t have to be all that elaborate. Simply reading relevant portions of Scripture that pertain to the Feasts is a good start. One thing I’ve learned is that if you’ve read the same passages several times in the past, a new reading may reveal nuggets and spiritual riches that eluded you in past readings of that same passage of Scripture. As we grow from participating in the Feasts year after year, the Ruach Kodesh will provide new insight and revelation–but only when we are ready to receive the new stuff.
Allow me to expound upon the areas that I believe are important in preparing ourselves for the Feasts–especially the Spring Feasts of Yehovah or Passover. I’ve broken these areas into 3-main elements: the mental or cognitive; the physical; and the spiritual.
Mentally
Realizing the time–We must first understand which calendar to reference. There are 3-calendars with 3-different perspectives: the Gregorian (which is secular/of the world/developed by the Romans in the 4th to 5th century). Then there’s the Rabbinc or the calculated Jewish calendar developed by Hillel in the 4th century CE; calculated; not always in proper alignment with the Creator’s reckoning of time. Lastly, there’s the Creator’s calendar–instituted by Yehovah and today has been re-instituted by Karaite Jews; it is Biblically based, agriculturally driven; it requires sighting of the renewed moon to commence each month; it can be estimated but never substantiated before the actual time.
CJBGenesis 1:14 ¶ God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to divide the day from the night; let them be for signs, seasons, days and years; (Gen 1:14 CJB)
CJBPsalm 104:19 You made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to set.(Psa 104:19 CJB)
The Month of the Aviv is the beginning of the Biblical new year, which is contrary to both the Gregorian and Jewish or Rabbinic reckoning of when the new year is to start (i.e., on the Gregorian it is January 1st and on the Jewish/Rabbinic it start on Rosh HaShanah or the Day of Atonement). The term “Aviv” always refers to the state of barley maturity in the land of Israel. When the barley is deemed to be in an Aviv state, that coupled with the sighting of the renewed moon over the land of Israel, signals the beginning of the Creator’s calendar year. Aviv (also spelled Abib in some translations) as used in the Scriptures only refers to mature barley and that is determined each spring in the month of March/April. There are a couple of Karaite-based organizations that make it their mission to search out Aviv barley each year. One group is headed by Nehemiah Gordon–well known Torah scholar and teacher.
CJB Exodus 13:4 You are leaving today, in the month of Aviv. (Exo 13:4 CJB)
NAS Exodus 23:15 “You shall observe a the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the bmonth Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And 1cnone shall appear before Me empty-handed. (Exo 23:15 NAS)
CJB Exodus 34:18 ¶ “Keep the festival of matzah by eating matzah, as I ordered you, for seven days during the month of Aviv; for it was in the month of Aviv that you came out from Egypt. (Exo 34:18 CJB)
CJB Deuteronomy 16:1 ¶ “Observe the month of Aviv, and keep Pesach to ADONAI your God; for in the month of Aviv, ADONAI your God brought you out of Egypt at night. (Deu 16:1 CJB)
For a more detailed explanation on the various calendars and their appropriate places in the Believer’s life, check out my blog posting on this issue at http://www.themessianictorahobserver.org/2015/01/02/happy-new-year-whats-on-your-calendar-for-2015-2/
I personally follow the Creator’s Calendar publish by “A Rood Awakening International– http://www.aroodawakening.tv/biblical-hebrew-calendar/
Are we always going to get it right in terms of determining the exact timing of the Feasts? No. There will be times when we may miss a date entirely or we misjudge when a feast day will occur. If we are convocating with others, there may be times when we inadvertently get flights and travel arrangements mixed and tied in with key feast days when it is commanded that no work is to be done on those days. When these things happen, we can’t beat ourselves up too much. We should repent and try ever so hard not to repeat the mistake or oversight again. Consider:
CJB2 Timothy 2:15Do all you can to present yourself to God as someone worthy of his approval, as a worker with no need to be ashamed, because he deals straightforwardly with the Word of the Truth. (2Ti 2:15 CJB)
Understanding the meaning of the season and Spring Feasts of Yehovah
The Feasts of Yehovah are “shadow pictures” of good things to come.
16 ¶ mLet no one, then, pass judgment on you in matters of food and drink or with regard to a festival or new moon or sabbath.1 17 These are shadows of things to come; the reality belongs to Christ.n (Col 2:16-17 NAB)
In terms of Passover, it is a shadow picture of what Yehovah would accomplish for His people through the agency of Yeshua HaMaschiyach.
Heb 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
This is referring to Yehovah’s “Plan of Redemption”–that plan in which Yehovah would reconcile His creation unto Himself. But in order to do this, Yehovah had to deal with the issue of sin and that is part and parcel of the shadow pictures that are depicted in the Spring Feasts of Yehovah.
These Feasts are holy convocations or “Miqra” or rehearsals. These are Feasts that belong to Yehovah–NOT Feasts of Israel or the Jews.
DBY Leviticus 23:4 ¶ These are the set feasts of Jehovah, holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons: (Lev 23:4 DBY)
The Feasts of Yehovah were meant to be holy assemblies (holy miqra) or rehearsals to be kept by His people.
(Exo 12:16)–NAS Exodus 12:16 ‘And aon the first day you shall have a holy assembly (miqra), and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten 1by every person, that alone may be 2prepared by you. (Exo 12:16 NAS)
Rehearsals because in commemorating each feast we “rehearse” or “depict” our relationship with the Creator as well as our walk with Yeshua Messiah. When we celebrate the feasts we “re-hear” lessons that encourage and build us up in our walk. We are reminded of the sacrifice made by our Lord and Savior. We are reminded of just how much the Father loves us. We are reminded of just how far we are from the “mark” and how much further we need to go in living Torah the way Yeshua showed us.
The feasts portray a 3-phase plan for our lives (reference Batyah Wootten):
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- Passover/Pesach (personal redemption)
- Pentecost/Shavuot (infilling of the Ruach Kodesh)
- Tabernacles/Sukkot (restoration of the Kingdom of Yisra’el)
From there, the 7-annual feasts are broken into 3 clusters (reference Batyah Wootten):
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- Spring Feasts (8-day period) that includes: Passover (Pesach), Unleavened Bread (Matzah), and Day of the Wave Sheaf (First Fruits)–collectively referred to as Passover
- Early summer–Shavuot (50-days after First Fruits or Wave Sheaf)–. AKA, Feast of Weeks
- Fall Feeasts–Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot=21-day period or Tabernacles
What exactly are the Feasts as described by the Creator? Levitcus 23 describes them as “mo’edim” or “appointed times” during the Creator’s calendar year. These are “set apart times” in which we are to proclaim the truths depicted in the particular feast being celebrated.
DBYLeviticus 23:2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,Concerningthe set feasts of Jehovah, which ye shall proclaim as holy convocations — these are my set feasts. (Lev 23:2 DBY)
The act of a believer in Yeshua HaMaschiyach keeping the Feasts as well as keeping and obeying Torah can be best described (in my humble opinion) as “honoring Torah” and “honoring the Feasts.” Ours is a “love-based obedience” as opposed to simple-blind adherence to or obedience to Torah commandments; or simply taking off from work to sit at home in acknowledgment of the Feast day. Recall the depiction of the stony versus fleshy heart in which Yehovah prophecied would happen at some point in the future to His chosen ones? When Torah would no longer be a simple keeping of tasks and commandments. But Torah and Feast-keeping would become a joy and something that profoundly resonates within our being. That we obey Torah and keep His Feast-days because we love and honor Him–the Creator of the universe.
NAS Ezekiel 11:19 “And I shall agive them one heart, and shall put a new spirit within 1them. And I shall take the bheart of stone out of their flesh and give them a cheart of flesh, (Eze 11:19 NAS)
Indeed, we realize that salvation cannot be earned. We realize that salvation is received as a gift; that our eternal life comes through grace which is Yehovah’s unmerited favor. This gift is received by faith in the person and work of Yeshua Messiah. So why then honor or celebrate or keep the Feasts of the Lord? Because of our abiding love for Yehovah and His son, Yeshua HaMaschiyach. No longer do we follow the Father’s ways out of blind fear of being punished; or because the Bible says so. We follow the Father’s ways because “we want to”; because we want to please our Father. We cannot really “keep” the Feasts because the Temple is no longer in existence. Thus, we are inclined to “honor” the Feasts in “spirit and truth.” Blindly keeping the Feasts as many have unfortunately fallen subject to, devoid of spirit and truth only serves to upset Yehovah as mentioned in Isaiah:
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.112 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? 113 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 1 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.116 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.1 18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. (Isa 1:11-20 KJV)
Having our families and ourselves in a prepared state of mind or mindset that is focused to accept the arrival of the season and Feasts with joy and reverence is key to gaining the tremendous spiritual blessings inherent and available to every Believer in Messiah Yeshua.
I would encourage you to re-read Exo 34 and Lev 23 and parallel the command Yehovah gave His people regarding the keeping of Passover and the Crucifixion story.
We will run into those who insist that the Feasts of the Lord do not belong to those of us who proclaim Yeshua HaMaschiyach as our Redeemer. We must be ready to defend our actions of honoring the Feasts and stand firm in our hearts and minds that the Feasts of Yehovah are for us to honor and celebrate with all joy. One way we can respond to allegations that the Feasts were abolished is that the Feasts were “shadow pictures” of Messiah and His work among His chosen people (Col 2:17; Heb 10:1; 1 Pet 1:1; 2:9,10). Thus, Yeshua is the substance to which the feasts all point. Indeed the Spring Feasts have objectively been “fulfilled” in Yeshua. But then so has Christmas, Easter, the 4th of July, etc. Thus as a race, we do not stop celebrating an event or person per se because the event being commemorated has already occurred. We celebrate because “it occurred.”
Many with righteous zeal will say–the Feasts of Yehovah must become a part of every true believer’ s life. I say no, but stand on a firm conviction that the Feasts of Yehovah must become the true believer’ s life. Only then will compromise be a non-existent option. Only then will we be truly prepared for Passover.
