This is from one of my Facebook Messianic brothers. Fascinating!
"Food for the Stomach and the Stomach for Food"
The Gnostic Mantra
1 Corinthians 6:13
"Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
Verse taken from the English Standard Version of the Bible, which has quotation marks on this Gnostic Mantra.
The Carpocrations were a group of Gnostics popular in the Corinth Church. While they didn't take on that name until around 160, when Marcion the Gnostic was attempting to altar the writings of Paul, and Valentian the Gnostic missed becoming Bishop of Rome by only a few votes. Gnosticism is everywhere in the Church today, often under the name of being "Spirit-Filled" it has actually become a "New Age Christianity" or better yet "Ancient Gnostic Christianity." What we call "New Age Influence" in the Church, has been an influence in the Church since before Paul finished writing Epistles. Don't get me wrong, being Spirit-filled with G-d's Spirit is vitally important, but the Spirit of G-d which inspired His written Word never tells us to break His Law/Written Word.
Gnosticism seeks to have only half of John 4:24 (Spirit and Truth). They wanted the Spirit, but not the Truth (another name for the Torah as recorded in Psalm 119 and Daniel 12). They believed that the Law could be Spiritualized, so it was to them instructions for living in a Spirit body but not for a physical body.
The Sadducees wanted the Truth but not the Spirit, not believing in an afterlife, the Torah was ONLY an instruction for living in a physical body.The Pharisees wanted their traditions over the Spirit or the Truth, with the Torah as a basis for excluding them from "Gentiles" or even Jews who didn't meet their standards, believing that G-d gave the Torah only to Jews.
The Carpocation motto "Food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach for food" referred to all of the physical pleasures of the body, and basically meant, "if it feels good then do it" or "the body is meant for all pleasures, and all pleasures for the body." The Carpocatians thought that since the body is decaying, as is all of the physical world, then it should be enjoyed to the fullest possible extent. They therefore traded wives on a regular basis, slept with other men and children, got drunk, ate anything they thought may taste good, and did whatever they felt like.
They also believed in a type of Hyper-Calvinism, that the "Elect" are chosen and can do nothing to lose their salvation. Since they are "once saved always saved" no matter how much of G-d's Law they break, they thought they would live it up, they could "Sin so that Grace may abound".
The Carpocations also believed that the written Law was a form of bondage, and keeping it kept people from advancing spiritually. In their mind, Christ came to set them free from the Law. Every Law they believed, was simply a spiritual lesson.
For example, the dietary Laws meant that the Gnostics should separate themselves from those not as "Spiritually advanced" as they were, people they considered as animals, those without the Spiritualized version of the Law or the Written Law. They also separated themselves from those under the "Bondage" of the Written Law, those who seek G-d but just aren't "Spiritual Enough" for the Dreams, Revelations, Supernatural visitations, Prophecies, and Speaking in tongues they claimed to experience. The Pharisees had the opposite view, calling anyone who didn't follow their traditions built around the written Law by the term "Am Ha'Aretz" or "people of the earth, who were not allowed to fellowship with the Pharisees.
The Gnostics also felt that something was only sin if it violated their conscience (and since they seem to be Sociopaths-people without conscience, everything was permissible according to their conscience), and the only Law was to Love G-d and love one's fellow man-and each person would rely on the "Christ Inside" to tell them how to do that.
The end result of this is (Once Saved Always Saved, Reliance on Revelation alone, Spiritualizing the Commands, disdaining the Written Law, and relying on conscience to tell right and wrong) resulted in a society of complete utter heathens, and of total Lawlessness. Hence telling the Corinthians in 2nd Corinthians 6:13 "What fellowship can Righteousness have with Lawlessness? What fellowship can Christ have with Baal? What fellowship can Light have with darkness?"
Paul's response in 1st Corinthians 6:13 and 2nd Corinthians 6:13 shows more of their ideology.1 Corinthians 6:13"Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
The Carpocatians believed that what was done in the physical body could not taint or corrupt the soul. Nothing physical could make someone Spiritually "unclean", even sleeping with another man's wife.
In 1st Corinthians, Paul however said that both body and soul would be destroyed in Hell/Gehenna, no matter how elect they thought they were, no matter how many visions they had, how often they spoke in tongues, or how little their conscience bothered them.
In 2nd Corinthians Paul asks "What fellowship can Christ have with Baal?"Since the Carpocatians believed that wisdom and knowledge could be found in part, in all spiritual paths, though they did believe Christ to be the Messiah (not one to save them from their sins which is breaking G-d's Law, but one who came to show them how to live, how to "love" and to "free" them from "the Law".) They had a mixed worship of claiming Christ to be the Messiah (their idea of a Messiah), while also communing with angels, and the "Spirit of Christ" within them, as well as accepting other pagan practices."What fellowship can light have with darkness?"The Gnostics were fond of calling themselves "Children of the Light", the "Light of Christ" and saw no reason that their Lawless deeds could dim that light. According to the Written Law of Gd, their deeds were Dark. And Paul reminded them that you can't be a child of light and live like those in darkness.
"What fellowship can Righteousness have with Lawlessness?"Paul also reminded the Gnostics in Corinth and those influenced by Gnostic culture (New Age Christianity), that Righteousness is something you walk out in the body by obedience to G-d's Law, not just something you try to be on a spiritual level.
Site from Gnostic Christians today:Yes, they still exist! Actually, they exist all over the place but most preachers don't know they are preaching Gnosticism.
http://gnosticschristians.com/wst_page2.html
Monday, January 11, 2010
Friday, November 6, 2009
Was her name really "EVE"?
Part of the ministry that God has called me to is a revival of critical thinking. This entails the urging and pleading to others to ask the necessary questions about things in life to test whether or not it is truth that they follow. My goal is that everyone i come in contact with would start to question their world and lives and never just follow what has always been.
This means we have to establish truth. That part has been done for us. It is the Scriptures. Now i am not advocating the translators or interpretations of Scripture, but the message seen in the original languages. Men will always have a propensity towards error this side of the kingdom of heaven. Thus as you study the original languages of the Scriptures, you find biases in translation where there is a choice of translation. This does not mean that we throw the whole out and say we cannot know, but rather it means we approach it with caution and the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom.
i will now start a series of blog posts challenging all that has been held true about our holidays, days of the week, months, and culture in the hopes that some, even one, might discover the truth and be set free. God expects us to obey His commandments (Torah) and we cannot do that if we are trapped by a lifetime of lies that have been taught for years and we have grown up with. May God grant eyes to see and hearts to believe.
i ma in the process of reading a fascinating and disturbing book by a man named Lew White. It is called Fossilized Customs and is available at http://www.torahzone.net/. A word of warning: it will shake your foundation. But as i have always said, test everything to Scripture, keep what lines up and chunk what does not. Much of what i have learned has come from this book and other sources. And so we now come to the name of Adam's wife. Was it really "EVE"? If not where did the name "EVE" come from?
The Hebrew word for Adam's wife's name in חַוָּה or transliterated as "Chawah" which is a derivative of the word חַיִּים which transliterates "chai" and means life. She is the mother of the living. There is no one in the Hebrew named "Eve". Where does "Eve come from? A great amount of syncretism has happened in the church over the centuries in which pagan traditions have been absorbed into Christianity and have never been stripped from it so they have become part of it and have been propagated for centuries. Anyone in Seminary is taught this in Church History and this information is readily available. Since the fall, people have had a propensity towards mixing the worship of God with the worship of foreign gods. This is strictly forbidden by God in His commandments, but still has made its way into the modern church.
The question now is, where did the name "Eve" come from and why did the translators choose that name if it is not found in the Hebrew? Remember that Scripture needs to translate Scripture and even when there is a fork in the proverbial translation road. It is a dangerous road to impose Pagan, Greek, English, or any other disposition onto the text for the sake of internal intention or readability. The name "Eve" was readily associated with Asherah or Mother Earth in Babylonian history. Mother Earth had a son name Baal which most are familiar with from the Scriptures. Interestingly, the name "ba' al" in Hebrew means "lord". This brings up a whole host of questions concerning the correct translation of "Adonai" in the Scriptures.
i write all this not to discourage, but rather to encourage us to take a look at the Scriptures and test what we are being taught and reading. A lifetime of promoting error is hard to recover from, but necessary for all believers in Messiah. Think critically. God is not afraid of questions and His word can stand up to scrutiny. It is not too late to turn from evil ways and worship the true God of the Bible.
Do the research. Dig for silver (Proverbs 2) and find out what God has said about God.
This means we have to establish truth. That part has been done for us. It is the Scriptures. Now i am not advocating the translators or interpretations of Scripture, but the message seen in the original languages. Men will always have a propensity towards error this side of the kingdom of heaven. Thus as you study the original languages of the Scriptures, you find biases in translation where there is a choice of translation. This does not mean that we throw the whole out and say we cannot know, but rather it means we approach it with caution and the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom.
i will now start a series of blog posts challenging all that has been held true about our holidays, days of the week, months, and culture in the hopes that some, even one, might discover the truth and be set free. God expects us to obey His commandments (Torah) and we cannot do that if we are trapped by a lifetime of lies that have been taught for years and we have grown up with. May God grant eyes to see and hearts to believe.
i ma in the process of reading a fascinating and disturbing book by a man named Lew White. It is called Fossilized Customs and is available at http://www.torahzone.net/. A word of warning: it will shake your foundation. But as i have always said, test everything to Scripture, keep what lines up and chunk what does not. Much of what i have learned has come from this book and other sources. And so we now come to the name of Adam's wife. Was it really "EVE"? If not where did the name "EVE" come from?
The Hebrew word for Adam's wife's name in חַוָּה or transliterated as "Chawah" which is a derivative of the word חַיִּים which transliterates "chai" and means life. She is the mother of the living. There is no one in the Hebrew named "Eve". Where does "Eve come from? A great amount of syncretism has happened in the church over the centuries in which pagan traditions have been absorbed into Christianity and have never been stripped from it so they have become part of it and have been propagated for centuries. Anyone in Seminary is taught this in Church History and this information is readily available. Since the fall, people have had a propensity towards mixing the worship of God with the worship of foreign gods. This is strictly forbidden by God in His commandments, but still has made its way into the modern church.
The question now is, where did the name "Eve" come from and why did the translators choose that name if it is not found in the Hebrew? Remember that Scripture needs to translate Scripture and even when there is a fork in the proverbial translation road. It is a dangerous road to impose Pagan, Greek, English, or any other disposition onto the text for the sake of internal intention or readability. The name "Eve" was readily associated with Asherah or Mother Earth in Babylonian history. Mother Earth had a son name Baal which most are familiar with from the Scriptures. Interestingly, the name "ba' al" in Hebrew means "lord". This brings up a whole host of questions concerning the correct translation of "Adonai" in the Scriptures.
i write all this not to discourage, but rather to encourage us to take a look at the Scriptures and test what we are being taught and reading. A lifetime of promoting error is hard to recover from, but necessary for all believers in Messiah. Think critically. God is not afraid of questions and His word can stand up to scrutiny. It is not too late to turn from evil ways and worship the true God of the Bible.
Do the research. Dig for silver (Proverbs 2) and find out what God has said about God.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
A "call" back to Godology
Theology is the buzzword today in Christian circles and Seminaries. It is the technical term for man's study of God. It is in vogue to study systematic theology which is basically the systematizing of the doctrines of Scripture. Nothing wrong so far. But what happens when theology becomes what we preach, teach, and believe instead of Scripture?
Remember that it is "man's" study of God and thus it is subject to biases and interpretive motives known or unknown. Therefore, it is dangerous ground to herald theology in such a high manner. We have a great many problems in Christendom these days and bad theology has added to them. Well founded theology is the kind that yields to Scripture and revises itself based upon what God has actually said about Himself.
Godology is the revelation of God by God; it is what God has said from the mouth of the One who said it. The Church has abandoned feast, festivals, and commandments from the Scripture that are commanded by God. The reason? They believe their own traditions and theology over what God has actually said. Steven Curtis Chapman has a new album out that chronicles his reactions to the tragic death of his five year old daughter. In the song "Questions", the first line goes like this:
Remember that it is "man's" study of God and thus it is subject to biases and interpretive motives known or unknown. Therefore, it is dangerous ground to herald theology in such a high manner. We have a great many problems in Christendom these days and bad theology has added to them. Well founded theology is the kind that yields to Scripture and revises itself based upon what God has actually said about Himself.
Godology is the revelation of God by God; it is what God has said from the mouth of the One who said it. The Church has abandoned feast, festivals, and commandments from the Scripture that are commanded by God. The reason? They believe their own traditions and theology over what God has actually said. Steven Curtis Chapman has a new album out that chronicles his reactions to the tragic death of his five year old daughter. In the song "Questions", the first line goes like this:
Who are you God?
Cause you are turning out to be
so much different than I imagined.
Could it be that the Church believes in a God that they have imagined? What if all that they have practiced, taught, and known for the past 500 years was not based on Scripture, but traditions of men? These questions must be asked because each man will give account and he will not be able to say that his pastor mislead him or he just did not know. We each must know what God has said about Himself and what He has commanded us to do.
If you fail to study Godology, you will be led astray and may find yourself at the end of your life having practiced that which is actually an abomination to the Lord. Are the feasts and festivals that you observe really biblical? Are you ignoring the ones that God has given as eternal statutes? God did not design it so that we would have to make up things to honor Him; He told us what is right and good. Think on this as we enter the holiday season and celebrate a holiday that is pagan in origin and not sanctioned by God.
Only by studying what God has actually said are we able to keep from going to the right or to the left. Hear O Israel and choose life today.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Took Too Long to Post
As i sat in our church today i was again drawn into the dilemma of how do we get a correct view of the Law across to the hearer without negating the necessity to obey God's commands?
Pastor Rick nailed the message speaking on how parenting our children is done exactly how we ourselves view God; if like a judge and disciplinarian, then we will err on the discipline side and neglect grace. The key being a right understanding of God as Father.
When we understand that God loves us like a Father, then we will love our children and train them as our Heavenly Father trains us. So how does our heavenly Father love us?
Pastor Rick nailed the message speaking on how parenting our children is done exactly how we ourselves view God; if like a judge and disciplinarian, then we will err on the discipline side and neglect grace. The key being a right understanding of God as Father.
When we understand that God loves us like a Father, then we will love our children and train them as our Heavenly Father trains us. So how does our heavenly Father love us?
- He initiates love (1 John 4:19)
- He chooses us because He loves us (Deut. 7:7-8)
- He demonstrates His love for us (John 13:34)
- He loves us as family (1 John 3:1)
Those are just a few examples of the love of God for His children. The sermon also got me thinking about the kind of love a parent has for their children and i decided that it is an everlasting kind. The kind that is not shaken by disobedience or strife. It does not waver or falter under persecution.
i had to discipline one of my daughters this afternoon for pushing her little brother down and i made sure that afterwards that she knew that there was nothing she could ever do to make me not love her and that the most loving thing a daddy could do was teach their children to obey so that they can obey God.
What about the flip side, why should children obey their parents? Should it not flow from a river of love for them? We do not obey God to win His favor, we obey because we have His favor and we want to follow in our Father's ways. This gets me back to my point about the Law.
There was time when Law was my guardian and kept me imprisoned until Christ was revealed to me. i would obey only so i could be good or get what i want and not feel guilty. On this side of regeneration, i obey because i love my Father and His commandments are sweet to me. If one takes the time to read them in the OT, they will see just how much our Father looks out for us and knows what is best for us
Yeshua says in the gospel of John that if we love Him we will keep His commands. This is not some legalistic mystery, but rather a statement of pure fact; the child who loves the Father obeys the commands of the Son whom He loved and sent to die for us. Yeshua was trying to give us a checkpoint to know if we are His; do we seek to obey Him, not to earn His favor, but because we love Him?
i pray that i can parent with an everlasting love that transcends my wants and desires and seeks to sacrifice my life for the betterment of my children just as Christ gave His life up for the betterment of my soul.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
No Objective Thoughts
As most of my writing starts, i find myself buried in another book written by someone five times as smart as i am and loving every minute of it. This time it is The New Testament and the People of God by N. T. Wright. It is heady reading, but rich with treasure on every page. i am struck by how long it must take to write all of those thoughts down and with aspirations to write a book one day, i am left wondering how i will accomplish such a feat.
He writes about how we must view the Gospel accounts from all three approaches, theological, historical, and literary. We need to look at these accounts in the original context, trying to understand why the authors wrote them the way they did, and with a healthy theological viewpoint not forgetting that they were carried along by the Spirit of God. The thing that struck me as i was reading was that no thought or idea ever comes to us without some interpretation attached to it.
We read books that are written with the lens of the particular author who wrote it. We hear sermons with a certain skew to the message (not necessarily bad). The point being that we must be well rounded in our learning or we can be miles from the truth of a matter. In particular, it is absurdity to teach solely the New Testament to the saints without equal emphasis on the Old Testament.
The OT is foundational for understanding the NT and you will be quite lost and lead many astray if you have a feeble grasp on what God has been doing from the beginning. For example, the Gospel was preached to Abraham:
Galatians 3:8
8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN
YOU."
According to the Scriptures, the gospel is not a new thing; it has always been the plan of God. In verses, 7 and 9 of Galatians 8 which this verse is the sandwich material, we see that all who are of faith are "sons of Abraham" and "blessed with Abraham".
This means that people in the OT got saved (there's is one of those terms again) the same way we do today. God intervenes and speaks into your life like Abraham, you hear and obey (Abraham left all that he knew and went somewhere he knew nothing about), and then God works on you through the Holy Spirit to change you to be like His Son. Just go read about the conversations God had with Abraham. He is still speaking to us, we are just too busy to hear Him.
We must be careful not to avoid the OT because it is hard reading. God has set forth patterns in the OT that help us to understand what He did in the NT and what He plans to do in the future (find the Greater Exodus, hint: Jeremiah 16:14-15; 23:7-8). One last example and i am done is Joseph who is set up as a type of Christ.
He is thrown into a pit and is then raised up, after being rejected by his brothers, and is preeminent over them and has authority to save them. From the time that Joseph was thrown in the pit till he saved his family during the famine is close to 30 years.
i find it no coincidence that our LORD lived approximately 30-33 years before He died for our sins. The patterns are there if we will search for them. Be wary of the lenses that you view life through and remember that we all have a bias of some type. God can set us free because He is Truth. Do not slay your brothers and sisters because of your biases or different colored lenses. Always be searching for the truth of God in everything, reject what does not line up with His word, and treasure what is from His word.
1 Samuel 2:2-4
2 "There is no one holy like the LORD,
Indeed, there is no one besides You,
Nor is there any rock like our God.
3 "Boast no more so very proudly,
Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth;
For the LORD is a God of knowledge,
And with Him actions are weighed.
4 "The bows of the mighty are shattered,
But the feeble gird on strength.
He writes about how we must view the Gospel accounts from all three approaches, theological, historical, and literary. We need to look at these accounts in the original context, trying to understand why the authors wrote them the way they did, and with a healthy theological viewpoint not forgetting that they were carried along by the Spirit of God. The thing that struck me as i was reading was that no thought or idea ever comes to us without some interpretation attached to it.
We read books that are written with the lens of the particular author who wrote it. We hear sermons with a certain skew to the message (not necessarily bad). The point being that we must be well rounded in our learning or we can be miles from the truth of a matter. In particular, it is absurdity to teach solely the New Testament to the saints without equal emphasis on the Old Testament.
The OT is foundational for understanding the NT and you will be quite lost and lead many astray if you have a feeble grasp on what God has been doing from the beginning. For example, the Gospel was preached to Abraham:
Galatians 3:8
8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN
YOU."
According to the Scriptures, the gospel is not a new thing; it has always been the plan of God. In verses, 7 and 9 of Galatians 8 which this verse is the sandwich material, we see that all who are of faith are "sons of Abraham" and "blessed with Abraham".
This means that people in the OT got saved (there's is one of those terms again) the same way we do today. God intervenes and speaks into your life like Abraham, you hear and obey (Abraham left all that he knew and went somewhere he knew nothing about), and then God works on you through the Holy Spirit to change you to be like His Son. Just go read about the conversations God had with Abraham. He is still speaking to us, we are just too busy to hear Him.
We must be careful not to avoid the OT because it is hard reading. God has set forth patterns in the OT that help us to understand what He did in the NT and what He plans to do in the future (find the Greater Exodus, hint: Jeremiah 16:14-15; 23:7-8). One last example and i am done is Joseph who is set up as a type of Christ.
He is thrown into a pit and is then raised up, after being rejected by his brothers, and is preeminent over them and has authority to save them. From the time that Joseph was thrown in the pit till he saved his family during the famine is close to 30 years.
i find it no coincidence that our LORD lived approximately 30-33 years before He died for our sins. The patterns are there if we will search for them. Be wary of the lenses that you view life through and remember that we all have a bias of some type. God can set us free because He is Truth. Do not slay your brothers and sisters because of your biases or different colored lenses. Always be searching for the truth of God in everything, reject what does not line up with His word, and treasure what is from His word.
1 Samuel 2:2-4
2 "There is no one holy like the LORD,
Indeed, there is no one besides You,
Nor is there any rock like our God.
3 "Boast no more so very proudly,
Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth;
For the LORD is a God of knowledge,
And with Him actions are weighed.
4 "The bows of the mighty are shattered,
But the feeble gird on strength.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
The Hectic Life of Yeshua
The question was asked,
"How Jesus went about regular life with the Apostles and
everyone who was pulling on Him?"
First, i would say that there was no regular life for Yeshua:
1) He was God in the flesh and came for a singular purpose that was misunderstood by most men of His time
John 18:37
37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."
Yeshua came so that everyone who is of the Truth hears His voice. He had singular purpose as opposed to most of us who fumble our way through life trying to figure out what we are meant to do and be. We can spend a whole life and find out it was mostly a waste because of what we built it on. Yeshua knew from before He came to Earth what He would do and be here on Earth. He was not tossed about as men are because of a lack of wisdom which that have not received because they have not asked.
James 1:5-7
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
So first and foremost, Yeshua's identity helped to ground Him as the trials and troubles of this life closed in on Him. He knew where He came from, what He was doing here, and where He was going.
John 8:42-45
42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.
43 "Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.
44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
45 "But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.
We would do well to imitate Yeshua and those who followed Him closely. Remember that it may not look like what is going on around us; this imitation is of the KIng of the universe, not a king of Earth. Follow truth, not the lies of the world.
3 John 1:11
11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.
i hope this helps you remember that our identity in Christ is our foundation for all of our lives. We will forget who we are.
You can be sure of that so i would find a way to remind yourself every day that you are a son of God, a son of Israel, a citizen of the commonwelath of Israel, once far away, but been brought near by the blood of the Passover Lamb, Yeshua. His blood covered your doorposts and death has passed over your house. You are going through the greater Exodus on your way to the promised City (New Jerusalem) and Earth (New Earth) of Revelation. The garden is restored and the trees of life line the banks of the river of life that flows from the throne of God. You will one day be glorified and your body will be made fit for beholding the face of God which no man has seen directly and lived. But through Yeshua we will see the Father as He is because we are being conformed into the image of Yeshua from faith to faith. And we will do all this with all the saints of the past, present, and future.
Your challenge is to find the Scriptures that i used in the paragraph before. Are you up to it? If you are, write them down and keep them with you to remember who you are.
Shalom!
"How Jesus went about regular life with the Apostles and
everyone who was pulling on Him?"
First, i would say that there was no regular life for Yeshua:
1) He was God in the flesh and came for a singular purpose that was misunderstood by most men of His time
John 18:37
37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."
Yeshua came so that everyone who is of the Truth hears His voice. He had singular purpose as opposed to most of us who fumble our way through life trying to figure out what we are meant to do and be. We can spend a whole life and find out it was mostly a waste because of what we built it on. Yeshua knew from before He came to Earth what He would do and be here on Earth. He was not tossed about as men are because of a lack of wisdom which that have not received because they have not asked.
James 1:5-7
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
So first and foremost, Yeshua's identity helped to ground Him as the trials and troubles of this life closed in on Him. He knew where He came from, what He was doing here, and where He was going.
John 8:42-45
42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.
43 "Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.
44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
45 "But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.
We would do well to imitate Yeshua and those who followed Him closely. Remember that it may not look like what is going on around us; this imitation is of the KIng of the universe, not a king of Earth. Follow truth, not the lies of the world.
3 John 1:11
11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.
i hope this helps you remember that our identity in Christ is our foundation for all of our lives. We will forget who we are.
You can be sure of that so i would find a way to remind yourself every day that you are a son of God, a son of Israel, a citizen of the commonwelath of Israel, once far away, but been brought near by the blood of the Passover Lamb, Yeshua. His blood covered your doorposts and death has passed over your house. You are going through the greater Exodus on your way to the promised City (New Jerusalem) and Earth (New Earth) of Revelation. The garden is restored and the trees of life line the banks of the river of life that flows from the throne of God. You will one day be glorified and your body will be made fit for beholding the face of God which no man has seen directly and lived. But through Yeshua we will see the Father as He is because we are being conformed into the image of Yeshua from faith to faith. And we will do all this with all the saints of the past, present, and future.
Your challenge is to find the Scriptures that i used in the paragraph before. Are you up to it? If you are, write them down and keep them with you to remember who you are.
Shalom!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Imputed Righteousness From a Hebraic Mindset
Some of us may be familiar with the term, “imputed righteousness” or “imparted righteousness”. This idea of “imputed righteousness” is the idea that not only did Yeshua die to atone for our sins, but also lived a sinless life to gain righteous standing for us before the Father. This concept or theology as it is being dubbed is almost unheard of among New Covenant brethren and I rarely have heard it spoke of outside of Reformed circles.
As I studied the Torah portion for last week, was made aware of an interesting patter in Leviticus concerning human impurity that seems to pattern for us this very idea, not to mention the call from the Old Testament for belief of God’s voice and obedience to His commands; belief in His voice for salvation and obedience to His commands for blessing and because of love for your Father in heaven.
As we look first at the passage in Leviticus, I also hope to visit the two-fold idea of belief and obedience and hopefully in the end shed some light into why Yeshua did what He did on earth in the manner that He did it, namely live a sinless life and then die on the cross for our sins. Why not just come and die for our sins if atonement for them is all that is needed? Was there anything particular about the length that He lived a sinless life? Did He do this because of Torah and what He and God the Father had commanded from the beginning?
Our journey begins in Leviticus chapter 12, verses one through eight. I will be using the New American Standard Bible unless otherwise noted. Let us first look at our base passage and from there we will move out on our subject of “imputed righteousness”.
Leviticus 12:1-8
1Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
2 "Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: 'When a woman gives birth and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean for seven days, as in the days of her menstruation she shall be unclean.
3 'On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
4 'Then she shall remain in the blood of her purification for thirty-three days; she shall not touch any consecrated thing, nor enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are completed.
5 'But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean for two weeks, as in her menstruation; and she shall remain in the blood of her purification for sixty-six days.
6 'When the days of her purification are completed, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the tent of meeting a one year old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering.
7 'Then he shall offer it before the LORD and make atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, whether a male or a female.
8 'But if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, the one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.'"
At first glance, this passage looks like a riddle rolled up with some commands about women and a dash of childbirth. I have to admit that I found it a bit challenging not to get lost on the translation of Hebrew which tends to b poetic to emphasize meaning. The part of the passage I want us to focus on is the part dealing with the offerings: “…'When the days of her purification are completed, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the tent of meeting a one year old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering…” Notice the presence of two offerings, one “…for a burnt offering…” and one for “…a sin offering…”
Already we see a pattern of two offerings set-up and they are significant because each offering has a specific purpose. We need to look at these real quick for context and further understanding. Not one idle word exists in the Bible (Deut. 32:47) and every word is significant.
1. The “burnt offering” or (olah) offering is the same thing God asked Abraham to do with Isaac. Isaac was to be an “olah offering” and is a type of Christ that points us to the fact that the Messiah would be sacrificed on the cross as a burnt; ascending offering that was a pleasing aroma to the Father. He is a substitution offering as the ram caught in the thicket was.
2. The “sin offering” or (chatta’ah) offering that was a young pigeon or a turtledove. These offerings were generally reserved for the poor and would have been the ones being sold in the Temple court that Yeshua wrecked. I believe the offering of turtledoves signifies our destitution when it comes to righteousness before God.
So we have two offerings, one that is the offering of the poor or the turtledove and one that is a one-year old lamb or a burnt offering such as the Messiah would become. It should noted that Mary, the mother of Yeshua, obeyed the Law of Moses found here in Leviticus in the gospel account by Luke (Luke 2:22-24). What is crazy is that she goes to the temple and we do not see any talk about the one-year old lamb for sacrifice, but Luke accounts for the turtledoves. Why? By bringing Yeshua with her to be dedicated as the first born in the synagogue, she was bringing the Lamb of God that would end up being the “olah offering” to come.
The wisdom of the Rabbis over the years in the study of Torah is invaluable in trying to discern what the word of God is saying in the Old Testament. I want you to see this wisdom from the Chumash that I typically read the weekly Torah portion from. Here is there commentary on the passage above that supports this idea of a two part plan of God in salvation and imputed righteousness:
“The creation of a human life is the most sublime phenomenon in the universe. By bringing it into being, man and woman become partners with God, Who gives a soul to their offspring. But this new life begins with tumah, spiritual impurity, to show people that mere fact of life is not enough. Life must be a tool for the service of God; otherwise it is nothing. After this period of contamination, the new mother begins her cleansing process, culminated by the bringing of an offering. Before she brings it, she cleanses herself of the contamination, but she still may not consume sacrificial meat or terumah, because the mere absence of contamination is not yet the fulfillment of man’s goal. Human aspiration must rise higher than the elimination of the negative; it must strive for positive achievement. One is not completely cleansed until one has come to the resting place of God’s presence with an offering that represents atonement for the past and dedication for the future.”[1]
I love the part about the mere fact of life not being sufficient; we must live and not only live, but live a life devoted to God if we are to have significance in this world. Of ever there was life of eternal significance, Yeshua lived one. He kept the law perfectly and He did all that the Father commanded for His three and a half years on earth. I think we get that on the cross atonement was made on our behalf for our sin debt. But I am not sure we see or have recognized that Yeshua lived a righteous life and was blameless. Why?
Could He not have come to earth, not answered the questioning of the high priest, not called down a legion of angels, gone to the cross by just claiming to be one with the Father all in one or two days? Why the years of life spent ministering and discipling those who would do greater than He (John 14:12). It had to be purposeful and filled with the higher ways of God. Interestingly enough, Yeshua is believed to have been born at the beginning of Sukkoth which is the Feast of Booths and coincidently the beginning of the Triennial Torah Cycle. The Great Torah Teacher came to teach the people the commandments of God. That sounds like another paper so I will leave it for now and get back to our subject at hand.
So you can see how it could be possible that Yeshua was coming to kick off the Triennial Torah Cycle and then at the end of three and half years ends the cycle with His death on the cross. I ran across a verse in Romans that I think is interesting and one we should look at concerning this two-fold subject we are dealing with, atonement and imputed righteousness. I especially want us to look at the Greek text and see if there are not two things being talked about in this verse:
Ρομανδ 5¨10
ει γαρ εχθροι οντες καταλλαγημεν τω θεω δια του θανατον του υιου αυτον, πολλω μαλλον καταλλαγεντες σωθυσομεθα εν τυ ζωυ αντον
Romans 5:10
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
When we look at this verse we see two distinct things going on:
…reconciled to God…kat-al-las’-so…through the death of His Son...than’-at-os
…shall be saved…sode’-zo…by His life...dzo-ay’
We are reconciled through Yeshua’s thanatos and we will be saved by His dzoay. What do those words mean?
thanatos
1) The death of the body
1a) that separation (whether natural or violent) of the soul and the body by which the life on earth is ended
1b) with the implied idea of future misery in hell
1b1) the power of death
1c) since the nether world, the abode of the dead, was conceived as being very dark, it is equivalent to the region of thickest darkness i.e. figuratively, a region enveloped in the darkness of ignorance and sin
2) metaphor., the loss of that life which alone is worthy of the name,
2a) the misery of the soul arising from sin, which begins on earth but lasts and increases after the death of the body in hell
3) The miserable state of the wicked dead in hell
4) In the widest sense, death comprising all the miseries arising from sin, as well physical death as the loss of a life consecrated to God and blessed in him on earth, to be followed by wretchedness in hell
dzoay
1) life
1a) the state of one who is possessed of vitality or is animate
1b) every living soul
2) life
2a) of the absolute fullness of life, both essential and ethical, which belongs to God, and through him both to the hypostatic "logos" and to Christ in whom the "logos" put on human nature
2b) life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by new accessions (among them a more perfect body), and to last for ever.
So we end up with a two-part deal in which we are reconciled or made right with God through Yeshua’s death and then we are saved by His life. Now I have no reference in Scripture that speaks specifically about an imputed righteousness coupled to atonement. What I do have is this:
1) Abraham obeyed God’s voice and kept His commandments (Genesis 26:4-6)
2) A woman after childbirth was to offer two sacrifices, one for atonement and one for dedication (Leviticus 12:1-8)
3) God desires us to obey His voice and keep His covenant (Exodus 19:5)
4) We are to hear the voice of the LORD, give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes (Exodus 15:26)
5) We must have God’s commandments and keep them (John 14:21)
6) The perseverance of the saints depends on keeping the commandments of God and our faith in Yeshua (Revelation 14:12)
Two parts, one Messiah. Faith and Obedience. Atonement and Imputed Righteousness. The patterns are there, will you believe and obey?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1) [1] Sherman, Rabbi Nosson (Ed.). (1998, 2000). The Chumash. Brooklyn, New York: Mesorah Publications, Ltd..
As I studied the Torah portion for last week, was made aware of an interesting patter in Leviticus concerning human impurity that seems to pattern for us this very idea, not to mention the call from the Old Testament for belief of God’s voice and obedience to His commands; belief in His voice for salvation and obedience to His commands for blessing and because of love for your Father in heaven.
As we look first at the passage in Leviticus, I also hope to visit the two-fold idea of belief and obedience and hopefully in the end shed some light into why Yeshua did what He did on earth in the manner that He did it, namely live a sinless life and then die on the cross for our sins. Why not just come and die for our sins if atonement for them is all that is needed? Was there anything particular about the length that He lived a sinless life? Did He do this because of Torah and what He and God the Father had commanded from the beginning?
Our journey begins in Leviticus chapter 12, verses one through eight. I will be using the New American Standard Bible unless otherwise noted. Let us first look at our base passage and from there we will move out on our subject of “imputed righteousness”.
Leviticus 12:1-8
1Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
2 "Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: 'When a woman gives birth and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean for seven days, as in the days of her menstruation she shall be unclean.
3 'On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
4 'Then she shall remain in the blood of her purification for thirty-three days; she shall not touch any consecrated thing, nor enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are completed.
5 'But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean for two weeks, as in her menstruation; and she shall remain in the blood of her purification for sixty-six days.
6 'When the days of her purification are completed, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the tent of meeting a one year old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering.
7 'Then he shall offer it before the LORD and make atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, whether a male or a female.
8 'But if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, the one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.'"
At first glance, this passage looks like a riddle rolled up with some commands about women and a dash of childbirth. I have to admit that I found it a bit challenging not to get lost on the translation of Hebrew which tends to b poetic to emphasize meaning. The part of the passage I want us to focus on is the part dealing with the offerings: “…'When the days of her purification are completed, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the tent of meeting a one year old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering…” Notice the presence of two offerings, one “…for a burnt offering…” and one for “…a sin offering…”
Already we see a pattern of two offerings set-up and they are significant because each offering has a specific purpose. We need to look at these real quick for context and further understanding. Not one idle word exists in the Bible (Deut. 32:47) and every word is significant.
1. The “burnt offering” or (olah) offering is the same thing God asked Abraham to do with Isaac. Isaac was to be an “olah offering” and is a type of Christ that points us to the fact that the Messiah would be sacrificed on the cross as a burnt; ascending offering that was a pleasing aroma to the Father. He is a substitution offering as the ram caught in the thicket was.
2. The “sin offering” or (chatta’ah) offering that was a young pigeon or a turtledove. These offerings were generally reserved for the poor and would have been the ones being sold in the Temple court that Yeshua wrecked. I believe the offering of turtledoves signifies our destitution when it comes to righteousness before God.
So we have two offerings, one that is the offering of the poor or the turtledove and one that is a one-year old lamb or a burnt offering such as the Messiah would become. It should noted that Mary, the mother of Yeshua, obeyed the Law of Moses found here in Leviticus in the gospel account by Luke (Luke 2:22-24). What is crazy is that she goes to the temple and we do not see any talk about the one-year old lamb for sacrifice, but Luke accounts for the turtledoves. Why? By bringing Yeshua with her to be dedicated as the first born in the synagogue, she was bringing the Lamb of God that would end up being the “olah offering” to come.
The wisdom of the Rabbis over the years in the study of Torah is invaluable in trying to discern what the word of God is saying in the Old Testament. I want you to see this wisdom from the Chumash that I typically read the weekly Torah portion from. Here is there commentary on the passage above that supports this idea of a two part plan of God in salvation and imputed righteousness:
“The creation of a human life is the most sublime phenomenon in the universe. By bringing it into being, man and woman become partners with God, Who gives a soul to their offspring. But this new life begins with tumah, spiritual impurity, to show people that mere fact of life is not enough. Life must be a tool for the service of God; otherwise it is nothing. After this period of contamination, the new mother begins her cleansing process, culminated by the bringing of an offering. Before she brings it, she cleanses herself of the contamination, but she still may not consume sacrificial meat or terumah, because the mere absence of contamination is not yet the fulfillment of man’s goal. Human aspiration must rise higher than the elimination of the negative; it must strive for positive achievement. One is not completely cleansed until one has come to the resting place of God’s presence with an offering that represents atonement for the past and dedication for the future.”[1]
I love the part about the mere fact of life not being sufficient; we must live and not only live, but live a life devoted to God if we are to have significance in this world. Of ever there was life of eternal significance, Yeshua lived one. He kept the law perfectly and He did all that the Father commanded for His three and a half years on earth. I think we get that on the cross atonement was made on our behalf for our sin debt. But I am not sure we see or have recognized that Yeshua lived a righteous life and was blameless. Why?
Could He not have come to earth, not answered the questioning of the high priest, not called down a legion of angels, gone to the cross by just claiming to be one with the Father all in one or two days? Why the years of life spent ministering and discipling those who would do greater than He (John 14:12). It had to be purposeful and filled with the higher ways of God. Interestingly enough, Yeshua is believed to have been born at the beginning of Sukkoth which is the Feast of Booths and coincidently the beginning of the Triennial Torah Cycle. The Great Torah Teacher came to teach the people the commandments of God. That sounds like another paper so I will leave it for now and get back to our subject at hand.
So you can see how it could be possible that Yeshua was coming to kick off the Triennial Torah Cycle and then at the end of three and half years ends the cycle with His death on the cross. I ran across a verse in Romans that I think is interesting and one we should look at concerning this two-fold subject we are dealing with, atonement and imputed righteousness. I especially want us to look at the Greek text and see if there are not two things being talked about in this verse:
Ρομανδ 5¨10
ει γαρ εχθροι οντες καταλλαγημεν τω θεω δια του θανατον του υιου αυτον, πολλω μαλλον καταλλαγεντες σωθυσομεθα εν τυ ζωυ αντον
Romans 5:10
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
When we look at this verse we see two distinct things going on:
…reconciled to God…kat-al-las’-so…through the death of His Son...than’-at-os
…shall be saved…sode’-zo…by His life...dzo-ay’
We are reconciled through Yeshua’s thanatos and we will be saved by His dzoay. What do those words mean?
thanatos
1) The death of the body
1a) that separation (whether natural or violent) of the soul and the body by which the life on earth is ended
1b) with the implied idea of future misery in hell
1b1) the power of death
1c) since the nether world, the abode of the dead, was conceived as being very dark, it is equivalent to the region of thickest darkness i.e. figuratively, a region enveloped in the darkness of ignorance and sin
2) metaphor., the loss of that life which alone is worthy of the name,
2a) the misery of the soul arising from sin, which begins on earth but lasts and increases after the death of the body in hell
3) The miserable state of the wicked dead in hell
4) In the widest sense, death comprising all the miseries arising from sin, as well physical death as the loss of a life consecrated to God and blessed in him on earth, to be followed by wretchedness in hell
dzoay
1) life
1a) the state of one who is possessed of vitality or is animate
1b) every living soul
2) life
2a) of the absolute fullness of life, both essential and ethical, which belongs to God, and through him both to the hypostatic "logos" and to Christ in whom the "logos" put on human nature
2b) life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by new accessions (among them a more perfect body), and to last for ever.
So we end up with a two-part deal in which we are reconciled or made right with God through Yeshua’s death and then we are saved by His life. Now I have no reference in Scripture that speaks specifically about an imputed righteousness coupled to atonement. What I do have is this:
1) Abraham obeyed God’s voice and kept His commandments (Genesis 26:4-6)
2) A woman after childbirth was to offer two sacrifices, one for atonement and one for dedication (Leviticus 12:1-8)
3) God desires us to obey His voice and keep His covenant (Exodus 19:5)
4) We are to hear the voice of the LORD, give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes (Exodus 15:26)
5) We must have God’s commandments and keep them (John 14:21)
6) The perseverance of the saints depends on keeping the commandments of God and our faith in Yeshua (Revelation 14:12)
Two parts, one Messiah. Faith and Obedience. Atonement and Imputed Righteousness. The patterns are there, will you believe and obey?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1) [1] Sherman, Rabbi Nosson (Ed.). (1998, 2000). The Chumash. Brooklyn, New York: Mesorah Publications, Ltd..
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