I heard a Bible Passage quoted on the radio this morning.
They said Matt 6:33 (which I am very familiar with) and then I heard this:
"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
This is the Message version of Matthew 6:30-33.
I was shocked. This surely was not the same scripture that I thought I knew so well, I must have heard them wrong. I then checked it out and discovered that it was for real.
Look now at the NKJV version for example and most especially verse 33, compared with the Message text in bold above:
30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
How different is this? A world, a lifetime, an eternity of difference I would suggest.
Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions - what rubbish, what waffle is this?
It could mean anything to anybody!
'Steep your life in God-provisions' - does this mean you should go out and grab everything you can and consider it is from God. This seems such a self-centred perspective. As Prof Norman Snaith said: “The aim of Hebrew religion was Da’ath Elohim (the Knowledge of God); the aim of Greek thought was Gnothi seauton (Know thyself)."
The Message version certainly seems to have a very Greek, very Gnostic origin in this passage at least.
Compare with the simple and God focussed interpretation of the NKJV and common to most versions. 'Seek first the Kingdom of God and HIS righteousness'. Assuming you understand what the Kingdom of God is, and most, probably as much as 90% of Christendom doesn’t understand or have a clue Almost all the rest of the world (except Judaism) have no idea either.
See my article 'Let us Revisit Our Christian Foundations' (at www.charismacomputers.com.au)for a short introduction or better yet read Prof Sir Anthony Buzzard’s 'The Coming Kingdom of the Messiah' if you really want to understand this, possibly the most important (note the words 'seek first') of all of the Creator's instructions to us.
The phrase 'Don't worry about missing out' only further confirms the self-centred focus of this version.
Instead, if we truly desire to live forever on a redeemed earth with our brother, our friend, our King and Messiah Yeshua, and to be able to see face to face our heavenly Father and Creator of the Universe, we are called to pray for our Messiah's return, to spread the good news about the Kingdom to come, the new age of peace and joy without pain and death. We are asked to desire and live a life that is 'right with God' (righteousness); that is a life that is in obedience to our Messiah and our Father.
We know then that we need to flee sexual immorality, to avoid drunkenness, adultery, theft, dishonesty, covertness etc. To respect our parents; to honour the Sabbath; to avoid idolatry and this includes learning who and what our Messiah really is.
Then, while we may still not be deserving of it, our Almighty God and Father will shower abundant blessings upon us, not necessarily at this instance in time, but most certainly when we enter the Coming Age.
I am staggered at how different the Message paints this portion of our precious scriptures. Perhaps there are some great paraphrases in the Message that beautifully bring out and enhance some otherwise difficult sections or verses. However, if the Message can so distort and disturb such a fundamental and vital verse of our Bible, I suspect it may be best to leave it alone or at least not rely on translation to guide us in learning about God and His calling on our lifes.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Demons or 'mental disorders'?
Demons or ‘Mental Disorders’?
The standard Christadelphian understanding of the references to casting out demons by Jesus in the NT, is that this ‘demon’s were actually just people suffering from some mental disorder which Jesus cured them of.
In discussing this with some Christadelphian brothers and sisters, I asked the following question via email. At this time I have had a reply and made one response. Please see below:
My original email:
In evaluating the question of demons vs mental disorder, could you please answer the question below:
There are many passages in the NT that describe Yeshua as the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God or the Son of Man.
These passages appear to fit into one of 6 categories.
There are either:
1. Scriptures declaring the Messiah (inspired writings of the disciples);
2. Comments made by the disciples or friends of Yeshua who recognized his authority and Messiah-ship (eg Nathaniel and Martha, the sister of Lazarus) or the blind man who was miraculously healed (and his parents).
3. Some of the witnesses to his crucifixion
4. His adversaries amongst the Pharisees and Scribes etc who accused him of claiming to be the ‘Son of God’ but who did not believe he was,
5. Demons (or people with mental illness)
6. The Satan (or Yeshua’s own flesh nature) in the desert temptation.
The question then is, if the average ‘man in the street’ 2000 years ago in Israel is not described as being aware that Yeshua was the Son of God and the leaders of Israel were arguing that he wasn’t and were decidedly hostile to anyone who said he was, then how come people with a mental illness (if that is what ‘demonic possession’ really is), were so clearly and emphatically unafraid of publicly declaring their belief that Yeshua was the Son of God?
Note that this declaration generally occurred before they were healed and in some cases after healing (which of-course would be most expected in the same manner as for the blind man).
If a person with an mental disorder recognizes that Jesus is the Son of God, and as we learn in 1 John 4:15[1] he is then saved perhaps all sinners are better off to have such a mental disorder? Alternatively, if it is a demon, we know the spirits believe and tremble. (James 2:19) This does not mean they (demons) are saved as they are already spirit beings (endowed with immortality).
[1] 1 John 4:15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
The first email response:
Hi Paul would this title condense your question in fewer words?
If people supposedly are possessed by spirit entities the hypothesis is they are of divine origen and consequently have a far superior knowledge to the ordinary person.
This theory would exclude of course that the mentally ill had , ever heard seen, met or had knowledge of Yashua the anointed apart from the realms of the divine mind, after all who can know the mind of the Lord or who can declare things that have never happened as yet, were these demons at the creation.
Rom 11:34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor?
Isa 40:12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
Isa 40:13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counselor hath taught him?
Isa 40:14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding?
IT would appear from the words of jesus the knowledge that he was the Son of God had been revealed to them by Jesus himself either prior to the current contact or at the present time.
Luk 10:21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said,
I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.
A KEY VERSE
Luk 10:22 All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.
This seems to suggest that Yashua anointed reveals to people he is the Son of God, the Pharisees usually asked the question rather than recognize the Annointed as the Son of God.
Luk 10:23 And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see:
Luk 10:24 For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. Same in Mat 11v27
Luk 4:14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
It would be unreal to suggest that not many people had heard of or seen the Messiah, the results of his miraculous healing would have spread like wild fire, that is why many people sought him out to be healed or heal their family members.Think of the feeding of the thousands for example.
I believe like the two thieves on the cross, it is obvious one was very conscious of who Jesus Christ was, how did he know and likewise the people who are recorded as being demon possessed would have known of him or seen him before<>
My response to this email:
No, this was not my question.
To summarise my original question a little more:
If the average ‘man in the street’ 2000 years ago in Israel is not described as being aware that Yeshua was the Son of God, then how come people with a mental illness, were so clearly and emphatically unafraid of publicly declaring their belief that Yeshua was the Son of God?
This question is not implying by the contra opinion, that these spirit entities have a far superior knowledge to the ordinary person. Rather, the implication is that as spirit and immortal beings present since the creation of the universe, they would have a knowledge of the supernatural birth of the Messiah and easily recognize his spiritual as well as human genesis. We see plenty of scriptural support for this in such comments as in James where he says the demons know that God is one and tremble (James 2:19).
The argument that these were demon possessed people in no way argues against the statement that no-one can know the mind of God, Of course, this scripture is really saying we can’t know all that God knows. Human beings, and clearly spirit beings can know what God chooses to reveal. The host of heaven obviously know much we don’t know having been present at the creation of the universe and man.
Your key verse, along with an understanding of the reality of the times seems to speak against your position not for it.
If we understand Luke 10:22 to say that only people whom God and Yeshua choose to reveal themselves to can know who the Son of God is, then it seems most unlikely that Yeshua would reveal himself to mentally ill people (before he heals them) and yet not to the great multitudes who followed him. We know from the evidence of the his last Passover before his death, that most of those who came to Yeshua for healing or because they had heard what a great teacher he was, etc., deserted him in his hour of greatest need.
Certainly, it is possible that some or most of the mentally ill had heard of Yeshua before they met him face to face, but even so, we would not expect them to almost universally (from the encounters which have been recorded for us), recognize the Messiah. This was not normal, this was not something that was at all common from what we read. We don’t read that everywhere Yeshua went he was recognized by the common people as the Son of God. It was generally only those who were truly seeking their Messiah (like Nathaniel) who recognized him (in fact, this is the same today).
Common sense then, tells us that mentally disturbed people are not as a rule going to be better or even as good at recognizing the Son of God. And yet we see in these encounters that these ‘mentally disturbed’ did he fact recognize and even trembled at his presence. This ‘mental illness’ perspective still makes no sense to me.
On the other-hand, it makes perfect sense that a demon, a spirit being who was present at the dawn of time would recognize the greatest creation of God, the Messiah and Redeemer of mankind. It also makes perfect sense that they would scream and tremble as they, more than any human would recognize the power and authority that the Son of God commanded.
The authority to call down legions of angels to battle against these demonic spirits. Compare this with the lack of faith of the disciples on the stormy sea. The human followers and companions of Yeshua by and large clearly did not have the same degree of knowledge of the power God had bestowed upon the Son of God (at least not until after the resurrection and the events of Pentecost).
For a human being to recognize the Son of God, there is an implied recognition of his mission and hence of the Gospel of the Kingdom. Jesus makes it clear in the parable of the sower that the Gospel, the ‘word of the Kingdom’ requires intelligent reception, and this is further emphasized by what happens to those who don’t intelligently receive it (see Mark 4:11-12 And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that "they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.").
Thus, we have another problem with the ‘mental illness’ perspective, namely, that intelligence is implied and highlighted in the ‘mentally damaged’ who surely can’t be seen as more intelligent than most?
Much of what you write here we agree on but these are extraneous issues. Yes, there is such a thing as mental disorders and yes medicine can achieve much and yes, we will be changed into incorruptible bodies at the resurrection, etc., but none of this is relevant to the question at hand.
In summary, I still see some major impediments in your view of these ‘demon’ encounters that I can see no reasoned way around.
Shalom, Paul
The standard Christadelphian understanding of the references to casting out demons by Jesus in the NT, is that this ‘demon’s were actually just people suffering from some mental disorder which Jesus cured them of.
In discussing this with some Christadelphian brothers and sisters, I asked the following question via email. At this time I have had a reply and made one response. Please see below:
My original email:
In evaluating the question of demons vs mental disorder, could you please answer the question below:
There are many passages in the NT that describe Yeshua as the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God or the Son of Man.
These passages appear to fit into one of 6 categories.
There are either:
1. Scriptures declaring the Messiah (inspired writings of the disciples);
2. Comments made by the disciples or friends of Yeshua who recognized his authority and Messiah-ship (eg Nathaniel and Martha, the sister of Lazarus) or the blind man who was miraculously healed (and his parents).
3. Some of the witnesses to his crucifixion
4. His adversaries amongst the Pharisees and Scribes etc who accused him of claiming to be the ‘Son of God’ but who did not believe he was,
5. Demons (or people with mental illness)
6. The Satan (or Yeshua’s own flesh nature) in the desert temptation.
The question then is, if the average ‘man in the street’ 2000 years ago in Israel is not described as being aware that Yeshua was the Son of God and the leaders of Israel were arguing that he wasn’t and were decidedly hostile to anyone who said he was, then how come people with a mental illness (if that is what ‘demonic possession’ really is), were so clearly and emphatically unafraid of publicly declaring their belief that Yeshua was the Son of God?
Note that this declaration generally occurred before they were healed and in some cases after healing (which of-course would be most expected in the same manner as for the blind man).
If a person with an mental disorder recognizes that Jesus is the Son of God, and as we learn in 1 John 4:15[1] he is then saved perhaps all sinners are better off to have such a mental disorder? Alternatively, if it is a demon, we know the spirits believe and tremble. (James 2:19) This does not mean they (demons) are saved as they are already spirit beings (endowed with immortality).
[1] 1 John 4:15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
The first email response:
Hi Paul would this title condense your question in fewer words?
If people supposedly are possessed by spirit entities the hypothesis is they are of divine origen and consequently have a far superior knowledge to the ordinary person.
This theory would exclude of course that the mentally ill had , ever heard seen, met or had knowledge of Yashua the anointed apart from the realms of the divine mind, after all who can know the mind of the Lord or who can declare things that have never happened as yet, were these demons at the creation.
Rom 11:34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor?
Isa 40:12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
Isa 40:13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counselor hath taught him?
Isa 40:14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding?
IT would appear from the words of jesus the knowledge that he was the Son of God had been revealed to them by Jesus himself either prior to the current contact or at the present time.
Luk 10:21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said,
I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.
A KEY VERSE
Luk 10:22 All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.
This seems to suggest that Yashua anointed reveals to people he is the Son of God, the Pharisees usually asked the question rather than recognize the Annointed as the Son of God.
Luk 10:23 And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see:
Luk 10:24 For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. Same in Mat 11v27
Luk 4:14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
It would be unreal to suggest that not many people had heard of or seen the Messiah, the results of his miraculous healing would have spread like wild fire, that is why many people sought him out to be healed or heal their family members.Think of the feeding of the thousands for example.
I believe like the two thieves on the cross, it is obvious one was very conscious of who Jesus Christ was, how did he know and likewise the people who are recorded as being demon possessed would have known of him or seen him before<>
My response to this email:
No, this was not my question.
To summarise my original question a little more:
If the average ‘man in the street’ 2000 years ago in Israel is not described as being aware that Yeshua was the Son of God, then how come people with a mental illness, were so clearly and emphatically unafraid of publicly declaring their belief that Yeshua was the Son of God?
This question is not implying by the contra opinion, that these spirit entities have a far superior knowledge to the ordinary person. Rather, the implication is that as spirit and immortal beings present since the creation of the universe, they would have a knowledge of the supernatural birth of the Messiah and easily recognize his spiritual as well as human genesis. We see plenty of scriptural support for this in such comments as in James where he says the demons know that God is one and tremble (James 2:19).
The argument that these were demon possessed people in no way argues against the statement that no-one can know the mind of God, Of course, this scripture is really saying we can’t know all that God knows. Human beings, and clearly spirit beings can know what God chooses to reveal. The host of heaven obviously know much we don’t know having been present at the creation of the universe and man.
Your key verse, along with an understanding of the reality of the times seems to speak against your position not for it.
If we understand Luke 10:22 to say that only people whom God and Yeshua choose to reveal themselves to can know who the Son of God is, then it seems most unlikely that Yeshua would reveal himself to mentally ill people (before he heals them) and yet not to the great multitudes who followed him. We know from the evidence of the his last Passover before his death, that most of those who came to Yeshua for healing or because they had heard what a great teacher he was, etc., deserted him in his hour of greatest need.
Certainly, it is possible that some or most of the mentally ill had heard of Yeshua before they met him face to face, but even so, we would not expect them to almost universally (from the encounters which have been recorded for us), recognize the Messiah. This was not normal, this was not something that was at all common from what we read. We don’t read that everywhere Yeshua went he was recognized by the common people as the Son of God. It was generally only those who were truly seeking their Messiah (like Nathaniel) who recognized him (in fact, this is the same today).
Common sense then, tells us that mentally disturbed people are not as a rule going to be better or even as good at recognizing the Son of God. And yet we see in these encounters that these ‘mentally disturbed’ did he fact recognize and even trembled at his presence. This ‘mental illness’ perspective still makes no sense to me.
On the other-hand, it makes perfect sense that a demon, a spirit being who was present at the dawn of time would recognize the greatest creation of God, the Messiah and Redeemer of mankind. It also makes perfect sense that they would scream and tremble as they, more than any human would recognize the power and authority that the Son of God commanded.
The authority to call down legions of angels to battle against these demonic spirits. Compare this with the lack of faith of the disciples on the stormy sea. The human followers and companions of Yeshua by and large clearly did not have the same degree of knowledge of the power God had bestowed upon the Son of God (at least not until after the resurrection and the events of Pentecost).
For a human being to recognize the Son of God, there is an implied recognition of his mission and hence of the Gospel of the Kingdom. Jesus makes it clear in the parable of the sower that the Gospel, the ‘word of the Kingdom’ requires intelligent reception, and this is further emphasized by what happens to those who don’t intelligently receive it (see Mark 4:11-12 And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that "they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.").
Thus, we have another problem with the ‘mental illness’ perspective, namely, that intelligence is implied and highlighted in the ‘mentally damaged’ who surely can’t be seen as more intelligent than most?
Much of what you write here we agree on but these are extraneous issues. Yes, there is such a thing as mental disorders and yes medicine can achieve much and yes, we will be changed into incorruptible bodies at the resurrection, etc., but none of this is relevant to the question at hand.
In summary, I still see some major impediments in your view of these ‘demon’ encounters that I can see no reasoned way around.
Shalom, Paul
Sunday, September 14, 2008
'it is the root that supports you…'!
We read in 1 John 3 that "… sin is the transgression of the law." (KLV). Most translations here read that 'sin is lawlessness', which should read, if translated correctly, “…sin is transgression of the Torah”; i.e. the absence of obedience to the commandments of God.
We also read in the next verse that "You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin." (1 John 3:5). Thus, as the same words of God apply to our Messiah, then we see here that Yeshua was obedient to the Torah as he did not sin. No disobedience to Torah (Divine Instruction) was found in him. For this reason it should be abundantly clear that Yeshua did not come to abolish the Torah, a fact plainly affirmed by a statement by his own lips at various times throughout his ministry.
So why do so many argue that the Torah has no longer any bearing upon mankind?
Of course we are not called upon to sacrifice sheep and oxen, because these things belong to the Jewish people – just as Gentiles WERE NEVER called upon to take upon themselves circumcision or any of the Kosher regulations.
Christians need to learn to separate what belongs to the followers of Yeshua and what does not!
The Torah is the blueprint for all of mankind. However, what is taught therein needs to be understood properly, lest it become a burden and a scourge. If you understand the Tenach (the OT or TaNaK - Torah, Prophets and the Writings) you will also recognize in the writings of Paul that he distilled the Tenach in them so the Gentiles may enter into the life of God.
Why do so many have a problem with Sinai and the covenants?
There is not one word in the scriptures about abolishing anything from the earlier covenants. Where the problem is, is in the fact that so many people will not accept that they are being deceived by their translations when it comes to these issues.
The Christian world is in deep error, because more and more evidence is emerging that what we have today, especially the NT has been substantially doctored to reinforce a total separation from the Jewish world – despite of what Paul teaches in Romans 8-10.
I cannot comprehend why well-meaning people prefer to lean on the Greek texts, which are at best only translations of much earlier Hebrew texts, when the Jewish people have been reading the same Scriptures since before the time of Messiah!
If we belong to Yeshua, then we belong to Israel and the Jewish world – NOT to the Greeks, Romans, Russians or Americans! It is only in constructive dialogue – which is possible – that we discover the disastrous deviation that occurred at the time of Constantine. It is not enough to acknowledge that Constantine introduced a non-Biblical theology, we must find the courage to return to what Yeshua and Paul gave the Gentile world; i.e. an entrance into the Commonwealth of Israel (Eph. 2:11-13). It is this Commonwealth, that will constitute the Government of the Kingdom of God – not the Church (of whatever denomination)!
What troubles me so deeply in the teaching of so many well meaning Christians, is that, in their 'Gospel' there is no room for the Jewish people unless they abandon their Torah, and their Covenants that HaShem (i.e. the Name - God) made with their forefathers.
They are expected to slap an Authorized Version of the King James Bible under their armpit and become member of a dead church! Ezekiel taught it 2500 years ago, Paul taught it 2000 years ago – HaShem will save His people DESPITE their utter unworthiness. He will do it, for His Name's sake! Unless the Almighty will accomplish that, what guarantee do we Gentiles have that He will remain faithful to us and not abandon us when He takes note of OUR utter unworthiness.
Many may ask, 'what covenant are we under?'
The New one of course.
So why then do so many denominations like the Christadelphians continue to lean on the types of the Torah, etc. in formulating their theology and ignore the basic teachings of Paul that the 'Good News of the Kingdom of God' belong to the Jews first and only then to the Greeks (Gentiles). Let us therefore find ways to contextualize what the Greek texts really teach to the Jewish people so that they too may have their eyes opened. Thus far all they know is 2000 years of hearing that their Torah is finished, their covenants are finished and they as a people are finished – WITHOUT CHRIST!
I hate that word 'Christ' (a Greek version of the Hebrew term for 'Anointed One'. Messiah is a more consistent translation), because I hear it all the time here in Israel from 'well-meaning' Christians as a statement of superiority over Judaism. Christians will freely use the name Yeshua HaMashiach, but when push comes to shove, they will revert back to Jesus Christ; i.e. in prayer! If we are truly fair dinkum, then let us embrace the truth in all matters – not push our individual dogmas – no matter how sacred to us they may be. Dogmas killed the Son of God and are killing the Christian world! Christianity is a Jewish religion and a meaningless entity without the Jewish Roots. As Paul says in Romans 11, 'it is the root that supports you…'!
Since living in Israel it has become so clear to me that much of Christianity is just a show. We go somewhere to do religious things, but for the rest of the time we live our own lives, whereas Judaism (and Islam for that matter) is a way of life (to whatever extent you want to practice it). A Jew is a Jew 24/7, whereas I see Christians who are VERY spiritual at work, but once they leave the building they become something else; they become their real selves! Jewish people observe this kind of behaviour and shrug their shoulders saying, what else do you expect from the Gentiles?
Christians are so concerned with what belongs to the flesh and what belongs to the spirit! They do not realize that this is an oriental expression for good and evil? In other words, whatever hurts God and man is evil (fleshly) and what blesses God and man is good (of the Spirit). There is a good inclination in man (Paul talks about that in Rom. 7) which is an action of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) and an evil inclination which comes from our lower self (the flesh). They all describe the same things! Paul gives a major teaching in Galatians on this subject, which needs to be understood from a Hebrew perspective.
Gal 5:13-15 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity,sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Messiah Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
It is an amazing thing to discover, how easy it is to draw near to Jewish people if we understand what Paul tried to teach the Gentiles, that he did no more than make the Tenach digestible for non-Hebrews.
We need to earnestly seek the face of God to learn how to implement the truth of the Abrahamic Faith.
It has to become a practical way of life for us, nothing is clearer for me. Failing that we will not go anywhere!
It is not about Hebrew names, words, artifacts or festivals, but a reality built around a solid way of walking with Yeshua. It is about an authenticity that is beyond reproach. Either we follow a Jewish Messiah or a Greek Christ, but we cannot follow both, because they are incompatible!
Most Christians confuse the observance of Torah commandments with salvation. Such thinking is foreign to Jewish thought.
The Almighty came for Israel while they were slaves in Egypt and saved them by His mighty hand and only afterwards gave them His Torah. They were saved by Grace not by Torah and by faith they followed Moses into the sea. Israel was intended to become righteous through the laws of Sinai, but missed. It is the same for Christians! Praise God, that the doctrine of 'Once saved – always saved!' has been debunked, for the scriptures clearly teach that we have to 'work out our salvation with fear and trembling', that '…(we) too can be cut off as Israel was cut off…' Rom 11:22.
Salvation grants us an imputed righteousness – but that righteousness needs to be maintained, just as Israel was expected to do.
Galatians 4:21-31 is a problem passage.
Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written, "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband." 28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman." 31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
This passage clearly alludes to the Jewish people as a parallel to Hagar. It is a passage, which supports the utter rejection of the Jewish people and the Tenach.
However, when we look at this passage closer, it also becomes evident that Paul seems to have had a change of heart when we compare his thinking here and that expressed in Romans. The passage also has the hallmark of distinct anti-Jewish sentiments and totally incompatible with Paul's theology of Romans.
Therefore, as I have expressed elsewhere, we need to find the courage to ask the difficult question, 'have the letters of Paul been tampered with?' How can Paul say in one book that the Good News belong first of all to the Jews and ALSO to the Gentiles. How would God inspire a book like Romans and then inspire another book, which seems to say the complete opposite- as does the Qur’an in many places?
Many teach a form of rejection of the Jewish people based on this passage as they do not know any better being the product of centuries old, bad teaching! But we can change things if we truly want to!
There are extremely difficult times coming toward us and truth will be at a premium – not just truth, but truth tempered by grace and love for one another.
Better understanding our relationship and indebtedness to the Jewish people is a very important part of this truth seeking, as the world turns more and more against the State of Israel, her Jewish people and the promises of God.
Frank Selch
Jerusalem, Sept. 2008
We also read in the next verse that "You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin." (1 John 3:5). Thus, as the same words of God apply to our Messiah, then we see here that Yeshua was obedient to the Torah as he did not sin. No disobedience to Torah (Divine Instruction) was found in him. For this reason it should be abundantly clear that Yeshua did not come to abolish the Torah, a fact plainly affirmed by a statement by his own lips at various times throughout his ministry.
So why do so many argue that the Torah has no longer any bearing upon mankind?
Of course we are not called upon to sacrifice sheep and oxen, because these things belong to the Jewish people – just as Gentiles WERE NEVER called upon to take upon themselves circumcision or any of the Kosher regulations.
Christians need to learn to separate what belongs to the followers of Yeshua and what does not!
The Torah is the blueprint for all of mankind. However, what is taught therein needs to be understood properly, lest it become a burden and a scourge. If you understand the Tenach (the OT or TaNaK - Torah, Prophets and the Writings) you will also recognize in the writings of Paul that he distilled the Tenach in them so the Gentiles may enter into the life of God.
Why do so many have a problem with Sinai and the covenants?
There is not one word in the scriptures about abolishing anything from the earlier covenants. Where the problem is, is in the fact that so many people will not accept that they are being deceived by their translations when it comes to these issues.
The Christian world is in deep error, because more and more evidence is emerging that what we have today, especially the NT has been substantially doctored to reinforce a total separation from the Jewish world – despite of what Paul teaches in Romans 8-10.
I cannot comprehend why well-meaning people prefer to lean on the Greek texts, which are at best only translations of much earlier Hebrew texts, when the Jewish people have been reading the same Scriptures since before the time of Messiah!
If we belong to Yeshua, then we belong to Israel and the Jewish world – NOT to the Greeks, Romans, Russians or Americans! It is only in constructive dialogue – which is possible – that we discover the disastrous deviation that occurred at the time of Constantine. It is not enough to acknowledge that Constantine introduced a non-Biblical theology, we must find the courage to return to what Yeshua and Paul gave the Gentile world; i.e. an entrance into the Commonwealth of Israel (Eph. 2:11-13). It is this Commonwealth, that will constitute the Government of the Kingdom of God – not the Church (of whatever denomination)!
What troubles me so deeply in the teaching of so many well meaning Christians, is that, in their 'Gospel' there is no room for the Jewish people unless they abandon their Torah, and their Covenants that HaShem (i.e. the Name - God) made with their forefathers.
They are expected to slap an Authorized Version of the King James Bible under their armpit and become member of a dead church! Ezekiel taught it 2500 years ago, Paul taught it 2000 years ago – HaShem will save His people DESPITE their utter unworthiness. He will do it, for His Name's sake! Unless the Almighty will accomplish that, what guarantee do we Gentiles have that He will remain faithful to us and not abandon us when He takes note of OUR utter unworthiness.
Many may ask, 'what covenant are we under?'
The New one of course.
So why then do so many denominations like the Christadelphians continue to lean on the types of the Torah, etc. in formulating their theology and ignore the basic teachings of Paul that the 'Good News of the Kingdom of God' belong to the Jews first and only then to the Greeks (Gentiles). Let us therefore find ways to contextualize what the Greek texts really teach to the Jewish people so that they too may have their eyes opened. Thus far all they know is 2000 years of hearing that their Torah is finished, their covenants are finished and they as a people are finished – WITHOUT CHRIST!
I hate that word 'Christ' (a Greek version of the Hebrew term for 'Anointed One'. Messiah is a more consistent translation), because I hear it all the time here in Israel from 'well-meaning' Christians as a statement of superiority over Judaism. Christians will freely use the name Yeshua HaMashiach, but when push comes to shove, they will revert back to Jesus Christ; i.e. in prayer! If we are truly fair dinkum, then let us embrace the truth in all matters – not push our individual dogmas – no matter how sacred to us they may be. Dogmas killed the Son of God and are killing the Christian world! Christianity is a Jewish religion and a meaningless entity without the Jewish Roots. As Paul says in Romans 11, 'it is the root that supports you…'!
Since living in Israel it has become so clear to me that much of Christianity is just a show. We go somewhere to do religious things, but for the rest of the time we live our own lives, whereas Judaism (and Islam for that matter) is a way of life (to whatever extent you want to practice it). A Jew is a Jew 24/7, whereas I see Christians who are VERY spiritual at work, but once they leave the building they become something else; they become their real selves! Jewish people observe this kind of behaviour and shrug their shoulders saying, what else do you expect from the Gentiles?
Christians are so concerned with what belongs to the flesh and what belongs to the spirit! They do not realize that this is an oriental expression for good and evil? In other words, whatever hurts God and man is evil (fleshly) and what blesses God and man is good (of the Spirit). There is a good inclination in man (Paul talks about that in Rom. 7) which is an action of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) and an evil inclination which comes from our lower self (the flesh). They all describe the same things! Paul gives a major teaching in Galatians on this subject, which needs to be understood from a Hebrew perspective.
Gal 5:13-15 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity,sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Messiah Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
It is an amazing thing to discover, how easy it is to draw near to Jewish people if we understand what Paul tried to teach the Gentiles, that he did no more than make the Tenach digestible for non-Hebrews.
We need to earnestly seek the face of God to learn how to implement the truth of the Abrahamic Faith.
It has to become a practical way of life for us, nothing is clearer for me. Failing that we will not go anywhere!
It is not about Hebrew names, words, artifacts or festivals, but a reality built around a solid way of walking with Yeshua. It is about an authenticity that is beyond reproach. Either we follow a Jewish Messiah or a Greek Christ, but we cannot follow both, because they are incompatible!
Most Christians confuse the observance of Torah commandments with salvation. Such thinking is foreign to Jewish thought.
The Almighty came for Israel while they were slaves in Egypt and saved them by His mighty hand and only afterwards gave them His Torah. They were saved by Grace not by Torah and by faith they followed Moses into the sea. Israel was intended to become righteous through the laws of Sinai, but missed. It is the same for Christians! Praise God, that the doctrine of 'Once saved – always saved!' has been debunked, for the scriptures clearly teach that we have to 'work out our salvation with fear and trembling', that '…(we) too can be cut off as Israel was cut off…' Rom 11:22.
Salvation grants us an imputed righteousness – but that righteousness needs to be maintained, just as Israel was expected to do.
Galatians 4:21-31 is a problem passage.
Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written, "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband." 28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman." 31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
This passage clearly alludes to the Jewish people as a parallel to Hagar. It is a passage, which supports the utter rejection of the Jewish people and the Tenach.
However, when we look at this passage closer, it also becomes evident that Paul seems to have had a change of heart when we compare his thinking here and that expressed in Romans. The passage also has the hallmark of distinct anti-Jewish sentiments and totally incompatible with Paul's theology of Romans.
Therefore, as I have expressed elsewhere, we need to find the courage to ask the difficult question, 'have the letters of Paul been tampered with?' How can Paul say in one book that the Good News belong first of all to the Jews and ALSO to the Gentiles. How would God inspire a book like Romans and then inspire another book, which seems to say the complete opposite- as does the Qur’an in many places?
Many teach a form of rejection of the Jewish people based on this passage as they do not know any better being the product of centuries old, bad teaching! But we can change things if we truly want to!
There are extremely difficult times coming toward us and truth will be at a premium – not just truth, but truth tempered by grace and love for one another.
Better understanding our relationship and indebtedness to the Jewish people is a very important part of this truth seeking, as the world turns more and more against the State of Israel, her Jewish people and the promises of God.
Frank Selch
Jerusalem, Sept. 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Shavuot in Jerusalem by Frank Selch
On Monday morning (9th June 2008) at 4am I walked to the Kotel from our home – there were no buses due to it being a Sabbath – and HaShem showed me something that I believe to be significant. By coincidence it was 26 years (almost to the day) that I first stood at the same place and the Most High revealed to me the truth concerning Israel and the Church. Above is a picture of the crowd at daybreak.
At one point I was somewhere near the arrow among hundreds of men seeking to touch God. Everywhere around me were groups of men of all ages with Torah Scroll in prayer, singing and/or dancing. There was a strength present not found anywhere else- apart from Islam. I saw then, that there is no way Christianity with its effeminate ways can touch these men and the words of Yeshua come to mind, when he said to his disciples: “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you will by no means enter the Kingdom of God…”.
At one point I was somewhere near the arrow among hundreds of men seeking to touch God. Everywhere around me were groups of men of all ages with Torah Scroll in prayer, singing and/or dancing. There was a strength present not found anywhere else- apart from Islam. I saw then, that there is no way Christianity with its effeminate ways can touch these men and the words of Yeshua come to mind, when he said to his disciples: “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you will by no means enter the Kingdom of God…”.
All around the perimeter of the plaza were hundreds and hundreds of women in prayer (apart from the r/h third of the Plaza in front of us). Everywhere there is longing and hope that the Most High will hear their cry and send Mashiach. They don’t know the Jesus/Yeshua of the NT because of us! They respect him theologically; who he was – a great teacher and prophet – but, they do not like the followers he produced! And for this reason they say he cannot be the promised Messiah.
If we ignore the mess that pretends to be Biblical (or whatever) Christianity, then we are even blinder than the Jews. But then didn’t Paul say, “All have fallen short of the glory of God…!” Is it just possible that he spoke prophetically- also meaning/including the entire human race at the end of time (c/f. Rom.11:32)?
There is absolutely no way we will ever convince Jewish men like those above, who are learned in the Torah, that we have the truth with our distorted and mistranslated texts steeped in Greek philosophy.
The road you and I are on is a difficult one – to say the least! The hooks and strings that the Anti (Replacement) Spirit has into good men are immensely strong and difficult to break. Just take the word/term ‘Anti Christ’! Look how doggedly people cling to the traditional meaning of the term. Yet, if they bothered to translate it properly and see it in terms of historic ‘Replacement theology’ a light would begin to glimmer in their minds!
Anti-Christ – Jesus Christ! Put both these terms into their right context by translating them properly (i.e. ‘Replacement Messiah’ and ‘Yeshua the Messiah [chosen, anointed of God]), a brand new image emerges and light begins to shine everywhere.
However, I also believe that the hooks and strings will lose their hold once we put Israel and the Jewish people into their right perspective; viz. whatever the Most High is doing with them He is doing for His Name’s sake- NOT because they have earned it!
At the same time we have NOT earned the right to be adjudicators over them. Our place is to extend the love and hand of God to them wherever we may encounter them!
Frank
Frank was responding to some email correspondence of mine:
I most strongly agree that only those who are 'in Christ' are our true brothers in faith. (Those who lived before Jesus such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, were not of course 'in Christ' as we today are, but they will still be resurrected into the Kingdom).
In terms of those Jews alive alongside us today they must clearly accept the Messiah to be our and his brothers.Wwhen I speak of our Jewish 'elder brothers' I use the term to mean two things 'elder' indicating that they came first historically as the chosen people of God and brother in the sense of being sons of Abraham, but 'estranged brothers' in that they today reject Yeshua as the Messiah.
They are family but not welcome at the table at this time until they either individually or collectively recognise the Head of the Messianic table, Yeshua (Jesus).
The Jews do need to be grafted back into their own Olive Tree but we must also remember that "it is not 'us' who support the root, but the root that supports 'us'' (Rom 11:18).
The root Paul speaks of here in Israel not the church i.e it is the fathers of faith, etc - if nothing else, this passage alone should encourage us to stand with and support the Jewish people, even in their rejection of their Messiah. Yes, they are 'hostile' to the gospel but not our 'enemies' - this is a poor translation in Rom 11:28 – ‘hostlie’ is a fairer translation.
According to Frank Selch's reading of a number of Greek versions Romans 11:28 could be interpreted in this way: κατὰ μὲν τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἐχθροὶ διʼ ὑμᾶς, κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἐκλογὴν ἀγαπητοὶ διὰ τοὺς πατέρας "On the one hand, they are hostile toward the Good News because of you, on the other hand, according to the election, they are beloved because of (through) the fathers"
When we act as true Jews should, we become a light to them; we make them 'jealous' as Paul says. So, perhaps we can properly call the Jews our ‘estranged elder brothers.'
Calling them 'cultivated olive branches that have been broken off their own tree' is a bit unwieldy don't you think!?
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Acts 2: ‘Repent and be baptised’ – what must first be known?
How did the apostle Peter lead people to Jesus? Significantly, were there any pre-requisites?
Acts 2 is where we hear the amazing story of the Pentecost fire and move of Holy Spirit.
Most Christian churches celebrated Pentecost two weeks ago on the 11th May, however it is my understanding that the biblical calculations place Pentecost, also called Shavout; or the Feast of Weeks; or the Feast of Harvest, and even the Day of Firstfruits on June 15 2008 which is the 49th day[1] (7 Sabbaths – see Lev 23:15-16) from the waving of the Omer on the day after the weekly Sabbath of Passover. The 50th day from the Saturday Sabbath of Passover – Pentecost means 50th day[2].
The Jews and proselytes (converted Gentiles) that were gathered there that day in Jerusalem, had come to Jerusalem because of Shavout (Pentecost). This is clearly indicated in Acts 2: 5 Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven . It may appear that those who gathered around Peter and the disciples were not only followers of Judaism but other interested parties as well. The Acts 2:10—11 passage which reads in part “… both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them speaking in our tongues the mighty works of God.” may appear to imply this in the way it is phrased, but I believe the exclusiveness indicated in verse 5 is made clear by what follows.
When Peter addresses them he immediately starts speaking of the prophecies of Joel – he does not need to introduce this book of the TaNaK (OT). If some of these people listening were non-proselytized Gentiles, much of what he spoke would have needed quantifying and clarification. As ALL his listeners were devout followers of the God of Jacob, he could ‘cut to the chase’, that is, he could get straight to the point.
The listeners were zealous – that is, they knew their scriptures, the TaNaK, and were trying to be obedient to the injunction to observe the Feast of Harvest. The injunction regarding this particular Feast (detailed in Ex 23; Lev 23 & Numbers 28), was to visit the temple in Jerusalem to make sacrifices through which they praised and thanked God for the produce of the ground which they had been harvesting over the preceding weeks.
They also looked for a prophet, a Messiah (writings from the Qumran or Dead Sea Scrolls also indicate that the nation was expecting the Messiah in the years immediately before and during the time of Jesus).
After Peter spoke many of them now accepted that Yeshua (Jesus) was the Messiah that they had been looking and waiting for; so they turned from their sin of having rejected him; and were immediately baptised into the name of Yeshua and then they demonstrated their new found understanding in actions and obedience.
So to recap, the fire of Holy Spirit has been seen and the disciples are speaking in the languages of all the Jewish visitors, etc when Peter gets up to speak:"Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified (collectively speaking of all Israel’s culpability, which therefore included Peter’s listeners) and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death,…
34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, The Lord God said to my Master the Messiah, "Sit at my right hand Until I make your enemies a stool for resting your feet." "All Israel, then, know this: There's no longer room for doubt—God made him Master and Messiah, this Jesus whom you killed on a cross." (quoting Ps 110:1 the most alluded OT verse in the NT – this should signify how significant it is.) Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. … So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers (The Message).
Note that these men (and quite likely some woman as well), were ‘cut to the heart’. Because they already knew the One God of Israel and now through the amazing events of this hour and the words of Peter, they were convicted of the truth that Yeshua was the Messiah they had waited and hoped for since Moses foretold of him in Deuteronomy 18.They now repented; they sought their Father’s forgiveness and their Messiah’s forgiveness; they determined to change their path; to follow their Messiah’s teachings and the teachings of his disciples or apostles.
Thus, I think a very important point to note here is the pre-condition of these men before they accepted Yeshua as the Messiah. That precondition was a strong and practically evident knowledge of their God, the God of Abraham.
When we today have altar calls and ask men and women to give their lives to Messiah Jesus, to repent and be baptized, do we first give them a solid grounding in the God of Israel? It would seem not. Perhaps this is why so many then fall away or get deluded by so many false teachings such as Trinitarianism and some of the extreme Pentecostal practices.
What do you think?
Is there a need, along with the thirst for God, for a basic or even detailed knowledge of the God of Israel. Clearly, when Yeshua and the disciples preached to the Jews this knowledge of God was present.
Was this pre-condition there or what was done differently when reaching out to the Gentiles?
It is informative to look at a few examples that have been recorded for us. The example of the Roman Cornelius is very clear as we are told that Cornelius was a devout man who feared God with all his household. Clearly, Cornelius had the grounding, the pre-conditional knowledge required. God even took the trouble to dramatically convince Peter of this.
We see in Paul’s ministry amongst the countries he visited that he generally visited and preached in the synagogues where, as we read in Acts 14:1 he spoke to both Jew and Greek (gentile). Given that these synagogues regularly taught about Moses, we can be confident that any Gentiles hearing Paul in the synagogues did have a reasonable grounding in the God of Israel.
It is also evident that when Paul and Barnabas performed miraculous acts of healing they were listened to in the public arena, but this often lead to either false accusations about their deity or to their being stoned (for example in Lystra – see Acts 14).
We also read that in Acts 14:27 that the ‘door of faith’ was being opened to the Gentiles. Unless we can find some very clear and unequivocal evidence elsewhere, it does then seem reasonable that some significant prior understanding and love for God[3] is necessary before an individual can recognize their need for the Messiah as their Saviour and Master.
Paul Herring June 2008
Appendix: The 49 Books of the Bible:
Flavius Josephus “For we [the Jews] have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing and contradicting one another, but only 22 books, which contain the records of all the past times; which are justly believed to be divine” (Against Apion, Book I, Section VIII).
How was the OT divided up then into 22 rather than the 39 we have today?
• The Law of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. = 5 books
• The Former Prophets: Joshua-Judges (combined into one) and Samuel-Kings (combined into one) =2 books
• The Latter Prophets:
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel = 3 books
and “The Twelve” prophets —Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.= 1 book
The Psalms, is also known as the Writings, and is divided into three parts:
• The Former Poetic Books: Psalms, Proverbs and Job. = 3 books
• The Megilloth or Festival Books: Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther. = 5 books
• The Latter Restoration Books: Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah (combined into one) and Chronicles (combined into one). = 3 books
This original order is chronological.
The Messianic Writings (NT)
• Gospels and Acts: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts. = 5 books (The History/Centre)
• General Epistles: James, I Peter, II Peter, I John, II John, III John and Jude. = 7 books
• Letters to Specific Churches from Paul: Romans, I Corinthians, II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I Thessalonians and II Thessalonians. = 9 books
• General Letter of Hebrews = 1 book
• Pastoral Letters of Paul: I Timothy, II Timothy, Titus and Philemon. = 4 books
• Other Writings of John: Revelation. = 1 book
Thus, we have 22 books in the OT; 5 in the centre of all history and 22 in the NT giving 49 books in total in the Holy Scriptures, a number for completeness!
[1] The number 49 seems to be a very special number in God’s perspective – it signifies completeness – just like the completeness of the Bible which it appears should really be 49 books – see Appendix
[2] See my article on the Passover Lamb at http://charismacomputers.com.au for an explanation of why the correct date this year is June 15.
[3] the mere act of a Gentile attending a synagogue suggests some desire to know God.
Acts 2 is where we hear the amazing story of the Pentecost fire and move of Holy Spirit.
Most Christian churches celebrated Pentecost two weeks ago on the 11th May, however it is my understanding that the biblical calculations place Pentecost, also called Shavout; or the Feast of Weeks; or the Feast of Harvest, and even the Day of Firstfruits on June 15 2008 which is the 49th day[1] (7 Sabbaths – see Lev 23:15-16) from the waving of the Omer on the day after the weekly Sabbath of Passover. The 50th day from the Saturday Sabbath of Passover – Pentecost means 50th day[2].
The Jews and proselytes (converted Gentiles) that were gathered there that day in Jerusalem, had come to Jerusalem because of Shavout (Pentecost). This is clearly indicated in Acts 2: 5 Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven . It may appear that those who gathered around Peter and the disciples were not only followers of Judaism but other interested parties as well. The Acts 2:10—11 passage which reads in part “… both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them speaking in our tongues the mighty works of God.” may appear to imply this in the way it is phrased, but I believe the exclusiveness indicated in verse 5 is made clear by what follows.
When Peter addresses them he immediately starts speaking of the prophecies of Joel – he does not need to introduce this book of the TaNaK (OT). If some of these people listening were non-proselytized Gentiles, much of what he spoke would have needed quantifying and clarification. As ALL his listeners were devout followers of the God of Jacob, he could ‘cut to the chase’, that is, he could get straight to the point.
The listeners were zealous – that is, they knew their scriptures, the TaNaK, and were trying to be obedient to the injunction to observe the Feast of Harvest. The injunction regarding this particular Feast (detailed in Ex 23; Lev 23 & Numbers 28), was to visit the temple in Jerusalem to make sacrifices through which they praised and thanked God for the produce of the ground which they had been harvesting over the preceding weeks.
They also looked for a prophet, a Messiah (writings from the Qumran or Dead Sea Scrolls also indicate that the nation was expecting the Messiah in the years immediately before and during the time of Jesus).
After Peter spoke many of them now accepted that Yeshua (Jesus) was the Messiah that they had been looking and waiting for; so they turned from their sin of having rejected him; and were immediately baptised into the name of Yeshua and then they demonstrated their new found understanding in actions and obedience.
So to recap, the fire of Holy Spirit has been seen and the disciples are speaking in the languages of all the Jewish visitors, etc when Peter gets up to speak:"Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified (collectively speaking of all Israel’s culpability, which therefore included Peter’s listeners) and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death,…
34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, The Lord God said to my Master the Messiah, "Sit at my right hand Until I make your enemies a stool for resting your feet." "All Israel, then, know this: There's no longer room for doubt—God made him Master and Messiah, this Jesus whom you killed on a cross." (quoting Ps 110:1 the most alluded OT verse in the NT – this should signify how significant it is.) Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. … So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers (The Message).
Note that these men (and quite likely some woman as well), were ‘cut to the heart’. Because they already knew the One God of Israel and now through the amazing events of this hour and the words of Peter, they were convicted of the truth that Yeshua was the Messiah they had waited and hoped for since Moses foretold of him in Deuteronomy 18.They now repented; they sought their Father’s forgiveness and their Messiah’s forgiveness; they determined to change their path; to follow their Messiah’s teachings and the teachings of his disciples or apostles.
Thus, I think a very important point to note here is the pre-condition of these men before they accepted Yeshua as the Messiah. That precondition was a strong and practically evident knowledge of their God, the God of Abraham.
When we today have altar calls and ask men and women to give their lives to Messiah Jesus, to repent and be baptized, do we first give them a solid grounding in the God of Israel? It would seem not. Perhaps this is why so many then fall away or get deluded by so many false teachings such as Trinitarianism and some of the extreme Pentecostal practices.
What do you think?
Is there a need, along with the thirst for God, for a basic or even detailed knowledge of the God of Israel. Clearly, when Yeshua and the disciples preached to the Jews this knowledge of God was present.
Was this pre-condition there or what was done differently when reaching out to the Gentiles?
It is informative to look at a few examples that have been recorded for us. The example of the Roman Cornelius is very clear as we are told that Cornelius was a devout man who feared God with all his household. Clearly, Cornelius had the grounding, the pre-conditional knowledge required. God even took the trouble to dramatically convince Peter of this.
We see in Paul’s ministry amongst the countries he visited that he generally visited and preached in the synagogues where, as we read in Acts 14:1 he spoke to both Jew and Greek (gentile). Given that these synagogues regularly taught about Moses, we can be confident that any Gentiles hearing Paul in the synagogues did have a reasonable grounding in the God of Israel.
It is also evident that when Paul and Barnabas performed miraculous acts of healing they were listened to in the public arena, but this often lead to either false accusations about their deity or to their being stoned (for example in Lystra – see Acts 14).
We also read that in Acts 14:27 that the ‘door of faith’ was being opened to the Gentiles. Unless we can find some very clear and unequivocal evidence elsewhere, it does then seem reasonable that some significant prior understanding and love for God[3] is necessary before an individual can recognize their need for the Messiah as their Saviour and Master.
Paul Herring June 2008
Appendix: The 49 Books of the Bible:
Flavius Josephus “For we [the Jews] have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing and contradicting one another, but only 22 books, which contain the records of all the past times; which are justly believed to be divine” (Against Apion, Book I, Section VIII).
How was the OT divided up then into 22 rather than the 39 we have today?
• The Law of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. = 5 books
• The Former Prophets: Joshua-Judges (combined into one) and Samuel-Kings (combined into one) =2 books
• The Latter Prophets:
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel = 3 books
and “The Twelve” prophets —Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.= 1 book
The Psalms, is also known as the Writings, and is divided into three parts:
• The Former Poetic Books: Psalms, Proverbs and Job. = 3 books
• The Megilloth or Festival Books: Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther. = 5 books
• The Latter Restoration Books: Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah (combined into one) and Chronicles (combined into one). = 3 books
This original order is chronological.
The Messianic Writings (NT)
• Gospels and Acts: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts. = 5 books (The History/Centre)
• General Epistles: James, I Peter, II Peter, I John, II John, III John and Jude. = 7 books
• Letters to Specific Churches from Paul: Romans, I Corinthians, II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I Thessalonians and II Thessalonians. = 9 books
• General Letter of Hebrews = 1 book
• Pastoral Letters of Paul: I Timothy, II Timothy, Titus and Philemon. = 4 books
• Other Writings of John: Revelation. = 1 book
Thus, we have 22 books in the OT; 5 in the centre of all history and 22 in the NT giving 49 books in total in the Holy Scriptures, a number for completeness!
[1] The number 49 seems to be a very special number in God’s perspective – it signifies completeness – just like the completeness of the Bible which it appears should really be 49 books – see Appendix
[2] See my article on the Passover Lamb at http://charismacomputers.com.au for an explanation of why the correct date this year is June 15.
[3] the mere act of a Gentile attending a synagogue suggests some desire to know God.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
ANZAC & Yeshua
24th April 2008:
Today in Australia, we look forward to a very special date the 25th April (tomorrow), when we remember all the Australian & New Zealand men and women who were killed or injured in the great Gallipoli battle of the 1st World War. This occasion is now used not to in anyway glorify war but to reflect on lost love ones and share the pain in some way that their immediate families feel at this time of remembrance. This day is now also used to remember all loss and injury from all military conflicts that Aussies and Kiwis have been involved in such as the 2nd World War; Vietnam, the Korean War, Iraq and Afghanistan etc.
So it is a sad time in which we remember many who paid the ultimate price; who reflected the Messiah's message through their actions. Yeshua said "no greater love has a man than to lay down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13).
Today, in the biblical calendar is the 17th Nisan. Most Jews would argue that it is the 19th Nisan - see the date stamp at jpost.com. However, the Judaic sect, the Kariates who try to only adhere to the Written Torah and not the Oral Torah, explain that based on a purely biblical understanding, the New Moon this year was sunset on the Monday 7th April and thus the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the 15th Nisan (Tuesday), making today the 17th Nisan. (Please refer to my article 'Our Passover Lamb' for an in depth explanation of this - at http://www.charismacomputers.com.au/ )
Based on my understanding of the time of Yeshua's crucifixion, he was resurrected on the 17th Nisan!
Thus today is the anniversary of this absolutely pivotal day in the history of this universe! (Not the anniversary of the day of the week - that is the Sunday, but the anniversary of the DATE i.e. the 17th Nisan).
So what is the connection?
Tomorrow, on ANZAC day we remember many who, whether believers or not, demonstrated their great love as our Messiah did in offering their lives to protect and save us; and today, on the 17th Nisan, we remember and reflect upon that mind-bogglingly incredible fact that our Messiah who died, is now alive again and offered us the same future; that is; the opportunity to also be resurrected and one day live with him in the Coming Age, in the Kingdom of God!
Is there an 'ah-ha' moment here or a connection or not? What do you think?
Paul
Today in Australia, we look forward to a very special date the 25th April (tomorrow), when we remember all the Australian & New Zealand men and women who were killed or injured in the great Gallipoli battle of the 1st World War. This occasion is now used not to in anyway glorify war but to reflect on lost love ones and share the pain in some way that their immediate families feel at this time of remembrance. This day is now also used to remember all loss and injury from all military conflicts that Aussies and Kiwis have been involved in such as the 2nd World War; Vietnam, the Korean War, Iraq and Afghanistan etc.
So it is a sad time in which we remember many who paid the ultimate price; who reflected the Messiah's message through their actions. Yeshua said "no greater love has a man than to lay down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13).
Today, in the biblical calendar is the 17th Nisan. Most Jews would argue that it is the 19th Nisan - see the date stamp at jpost.com. However, the Judaic sect, the Kariates who try to only adhere to the Written Torah and not the Oral Torah, explain that based on a purely biblical understanding, the New Moon this year was sunset on the Monday 7th April and thus the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the 15th Nisan (Tuesday), making today the 17th Nisan. (Please refer to my article 'Our Passover Lamb' for an in depth explanation of this - at http://www.charismacomputers.com.au/ )
Based on my understanding of the time of Yeshua's crucifixion, he was resurrected on the 17th Nisan!
Thus today is the anniversary of this absolutely pivotal day in the history of this universe! (Not the anniversary of the day of the week - that is the Sunday, but the anniversary of the DATE i.e. the 17th Nisan).
So what is the connection?
Tomorrow, on ANZAC day we remember many who, whether believers or not, demonstrated their great love as our Messiah did in offering their lives to protect and save us; and today, on the 17th Nisan, we remember and reflect upon that mind-bogglingly incredible fact that our Messiah who died, is now alive again and offered us the same future; that is; the opportunity to also be resurrected and one day live with him in the Coming Age, in the Kingdom of God!
Is there an 'ah-ha' moment here or a connection or not? What do you think?
Paul
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
The Mission Statement of Jesus (Yeshua)
Luke 4:43 The Mission Statement of Jesus:
Christianity clearly is focused on Jesus (Yeshua).
But does today’s Christian message really present the real Jesus, the Jewish Jesus, the Messiah who was predicted throughout the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament)?
Does today’s Christian community have the same desire and goals as Jesus? Does it share his mission statement? Can it or should it share His mission statement?
Jesus claimed to be the Messiah (Christ), the Son of God and the Son of Man.
Matthew 16:13,15-17 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
Moses was told by God that a prophet would come who would speak everything God told him to.
Deuteronomy 18:18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.
Deuteronomy 18:15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear,
David had a vision of the coming Messiah:
Psalm 110:1 THE LORD (God- Adonai) says to my Lord (the Messiah - Adoni), Sit at My right hand, until I make Your adversaries Your footstool
Daniel had a vision of the coming of the Son of Man
Daniel 7:13,14 "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”
John clearly alludes to this vision in Revelation:
Revelation 1:12-14 “I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man,"dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire”.
Jesus was the Messiah, the ‘anointed one of God’. So what was his God given role and purpose?
His purpose in summed up in 1 John 3:8 “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work”.
His method for achieving this purpose in summed up in Luke 4:43 But he said, "I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." (Also stated in Mark 1:38).
This is His Mission Statement. This was the purpose of his life. In fact, Jesus gave us this mission statement as well when he called us to preach the gospel. Jesus was chosen by God to announce the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. This is the heart of the Christian faith. Jesus was an impassioned preacher of what he called the Gospel (Good News) about the Kingdom of God. God sent him, commissioned him, authorized him to do just that — to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom.
The Gospel is about the Kingdom of God. That is the number one fact about Christianity.
Jesus said it was, and if you are going to follow Jesus, it is wise to adopt his Gospel of the Kingdom as the centre of your interest from now on. If you want to think like Jesus and be like Jesus, the only sensible policy is to adopt his mission statement as yours. The Kingdom of God is Jesus’ rallying cry and slogan.
To quote Amy Littler:
This is the Kingdom of God as the Jews understood it. They were not confused in the slightest by Jesus saying, “The meek shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5) or by Jesus’ model prayer, “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). That is exactly what they were waiting for! What they did not understand was that the Messiah had to suffer before he could reign (Isa. 52, 53). Tragically they rejected the king they had been waiting for. Luke 1:33 tells us how intimately connected Jesus was to the prophecies of the Hebrew Bible. “And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever” (2 Sam. 7:13, 16; Ps. 89:36, 37; Dan. 2:44; 7:14, 18, 27; Matt. 28:18), “and his kingdom will have no end.” Jesus Christ died for the Kingdom so that you and I could enter it. (from Focus on the Kingdom July 2005)
Given the centrality of Luke 4:43 (also expressed elsewhere in slightly different terms) it comes as a shock to search through Commentaries on the Bible, even those edited by very well-respected theologians such as FF Bruce and find this passage either ignored or not recognized.
Why is this so?
Perhaps, because churches have inherited much of what they believe from post-biblical church fathers and not from the Bible.
‘Beware lest anyone should cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the traditions of men, according to the basic principles of the world..., and not according to Messiah...’ Col.2:8
The influence of philosophy, of Plato and Aristotle began to affect the Hebrew world well before the time of the Messiah, with the arrival of Alexander the Great. Its strongest influence though, seems to have come some time after the death of the apostles and the eye-witnesses to the resurrection of the Messiah.
This Greek influence was evident in the writings of theologians as early as the 2nd century AD and certainly most evident in the creeds of the Nicene Council of 317 AD.
Since the Reformation of the early 1500’s Protestants seem to follow Luther and Calvin as new “church fathers.” Luther’s approach to the Gospel is strangely unbiblical since he did not think that Jesus preached the Gospel. He thought that Matthew, Mark and Luke were unimportant as far as the Gospel is concerned!1
Calvin’s God is so cruel that he predestined some human beings to be tortured in hell forever. Calvin, who was well read, also authorized, or at the very least agreed to, the burning at the stake of a distinguished contemporary Bible scholar, who challenged him on an important doctrine2.
Killing others for any reason is utterly unlike anything advocated by Jesus. And killing another believer over a doctrine is really murder, which the Bible forbids.
So much of what hear from the pulpit and read in our Christian books is so strongly influenced by Greek philosophical concepts (Hellenism or Christo-Platonism)3 that we do not even recognize this influence and the false traditions and doctrinal error that result.
Certainly, despite diligent, and zealous study over many, many years, I myself have only come to realise in the last couple of years, how significant the Greek philosophical mindset has been in moving us away from an accurate, Biblically grounded faith.
So how has this Greek influence, this allegorising and spiritualising of the Scriptures affected us?
We have lost the knowledge of what the ‘Gospel’ is. Ask a few of your Christian friends. Ask them “What is the Gospel?”
The most likely answers will be along the lines of ‘the saving grace of Christ’; ‘the salvation offered to men via Christ’s death on the cross’, etc.
They are unlikely to say ‘The Good News of the Kingdom of God’.
So what is this Good News of the Kingdom of God4 or the Kingdom of Heaven to use Matthew’s term for it?
Put simply, it is what Abraham was promised and longed to see; it is a future time or Coming Age when the Messiah Jesus will reign over all the earth. A coming age when followers of Christ Jesus, His Bride will rule with Him over a renewed, redeemed and restored Earth (currently the Messiah sits at the right hand of God until the ‘restoration of all things’ [Acts 3:20-22] and has done so since His ascension).
This Coming Age will be a time of true peace; a time of true justice thanks to a theocratic government. For a very full understanding of what it will be like in the Kingdom of God, I highly recommend Randy Alcorn’s ‘Heaven’ – perhaps the most significant and complete treatise written on what the Bible tells us about life in the Kingdom of God. (I have also taught a series on this topic which was essentially a summary of Alcorn’s book – the lecture notes are available at my website.)
For a much more complete and thorough exposition on the scriptural support for the inauguration of the Kingdom of God at the Second Coming of Jesus, I recommend ‘The Coming Kingdom of the Messiah’ by Prof. Anthony Buzzard – this is, in my opinion, one of the most important books of recent times. Another excellent book that also covers this topic is ‘They Never Told Me THIS in Church’ by Greg Dueble.
How important it is to truly believe in the Kingdom Plan of God? Look at Mark 4:11-12:
He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, 'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'”
Jesus appears to state here that unless someone accepts the Gospel of the Kingdom, they cannot truly repent and be forgiven. To repent and be forgiven means to be saved. That is, to be granted the gift of immortality – to be resurrected to eternal life in the Coming Age of the Messiah.
Consider the first words of Jesus in public ministry; “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). Forgiveness and repentance are reliant on truly accepting the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
A good question at this point is to ask, where does the death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus fit into this Gospel message then? Is the argument regarding the Good News of the Kingdom of God, reducing or replacing the centrality of the Messiah’s death on the cross?
Many, of the Jews understood (even if they did not fully believe) the promises to Abraham that he and his ‘seed’ would receive a future Kingdom on earth. Prophecies about the Coming Age of the Messiah were repeated so often in the Old Testament - in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Micah, Obadiah & the Psalms for example. When we also fully understand this future hope we should desire nothing more than to wish to be part of this Kingdom.
But how? We are all sinners and God tells us that the wages of sin is death. That is, our sin means we cannot enter the Kingdom of God – we do not have any qualifications that give us an entry ticket. But, hallelujah! Jesus was sinless and His death was therefore the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He paid the entry price for us – through the Cross, we can attain the righteousness to enter the Kingdom of God! His resurrection proves that God can bring man back from death; to live again; to be immortal.
The Messiah Jesus’ resurrection proves that all He said can be trusted; that the Good News of the Kingdom of God is indeed Good News! Christ Jesus shared this message of hope and then through His atoning death gave us a way to share in this hope. In fact, he gave us the ONLY Way to share in this hope - "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. (John 14:6).
Thus, it is hopefully clear that the Gospel of the Kingdom does not in anyway diminish the Cross – the two are instead a perfect complement. Either, without the other is not the full story.
Returning again to the Kingdom of God, Acts 8:12 also confirms the importance of the Kingdom message:
But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Armed with this simple understanding of God and His Messiah and the great future hope for man, we need to look again at the doctrines and traditions of the Church, whoever promotes them and ascertain if they fit well with this simple message of hope.
Are there in the churches doctrines and traditions, philosophies that we accept and follow today but which were not present in the minds and hearts of the inspired writers of the New Testament?
Should we base our understanding blindly on translations such as the King James which inserted extra verses not found in most versions prior to the 15th century (eg 1 John 5:7 – now removed from most modern translations) and certainly not in the Greek manuscripts available.
In fact, though recent scholarship has improved our understanding and hence translations, all our translations suffer in some way from the influence of Greek philosophical thinking.
Sadly then, we cannot have the assurance that ‘our’ version of the Bible, be that the NIV, NASB, ESV, AMP, NKJV or King James, etc. is the ‘correct’ version, but we can be assured that God has and does reveal Himself to those who seek Him with all their heart, and that all issues which are foundational or necessary for salvation are accurately revealed in ‘our’ favourite version.5
It seems that Paul is telling us in 2 Thessalonians 2: 9-11 that we must love the truth or risk losing our salvation. We need to be prepared to be open as the Bereans were to search the Scriptures and not assume because the church has promoted some position strongly for hundreds of years it must be correct.
2 Thess. 2:9-11 “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie…”
If we can grasp the fundamental message of the Messiah, then with diligent and thoughtful study of the Scriptures; even without being scholars of Hebrew and Greek, we may rid ourselves of many of the unhelpful ideas that lead us away from our Lord and our obedience to Him.
To quote Frank Selch in “Is There A Need For A Fresh Reformation Of The Church?”
“The reality today is that the church, via her leaders and teachers, has drifted so far from her origins, that today she is barely recognizable as having her origins in Hebrew Redemptive History.
The Scriptures foretell that a time of ‘Restoration of all things’ is coming (Acts 3:21ff.). I believe that this time is very close. It is therefore NOW, that we must heed the voice of the Spirit, to initiate this process. A part of this process of Restoration is the proclamation of truth as a testimony against the lies the world is being drenched in. Truth is the only guarantee against the God-initiated, coming deception of the Anti-Messiah.[1]
It is not enough to know interesting things from the Word of God or to know great and wonderful thing about God. We must seek to develop fellowships where a genuine desire exists to know and to live God’s Word.”
In conclusion, how does the preaching of the good news of the Kingdom of God, (why Jesus was sent) align with his appearing to ‘destroy the devil’s work’ (1 John 3:8)?
It should seem abundantly clear that the works of the devil have not yet been destroyed. The devil is still the ‘god’ of this age. When Jesus returns to establish the Kingdom of God on earth he will then destroy the devil’s work. In Revelation John describes Satan as “the one (now) deceiving the whole world” (Rev 12:9). Clearly, when the devil is banished at the beginning of the Coming Age, he will no longer influence people and thus his ‘works’ will be destroyed.
An all-encompassing knowledge of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God should give Christians the eternal perspective needed to live a life worthy of our Lord Jesus’ grace and forgiveness; a life focused on the future; a life that cry’s out “Come, Lord Jesus!” He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." AMEN.
In the love of Messiah Yeshua,
Paul Herring
November 2005
Appendices:
[1] Martin Luther:
Martin Luther, a prominent source of evangelical doctrine, also avoids the Gospel as preached by Jesus: “Luther created by a dogmatic criterion a canon of the gospel within the canon of the books [i.e. he chose some books and ignored others].
Luther wrote: ‘Those Apostles who treat oftenest and highest of how faith alone justifies, are the best Evangelists. Therefore St. Paul’s epistles are more a Gospel than Matthew, Mark and Luke. For these do not set down much more than the works and miracles of Christ; but the grace which we receive through Christ no one so boldly extols as St. Paul, especially in his letter to the Romans.’ In comparison with the Gospel of John, the epistles of Paul, and I Peter, ‘which are the kernel and marrow of all books,’ the epistle of James, with its insistence that man is not justified by faith alone, but by works proving faith, is ‘a mere letter of straw, for there is nothing evangelical about it.’
It is clear that the infallibility of Scripture has here, in fact if not in [Luther’s] admission, followed the infallibility of popes and councils; for the Scripture itself has to submit to be judged by the ultimate criterion of its accord with Luther’s doctrine of justification by faith.” Moore, ‘History of Religions’ Scribner 1920. p 320
[2] Calvin & Servetus:
It certainly can be challenging to discern truth even within the Christian community when opposing camps give different renditions of some historical event.
In trying to discover historical truth I would suggest there are at least 3 approaches we can take:
We can look for sources who at least appear not to be pushing a particular interpretation,
we can look for statements that both sides affirm, i.e commonality
and we can look for illogical or contradictory comments and assume that the conclusions (supposed historical facts) from these are unlikely.
The debate regarding Calvin and the burning at the stake of Servetus is an example. Using approach 1, look at the following Encyclopedia comment:
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2005, Columbia University Press. (All rights reserved.)
Servetus, Michael , 1511–53, Spanish theologian and physician. His name in Spanish was Miguel Serveto. In his early years he came in contact with some of the leading reformers in Germany and Switzerland—Johannes Oecolampadius, Martin Bucer, Wolfgang Fabricius Capito, and probably Martin Luther. But he held views, concerning the Trinity in particular, that brought condemnation from the theologians of the Reformation as well as from those of the Roman Catholic Church. When he published De trinitatis erroribus (1531) and De trinitate (1532), the feeling of opposition was so strong that he assumed the name of Michel de Villeneuve, from the family home, Villanueva, and spent some time in Lyons, working on an edition of Ptolemy's geography and other scientific works, then in Paris studying medicine. There he is said to have seen John Calvin. He became well-known for his ability in dissection and had unusual success as a physician; he discovered that some of the blood circulates through the lungs. From 1541 to 1553 he lived in the palace of the archbishop of Vienne as his confidential physician. When (1553) he had a work setting forth his ideas of Christianity secretly printed, investigation was begun by the Inquisition. Servetus, arrested, tried, and condemned, escaped from prison. Several months later, while making his way to Italy, he was seized in Geneva by Calvin's order. There, after a long trial, in which Calvin's condemnation was a stern factor, he was burned on Oct. 27, 1553.See biographies by R. H. Bainton (1953) and J. F. Fulton (1954).
This encylcopedia comment, along with the following excerpts from a pro-Servetus site suggest it is fair to consider him to have had a great intellect and to stand for his principles.
From http://www.socinian.org/michael_servetus.html
“… At the same ceremony, professor of philosophy Otto Karmin said: "Amidst the most inhuman sufferings, he affirmed the principles of free thought which has triumphed since and the principle of free belief which became the Magna Carta of the Unitarian Protestants and of the liberal churches. These churches live by the doctrines for which Servetus sacrificed his life." … José Barón Fernández, who emphasized the contribution of Servetus to medicine, which alone would guarantee him immortality, called him one of the brightest geniuses through whom Spain contributed to universal culture: "The profound knowledge of any of the disciplines on which he discoursed manifests the depth of his erudition combined with the rigor and honesty of the inquiry."
Now look at a Calvinistic site: http://www.challies.com/archives/001318.php
Michael Servetus was a Spanish theologian and physician who lived from 1511-1553. In his early years he came into contact with many leading Reformers and while he broke with the Roman Catholic Church and became at least nominally Protestant, he adopted a particularly heretical belief, denying that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. He also denied paedo-baptism, a belief which further alienated him from Protestant and Catholic alike. . .
Quoting Calvin: "Servetus wrote to me a short time ago, and sent a huge volume of his dreamings and pompous triflings with his letter. I was to find among them wonderful things, and such as I had never before seen; and if I wished, he would himself come. But I am by no means inclined to be responsible for him; and if he come, I will never allow him, supposing my influence worth anything, to depart alive."
When Servetus, at last, arrived in the city, Calvin was left with the unenviable position of having to decide whether to allow the heretic to continue his teaching in Geneva, which would inevitably lead people to believe that the Reformed church was lenient towards heresy (softer even that the Roman Catholic Church that had already condemned this man to death), or to attempt to take action …
In this pro-Calvin reference the statement is made that Servetus did not believe Jesus was the Son of God! It is a staggering statement to suggest that any theolgican reading the Bible could come to this conclusion, as there are many scriptures that declare explicitly and directly that Jesus said he was the Son of God, as did the apostles, etc. This would certainly appear to be an illogical, erroneous conclusion.
What the Socinian (pro-Sevetus) site states on this issue is much more illuminating and believeable:
During the process at Geneva in the debate with Calvin he was ready to modify his views provided that his opponent's arguments were extracted from the biblical text. After he was condemned to death, Servetus with humility asked Calvin, who was directly responsible for his unjust martyrdom, for forgiveness. To be saved from the stake he only had to state "Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God." Instead, his last words were: "Jesus Christ, Son of the eternal God." He was convinced of the correctness of his reading of the scripture, which he revered, and died defending not his life but his doctrines Also from http://www.socinian.org/michael_servetus.html
There is absolutely no question that the Bible tells us that God is eternal; there is also no doubt that Jesus is the ‘Son of God’. Where there is doubt is whether Jesus was pre-existent before His conception. Thus, Calvin was clearly trying to coerce Servetus to agree with his belief in Jesus as ‘God, the Son’ or some other pre-existence dogma.
Note also that the pro-Calvin site implicitly label’s child (paedo)-baptism as a biblical doctrine. Also note, that the pro-Calvin site agrees that Calvin desired Servetus’s death! (An example of commonality).
In summary, we can see that the the pro-Calvin (Challies) site clearly contains some significant historical error as well as totally denying the error of Calvin in desiring Servetus’ death, regardless of his apparent heresy! This can not be excused away by arguing it was the culture of the day – these were theologians who studied the Holy Scriptures! They have no excuse for believing it is acceptable to murder someone!
Regardless on the merit or otherwise of Calvinism and the TULIP doctrine, Calvin was unquestionably, and by his own words, to some significant degree culpable in the murder of a man who sought to seek the whole truth of God.
[3] Hellenism/Greek Philosophical thinking/Christo-Platonism:
Plato introduced the concept of the immortality of the soul. Plato said that the human being is composed of two parts, an immortal soul housed inside a mortal body. Plato built his theory on an old Persian idea called "dualism." This idea claims that two forces, good and evil, have always existed and always will exist side by side in the universe. The visible world of matter is evil. The invisible world of "spirit" is good. From this, Plato came eventually to believe in a good immortal soul trapped inside an evil mortal body. Death became a sort of liberation. The immortal soul, freed from the degraded body, can soar to the heights of bliss. Death became a "friend" in contrast to the Bibles description of death as mankind's last "enemy."
From the influence of this background, the Christian Church eventually came to view death as the immediate release of the immortal soul (spirit) from the deceased body, on its way to eternal reward or eternal damnation. Or, simply, when you die, your body returns to the earth and your soul goes immediately to heaven or to hell.
This is not the Hebraic understanding of life and death. This belief has led to many unhelpful doctrines that dilute the centrality of the Messiah’s role as the King of the Coming Age and Saviour of Man – the only way and Name through which we can be reconciled to the Almighty God, the creator of the universe.
The influence of Hellenism on our New Testament translations has been very significant and is evidenced in many ways. For example the first verse of Mathew’s Gospel uses Jesus’ title as a surname i.e many translations write ‘Jesus Christ’ as for example the NIV: “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:…” Matt 1:1
Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word MASHIACH (Messiah in English). This is Jesus’ title as the anointed One of God, it is not a surname. Thus Matt 1:1 should read Jesus The Christ or Christ Jesus or Jesus the Messiah, etc.
Also the anglicising of most of the Hebrew names of the disciples, etc. is part of this Hellenising or spiritualising of the scriptures. Mary, Jesus mother was actually a Jewish woman named Miriam (the same as Moses’ older sister. Note that Moses sister’s name has remained unchanged in our modern translations) John, James, Peter, etc were not the correct Hebrew names of the disciples and Apostles. Why were they changed in the New Testament but not the Old?
Quoting Frank Selch again (from “Is There A Need For A Fresh Reformation Of The Church?”):
“Without going into detail here it seems this de-judaising was effected to help remove the Jewishness of the Bible.
If the Jewish race could be made to disappear,
there would be no physical testimony to the Creator God.
the ‘New-Testament’ could stand as a book of its own.
the ‘Old Testament’ i.e the Hebrew Bible could be relegated to a museum as a historical record or Allegory.
Without the Jewish race as a witness, Christianity is free to develop into whatever religion it desires.”
How quickly did this start to occur? Look at this quote of a very early Christian writer and theologian, Justin Martyr (born around 100 AD):
‘Christ is the Logos in whom every race of men shared. Those who lived in accordance with LOGOS, i.e. true reason, ARE CHRISTIANS; even though they were regarded as atheists, e.g. Socrates and Heraclitus among the Greeks...’” in Logos, 'History of Christianity', p.106-112.
For a much more in-depth look at these issues I suggest a read of “The Mosaic Law or the Divine Instructions of God: Grace or Truth?” and “Dancing with the Scimitar of Islam” by Frank Selch (available via his website www.theolivetreeconnection.org or email: theolivetreeconnection@bigpond.com)
[4] The Kingdom of God:
On one occasion when Jesus was approaching Jerusalem, the people expected the Kingdom to appear immediately. Jesus took this opportunity to explain that he must first depart and later return to establish his Kingdom. In harmony with his promises, Jesus pictured himself as a nobleman who expected to leave the earth for a far country (heaven), there to receive a Kingdom and to return. At his return his servants were to be rewarded with positions of rulership over cities, while those who refused to accept him as King would be destroyed (Luke 19:11-27).
Jesus’ message was accepted by very few of his Jewish compatriots. Though they knew that God had promised one day to send the Messiah, they refused to believe that Jesus was that promised King. Thus the Messiah was put to death by the religious and civil authorities of his day. After he had lain for three days and nights in the grave, God restored him to life, and he was seen alive by his disciples.
“He died...he was buried, he rose on the third day. He was seen by Cephas (Peter), then by the twelve; after that he was seen by James, then by all the Apostles, and finally he was seen by myself (Paul)” (I Cor. 15:3-8).
As we have seen, Jesus had promised to come back to the earth, to inaugurate the worldwide government foreseen by all the Old Testament prophets. Speaking to his disciples just before his crucifixion, he described events leading up to his future Coming, and finished by telling them: “And then shall be seen the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and glory...So when you see all this happen, be sure that the Kingdom of God is at hand” (Luke 21:27, 31).
Jesus had said the same thing to the Jewish authorities: “And what is more you will all see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62).
After the Messiah’s death and resurrection the disciples were naturally interested to know when the promised Kingdom would begin:
“After his sufferings he had shown them that he was alive by a number of proofs, revealing himself to them for forty days, and discussing the affairs of the Kingdom of God...Now when they met they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time you are going to restore the Kingdom to Israel?’ But he told them, ‘It is not for you to know the course and periods of time that the Father has fixed by his own authority’” (Acts 1:3, 6, 7).
The same message about the Kingdom of God was taken up by the Apostles, who announced that at an appointed time the Messiah, who had been resurrected from the dead, would come back to rule the world. He would remain in heaven “till the period of the great Restoration. Ages ago God spoke of this by the lips of His holy prophets” (Acts 3:21).
(From Focus on the Kingdom November 2004 www.focusonthekingdom.org)
Some other support for the argument that the Gospel of Christ was the Good News of the Kingdom of God:
Paul states in Gal 3:8 “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed.” that the Gospel was preached to Abraham.
What do you think this means? I would suggest that God through His angels gave Abraham a vision of the Kingdom of God that he would one day be part of (see Hebrews 11). Thus the Gospel was indeed preached to Abraham!
Jesus said that the saints will share meals with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Mat 8:11 ”And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven”
Luke 13:28-29 “There shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and yourselves cast forth without. And they shall come from the east and west, and from the north and south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God”
Also, Jesus “came to confirm the promises made to the fathers.” (Rom 15:8). He began (repent for the kingdom of God is near) and ended (Acts 1:6) his public ministry declaring the coming Kingdom of God.
Thus the hope of living forever in the land promised to Abraham is a very significant part of the gospel. We are of-course only heirs to this promise and sons or seed of Abraham through Christ Jesus. The resurrection is also absolutely vital to this ‘good news’.
Abraham is thus “the father of all who believe” (Rom 4:11) and those who are in this family are “those who hear the Word of God” (the Word being the Gospel of the Kingdom, not just the Bible - Matt 13:19) and “do it” (Matt 12:46-50).
[5] Biblical Inerrancy & Bible Translation problems:
The question asked by some, when the issue of errors in Bible translations is raised, is how then can we have assurance when we read the Bible, that we are reading the true revelation of God? Do we all need to be scholars & experts in Hebrew and Greek?
Thousands of years of study in such areas as medicine and science have led to great agreement about the basic laws of physics and chemistry (with some notable exceptions such as the theory of evolution), and the anatomy and mechanics of the human body, etc.
However, the same thousands of years of study of religion and God have not led to any real consensus. Possibly, the opposite is true – with the relatively recent introduction of naturalistic evolution and the much greater access to different research and ideas, there is probability much greater divergence of opinion than ever before. This, at a time in history when some of us would argue that there is less excuse, theologically, prophetically, historically, & scientifically# for not believing in the God of the Bible than ever before.
Jesus of course, warned that there would be great delusion at the end of the age and even strongly hinted at this in saying rhetorically “ … when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8).
The Bible presents itself as the written revelation of God. It asserts that it is a special revelation of God – it claims to be a trustworthy source of knowledge of religious truth, that is knowledge of the ultimate destiny of the world and man, as well as the meaning of life. These are questions that science cannot hope to fully answer.
There are many books that detail the historical, archaeological and even scientific support for this assertion. This short treatise will assume the reader is somewhat familiar with these details.
The original manuscripts (autographs) of the 66 books of the Bible, must have been inspired and significantly directed by God, if they are to be useable and reliable divine revelations.
They could not have been truly inspired by the God of truth if they contained anything significantly erroneous or false. As no original autographs are available to study we cannot be certain of their inerrancy. While they may have been inerrant (i.e. have no errors at all), this belief can only be conjecture on our part at this time in history.
But what about the text of the Bible as we now possess it?
There have clearly been copyists errors as we have found discrepancies among handwritten copies. For example, 1 Samuel 13:1 “Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years.” (NIV) The NIV adds the comment that the Hebrew does not have thirty. The Amplified Bible reads “SAUL WAS [forty] years old when he began to reign; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,” and has the footnote: “The complete numbers in this verse are missing in the Hebrew. The word "forty" is supplied by the best available estimate.”
Apparently the correct number ‘fell out’ so early in the transmission of this particular text that is was already lost before the 3rd century BC.
There are a number of scholarly works that you can read which clearly establish that numerous errors have crept into our translations of the Bible.
If we are studying a religious document then, which may contain truth and error, how are we then to proceed?
While some of the approaches have already been outlined in an earlier note, to repeat, we can use the faculty of human reason to weigh the evidence by applying rules of logic such as the rule of self-contradiction.
We can also look for historical support, especially through archaeological discoveries and through the fulfilment of biblical prophecies. Unlike other religious documents which have few prophecies, the Bible is around 30% prophecy!
There is a limit though, to this rationale and logical approach.
Man cannot pass judgement on the truth or falsity of divine revelation. For such judgements to be made, they must come from a judge who possesses a knowledge of the truth superior to that of the revelation itself that is being judged. In other words, man would need to know more about God; than the Bible itself knows if he is to pass judgement on the truth of divine revelation in the Bible.
So how can these translations which are not inerrant, serve as reliable mediums for disclosing God’s will? Are we not back where we started with the same problem as we have with books such as the Koran or Vedas which contain truth and error?
No, not at all. There is a great difference between a document that was wrong at the start and a document which was right but which has been miscopied or mistranslated, despite the reverent efforts of the copyists and translators.
You can read a letter from a friend or relative and find in it common slips of the pen such as an ‘of’ instead of ‘or’; ‘and’ instead of ‘an’; ‘led instead of ‘lead’ and yet, by a simple process of correction in the light of context, you may easily arrive at the true sense intended by your friend or relative.
If the reader knows the author’s fundamental nature/personality and purpose in writing, then this correction of minor errors is made even easier. In the case of God and the Bible, we can know the Father’s fundamental nature and purpose.
Whether these errors are copyist errors; translation errors, or even deliberate modifications, such as 1 John 5:7, made to support doctrinal positions, would the God of love, espoused so strongly throughout the pages of the Holy Scriptures, allow them to pervert the Bible to the point where it no longer contains and reveals the most important aspects of God’s revelation to mankind?
We surely would argue no. I would contend that all modern versions of the Bible (not necessarily paraphrases such as The Message), do contain the central message of God. That is, they all clearly reveal the nature of God; the Good News of the Kingdom of God, the Messiah Jesus and the saving grace of his crucifixion.
There is, of course, a great deal more to be said on the inerrancy of the Bible. If you would like to learn more and at the same time be uplifted and even more in awe of God’s amazing revelation through the Holy Scriptures then I suggest reading ‘A Survey of Old Testament Introduction’ by the late Prof. Gleason Archer and ‘In Search of Certainty’ by Josh McDowell & Thomas Williams. To better appreciate the issue of textual corruption I highly recommend F Paul Haney’s ‘Exploring NEW TESTAMENT CORRUPTION… Was it ACCIDENTAL— DELIBERATE—OR BOTH?’
# A good place to start if you wish to better understand the incredible revelation of God, the ‘Intelligent Designer’, through modern science would be ‘The Design Revolution’ by William Dembski or “the Case for the Creator’ by Lee Strobel, or any book by Dr Hugh Ross, such as ‘A Matter of Days’ or ‘The Genesis Question’.
[1] Anti-Messiah, or more commonly referred to as Anti-Christ, does not only mean one opposed to the true Messiah, but one who seeks to replace the true Messiah (Christ); indeed, even God Himself, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 14:13-14. Note also, that a number of significant passages seem to imply that the antichrist(s) may be those who follow false doctrine, especially doctrine that tries to change the Messiah to a ‘Christ of faith’ or some other falsehood.
Christianity clearly is focused on Jesus (Yeshua).
But does today’s Christian message really present the real Jesus, the Jewish Jesus, the Messiah who was predicted throughout the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament)?
Does today’s Christian community have the same desire and goals as Jesus? Does it share his mission statement? Can it or should it share His mission statement?
Jesus claimed to be the Messiah (Christ), the Son of God and the Son of Man.
Matthew 16:13,15-17 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
Moses was told by God that a prophet would come who would speak everything God told him to.
Deuteronomy 18:18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.
Deuteronomy 18:15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear,
David had a vision of the coming Messiah:
Psalm 110:1 THE LORD (God- Adonai) says to my Lord (the Messiah - Adoni), Sit at My right hand, until I make Your adversaries Your footstool
Daniel had a vision of the coming of the Son of Man
Daniel 7:13,14 "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”
John clearly alludes to this vision in Revelation:
Revelation 1:12-14 “I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man,"dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire”.
Jesus was the Messiah, the ‘anointed one of God’. So what was his God given role and purpose?
His purpose in summed up in 1 John 3:8 “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work”.
His method for achieving this purpose in summed up in Luke 4:43 But he said, "I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." (Also stated in Mark 1:38).
This is His Mission Statement. This was the purpose of his life. In fact, Jesus gave us this mission statement as well when he called us to preach the gospel. Jesus was chosen by God to announce the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. This is the heart of the Christian faith. Jesus was an impassioned preacher of what he called the Gospel (Good News) about the Kingdom of God. God sent him, commissioned him, authorized him to do just that — to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom.
The Gospel is about the Kingdom of God. That is the number one fact about Christianity.
Jesus said it was, and if you are going to follow Jesus, it is wise to adopt his Gospel of the Kingdom as the centre of your interest from now on. If you want to think like Jesus and be like Jesus, the only sensible policy is to adopt his mission statement as yours. The Kingdom of God is Jesus’ rallying cry and slogan.
To quote Amy Littler:
This is the Kingdom of God as the Jews understood it. They were not confused in the slightest by Jesus saying, “The meek shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5) or by Jesus’ model prayer, “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). That is exactly what they were waiting for! What they did not understand was that the Messiah had to suffer before he could reign (Isa. 52, 53). Tragically they rejected the king they had been waiting for. Luke 1:33 tells us how intimately connected Jesus was to the prophecies of the Hebrew Bible. “And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever” (2 Sam. 7:13, 16; Ps. 89:36, 37; Dan. 2:44; 7:14, 18, 27; Matt. 28:18), “and his kingdom will have no end.” Jesus Christ died for the Kingdom so that you and I could enter it. (from Focus on the Kingdom July 2005)
Given the centrality of Luke 4:43 (also expressed elsewhere in slightly different terms) it comes as a shock to search through Commentaries on the Bible, even those edited by very well-respected theologians such as FF Bruce and find this passage either ignored or not recognized.
Why is this so?
Perhaps, because churches have inherited much of what they believe from post-biblical church fathers and not from the Bible.
‘Beware lest anyone should cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the traditions of men, according to the basic principles of the world..., and not according to Messiah...’ Col.2:8
The influence of philosophy, of Plato and Aristotle began to affect the Hebrew world well before the time of the Messiah, with the arrival of Alexander the Great. Its strongest influence though, seems to have come some time after the death of the apostles and the eye-witnesses to the resurrection of the Messiah.
This Greek influence was evident in the writings of theologians as early as the 2nd century AD and certainly most evident in the creeds of the Nicene Council of 317 AD.
Since the Reformation of the early 1500’s Protestants seem to follow Luther and Calvin as new “church fathers.” Luther’s approach to the Gospel is strangely unbiblical since he did not think that Jesus preached the Gospel. He thought that Matthew, Mark and Luke were unimportant as far as the Gospel is concerned!1
Calvin’s God is so cruel that he predestined some human beings to be tortured in hell forever. Calvin, who was well read, also authorized, or at the very least agreed to, the burning at the stake of a distinguished contemporary Bible scholar, who challenged him on an important doctrine2.
Killing others for any reason is utterly unlike anything advocated by Jesus. And killing another believer over a doctrine is really murder, which the Bible forbids.
So much of what hear from the pulpit and read in our Christian books is so strongly influenced by Greek philosophical concepts (Hellenism or Christo-Platonism)3 that we do not even recognize this influence and the false traditions and doctrinal error that result.
Certainly, despite diligent, and zealous study over many, many years, I myself have only come to realise in the last couple of years, how significant the Greek philosophical mindset has been in moving us away from an accurate, Biblically grounded faith.
So how has this Greek influence, this allegorising and spiritualising of the Scriptures affected us?
We have lost the knowledge of what the ‘Gospel’ is. Ask a few of your Christian friends. Ask them “What is the Gospel?”
The most likely answers will be along the lines of ‘the saving grace of Christ’; ‘the salvation offered to men via Christ’s death on the cross’, etc.
They are unlikely to say ‘The Good News of the Kingdom of God’.
So what is this Good News of the Kingdom of God4 or the Kingdom of Heaven to use Matthew’s term for it?
Put simply, it is what Abraham was promised and longed to see; it is a future time or Coming Age when the Messiah Jesus will reign over all the earth. A coming age when followers of Christ Jesus, His Bride will rule with Him over a renewed, redeemed and restored Earth (currently the Messiah sits at the right hand of God until the ‘restoration of all things’ [Acts 3:20-22] and has done so since His ascension).
This Coming Age will be a time of true peace; a time of true justice thanks to a theocratic government. For a very full understanding of what it will be like in the Kingdom of God, I highly recommend Randy Alcorn’s ‘Heaven’ – perhaps the most significant and complete treatise written on what the Bible tells us about life in the Kingdom of God. (I have also taught a series on this topic which was essentially a summary of Alcorn’s book – the lecture notes are available at my website.)
For a much more complete and thorough exposition on the scriptural support for the inauguration of the Kingdom of God at the Second Coming of Jesus, I recommend ‘The Coming Kingdom of the Messiah’ by Prof. Anthony Buzzard – this is, in my opinion, one of the most important books of recent times. Another excellent book that also covers this topic is ‘They Never Told Me THIS in Church’ by Greg Dueble.
How important it is to truly believe in the Kingdom Plan of God? Look at Mark 4:11-12:
He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, 'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'”
Jesus appears to state here that unless someone accepts the Gospel of the Kingdom, they cannot truly repent and be forgiven. To repent and be forgiven means to be saved. That is, to be granted the gift of immortality – to be resurrected to eternal life in the Coming Age of the Messiah.
Consider the first words of Jesus in public ministry; “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). Forgiveness and repentance are reliant on truly accepting the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
A good question at this point is to ask, where does the death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus fit into this Gospel message then? Is the argument regarding the Good News of the Kingdom of God, reducing or replacing the centrality of the Messiah’s death on the cross?
Many, of the Jews understood (even if they did not fully believe) the promises to Abraham that he and his ‘seed’ would receive a future Kingdom on earth. Prophecies about the Coming Age of the Messiah were repeated so often in the Old Testament - in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Micah, Obadiah & the Psalms for example. When we also fully understand this future hope we should desire nothing more than to wish to be part of this Kingdom.
But how? We are all sinners and God tells us that the wages of sin is death. That is, our sin means we cannot enter the Kingdom of God – we do not have any qualifications that give us an entry ticket. But, hallelujah! Jesus was sinless and His death was therefore the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He paid the entry price for us – through the Cross, we can attain the righteousness to enter the Kingdom of God! His resurrection proves that God can bring man back from death; to live again; to be immortal.
The Messiah Jesus’ resurrection proves that all He said can be trusted; that the Good News of the Kingdom of God is indeed Good News! Christ Jesus shared this message of hope and then through His atoning death gave us a way to share in this hope. In fact, he gave us the ONLY Way to share in this hope - "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. (John 14:6).
Thus, it is hopefully clear that the Gospel of the Kingdom does not in anyway diminish the Cross – the two are instead a perfect complement. Either, without the other is not the full story.
Returning again to the Kingdom of God, Acts 8:12 also confirms the importance of the Kingdom message:
But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Armed with this simple understanding of God and His Messiah and the great future hope for man, we need to look again at the doctrines and traditions of the Church, whoever promotes them and ascertain if they fit well with this simple message of hope.
Are there in the churches doctrines and traditions, philosophies that we accept and follow today but which were not present in the minds and hearts of the inspired writers of the New Testament?
Should we base our understanding blindly on translations such as the King James which inserted extra verses not found in most versions prior to the 15th century (eg 1 John 5:7 – now removed from most modern translations) and certainly not in the Greek manuscripts available.
In fact, though recent scholarship has improved our understanding and hence translations, all our translations suffer in some way from the influence of Greek philosophical thinking.
Sadly then, we cannot have the assurance that ‘our’ version of the Bible, be that the NIV, NASB, ESV, AMP, NKJV or King James, etc. is the ‘correct’ version, but we can be assured that God has and does reveal Himself to those who seek Him with all their heart, and that all issues which are foundational or necessary for salvation are accurately revealed in ‘our’ favourite version.5
It seems that Paul is telling us in 2 Thessalonians 2: 9-11 that we must love the truth or risk losing our salvation. We need to be prepared to be open as the Bereans were to search the Scriptures and not assume because the church has promoted some position strongly for hundreds of years it must be correct.
2 Thess. 2:9-11 “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie…”
If we can grasp the fundamental message of the Messiah, then with diligent and thoughtful study of the Scriptures; even without being scholars of Hebrew and Greek, we may rid ourselves of many of the unhelpful ideas that lead us away from our Lord and our obedience to Him.
To quote Frank Selch in “Is There A Need For A Fresh Reformation Of The Church?”
“The reality today is that the church, via her leaders and teachers, has drifted so far from her origins, that today she is barely recognizable as having her origins in Hebrew Redemptive History.
The Scriptures foretell that a time of ‘Restoration of all things’ is coming (Acts 3:21ff.). I believe that this time is very close. It is therefore NOW, that we must heed the voice of the Spirit, to initiate this process. A part of this process of Restoration is the proclamation of truth as a testimony against the lies the world is being drenched in. Truth is the only guarantee against the God-initiated, coming deception of the Anti-Messiah.[1]
It is not enough to know interesting things from the Word of God or to know great and wonderful thing about God. We must seek to develop fellowships where a genuine desire exists to know and to live God’s Word.”
In conclusion, how does the preaching of the good news of the Kingdom of God, (why Jesus was sent) align with his appearing to ‘destroy the devil’s work’ (1 John 3:8)?
It should seem abundantly clear that the works of the devil have not yet been destroyed. The devil is still the ‘god’ of this age. When Jesus returns to establish the Kingdom of God on earth he will then destroy the devil’s work. In Revelation John describes Satan as “the one (now) deceiving the whole world” (Rev 12:9). Clearly, when the devil is banished at the beginning of the Coming Age, he will no longer influence people and thus his ‘works’ will be destroyed.
An all-encompassing knowledge of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God should give Christians the eternal perspective needed to live a life worthy of our Lord Jesus’ grace and forgiveness; a life focused on the future; a life that cry’s out “Come, Lord Jesus!” He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." AMEN.
In the love of Messiah Yeshua,
Paul Herring
November 2005
Appendices:
[1] Martin Luther:
Martin Luther, a prominent source of evangelical doctrine, also avoids the Gospel as preached by Jesus: “Luther created by a dogmatic criterion a canon of the gospel within the canon of the books [i.e. he chose some books and ignored others].
Luther wrote: ‘Those Apostles who treat oftenest and highest of how faith alone justifies, are the best Evangelists. Therefore St. Paul’s epistles are more a Gospel than Matthew, Mark and Luke. For these do not set down much more than the works and miracles of Christ; but the grace which we receive through Christ no one so boldly extols as St. Paul, especially in his letter to the Romans.’ In comparison with the Gospel of John, the epistles of Paul, and I Peter, ‘which are the kernel and marrow of all books,’ the epistle of James, with its insistence that man is not justified by faith alone, but by works proving faith, is ‘a mere letter of straw, for there is nothing evangelical about it.’
It is clear that the infallibility of Scripture has here, in fact if not in [Luther’s] admission, followed the infallibility of popes and councils; for the Scripture itself has to submit to be judged by the ultimate criterion of its accord with Luther’s doctrine of justification by faith.” Moore, ‘History of Religions’ Scribner 1920. p 320
[2] Calvin & Servetus:
It certainly can be challenging to discern truth even within the Christian community when opposing camps give different renditions of some historical event.
In trying to discover historical truth I would suggest there are at least 3 approaches we can take:
We can look for sources who at least appear not to be pushing a particular interpretation,
we can look for statements that both sides affirm, i.e commonality
and we can look for illogical or contradictory comments and assume that the conclusions (supposed historical facts) from these are unlikely.
The debate regarding Calvin and the burning at the stake of Servetus is an example. Using approach 1, look at the following Encyclopedia comment:
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2005, Columbia University Press. (All rights reserved.)
Servetus, Michael , 1511–53, Spanish theologian and physician. His name in Spanish was Miguel Serveto. In his early years he came in contact with some of the leading reformers in Germany and Switzerland—Johannes Oecolampadius, Martin Bucer, Wolfgang Fabricius Capito, and probably Martin Luther. But he held views, concerning the Trinity in particular, that brought condemnation from the theologians of the Reformation as well as from those of the Roman Catholic Church. When he published De trinitatis erroribus (1531) and De trinitate (1532), the feeling of opposition was so strong that he assumed the name of Michel de Villeneuve, from the family home, Villanueva, and spent some time in Lyons, working on an edition of Ptolemy's geography and other scientific works, then in Paris studying medicine. There he is said to have seen John Calvin. He became well-known for his ability in dissection and had unusual success as a physician; he discovered that some of the blood circulates through the lungs. From 1541 to 1553 he lived in the palace of the archbishop of Vienne as his confidential physician. When (1553) he had a work setting forth his ideas of Christianity secretly printed, investigation was begun by the Inquisition. Servetus, arrested, tried, and condemned, escaped from prison. Several months later, while making his way to Italy, he was seized in Geneva by Calvin's order. There, after a long trial, in which Calvin's condemnation was a stern factor, he was burned on Oct. 27, 1553.See biographies by R. H. Bainton (1953) and J. F. Fulton (1954).
This encylcopedia comment, along with the following excerpts from a pro-Servetus site suggest it is fair to consider him to have had a great intellect and to stand for his principles.
From http://www.socinian.org/michael_servetus.html
“… At the same ceremony, professor of philosophy Otto Karmin said: "Amidst the most inhuman sufferings, he affirmed the principles of free thought which has triumphed since and the principle of free belief which became the Magna Carta of the Unitarian Protestants and of the liberal churches. These churches live by the doctrines for which Servetus sacrificed his life." … José Barón Fernández, who emphasized the contribution of Servetus to medicine, which alone would guarantee him immortality, called him one of the brightest geniuses through whom Spain contributed to universal culture: "The profound knowledge of any of the disciplines on which he discoursed manifests the depth of his erudition combined with the rigor and honesty of the inquiry."
Now look at a Calvinistic site: http://www.challies.com/archives/001318.php
Michael Servetus was a Spanish theologian and physician who lived from 1511-1553. In his early years he came into contact with many leading Reformers and while he broke with the Roman Catholic Church and became at least nominally Protestant, he adopted a particularly heretical belief, denying that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. He also denied paedo-baptism, a belief which further alienated him from Protestant and Catholic alike. . .
Quoting Calvin: "Servetus wrote to me a short time ago, and sent a huge volume of his dreamings and pompous triflings with his letter. I was to find among them wonderful things, and such as I had never before seen; and if I wished, he would himself come. But I am by no means inclined to be responsible for him; and if he come, I will never allow him, supposing my influence worth anything, to depart alive."
When Servetus, at last, arrived in the city, Calvin was left with the unenviable position of having to decide whether to allow the heretic to continue his teaching in Geneva, which would inevitably lead people to believe that the Reformed church was lenient towards heresy (softer even that the Roman Catholic Church that had already condemned this man to death), or to attempt to take action …
In this pro-Calvin reference the statement is made that Servetus did not believe Jesus was the Son of God! It is a staggering statement to suggest that any theolgican reading the Bible could come to this conclusion, as there are many scriptures that declare explicitly and directly that Jesus said he was the Son of God, as did the apostles, etc. This would certainly appear to be an illogical, erroneous conclusion.
What the Socinian (pro-Sevetus) site states on this issue is much more illuminating and believeable:
During the process at Geneva in the debate with Calvin he was ready to modify his views provided that his opponent's arguments were extracted from the biblical text. After he was condemned to death, Servetus with humility asked Calvin, who was directly responsible for his unjust martyrdom, for forgiveness. To be saved from the stake he only had to state "Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God." Instead, his last words were: "Jesus Christ, Son of the eternal God." He was convinced of the correctness of his reading of the scripture, which he revered, and died defending not his life but his doctrines Also from http://www.socinian.org/michael_servetus.html
There is absolutely no question that the Bible tells us that God is eternal; there is also no doubt that Jesus is the ‘Son of God’. Where there is doubt is whether Jesus was pre-existent before His conception. Thus, Calvin was clearly trying to coerce Servetus to agree with his belief in Jesus as ‘God, the Son’ or some other pre-existence dogma.
Note also that the pro-Calvin site implicitly label’s child (paedo)-baptism as a biblical doctrine. Also note, that the pro-Calvin site agrees that Calvin desired Servetus’s death! (An example of commonality).
In summary, we can see that the the pro-Calvin (Challies) site clearly contains some significant historical error as well as totally denying the error of Calvin in desiring Servetus’ death, regardless of his apparent heresy! This can not be excused away by arguing it was the culture of the day – these were theologians who studied the Holy Scriptures! They have no excuse for believing it is acceptable to murder someone!
Regardless on the merit or otherwise of Calvinism and the TULIP doctrine, Calvin was unquestionably, and by his own words, to some significant degree culpable in the murder of a man who sought to seek the whole truth of God.
[3] Hellenism/Greek Philosophical thinking/Christo-Platonism:
Plato introduced the concept of the immortality of the soul. Plato said that the human being is composed of two parts, an immortal soul housed inside a mortal body. Plato built his theory on an old Persian idea called "dualism." This idea claims that two forces, good and evil, have always existed and always will exist side by side in the universe. The visible world of matter is evil. The invisible world of "spirit" is good. From this, Plato came eventually to believe in a good immortal soul trapped inside an evil mortal body. Death became a sort of liberation. The immortal soul, freed from the degraded body, can soar to the heights of bliss. Death became a "friend" in contrast to the Bibles description of death as mankind's last "enemy."
From the influence of this background, the Christian Church eventually came to view death as the immediate release of the immortal soul (spirit) from the deceased body, on its way to eternal reward or eternal damnation. Or, simply, when you die, your body returns to the earth and your soul goes immediately to heaven or to hell.
This is not the Hebraic understanding of life and death. This belief has led to many unhelpful doctrines that dilute the centrality of the Messiah’s role as the King of the Coming Age and Saviour of Man – the only way and Name through which we can be reconciled to the Almighty God, the creator of the universe.
The influence of Hellenism on our New Testament translations has been very significant and is evidenced in many ways. For example the first verse of Mathew’s Gospel uses Jesus’ title as a surname i.e many translations write ‘Jesus Christ’ as for example the NIV: “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:…” Matt 1:1
Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word MASHIACH (Messiah in English). This is Jesus’ title as the anointed One of God, it is not a surname. Thus Matt 1:1 should read Jesus The Christ or Christ Jesus or Jesus the Messiah, etc.
Also the anglicising of most of the Hebrew names of the disciples, etc. is part of this Hellenising or spiritualising of the scriptures. Mary, Jesus mother was actually a Jewish woman named Miriam (the same as Moses’ older sister. Note that Moses sister’s name has remained unchanged in our modern translations) John, James, Peter, etc were not the correct Hebrew names of the disciples and Apostles. Why were they changed in the New Testament but not the Old?
Quoting Frank Selch again (from “Is There A Need For A Fresh Reformation Of The Church?”):
“Without going into detail here it seems this de-judaising was effected to help remove the Jewishness of the Bible.
If the Jewish race could be made to disappear,
there would be no physical testimony to the Creator God.
the ‘New-Testament’ could stand as a book of its own.
the ‘Old Testament’ i.e the Hebrew Bible could be relegated to a museum as a historical record or Allegory.
Without the Jewish race as a witness, Christianity is free to develop into whatever religion it desires.”
How quickly did this start to occur? Look at this quote of a very early Christian writer and theologian, Justin Martyr (born around 100 AD):
‘Christ is the Logos in whom every race of men shared. Those who lived in accordance with LOGOS, i.e. true reason, ARE CHRISTIANS; even though they were regarded as atheists, e.g. Socrates and Heraclitus among the Greeks...’” in Logos, 'History of Christianity', p.106-112.
For a much more in-depth look at these issues I suggest a read of “The Mosaic Law or the Divine Instructions of God: Grace or Truth?” and “Dancing with the Scimitar of Islam” by Frank Selch (available via his website www.theolivetreeconnection.org or email: theolivetreeconnection@bigpond.com)
[4] The Kingdom of God:
On one occasion when Jesus was approaching Jerusalem, the people expected the Kingdom to appear immediately. Jesus took this opportunity to explain that he must first depart and later return to establish his Kingdom. In harmony with his promises, Jesus pictured himself as a nobleman who expected to leave the earth for a far country (heaven), there to receive a Kingdom and to return. At his return his servants were to be rewarded with positions of rulership over cities, while those who refused to accept him as King would be destroyed (Luke 19:11-27).
Jesus’ message was accepted by very few of his Jewish compatriots. Though they knew that God had promised one day to send the Messiah, they refused to believe that Jesus was that promised King. Thus the Messiah was put to death by the religious and civil authorities of his day. After he had lain for three days and nights in the grave, God restored him to life, and he was seen alive by his disciples.
“He died...he was buried, he rose on the third day. He was seen by Cephas (Peter), then by the twelve; after that he was seen by James, then by all the Apostles, and finally he was seen by myself (Paul)” (I Cor. 15:3-8).
As we have seen, Jesus had promised to come back to the earth, to inaugurate the worldwide government foreseen by all the Old Testament prophets. Speaking to his disciples just before his crucifixion, he described events leading up to his future Coming, and finished by telling them: “And then shall be seen the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and glory...So when you see all this happen, be sure that the Kingdom of God is at hand” (Luke 21:27, 31).
Jesus had said the same thing to the Jewish authorities: “And what is more you will all see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62).
After the Messiah’s death and resurrection the disciples were naturally interested to know when the promised Kingdom would begin:
“After his sufferings he had shown them that he was alive by a number of proofs, revealing himself to them for forty days, and discussing the affairs of the Kingdom of God...Now when they met they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time you are going to restore the Kingdom to Israel?’ But he told them, ‘It is not for you to know the course and periods of time that the Father has fixed by his own authority’” (Acts 1:3, 6, 7).
The same message about the Kingdom of God was taken up by the Apostles, who announced that at an appointed time the Messiah, who had been resurrected from the dead, would come back to rule the world. He would remain in heaven “till the period of the great Restoration. Ages ago God spoke of this by the lips of His holy prophets” (Acts 3:21).
(From Focus on the Kingdom November 2004 www.focusonthekingdom.org)
Some other support for the argument that the Gospel of Christ was the Good News of the Kingdom of God:
Paul states in Gal 3:8 “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed.” that the Gospel was preached to Abraham.
What do you think this means? I would suggest that God through His angels gave Abraham a vision of the Kingdom of God that he would one day be part of (see Hebrews 11). Thus the Gospel was indeed preached to Abraham!
Jesus said that the saints will share meals with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Mat 8:11 ”And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven”
Luke 13:28-29 “There shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and yourselves cast forth without. And they shall come from the east and west, and from the north and south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God”
Also, Jesus “came to confirm the promises made to the fathers.” (Rom 15:8). He began (repent for the kingdom of God is near) and ended (Acts 1:6) his public ministry declaring the coming Kingdom of God.
Thus the hope of living forever in the land promised to Abraham is a very significant part of the gospel. We are of-course only heirs to this promise and sons or seed of Abraham through Christ Jesus. The resurrection is also absolutely vital to this ‘good news’.
Abraham is thus “the father of all who believe” (Rom 4:11) and those who are in this family are “those who hear the Word of God” (the Word being the Gospel of the Kingdom, not just the Bible - Matt 13:19) and “do it” (Matt 12:46-50).
[5] Biblical Inerrancy & Bible Translation problems:
The question asked by some, when the issue of errors in Bible translations is raised, is how then can we have assurance when we read the Bible, that we are reading the true revelation of God? Do we all need to be scholars & experts in Hebrew and Greek?
Thousands of years of study in such areas as medicine and science have led to great agreement about the basic laws of physics and chemistry (with some notable exceptions such as the theory of evolution), and the anatomy and mechanics of the human body, etc.
However, the same thousands of years of study of religion and God have not led to any real consensus. Possibly, the opposite is true – with the relatively recent introduction of naturalistic evolution and the much greater access to different research and ideas, there is probability much greater divergence of opinion than ever before. This, at a time in history when some of us would argue that there is less excuse, theologically, prophetically, historically, & scientifically# for not believing in the God of the Bible than ever before.
Jesus of course, warned that there would be great delusion at the end of the age and even strongly hinted at this in saying rhetorically “ … when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8).
The Bible presents itself as the written revelation of God. It asserts that it is a special revelation of God – it claims to be a trustworthy source of knowledge of religious truth, that is knowledge of the ultimate destiny of the world and man, as well as the meaning of life. These are questions that science cannot hope to fully answer.
There are many books that detail the historical, archaeological and even scientific support for this assertion. This short treatise will assume the reader is somewhat familiar with these details.
The original manuscripts (autographs) of the 66 books of the Bible, must have been inspired and significantly directed by God, if they are to be useable and reliable divine revelations.
They could not have been truly inspired by the God of truth if they contained anything significantly erroneous or false. As no original autographs are available to study we cannot be certain of their inerrancy. While they may have been inerrant (i.e. have no errors at all), this belief can only be conjecture on our part at this time in history.
But what about the text of the Bible as we now possess it?
There have clearly been copyists errors as we have found discrepancies among handwritten copies. For example, 1 Samuel 13:1 “Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years.” (NIV) The NIV adds the comment that the Hebrew does not have thirty. The Amplified Bible reads “SAUL WAS [forty] years old when he began to reign; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,” and has the footnote: “The complete numbers in this verse are missing in the Hebrew. The word "forty" is supplied by the best available estimate.”
Apparently the correct number ‘fell out’ so early in the transmission of this particular text that is was already lost before the 3rd century BC.
There are a number of scholarly works that you can read which clearly establish that numerous errors have crept into our translations of the Bible.
If we are studying a religious document then, which may contain truth and error, how are we then to proceed?
While some of the approaches have already been outlined in an earlier note, to repeat, we can use the faculty of human reason to weigh the evidence by applying rules of logic such as the rule of self-contradiction.
We can also look for historical support, especially through archaeological discoveries and through the fulfilment of biblical prophecies. Unlike other religious documents which have few prophecies, the Bible is around 30% prophecy!
There is a limit though, to this rationale and logical approach.
Man cannot pass judgement on the truth or falsity of divine revelation. For such judgements to be made, they must come from a judge who possesses a knowledge of the truth superior to that of the revelation itself that is being judged. In other words, man would need to know more about God; than the Bible itself knows if he is to pass judgement on the truth of divine revelation in the Bible.
So how can these translations which are not inerrant, serve as reliable mediums for disclosing God’s will? Are we not back where we started with the same problem as we have with books such as the Koran or Vedas which contain truth and error?
No, not at all. There is a great difference between a document that was wrong at the start and a document which was right but which has been miscopied or mistranslated, despite the reverent efforts of the copyists and translators.
You can read a letter from a friend or relative and find in it common slips of the pen such as an ‘of’ instead of ‘or’; ‘and’ instead of ‘an’; ‘led instead of ‘lead’ and yet, by a simple process of correction in the light of context, you may easily arrive at the true sense intended by your friend or relative.
If the reader knows the author’s fundamental nature/personality and purpose in writing, then this correction of minor errors is made even easier. In the case of God and the Bible, we can know the Father’s fundamental nature and purpose.
Whether these errors are copyist errors; translation errors, or even deliberate modifications, such as 1 John 5:7, made to support doctrinal positions, would the God of love, espoused so strongly throughout the pages of the Holy Scriptures, allow them to pervert the Bible to the point where it no longer contains and reveals the most important aspects of God’s revelation to mankind?
We surely would argue no. I would contend that all modern versions of the Bible (not necessarily paraphrases such as The Message), do contain the central message of God. That is, they all clearly reveal the nature of God; the Good News of the Kingdom of God, the Messiah Jesus and the saving grace of his crucifixion.
There is, of course, a great deal more to be said on the inerrancy of the Bible. If you would like to learn more and at the same time be uplifted and even more in awe of God’s amazing revelation through the Holy Scriptures then I suggest reading ‘A Survey of Old Testament Introduction’ by the late Prof. Gleason Archer and ‘In Search of Certainty’ by Josh McDowell & Thomas Williams. To better appreciate the issue of textual corruption I highly recommend F Paul Haney’s ‘Exploring NEW TESTAMENT CORRUPTION… Was it ACCIDENTAL— DELIBERATE—OR BOTH?’
# A good place to start if you wish to better understand the incredible revelation of God, the ‘Intelligent Designer’, through modern science would be ‘The Design Revolution’ by William Dembski or “the Case for the Creator’ by Lee Strobel, or any book by Dr Hugh Ross, such as ‘A Matter of Days’ or ‘The Genesis Question’.
[1] Anti-Messiah, or more commonly referred to as Anti-Christ, does not only mean one opposed to the true Messiah, but one who seeks to replace the true Messiah (Christ); indeed, even God Himself, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 14:13-14. Note also, that a number of significant passages seem to imply that the antichrist(s) may be those who follow false doctrine, especially doctrine that tries to change the Messiah to a ‘Christ of faith’ or some other falsehood.
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