Who Says?

“because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.) Mark 7:19 NASB Clean – What a mess this verse has created!  Why it became a mess is a study in the program of self-identity that the Church undertook in the third century.  Suffice…

The Jewish Gospel

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Mark 1:1  NASB Son of God – Jewish orthodox rabbi Daniel Boyarin (yes, the Daniel Boyarin) wrote The Jewish Gospels, just published this year.  In it he makes the claim that the gospels are thoroughly Jewish, including the idea of a divine Messiah…

Israel Pictures Again

Apparently I messed up with the gallery of pictures from Israel.  I meant to set up a gallery where you could enlarge the picture by clicking on it, but it did not work for some people.  So I am posting them again.  

Zekhut

“And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’” Matthew 25:40 NASB The least – Benevolence toward others without any expectation of gain.  That’s the idea. …

Sin’s Opposite

Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin.  James 4:17 NASB Right thing – Two factors are immediately apparent from James’ statement.  First, sin attaches to what I know, not what I don’t know.  And second, if I know what is the right…

Rabbi Paul

for not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.  Romans 2:13 NASB Will be justified – It’s hard to escape the obvious implication of Paul’s statement.  What matters is doing Torah.  Anything less means exclusion from the Kingdom.  Paul’s words are a fatal blow…

Pattern Paradigms

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Mark 1:1  NASB Son of God – “What the sages have done with Scripture then becomes clear.  They have taken its narrative and discerned a pattern within it, and this pattern then has guided them in thinking about the present.  Whatever happens finds…