The Other Good News
I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is not really another, only there are some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of Christ. Galatians 1:6-7
Gospel – What if we have it all wrong? What if Paul’s letter to the Galatians is not a polemic against “Judaizers,” those who come from some other place to assert the requirements of the Law as the basis of acceptance before God? What if Paul’s personal disappointment is about factions within the Galatian body of believers? What if there are no “Judaizers” as we commonly believe, but rather insiders who are encouraging their compatriots to adopt a different “good news” about community acceptance and identity? What if the Galatians debate isn’t about the contrast between “Law” and “grace” at all? What if it’s about Gentiles seeking equal status with Jews in the believing community in Galatia?
Mark Nanos presents compelling evidence that the letter to the Galatians is actually addressed to Gentile believers in Galatia who are struggling with the issue of full equality in the Galatian community. He demonstrates that the real issue is not “law” versus grace but rather the requirements for Jewish proselytes versus the equal status of Gentiles in the Messiah. In other words, “Paul’s rhetoric implies . . . that the addressees now want to acquire Jewish status (by circumcision) to ensure their social position among the people of God as righteous ones (as children of Abraham and Sarah).”[1] The usual interpretation of Galatians as an argument against those who want to uphold the Law versus those who are free under grace assumes that Paul is fighting against outsiders and legalists, but Nanos shows that this assumption is not warranted from the text itself. The debate in Galatians is about whether or not a Gentile believer must become a Jewish proselyte in order to have equal status in the synagogue. There is no justification for the claim that Paul advocates the removal of Torah obedience!
Read the verses of chapter 1:6-7 again. This time read “good news” rather than “gospel” (that is the translated equivalent). Do you see that Paul suggests his opponents are advocating a different “good news”? That implies that the ones Paul addresses, the ones he shows deep concern over, accept this other approach as good news. This begs the question, “Why would Gentiles who have come to believe Yeshua is the Messiah be interested in another ‘good news’?” Nanos demonstrates that the issue in Galatians is about the status of Gentiles in the community, not the keeping of the Torah. The other “good news” is the suggestion that these Gentiles can become Jews by following the accepted proselyte conversion rituals and thereby achieve full status in the synagogue. Paul’s argument is against the requirements for proselytes, not against the fulfillment of Torah. It is the same argument that he has with Peter when Peter removes himself from table fellowship in order to avoid embarrassment among Jewish observers.
Try reading Galatians as an argument against Jewish proselyte conversion rather than a proclamation against Torah. Notice who Paul addresses. Compare your reading with the claims of Paul in Acts (that he has always been Torah observant). Then ask yourself, “If Paul’s letter is really about proselyte conversion and not about removing the Torah, where did we get the idea that Galatians proves Christians are under grace, not Law?”
That question will take you into the history of the exegesis of Galatians. You might be very surprised what you find.
Topical Index: Law, grace, proselyte, Galatians 1:6-7
[1] Mark Nanos, The Irony of Galatians, pp. 80-81.
A News Update on the web site. Yesterday, on Yom Kippur, sometime in the morning hours, the web site went down. It didn’t exactly crash. It just dropped all of the links to pages and posts. Many of you noticed this and called my attention to the problem. Patrick was able to fix it all by the end of the day (thank you, again) so we are back up with 4000+ pages of material. Since it was Yom Kippur, I sort of expected something to happen. And since I am beginning a long trip to South Africa, I kinda knew something would happen. It usually does just before I leave. Anyway, Patrick to the rescue again. I am sure he will watch over things while I travel.
And now that we are back online, please feel free to order and contribute. 🙂 Thanks.
Skip
The epistles have always been ‘inconclusive’ to me, because I feel as if I am only getting half the story. What event/situation (that is often not completely explained) prompted the writer(s) to pen these letters?
Taken only at face value, they leave us with inadequate understanding. Many do not understand how Moses’ teaching has anything to do with this section of Scripture. I was glad to see my friend post this very accurate quote by her husband:
“If you know Paul better than you know Moses, you don’t know what Paul knew.” – Michael Milligan
I Was reading Judges 20 & 21 earlier.
In the past difficult for me as a woman, because a woman gets raped and cut up in 12 pieces.
War is declared against the evildoers and those who protects them.
On the first day of the war 22 000 of good guys get killed. (don’t know about you, but that would have been bad for any democratically elected leader and absolutely shocking in our day). Second day another 18 000 of the good guys die.
Day 3 and the day starts off with 30 good guys dying before the tide turns and then 25 100 of the bad guys die. The good guys turn on the civilians of the bad guys that was left in the cities (haven’t they heard what the UN does to guys who does that?) and kills them all.
Suddenly the good guys realize they have not exactly contributed in the preservation of the ancient tribes of the world and decided to correct it by killing off one of their own sub-tribes who did not turn up for the meeting, keeping only the virgins and then giving them to the few bad guys that escaped as brides so that the near-extinct ancient tribe can continue to co- exist.
But the now-extinct tribe did not have enough virgins for all the bad guys. So the good guys decided its ok to let the bad guys know it is ok to come and steel some more brides at Succoth and the fathers and the brothers of the stolen. Brides would then “not be guilty”.
That was in the past.
This time I knew Torah a little better than previously and I could sidestep the UN regulations and my own insecurities as a woman in this present world, in favor of Torah and understand the amazing greatness of HaShem in this bit of history.
As my knowledge of Torah grows, my understanding of all other scriptures grow, and my passion for Yeshuah as my messiah knows no bounds.
So,yes, Gayle, I agree, without Moses, we should not try and understand Paul.
Because, see, Paul, was a descendant of one of the bad guys and one of those unlucky virgins of Judges 20 & 21. And was it not for Torah, the good guys would not have made the decisions they did and well, Paul would not have been… And I’m pretty sure he knew this at a much earlier age as I do now .
Paul lived because of Deut 22.
(oi, yoi, yoi, now the academics and purists are gonna bowl me out 🙂
Ilze,
I read this with amazement, because I did not remember the story. (Can’t believe I could ever forget these details.) Thanks for bringing it to my attention, as I will read and study it. It is remarkable what we begin to recognize, when we have gone through the Torah a few times!
A BIG thank you to Patrick from all of us who daily look to this site for elucidation, education and edification and are disappointed when it goes AWOL. We love you Brother Patrick for all your sacrificial offering to this community in “techie stuff” and in the many hidden works you do to enable Skip in the spreading of his annointed writings around the world to those whom YHWH has ordained to hear. May He bless you and yours. Shalom, m&a
PS I really thought it was a planned shut down of the site for Yom Kuppor.
I also want to thank you, Patrick. You are truly a vital link in our growth as “humans”.
I so wish there were “like” button after the comments LOL. Thank you Patrick for being ever vigilant over the site and thank you Skip for your daily mind benders. Have you considered that that Sabbath might not be Friday Night/Saturday…in that if you count the months from new moon to new moon, the 7th day often falls during our civil calendar week? What are you thoughts on this? The days and times have been changed so much up to this point it is hard to keep the feast days and the Sabbaths when they are supposed to be kept.
Jill, saw this mentioned about a year ago on another website and then someone explained that your Sabbath don’t “change” when new moon starts, because then the regulations relating to the feasts would have been different as well as the instructions about the Sabbath.
Another reasoning was that sun and moon was only created on the 4th day, which would then make the first 3 days absolute and the 7th day as Sabbath would become muddy because do you start the first week of the month on the first day or the fourth day.
And the easiest one was that since ever there was only day 1 to 7 and in the Hebrew culture they did not loose the rhythm.
And that settled it for me.
But maybe Skip or someone else can correct me …
Hi Jill,
Not speaking for anybody here, just offering a consideration.The command as given by God is that we rest on the seventh and that we are to work six days. Both “parts” of the commandment are equally valid, ie they’re “one.” An example is that if we only worked 5 and then rested, we have misapplied the command of the sabbath. The other way, to work 8 and then rest is the same thing. I don’t mean to over simplify the examples, just trying to make it understandable.
If the sabbath is (re) calculated from every new moon, this is exactly what occurs, there’s a discrepency in the days worked vs. sabbath. Sabbath has been observrd for thousands of years in every country, independently, and there has never been a case (that I am aware of) where, for example, a Jewish man from Eqypt meets a jewish man from Romainia, and they disagree on the timing of the following sabbath, if it was confused (the sabbath) this would surely play out.
YHWH bless you and keep you…….
Like!
An important topic!!!
Paul is writing to Gentiles in the book of Galatians. The early chapters clearly outline the main distinction between Paul’s ministry (to Gentiles) and the other apostles (to Jews). In the synagogues there were three groups of people (Jews, Proselytes who were former Gentiles, and God-fearers) I also believe that the discussion in Galatians is primarily concerning God-fearers and Proselytes…was it necessary to become a Proselyte/Jew. In Gal 4:22 Paul refers to Abraham’s sons. Folks are probably aware that Proselytes were given the surname Benei Avraham when they converted to Judaism. Paul is arguing allegorically that one son was made through human effort (Ishmael) and the other by waiting on God (Isaac) He equates the effort of becoming a Proselyte to that of Ishamel and contrasts that with staying a God-fearer who now follows Yeshua without full conversion as Isaac. But reading this chapter would likely set a Jew (believer or non-believer) off like a volcano…..because it is easily misunderstood as equating Jews/Law with Ishmael. No wonder there was a riot in Jerusalem when Paul showed up there in Acts 21. Note in 21:21 James tells Paul that the believing Jews zealous for the Law have been told that “you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses…not circumcise their children nor walk according to the customs”. James knew this was not the case. He knew what Paul was teaching Gentiles..but it was misunderstood!! (aside: of course the Church then went on to confirm that exact error!!) I don’t think it matters so much where the “Judaisers” came from. Clearly there are cases where they came from Jerusalem. In Galatians I believe the pressure is mostly internal as Skip has mentioned.
Skip: here is a question you might wish to tackle…”How should we then Live??” As God-fearers (Gentiles joined with/grafted into Israel) what should we practically do about customs and culture? There are elements of Jewish culture …mezuza, talith, tephelim that seem to be identity markers. There are also food laws, holy days etc that probably apply to all of us more broadly. Where is the line? Paul wisely counsels against conversion to Judaism as a requirement for salvation. So we don’t go that far. But when we leave the white washed paganism that pervades so much of our churches there isn’t much genuine culture left (OK maybe Thanksgiving does not have pagan roots …no doubt it was originally modeled by the Pilgrims after the Fall Feast of Tabernacles.
I would really welcome your comments and discussion on this topic. Keep up the wonderful work!
HSB you mentioned a topic that I have been pondering over ever since I was drawn to studying our Hebrew roots. Where is the line? I don’t want to go from one set of “traditions” to another, but want to do those things that honor God and not out of a religious tradition.
I would love to hear Skip discuss this topic and also welcome his comments! These Today’s Word writing are changing the way I think and I love it! They are challenging the very core of what I have been taught all these years but the truth of God’s Word is speaking to me loud and clear! Skip please consider this topic. It is much needed!
We struggled for many years with this question. There are so many choices when it comes to Jewish and Messianic groups. After 20+ years we can honestly say that nobody can tell you what to do. We have one King. He tells us what to do and OUTLINES how to do it. He draws the lines bt they are broad and wide and leave LOTS of room for creative obedience. That is why their are so many sects. Birds of a feather flock together and create Habitual ways of carrying out YHVH’s commandments in a way that suites their tastes and lifestyle. We call these “TRADITIONS”
Lets take the Sabbath for an example. The commandment is to remember and guard the seventh day to sanctify/separate/keep it Holy to YHVH.
Then he gives us instructions concerning what we must do in order to be obedient to that commandment. Work on the first six days and rest from your labors on the seventh day. This automatically leaves out days1 2 3 4 5 & 6. You can rest on those days but you won’t be imaging YHVH who rested on Day 7 and that is the whole point of the commandment. To image YHVH! That’s exactly why Yeshua kept the 7th day. He was the perfect image of the Father in this commandment. He didn’t keep it the way the Pharisee’s did and was slammed for it. Why should we expect anything more?
The commandment goes on to say don’t kindle a fire. This is possibly the biggest struggle I still have on Shabbat. We fellowship with folks who like to BBQ on Shabbat. It hurts my conscience every time it happens.
We also don’t live like normal people. We live in a converted bus. All my appliances are propane. In the winter we heat with a little wood stove and keep it going all night so in the morning I have a place to boil water for hot coffee and chocolate and warm up the food I prepared the day before.
But in the summer I must listen to the protests of my husband the entire time I’m running the generator (we also live off the grid) to operate my toaster oven and electric tea kettle. The point is I try my best not to light a fire. I still don’t completely understand the prohibition however cooking on the Shabbat 1. would be everyday work for me disobeying that instruction, and 2. would break the instruction to lay up two days worth of food on the 6th day and thereby profaning the Shabbat withot ever getting to no commerce etc……………If I’m going to keep the Shabbat I need to do it according to YHVH”s instructions. Anything else is doing what is good in my own eyes/imagination. That is never exceptable. We have the written scripture and are without excuse.
What I don’t need to do is wear a head covering while I perform these tasks. That doesn’t mean I CAN’Twear one but I can’t impose that on anyone else if it becomes something I chose to do. My daughter may wish to adopt the practice in honor of me but she can’t impose it on my grand daughters as a torah command. I may (and often do) abide by the practices of my friends in their homes or congregations as long as the practice doesn’t annul a torah command to the best of my current understanding which may change tomorrow and often still does. Grace covers today’s unintentional error but at that point of revelation I need to make a choice. Will I follow the tradition that causes disobedience or will I stand firm in YHVH”s instruction?
Saying all that I make this point. You will someday be standing before the Judge of the universe. If you blindly adopt traditions without testing them by scripture and thinking them through to their inevitable outcomes, what will you have to say when He asks you why you disobeyed Him in preference to the commandments of men?
We must all study to show ourselves approved. It’s a never ending process.
BTW I do have a mezzah on my door but it points out. Just before our congregation sent us out into missions in 1994 our non torah observant Messianic Rabbi “accidentally” attached it “backward”s. It remains that way to this day as a reminder that the blessings need to pour out of or home. We’ve never seen another one like it but it has never once ever offended anyone.
Shalom Shalom
sorry for all the typos the u key sticks on my new keyboard.
“where is the line?”
My line or God’s line?(scripture?)
Where is the line in obedience? Isn’t obedience something between me and God? Only He knows if I am doing my best with what I understand his instructions to be.
Where is the line in God’s love for me? Where is the line in a parent’s love for a chlid? (even when exercising tough love). The difference between legalism/tradition and doing as He says is the attitude in my heart – I do whatever He requires of me because I love the Father.
What if God’s line is “with all my heart, soul and resources”? Or shouldn’t the only line be between life and death – choose!
And if I draw a line, with Hebrew time working in cycles, I will sometime cross that line again – hopefully more mature in the faith – until we “know to the full”
I pray that doing my best with what I understand today, circumstances being as they are, and not looking for excuses not to do His will, will be good enough for now. And I try not to compare Babylon to Israel, but rather to a prison in China or Syberia.
Do my utter best with what I have and know because I love my God – where do I draw that line?
Jill: I understand that over the millennia , with all the calendar adjustments adding days to months etc that the weekly cycle of seven days has itself remained intact. There is no record anywhere of a week shifting its start date to accommodate a new moon or having perhaps 9 days to correct an error, etc. Calendars have been adjusted in terms of dates. For example the shift in 1582 had the calendar jump 10 days because it had drifted so far off the solar cycle for the vernal equinox. That year March 11 was followed by March 21. While there has been debate about when a holy day begins/ends (eg Firstfruits, the day after the Sabbath split the Sadducees and Pharisees over which sabbath, weekly or special?) the cycle of the week continues uninterrupted.
Thank you all for weighing in on the Sabbath issue. I am going to continue to set aside the 7th day (Friday evening/Saturday) with a clear conscience. I am grateful to you for your explanations.
Some will enjoy this:
http://www.waynestiles.com/timna-park-a-portrait-of-your-atonement-on-yom-kippur/
Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead),
Hmmm
A story I never tire of telling … back around the turn of the century
Reading this European Jewish Marxist philosopher named Zizek (The Parallax View)
A sort of “super star” in his field, Zizek was arguing in one of his books that Paul
Should be reconsidered as the “cultural Hero” of our time (the New Age)
It struck me as rather odd, because from the first time I read the Bible from “end to end”
It was clear to me that Paul had created Catholicism
See the Trinity in Gal 1 above 🙂
BTW In the Talmud the Rabbis talk about God in terms of
– Omniscience
– Omnipresence
– Omnipotence
Combine the above with the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
And we have what nuns taught me as a child
Were the most important aspects of God
Rabbinic Judaism shows considerable signs of Hellenism, in its prayers and in its conceptualization. I am quite cautious about this because it departs from the worldview of Torah. That doesn’t mean it is all wrong, but it certainly makes me wary.
“considerable signs of Hellenism”
Hi Skip,
I understand, my mother used to say “they’re going to Hell in a Hand-basket” all the time
She was teaching me something about the Torah, without talking about the Torah (IMO)
Virtually all her life, from time to time, she would say about her job at the BofA
Whether she was working in Berdoo when I was young or in Newport Beach in later years
“This very nice old man, he comes in all the time, sat and talked to me for hours”
“He’s older than Moses”
Zizek (The Parallax View)
I picked up this copy of “Selections from Ralph Waldo Emerson” this morning
It has been sitting on the nightstand by my bed for a year or two now
Harold Bloom likes him a lot, but he’s not my “cup of tea”
It opened to page 156 – 157
Where I had underlined some passages in preparation for my oral exams in 1979
On page 156:
“What is this aboriginal Self, on which a universal reliance may be grounded?
What is the nature and power of that science-baffling star, without “parallax”
Without calculable elements, which shoots a ray of beauty
even into trivial and impure actions if the least mark of independence appear
On page 157
Man is timid and apologetic; he is no longer upright; he dares not to say “I think,” “I am”
But quotes some Saint or Sage
“But quotes some Saint or Sage”
Hmmm
I must admit that I did not get the “punch line” above 30 years ago
But I was also heavily influenced by my professor Bram Dykstra
Who, as an undergrad, taught me so much about literature
And as a poet himself he preferred a radically different
Approach to poetry
One of his favorites was written by William Carlos Williams
It is one of my favorites too
The Red Wheelbarrow
By William Carlos Williams
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
Skip,
For most of my life, I read Galatians as the letter in which Paul makes his best argument that the “Law” has essentially been neutered by the concept of grace through faith. Not that grace has totally done away with the Law, but that grace through faith has usurped the Law and essentially relegated it to the back room. This was the framework for my reading and understanding of Galatians. And it produced results that were consistent with the theologies and doctrines of the churches that I attended….you are saved by grace through faith. And although the Law has not been totally done away with, one did not have to obey all facets of the Law because grace now rules supreme. I attended three years of seminary and although I became quite proficient in interpreting Scripture using a historical/cultural/grammatical hermeneutic, I still arrived at the same conclusion…grace rules supreme.
I had always believed that people in the Old Testament were saved in the same way as those in the New Testament, i.e., by grace through faith, and not by the keeping of the law. Even though men (generically) were “required” to fulfill aspects of the Law, it was not this obedience that “saved” them. First of all, no one could perfectly keep the Law (except Yeshua) and we see that the Patriarchs and kings of the Old Testament were some of the worst at violating the Law. Yet I’m pretty sure that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and David were “saved.” It has always been about your relationship with God rather than what you had done in your life. Of course, that did not mean you could or should willy nilly disobey the Law. There were severe penalties for doing so. The Law was given for men to experience God in the fullest. It was a good thing…think about it…would God want you to do things that were ultimately bad for you? I think not!
But there was something really missing in my understanding of both the Old and New Testaments, but especially the New. I just sort of brushed off passages where there were “discrepancies” or actions that just made no sense. I figured I would finally understand when Jesus returned. And then a few years ago my wife became involved in the “Hebrew Roots” movement. And then i became involved and it has provided the missing pieces in my understanding of Scripture. And now I am having to “relearn” everything. I am having to throw everything I thought I knew out the window. But Scripture is coming alive in a totally new and vibrant way. Things that made no sense before now seem obvious. I now have so much to learn. Your teachings, Skip, rattle my cage everyday. THANK YOU!
And now back to Galatians. I remember reading Galatians a while back through completely new “glasses” and wow, it made so much more sense. I read it from the perspective that the letter was not about “law and grace”, but about “What do we do with all these Gentiles that are now coming to the synagogues…those who have come to faith and now trust in Yeshua? Remember, at this time “the Way” was just considered a sect of Judaism, not a new religion. Because of this, I used the framework that the letter was written to the believing Jews and not to the Gentiles. And the issue was…”What do we do with all these Gentiles that are coming to faith in Yeshua? Do they need to first become Jews? Do they need to go through the ritual Jewish conversion? Or are they somehow “grafted” into Israel?” Paul attempts to answer these questions posed by the Galatian Jews for the benefit of the believing Galatian Gentiles. The book makes so much more sense when read through this historical/cultural backdrop.
What is your opinion of looking at Galatians in this manner, Skip? And everyone else out there…what do you think?
I think you and Nanos are pretty close. The BIGGEST question for the early believing community was NOT the “law.” Everyone knew that Torah was at the very heart of the Way. Torah defined what it meant to be in this culture. The BIGGEST question was “Who belongs?” That is, “What do we do with all these Gentiles?” In the past, Gentiles went through a conversion process to become Jews (physically and spiritually) before they could be accepted by the community. Paul argues that since God has accepted them as they are, we are not to add requirements. But this is NOT about obedience. This is about ACCEPTANCE, i.e. “salvation.” If God saves them without first requiring them to be Jews, then we need to open the doors of the community and let them is as full members. Then, and only then, the re-culturation process begins (“Every week they hear Moses in the synagogue”). Read this way, the Lutheran contrast between Law and Grace disappears.
I totally agree. A while back I started thinking that one of the reasons Paul’s writing doesn’t make sense is because the context is ‘mass assimilation’. I haven’t been in a church with massive amounts of converts coming in — so the church’s problems in Paul’s day don’t quite have a parallel. Also, not much assimilation is really required in most modern churches — “Show up on Sunday and try to be a better person.” doesn’t exactly require a huge paradigm shift for most people.
Galatians was, by far, Luther’s favorite book in the Bible. He did not at all like James and in fact felt it should have never been included in the Canon. He felt good works and grace were like oil and water. He totally missed the fact that the Torah is laced throughout with grace….
Just have to post this, in case anyone missed it.
This is an historic address worth studying.
http://www.israelemb.org/washington/NewsAndEvents/Pages/Prime-Minister-Netanyahu's-Speech-to-the-67th-United-Nations-General-Assembly.aspx
God Bless and Keep Israel
“The clash between modernity and medievalism need not be a clash between progress and tradition.”
Hmmm
Netanyahu’s speech is quite impressive; not many politicians, besides Dick Cheney
Think Bernard Lewis is worth name dropping; not many people even know who he is 🙂
But it might be more honest to say that this is a conflict within monopoly capitalism
A conflict between the “1st world” and the “3rd world,” the haves and the have nots
If you read the NY Times it would seem pretty obvious that this “medievalism”
Is running rampant on in the streets of NY, on a daily basis
Michael, Must state that more people than you know about could know who Bernard Lewis is–yes, this old Texas lady became aware of him in 2001, when he published his book, “What Went Wrong” after 9-11. It was reviewed and offered in the Wal-Street Journal. We had lived in an Islamic Nation with 95 percent Muslin population. I had read previously and still do, as many things as I can put my hands on them. At that time, one of our sons-in-law, gave me a subscription to the WSJ –as long as I promised to read it ( he let me omit the stock mk, as he knew we did not have any money to invest). I kept it up about two years, and tired of the stacks of papers!
It is an interesting world– Bernard Lewis is truly an old man b. about 1917, and the VP of Bush’s , Cheny, did not honor that at all. B. Lewis has spent a lifetime and still is working with a companion to help him in his evaluations of the Arab World–which that area of the world-now very much moving into our own Nation- & is so important to us! We must not under estimate what is going on. Yes, Michael you are right in most such matters, the majority of Americans do NOT KNOW–& so ignorant that they do not even care!— L.B.
“Cheney, did not honor that at all. B. Lewis has spent a lifetime and still is working with a companion to help him in his evaluations of the Arab World”
Hi LaVaye,
Haven’t heard from you in a while, good to hear from you 😉
Actually, I think Dick Cheney and Bernard Lewis are good friends
If I were Obama, I would get rid of some of his not so funny “clowns”
Then I would put Big Bill Clinton at my right hand (VP)
And Dick Cheney at my left hand, kind of like Ha Satan
Then I would put them in a room together and tell them to come to some agreement
On which way we want to go; on what to do in this “new era”
Without the clowns
Hillary is not one of the clowns IMO BTW
For we all are:
1. saved by grace
2. not of works
3. it is the gift of God (a pure gift from Above- what can we add to the blood and breath of Christ?)
but.. (also)
4. unto good works (after the new birth, we bear fruit for the Master, -His fruit, the fruit of the Ruach HaKodesh as we are to abide in Him, (Who is the Vine). We are not saved to sit our hands, but to do the work of Him who now sends us! ~ As the Father has sent Me- so send I you ~ and you and you..
5. God starts it. He completes it. He finishes what He starts. God gets the glory.
As for Torah, God’s instructions for holiness and for happiness.. we would do well to hearken and to heed and to shema our Savior, who is the resurrected-Living-ever-interceding Word (Torah) of YHWH.
Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus who is the resurrected Christ, now lives in the hearts of every child of God, through the entrance and reception of our faith and trust in His finished and final work which took place on a hill called Mt. Calvary. Both Jew and Gentile, “whosoever will” are welcome to kneel at the foot of the cross. This, my friends, is where we find life in all of its fulness. If any man wishes to live a life of Torah obedience, He will be blessed, for obedience results in blessing,- every time.
Obedience to the instructions of our Master, the LORD Jesus, is not mandatory or forced. We do not say to our children “obey me or else!” – this is not love, it is a threat, and a father, any father, does not threaten his children, but would much prefer love out of a pure heart, the heart of a child who respects, loves, and honors his (or her) father. Love is never forced.
Torah obedience goes much further under grace than it ever did under the law or under Moses, for we now have the full revelation of who God is and what He requires or expects from those who belong to Him. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. We, because of our new relationship (Father and child) listen to His instructions for rightly-related living and “do” according to His instructions, these which are found throughout His book, from Genesis all the way unto Revelation. ~ Every word of God is pure, and man (us) does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God ~ Where are these words to be found? They are found, bound in a bundle, the Book of God, our Bible. Read and follow label directions; in the words of the mother of our Master unto the servants (us)- “do what He says..” – Whatever He says unto you- “do it.”
As we (for realz) “do” what He says, we discover something. In a word: “it works!” ( I know- this is two words, but two is the number of witness!). When we “do” according to His instructions, His Torah, we find the path of holiness and the path of happiness are the same path. His words unto His sheep, “follow Me.” Do as I do. Love as I have loved you. This love, (tHis Love) is love that is totally unnatural to any man, for this Love, is a Calvary kind of love. Love that flows one way- towards the other. Not expecting reward or recognition, but love for love’s sake, and God is (unconditional) love. We cannot give, that which we first do not possess, so we first must receive the love of God before we can give it away! No man can give that which He first does not have. I cannot give love unless I am first loved. I cannot be joyful until I am “joy-filled.” I cannot project peace until I first possess peace. All these and much, much more are gifts, grace-gifts given unto every child of the King because of Calvary and the (now) indwelling Christ. ~ Christ in you (and in you and you and you)- the hope (certainty) of glory (beauty.) Yes, the body of Christ is a beautiful thing. It is a work, a masterpiece, a poem,a plan, a people, started by God, shaped by God and completed by God, for He has said, (we do “pay attention” to His words, -right?)- I will build My “called-out assembly”, – (today)- His Body, (tomorrow)- His Bride. We (who are His) are “both” the (present) Body and the (future) Bride of Christ.
But before the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place, God has some major cleaning up to do, for we are a mess. But we all are being conformed into the image of the Son and that image, that likeness, that representation is “holiness” or set-apartness or “Christ-likeness”. What does holiness look like? If only we had Someone who would set an Example for us.. Hmmm..- Now “who” would that be? I just can’t imagine.. (oy!). Friends, (of every stripe or color)- “it is the LORD.” He is the True ONE- He is the JUST ONE and He has said, (we do “pay attention” to His words- right?)- “without Me, you (sir or m’am) can do nothing.” Either we is “in Christ” or we are not. (are you?) If not, we are without God and without Hope. Only, (only) *in Christ* are any of these things to be found. We are very, very, very much-frail/fragile totally God-dependent creatures. May God Himself awaken us to this truth. Amen.
I truly love getting a clearer and more accurate perspective on Scripture. I do not believe we can separate “Old and New Testaments” as they are both revealing who YHVH is. I think a lot of our problems come in not knowing God. Nanos sheds a lot of light on Galatians and Romans regarding what was going on and to whom Paul was speaking.
I struggle with knowing how to pray and what the Scripture really teaches about prayer. For example, what is the truth of praying without ceasing, the parable of the persistent friend/neighbor, whatsoever things you ask in my name, etc. I could use some help on navigating the web site to find previous articles. I thought there might be some on prayer. Also, anyone know any good resources on this subject?
Thanks so much and shalom to all.
Lori, Yes sometimes finding your way around this site is difficult, especially if you are not tech savy, under 30 years old or untrained in web navigation-like me. I’ve learned that the tags that Skip puts at the bottom of each of his daily posts are what he considers the relevant theme, important points, names, scripture reference etc. So anyone of those “tags” can be put into the search engine on his site (upper right corner) and it will direct you to all other posts in the past that had a similar tag. It is important that when you get to the bottom of the page to go to the very bottom left corner of the page and hit “previous entries” for more links. Often there are many, many pages of posts you can explore, just remember to keep going to the previous entry tab each time you exhaust one page. For example when I typed in grace into his search engine I found over 10 pages of articles each with 8-10 previous Daily Words, almost a hundred and that was for just 2012 and 2011. There are over 4,000 of Skips articles in there, plus all the comments of the ever changing and expanding community. Enough to keep you busy till the millennium and thru it if you desire ( or are a slow reader!) though I think we’ll be busy worshipping Yah and being about His business. The other thing I found helpful is to simply type in skip moen and whatever you are interested in into your google search engine. For example “skip moen grace” sometimes this is easier if you don’t have a tag to look up and just want to research a topic.
I wish there was a way to find other peoples comment posts in the same way, but I don’t think that is available. Often I’ll want to look at what someone has previously written to get a better idea where they are coming from, or I liked what so and so said about a topic but I didn’t save it – especially frustrating if it is a new comment about a post from more than 5 days ago ( the extent of “recent posts” on the side bar) but I’m grateful all this is work of Skips is here and that Patrick keeps it up so well.
Hope this helps. Michael
Thanks so much. This is very helpful. I had no idea! Shalom.
I most respectfully see a different viewpoint.
No one can make the contrast between law and grace disappear. It continues to show up everywhere. Rather like a photo developing. It just seeps thru and becomes clear.
At the wedding, Christ turned the water into wine as His first miracle. Really, His first ‘open miracle’, –for what is the difference in making water turn to wine in a pot, or making rainwater and sunshine turn a sour grape into sweet wine on the vine, under His care and direction producing food all over the earth for man’s gladness.
This example is but one developing contrast.
In the beginning of Moses’ miracles, Moses turned water into blood.
The beginning of Jesus’ miracles was to turn water into wine to show the difference between the law and the gospel of Christ.
The priests used lots of water to wash in diverse ways all the time.
Jesus used water to bestow honor on the marriage ceremony –the mystery of His union with His church.
Shiloh is said to tether his donkey (way of travel) to the choice vine and wash his garments in wine (Gen. 49: 11).
The gospel calls comes in various places in the OT (the older part of the ONE book) and here it is in Isaiah 55: 1 “come ye to the waters, and buy wine.”
Christ came to bring the grace of the gospel, which is a wine that cheers the heart of God and man (Judges 9: 13)
Moses was told to strike the rock to get water.
The servants were told to draw wine from the pots and serve it to others. Keep nothing back, –use what seems so ordinary as you minister to people and Christ will make it special.
Those who knew what Jesus did served wine to those who did not know whence it came, –and they pronounced it the best of all.
Hosea 2: 8 “She did not know I gave her corn and wine.”
It is, of course, possible to make the Scriptures say whatever you wish if you just employ the right paradigmatic scheme. The process is called isogesis – importing meaning into the text. Suggesting that Yeshua’s use of water at the marriage ceremony displays the difference between law and grace PRESUPPOSES a commitment to a paradigm. After all, there is NOTHING in the text to suggest this comparison. The comparison has to be imported from someplace else. In this case, the prior commitment to a “Law-Grace” dichotomy is read back into the text. Et viola, the text proves what we wanted it to.
It is a shame that so many believers not only read the Bible like this but actually think that this is good exegesis. We might as well read the gospel in the local newspaper. Who needs Scripture when we can do with it as we wish?
Scripture is Scripture where ever it is. Comparisions show what they show. I do not import other non-scripture books and quotes. I do not quote anyone except the Scriptures as the Holy Spirit saw fit to write them for our teaching.
The Scriptures are alive. They contain many deep layers, and when we finally have them completely explained to us by the Lord, we will be amazed at what we didn’t see.
Everyone will be proved wrong on some points.
Isogesis is not the process of bringing other books into the interpretation of Scripture. I know that you don’t do that. Isogesis is the process of bringing other assumptions, cultural motifs, language, theology and history into an existing text. For example, Christian theology often treats the statement in Genesis 3 about stepping on the head of the serpent as if it were an obvious Messianic prophecy. The problem is that no one in the original audience would have understood this. The idea that it is Messianic is imported into the text. Does that mean it cannot be APPLIED to Messianic considerations? NO, it can. But that is NOT what the text says. You have to already have a Messianic view in mind in order to read the text like this.
The same is true for many of the supposed texts that place law and grace as opposites. You have to already have this view in order to read them like this. If you asked, “What would the first audience have understood?” you will discover that the opposition of law and grace simply wasn’t possible to them. They were JEWS or proselytes. Such a conflict would never have crossed their minds. It takes about 200 years and Greek-influenced theologians like Marcion before this dichotomy arises.
Of course, after 1800 years of training, we think it is OBVIOUSLY TRUE. But that is isogesis.
Something struck me yesterday when I was reading Psalm 119.
153 Consider my affliction and deliver me, For I do not forget Your law.
154 Plead my cause and redeem me; Revive me according to Your word.
……155 Salvation [yeshu’ah] is far from the wicked, For they do not seek Your statutes.
156 Great are Your tender mercies, O Lord; Revive me according to Your judgments.
157 Many are my persecutors and my enemies, Yet I do not turn from Your testimonies.
158 I see the treacherous, and am disgusted, Because they do not keep Your word.
159 Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness.
160 The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.
161 Princes persecute me without a cause, But my heart stands in awe of Your word.
162 I rejoice at Your word As one who finds great treasure.
163 I hate and abhor lying, But I love Your law.
164 Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous judgments.
165 Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble.
……166 Lord, I hope for Your salvation [yeshu’ah], And I do Your commandments.
167 My soul keeps Your testimonies, And I love them exceedingly.
168 I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies, For all my ways are before You.
Salvation can never be apart from keeping His Torah.
It can never be “unbound” from Torah [See Prov 6:20-21, Prov 7:3 compared with Math 5:17 & 19]
–You have to already have a Messianic view in mind in order to read the text like this.–
Brother Skip, are we not to have a Messianic view in mind in order to read the text? When we read verses such as Luke 24.27: ~ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself ~ I get the idea “all of the scriptures” reveal Christ. Are we supposed to be closed to this revelation from the lips of our LORD to His own disciples when our Bible clearly states in John 5.29 ~ You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to Me! ~ I get the idea, (might be crazy) but I think God is really trying hard to communicate Himself to a creature called “man” by becoming one of them! The “infinite” becoming “finite?” God, born in a mangy manger and born in a barn? What kind of a god would humble Himself like that? to enter into our world, the very world He created, and live and die as a man?
Good point Carl. Although I imagine the answer is really that there is a right and wrong way to read Messianic views into the text.
I often tell myself there is a big difference between ‘trying to be like God’ and ‘trying to be like God’. One is restoring His image, the other is Lucifer’s way (“I will make myself like the Most High”). However, the language sounds the same. Wisdom is in ‘separating the clean from the unclean’, or realizing the difference.
Yes Carl, we are to have the mind of Christ. But that isn’t the issue here. The issue is what the text means and what it meant to those who heard it first. To read all the Bible as if it were written to us is to misunderstand it. Yes, we can APPLY the text in ways that reflect our fuller knowledge, but that is not the same as exegesis. If we ignore the culture and time of the original audience, then all we really have is whatever WE think about the text. And in 100 years, that generation will do the same thing to us. We must first begin by knowing what the text meant to the original audience before we can make up our own meanings.
As for O.T.(the older part of the ONE book) living, I can tell you this with certainty, I wasn’t there! For that was then and this is now, and we should forever be grateful for the continual unfolding of the gospel story..which is His-story. The only evidence I have of Paul or of Job or of a man named Moses are the words that have been written in a Book. Somehow (I wonder if Providence was involved here) the stories of these men of God have been preserved for generations upon generations and up until this very day. Why would I be interested (at all) in the story of Moses, or of Abraham, or of Job? Is each man’s story instructional? I love to learn from my own mistakes, but even more-so from the mistakes of others! And as the scripture states- ~ These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come ~ (1 Corinthians 10.11) I am fully capable, (praise God) of learning from the mistakes made by Moses, by Noah, by Abraham and by David. The answer is “D” – all of the above, the scriptures are full of instruction! -and wasn’t it our Savior Himself who taught His talmudim using parables? May I ask “why?” Aren’t parables, (an earthly story with a heavenly meaning) also instructional and beneficial? I gotta answer- “amen!” Yes, they are.. when we learn to listen! (whoever has ears, let him hear!) If faith comes by hearing (and according to the word of God, it does) then shouldn’t we pray for a “tuneup”of our hearing? The scriptures speak to me again, “Speak LORD, for your servant is listening” not “listen LORD, for your servant is speaking!” lol!
Is this a paradigm shift? Most assuredly so, for the life of Christ, (our Master) is both our model and our pattern; and He “went about doing good.”
We, today, have no excuses left, for we now are “alive and well” and on this side of the cross and of the resurrection of The Chosen ONE, the LORD Jesus (who is the) long-promised Christ. Prophecies were foretold and prophecies have been fulfilled. We have traveled far according to the book of Hebrews- from shadow to substance, and according to the words of our Savior, “old things have passed away and all things are become new!” – Now there’s a paradigm shift! Maybe we could find a more eco-friendly name for this- could we call it, maybe “repentance?”
And as for my “Messianic view,” the promised Messiah has come! This is the “gospel” truth! (good news!)
~ And that He died for all, that they who live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again ~ (2 Corinthians 5.15)
Living for Jesus, a life that is true,
Striving to please Him in all that I do;
Yielding allegiance, glad-hearted and free,
This is the pathway of blessing for me.
O Jesus, LORD and Savior, I give myself to Thee,
For Thou, in Thy atonement, didst give Thyself for me;
I own no other Master, my heart shall be Thy throne;
My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for Thee alone.
Living for Jesus Who died in my place,
Bearing on Calv’ry my sin and disgrace;
Such love constrains me to answer His call,
Follow His leading and give Him my all.
Living for Jesus, wherever I am,
Doing each duty in His holy Name;
Willing to suffer affliction and loss,
Deeming each trial a part of my cross.
Living for Jesus through earth’s little while,
My dearest treasure, the light of His smile;
Seeking the lost ones He died to redeem,
Bringing the weary to find rest in Him.
O Jesus, LORD and Savior, I give myself to Thee,
For Thou, in Thy atonement, didst give Thyself for me;
I own no other Master, my heart shall be Thy throne;
My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for Thee alone.
(Thomas O. Chisholm, 1917)
–Is each man’s story instructional? I love to learn from my own mistakes, but even more-so from the mistakes of others! —
Carl, I’d like to add, in glorious backup song, 30 or so ‘Amens’ to that!
http://youtu.be/HuVcw9HuTho
The book of Hebrews must also be read in context of to whom and why it was written. I recently listened again to a wonderful teaching by Rico Cortes explaining that the book of Hebrews is about Yom Kippur and written to a specific people in order to comfort them and prepare them for the destruction of the temple in 70 a.d. They would no longer be able to bring their sacrifices on the Day of Atonement, but not to worry because Yeshua was/is the supreme sacrifice, and it is the high priest’s sacrifices that have been replaced. One can make it say whatever they want, but I think this is a perfect example of what Skip is referring too, and I agree. Reading Hebrews in this light makes a whole lot of sense.
Galatians has always been a tough one for those of us who have come in to the knowledge that “the Torah is good”. Once convinced we share our newfound revelatians with our church friends who accuse us of “being under the law”. I marvel how the letters from the churches were not included with Paul’s answers, why not? They would have provided context and we would not have so much confusion and the abandonment of the Hebrew context of the “New Testament”.
Maybe the “rocks shall speak” and we will find these lost letters! In the meantime, we have to dig out the truth pebble by pebble.