Paul’s Measuring Stick
Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 1:13 NASB
Standard – “The Torah was the absolute standard against which all other beliefs and practices were measured. If a ruling or teaching did not agree with Torah (at least as the Sages interpreted it), it simply was not received. Clearly, to propose new teaching that went contrary to Torah or even to suggest that the Torah was no longer viable was outside the realm of possibility for the Sages.”[1] Hegg’s remark makes it abundantly clear that a rabbinic Pharisee like Paul would not dare to propose any theological claim or practical application that ignored, rejected or contradicted Torah. The “standard of sound words” that Paul entrusts to Timothy is Torah; nothing more, nothing less.
But this raises some very knotty problems, doesn’t it? What do we do about the idea that the Church replaced Israel? What do we do about the concept that faith is correct thinking? What do we do about the Trinity (do I even dare raise the subject?)? What of the idea that we are “eternally saved” regardless of our subsequent actions? The answers to all of these questions are to be found in Torah, if we are to follow the exegetical practice of Paul. In other words, if you can’t find support for a theological proposition within the first five books of the Tanakh, then you are on very shaky ground.
Paul uses the Greek word hypotyposin in this verse. With a little creative observation, you can see its relationship to our word “type” or “prototype.” Classical Greek texts use this word for “mold” or “form.” In the LXX it translates the Hebrew words for “model” or even “idol.” But once we examine the rabbinic material that would have been quite evident in Paul’s own background, we find that there can be only one meaning for this Greek word in Paul’s directive to Timothy. The only “mold” for righteous living and understanding is Torah. There is no other revelation from God Himself for the conduct of the community. And, of course, Paul only had the Tanakh as his Bible. Paul echoes the Sages: If it isn’t in Torah, it isn’t!
This is hardly a threat. It is rather a challenge. We, who have been entrusted with Ketuvim Netzarim (the New Testament), are privileged to read men who poured over those Torah texts in order to show believers just how Torah is connected to their interpretations. We are rewarded because of their diligence. But in an age when so many no longer understand these Torah connections, we are called to rewrite them, to illuminate, articulate and demonstrate how each interpretation found in Paul and John and James and the rest, yes, even in Yeshua Himself, is based not on something new but rather on something very old.
Why is this so absolutely necessary now, after all these centuries? There are two reasons. First, the Christian community has lost touch with its foundation in the revelation of God to Israel. If we are going to fully embrace who we are and where we come from, then we must walk the Emmaus road with Him and discover how all the Law and the Prophets spoke of Him. It’s wonderful to have the efforts of the first century authors available to us, but we are not merely first century readers. We belong to a much older revelation – and we need to know it.
Secondly, of course, is that we who follow Yeshua HaMashiach will never be able to embrace our brothers and sisters in Abraham until we see the Torah as the common basis of our faith. God’s revelation to Moses is the fundamental and essential document of our faith – and the “our” is fully inclusive. Until we break down the artificial barrier erected by men who attempted to move away from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we will have no common ground at all. We must know in order that we may hear and obey and live the shema with all who worship YHWH.
So, go to work all you hearers of the word. Dig it out. Find the connections. Become Pauline.
Topical Index: standard, hypotyposin, Torah, 2 Timothy 1:13
[1] Tim Hegg, The Letter Writer, p. 139.
Good Morning and God bless you all today’ Word Study was fascinating and challanging specially the what about part in which I would like to add Phil 3:5-9 ’cause I’ve been taught this as a prooftext of him removing from the Torah.
Blessings once again
Benny de Brugal
I enjoyed the insight of your comments. I would like to know your understanding of the Sema in relation to the Christian view of the Trinity.
Thank You
I’d like to know that myself! It’s going to take a long time to sort out the differences between the Greek idea of person and the Hebrew idea of person. The paradigms are radically different. But I am thinking about it.
Skip,
You opened up the thought of; “What do we do about the Trinity (do I even dare raise the subject?)? What of the idea that we are “eternally saved” regardless of our subsequent actions?” How do these major teachings in Christianity relate to Torah?
Bill
If I follow your suggestion, Skip, I now have a life time of study ahead of me. To bring the Torah points to bear upon Christian teachings nd if the points are not there, the teachings from Christianity ought not be there. Not said very eloquently, but the idea is there. Here I was living in a fantacy tht one day I could retire from work and “thinking” which is also work. I guess what is really important is not so much what I think but what I do. Lord, be my helper.
Ah, did you think my job was to LIGHTEN the load?
Only in my dreams.
Skip you said: “did you think my job was to LIGHTEN the load”? No, it is to enlighten the OLD!
(double entendre: it was meant to mean the Tanak, but it could mean to enlighten old men like Roy, Carl and myself!) Either way your job is heavy…and appreciated. Michael
Brother Michael, any time, and every time- I am “exposed” to the light (the light- that which reveals) of the word(s) of God, I am “enlightened!”
~Send forth Your light and Your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You dwell ~ (Psalm 43.3)
~ Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path ~ (Psalm 119.105)
~ Those who look to Him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces ~ (Psalm 34.5)
Skip,
This is a great explanation; especially for me to use to enable me to explain this to others because I’m usually at a loss for words. I am curious about the use of Christ Jesus in the scripture from Timothy you used today. How does the word Christ fit into Torah teaching? It seems to me that “Christ” is a new word and thought pattern — and Greek.
Thanks,
Darlene
Just substitute “Messiah” or HaMashiach. Christ is only a Greek translation of the Hebrew.
Ah! Of course! Thank you for the reply.
Amen! & Amen! Skip!
Skip,
“What do we do about the concept that faith is correct thinking?” And here you are offering us “correct thinking” about Torah. 🙂
But . . .
As you say, the problem is not knowledge, it is action. And here’s where the rubber meets the road.
A requirement of Torah is accurate weights and measures (Lev. 19:35f). Apply this to monetary theory, and you have the cause of what is now called monetary inflation. This is the deliberate policy of government to change the value of money by increasing the amount of money available. And they use the printing presses and the banks to achieve their goal. But they also need the cooperation of the citizens, and the citizens seem most willing to cooperate.
A large portion of the “money” available is credit. And fractional reserve banking allows the government/bank duo to create money out of nothing (fiat money) effectively lowering the value of money.
Now it appears that the control of this issue is not in the hands of government or the banks, but the citizens who could – and should – refuse to borrow money, because if no one borrowed, the whole financial scheme would fall apart.
And it doesn’t stop there. Most people step around the usury prohibitions (Neh. 5:10; Psa. 15:5) each time they deposit money in a bank and expect a return on investment. How is that return generated? By lending at usury. The banks a) need depositors to lend at usury (which is what “saving” money is really about under the current system) , b) create fiat money using the fractional reserve banking system, c) need borrowers to make use of the newly created “money.”
These are just examples. We have “correct thinking” on many of the issues, what we now need is “correct action.” And maybe Sha’ul’s admonition “owe no man anything” (Rom. 13:8) is too easily overlooked or misread.
Does anyone have a plan?
I don’t have one, but we sure need one.
Ian, I agree with what you have said, until the last question.
HE has a plan. Do what He says concerning money. Stop cooperating with fraud. Yes, I understand that Yeshua indicates He will expect a return on His investment. (Is that even about money?) But what good is a ‘plan’ if we do not start doing the clearly explained instructions right now?
I see a culture of people who refuse to sacrifice our ‘standard of living’ in so many ways, because, we earned it, and it’s ours! Most people in the US do not even know that for the last two years, the Federal government has been working on a ‘plan’ to capture and redistribute the $3 Trillion that is in private pension funds, in a more ‘equitable’ manner of distribution. For those of us who are ‘ordinary citizens,’ the playing field is about to be levelled.
I am convinced that EVERY WORD He has said, has already been set in motion to be accomplished. We can be a part of the enabling process, and be faithful in the process, or, we can resist, and hang on to our cultural paradigm, and get ‘roasted’!
I have thought for a while that I need to get your book and read it, Ian. Your comments are always insightful. Thanks.
Skip, you’re emphasizing a point I’ve emphasized all thru my ministry—the necessity and obligation for Christians to know and study the Tanakh. The Jewish foundation of prophecy, for example, is one that I consistently underscore. My only exception to your idea of Paul’s rejection of anything not in the Torah is the fact of Paul’s revealing “mysteries” (i.e., things never before revealed by God—and therefore not in the Tanakh)–e.g. the Church (Jew & Gentile in one body thru Christ apart from the Law; and the Rapture (1 Cor 15). Otherwise I believe you’re 100%. Thanks for your ideas.
Interesting. I would suggest that a quick study of ekklesia and soma for edah and qe’halah would show that Paul’s idea of the body isn’t quite what we have as “church,” and that he is consistent in his Hebraic view by not using synagoge (Greek).
As for the rapture, not quite sure about that one yet. Who is taken and who is left (as in the days of Noah)
Dr Jim, Paul’s revealing of “mysteries” is another direct evidence of his rabbinic (pharisaic) training, exegesis and teaching methods.
Are you familiar with the Hebrew acronym transliterated PaRDeS?
The rabbis teach that there are four levels of understanding of the scriptures:
Pashat – the plain, literal, “black and white” meaning of the text – what it literally says.
Remez – the allegorical – something that relates to the text but is understood allegorically
Drash – literally “Study” – extracting the practical life principles and applying them to other situations, and
Sod – the “mystery” – something “deeper” that is understood through a deeper analysis of the text, the pictorgraphs of the letters, the scribal marks, gematria (numeric values of letters and words – not “numerology”, btw) and thematic connections between passages and stories.
The basic rule of thumb, though, is that nothing that is understood by remez, drash or sod may contradict the pashat reading and still be valid.
When Sha’ul says, therefore, that “I show you a mystery” he is drawing connections that are not plainly seen from the text, but become evident through deeper study. It is not that these are “new” revelations, but rather they were there all along.
“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; it is the glory of Kings to search it out.”
As for the rapture, in 1 Cor 15, Sha’ul tells us when that will take place – “at the last trump”, which is a direct reference to the Feast of Trumpets (found in Torah, specifically Lev 23). This is another teaching derived from the Feasts of YHVH, the story of Noah and the story of the Exodus from Egypt and the journey through the wilderness (and other connections).
Yes, all that Sha’ul taught can be found in the Tanakh. If not, it is not Sha’ul who was mistaken – it is either the translation or our understanding that is lacking (or both).
~ Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus ~ (2 Timothy 1:13)
I too, would ask Paul and Silas the very same question as the Philippian jailor:
~ What must I do to be saved? ~ (Acts 16.31)
What were the “sound words,” – the words spoken by Paul?
Was (and is) Yeshua HaMashiach, the LORD Jesus (who is the) Christ (the Anointed) of the New Covenant, the covenant established forever- in and through the blood of the Passover Lamb, the object of saving faith, the uncreatedly Divine Who became the incarnatedly human, the Divine-human Revealer-Redeemer?
Then, what must I (or any man) do to be saved?
~ in the faith and love which are (where?) in Christ* (The Messiah Jesus).
Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded,
For with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth
Our full homage to demand.
King of kings, yet born of Mary,
As of old on earth He stood,
LORD of lords, in human vesture,
In the body and the blood;
He will give to all the faithful
His own self for heavenly food.
Rank on rank the host of heaven
Spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the Light of light descendeth
From the realms of endless day,
That the powers of hell may vanish
As the darkness clears away.
At His feet the six winged seraph,
Cherubim with sleepless eye,
Veil their faces to the Presence,
As with ceaseless voice they cry:
Alleluia, Alleluia
Alleluia, LORD Most High!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wl4u8lnDQs
Dr. Roper, what of the (amazing) New(er) Covenant revelation, never known by mortal man in the Old(er) Covenant, we may now not only approach, but address and know YHWH, El Elyon as our “ABBA-Father!”
It is unfortunate that Joachim Jeremias introduced the myth that Christianity was the first monotheism to call God “Father.” Christians have latched on to his scholarly mistake and insist that Judaism never had the concept of God as “our Father” until after Yeshua introduced it. But this isn’t historically true. Jeremias, despite being a great New Testament scholar, was wrong about this. So, the idea is NOT NEW and it was, and still is, essentially Jewish.