Paul’s Shema (2) Rewind
So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Romans 10:17 NASB
Christ – Is it the Son’s words or the Father’s words? If you look at this verse in the King James Version, it reads, “by the word of God.” That’s because the KJV is based on the Greek Textus Receptus, the Greek text that was available in 1611. A lot of archeology has occurred since King James, resulting in the modification of this text and many others, based on older fragments. The change from “word of God (theou)” to “word of Christ (christou)” is based on fragments dating from about 200 AD to 1060 AD. But other fragments, dating from the Fifth and Sixth Centuries, use the word theou. This raises an interesting question. If christou is in the oldest fragment, why would subsequent copies of the text change the word to the less shocking Greek word theou? After all, to claim that faith is by hearing the spoken word of God is not nearly as controversial as claiming that faith is by hearing the spoken word of the Messiah. Furthermore, if the Christian Church really separated from its Jewish background over the issue of the Messiah, then why would fragments from the Fourth and Fifth Centuries alter the text to read “word of God” rather than “word of Christ”? How would this help distinguish Christians from Jewish believers?
This puzzle may never be solved, but it should cause us to pause. We should take a step back when we find theological proclamations that claim faith in “Jesus” is Paul’s message based on this verse. We might also reconsider the claim that the words of Yeshua replace the words of YHVH. We should ask the question about when Jews and Christians really did part company. This verse, a verse that has been so much a part of our evangelical tradition, has a lot more buried in it than we thought. We should probably ask if rabbi Sha’ul would have seen any difference between the rhema of christos and the rhema of theos.
Of course, we’ve only scratched the surface of textual criticism (the science of determining what the original text actually said). And we are amateurs at this, so there are probably a lot of very good reasons for accepting christou rather than theou. But it’s still a bit odd, isn’t it, that somehow theou was substituted centuries after Christianity was supposed to have separated from Judaism?
All of this raises another personal question. If Paul considers faith described by the Hebrew verb shama and shama is essentially connected to the spoken word of the Messiah (or of God), then no matter where the word comes from, it must still be obeyed in order to produce faith. So, how’s that working out for you? Are you obeying in order to experience faith or are you waiting for faith in order to obey? When you are confronted by a choice, a demand from Scripture, do you ask God or the Messiah to give you the faith to believe, or do you do what it says, knowing that your actions will bring faith in tow? Which comes first for you—hearing/obeying or having faith?
Topical Index: faith, word, rhema, God, theos, Christ, christos, Romans 10:17
ISRAEL UPDATE: We are now in Jerusalem enjoying a deep experience of the Jewish way of life and talking about important connections to biblical texts. By the time you read this we will be getting ready for the coming of Shabbat at the Western wall. Such a great experience. Wish you ALL were here with us.
Shalom everybody!
I always wondered why Christians allways strugle with the same things like when there is sin controlling their lives..even really bad sins. I early understand that the Shema tells us to HEAR and OBEY..that most people only hear but leave the obecience behind..there is no understanding that we ourselves need to do our part which is to obey YHVH instead of only hearing and then passivly wait for God to change our behaviour! I heard it many times preached that you can not do anything but must wait for God to change you..that implies not faith at all because faith is when you walk Torah!
I grieve somethimes for these wrong and false doctrines and concepts of YHVH that have influenced also those Christians who are really sincere searching for God. How painfull must it be for YHVHs heart! Both Jews and Christians have failed their calling and still we do. Its a great comfort to me that YHVH is FAITHFUL and one day we will be one people, both Jews and gentile believers.
May YHVH bless you Skip and thank you for your teachings..
YHVH bless ALL at Gods Table..
But Skip, you are forgetting that to most in the “Church,” there is no difference between Christ and God. They believe they are one and the same. So trying to go through the process of textual criticism is a moot point. In the words of a current politician, “What difference does it make?” However, once you understand there IS a difference between Yeshua and YHWH, going through the textual criticism is important — there is something to discover about the original text and how it affects our interpretation of Sha’ul’s original intent.
I found myself thinking the same, Rick. The fact that the earlier version was christos and then changed to theos suggests to me that it was part and parcel of declaring Yeshua was God incarnate. Just one more peg to lock down the trinitarian view.
I always thought this might relate to the newer text being based on an earlier MSS than the older text. So a text from 800AD could be based on an older more accurate MSS (from say 30AD) and a text from 100AD could be based on an MSS from 80AD and, perhaps, even edited to serve a political purpose.
Time Travel
We might also reconsider the claim that the words of Yeshua replace [replace or fulfill?] the words of YHVH. Why should we consider this an issue at all? The claim of (the) Christ – “before Abraham was, I AM” is what is a stake here. Christians have embraced the Messiah as (both) Savior and LORD. He is (both) the Alpha and the Omega – the beginning and the end. Can this be said of any (other) mortal man? Oh, — I forgot to mention, “virgin-born” son of man — as was prophesied in the scriptures..
I would love to know (or at least discuss) “Why?” Where do the Christians (followers of The Way) and Jews “part ways?” What more can we say, than to “YOU” He has said? “He came unto HIs own.. (hmm.. wonder who that might be?) and His own received Him not.. (the rest of the story is yet to come..)
Let’s rewind a couple of millennia, back to the days between B.C. and A.D. Yes, back to the central event of history and of all civilization, the birth, life, crucifixion and resurrection of the Lamb sent from God. Shall we embrace or reject the words of John the Immerser: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Not only may we “rewind,” but we may also (according to John the Revelator), “fast-forward” to “see” the Lamb of God in HIs future glory.
As is our habit of explaining away the Scriptures, even though they seem to scream “the promised Messiah has come,” let us for a brief moment “see” what John saw:
Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels and living creatures and elders encircling the throne, and their number was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. In a loud voice they said: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever.”…(Revelation 5.11-13)
Hmmm.. “worthy is the Lamb who was slain.,” This follower of the Way would love to inquire — just who is being worshiped here? And, what’s this? “EVERY” knee shall bow? and.. “EVERY” tongue confess? Oh? Is this true? My knees? Your knees? Jewish knees? Gentile knees?
Friend, this “Jewish/Gentile” separation has got to go.. but how? Does the word of God speak to this (seeming) dilemma or (seeming) conundrum? Yes, it does. That is, if “any man” have ears to hear:
Who is “any man?” Is he Jewish? Male? Black? European? Republican?
What do the Scriptures say? (Five words to live by!)
“Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5.17)
Paul (formerly known as Saul) wrote this. Was there a “change?” in him?
Is this our testimony as well?
~ This is a faithful saying, and worthy of ALL acceptation.. [as ALL have sinned!] that Christ Jesus has come into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief ~ (1 Timothy 1.15)
And now for the “good news” [While] His own received Him not.. (blindness in part has happened to Israel- He was despised and rejected by man), — as many as received Him — to them He gave the authority to become the sons (and daughters!) of God, even to those who believe in His Name! (John 1.12)
And once again we must cry out, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!!” — and by Your blood You have purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Amen.
But Carl, nearly everything you wrote requires separation. Your perspective on Scripture as interpreted by Christian ideas is PRECISELY why there is no common path. If you want to get in alignment with the JEWISH Bible and the JEWISH Messiah, you will have to stop writing about these texts as if they were Christian.
and that is exactly the conundrum! We are still looking at this Jewish book….and this Jewish Messiah….with 21st century Christian eyes…….sigh…..
“Are you obeying in order to experience faith or are you waiting for faith in order to obey?” Skip, that is a really neat statement. It also could serve to accentuate the ‘difference’ BETWEEN faith and/or obedience, too. But, at the end of the day, are we going to try to win an argument or are we going to succeed in understanding? What if we can’t have both? What if, in order to understand, we must resist picking up the argument in the first place? (I am going to resist asking the completely different question of what kind of difference it makes whether we think we have to hear God or Christ on this one.)
The one who determines the terms wins. Somebody split a baby here, long ago, and here we are, thinking we have to have one OR the other. Um, wouldn’t that be very GREEK of us? Isn’t the problem defined by the fact that we now think that there is a difference between hearing and obeying in the first place? Isn’t the reason we don’t think we have to obey today because we think that faith is somehow different than the actions of trust? But is it? Really? What if, when we succumb to the temptation to step into this fight (dialectic), we have already lost?
Could I humbly suggest that we go ask if the terms themselves have been corrupted, and step back one more step before we engage? Could we restate the problem first? I mean, it seems obvious that either faith IS action, or it is not. This, Shakespeare, could be the question.
Hello Laurita, Skip and others,
I know on the surface that hymnology may not make good theology. One of my all-time favorites though has been the hymn, “Trust and Obey.” It continues to exhort, “For there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
It suggests two actions, trust, obey. How they occur, and precisely when they occur is an intriguing question raised by Laurita.
Hebrews 11:1, “Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” eludes me unless I take time to consider faith is made up of hearing, decision to obey and action reflecting that. I am told the Hebrew mind would hear the “whole” not just parts and then conclude what is the whole intent being conveyed. So, faith synonymous with trust has been a life-long understanding for me, and faith, hearing/action is a newer paradigm. Lord, grant that our obedience and actions “faith” are tied to You.
David R
maybe it is as simple as obey … and then the rest follows…for if we must ‘trust’ first … we may talk ourselves ‘out’ of obeying?
The people uttered the phrase “na’aseh v’nishma,” “We will do and we will hear” (Exodus 24:7).
Now …. THAT is what I call trust.
Oh and we DO wish we were ALL there……may you be abundantly blessed as you soak in the revealing of His Word!
Baruch HaSHEM!
Pamela
Faith is a relationship . . .
a relationship instituted by God when we “hear” Him.
When God “spoke” to Abraham,
Abraham “heard” God’s Word.
And in his “hearing” a breathtaking relationship was introduced,
breaking open a door that man had previously shut.
“old things have passed away; behold all things became new. Now all things
are of God . . .”
So as Abraham ” heard’, Abraham “obeyed”. No questions asked.
The Scriptures call it FAITH.
And, yes, it does come from “hearing”. And the relationship that prompted it,
keeps it doing and believing.
Carl mentioned the glory of Christ. Skip asked the question of a common path.. Are we not overlooking the fact that the common ground is the Word of God. The OT introduces the Word the NT provides detail of the application of the Word. Shema hear and do is the message. The struggle persists why not just do both the NT and the OT explain the 10 commandments and how to achieve them. I read nothing deeper in the scriptures… What am I missing…
Historically speaking, to the best of my amateur knowledge, there have been many similar changes in translations of the Scriptures that have attempted to highlight the dynamics of the “Trinity” by making the words “God” and “Jesus” interchangeable. I am certainly an amateur at this, but it seems that this instance you pointed out here, Skip, may be yet another similar one. Notably, in the oldest historical texts (again, to the extent of my amateur knowledge), Jesus spoke of himself as the “Son of God” or “Son of Man”, and never outright as “God”, other than by inferring his divine nature as Son by calling himself “I Am”. He did, however, repeatedly demonstrate the “authority” given to the “Son of Man” that belonged only to YHWH — like the authority to forgive sins, to heal, to prescribe God’s Law, etc. In Paul’s and John’s letters, Jesus’ relationship to the Father is often described as in regards to “his God and Father” (Eph 1:3, Rev 1:6, etc.). Jesus worshiped and communed with God the Father in a way that he prayed would be exemplary for us to follow after (John 17). Jesus also never claimed equality with the Father, and claimed that the “the Father is greater than I am” (John 14:28). The great mystery of how a man could be born with a divine nature — that is, actually be God’s Son — is a mystery we may never fully understand. However, the many changes following the Nicean Council’s decision in 325 A.D. to simplify the whole paradox by coining the theological term “trinity” to describe the Father – Son – Holy Spirit relationship as equal and interchangeable may have led to many of the subsequent changes/confusions in Scriptures to make the Scriptures more “user friendly” to those being taught the newly invented theological term, “trinity”. Ultimately, I believe such changes have very much diluted the beauty of the great mystery of the Son of God being a man with a divine nature (John 1). The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are indeed all God — somehow — but they most definitely are not all the same ‘person’ and do not carry out interchangeable roles. If we’re ever to be able to most fully appreciate the accounts of the authors of the Scriptures in regards to their inspired reactions of witnessing the Son of God face-to-face, then it does necessitate the great importance of realizing the truest iterations of the original texts.
Thank you for your continued service of uncovering the meaning of the original texts of Scripture to your greatest ability, Skip! It is indeed a great blessing to the Body of Christ!
Sincerely,
Kyle Malkin
Hi Kyle — there is a book you might find helpful in parsing out your thinking about the divinity of Yeshua. Patrick Navas, “Divine Truth or Human Tradition?” He explores the trinity in depth with references to Christian, Jewish and Greek ideas. I know it’s available still on Kindle for $7.99 — which has gone up substantially in the last few years because I purchased it for about $2. Perhaps there’s been a run on the market. 🙂
Take Suzanne’s advice and read the book. It will lead you to others.
Just a few comments. I have written about the “I AM” passages, which in Greek cannot be considered as declarations of divinity unless you come to the text with that preconception. Take a look at this analysis by searching the web site. Secondly, the idea that Yeshua is a man with a divine nature is in itself the consequences of a Trinitarian view, developed about 400 CE. It’s not a mystery. It’s an equivocation on the meaning of the word “person.” I have also talked about this at length in lectures. Until Trinitarians stop telling me that Yeshua is a divine person but “person” is used in a way that in totally unique and has no application to ordinary usage, they are creating the concept out of thin air. It’s no surprise that Trinitarians like Milton Erickson ultimately claim that we must believe this doctrine BECAUSE IT IS UNEXPLAINABLE!
Out of the 18 commonly used translations, half of them- 9, says GOD, not Christ.
Surely there is a big difference between 200 AD to 1060 AD (AFTER Christ), when ‘Christ’ was used, to the Fifth and Sixth Centuries when the word theou/ God was identified as the Author!!
We are digging into translations!!! So vital as to WHOM we ought to worship, and WHO will we be facing at the Judgment Throne?!
Therefore, YHWH, HE is the Author and Finisher of our faith!
All gospel/ Good News comes from our ABBA above; He didn’t sent Himself, but His son to set an example /standard for us to live out Torah ways.
Christ ( we are ALL anointed, hopefully) with the Anointed/ inspired Scriptures coming first, but Jesus comes lately.
Rev 5:13- HCSB I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them say:
Blessing and honor and glory and dominion to the One seated on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!
Specifically, to the One SEATED on the Throne, and…..Only one can sit on the throne, NOT two!
Of course there’s a separation between Jesus, and YHWH, one is Greek based, the other is Hebraic.
Shalom!
I am that I am… Is this a statement of identification or a confirmation of a choice. Is there only one lonely God or is there others like YHVH which we are not aware of. And the trinity is it but a revelation of the power of the creator rather than different entities…
Please review the material I have already written about the ego eimi passages in John’s gospel. You may come to a different conclusion.
Gal.3:27 For those that in the Messiah were immersed, have put on the Messiah.
28 There is not Jew [Yehudim] and not Aramean [Gentile / Greek]; there is not servant and not a son of freedom, There is not male and not female: for all of you are ECHAD in Yeshua the Messiah.
29 And if you are of the Messiah, then you are … the seed of Abraham, and heirs by the Promise!
Anyone who regards their traditions as Christian, Messianic or Jewish (or even Muslim for that matter) need to:
Gen.12:1… Get you out of your country [CULTURE], and from your kindred (relatives)[SECURITY], and from your father’s house[ORAL TRADITIONS]; …. unto the [promised] land that I will show you.
Gen.6:6 And Abram abar abar (passed over / through) the land unto the place of Sh’khem (shoulder), unto the oak of Moreh (teaching) . … 7 And YHWH appeared unto Abram, and said: Unto your seed will I give this land [HaEretz].
NOT ONLY DO WE NEED TO DROP THE OFFENSIVE LABELING OF BROTHERS / SISTERS, WE SHOULD ALSO REFRAIN FROM USING INCORRECT TERMINOLOGY THAT MAY CAUSE DIVISION. There is no “Christian Jesus” and no “Jewish Yeshua”. There is Yashua Ben YaH, whose final manifestation 2000 years ago was as Yashua Ben Yoseph and who is expected soon as Yashua Ben David.
The community need to become Eberim … those who have voluntarily crossed out of the world and into the kingdom… to be ECHAD with one another and with the Heavenly Family.
And put shoulder to TORAH study.
Pieter goeie punt. The only division between OT and NT teachings are the source. I accept that language issues would have caused major misunderstandings as Skip keeps reminding us.
Skip I agree with your discussions of I am. I am not a christian nor a jew I am from a gnostic religion and as such I relate easy with your reflections as with shema and emeth or ego eimi I read this in all the biblical reminders. I as in your next blog acknowledge that we study to prepare as did Yeshau and when the God given time is right… The history reveals the truth in such divine interventions we will not comprehend until the task is done.