“Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood.” Acts 15:19-20 NASB Abstain – (This is going to be…
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky . . .” Genesis 1:26 NASB Image – Now we know that tselem (image) is associated culturally with the representation of the god in…
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. Proverbs 4:18 NASB Righteous – This Hebrew word (tsedeq), occurring more than 250 times in the Old Testament, carries the connotation of moral conformity to norm or standard. It is used to describe the…
“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48 NASB Perfect – Yeshua’s demand seems perfectly reasonable, right? You and I can be perfect, can’t we? God demands it. We are accountable. Therefore, we should do it. When I was much younger, this verse scared me to death. I knew…
“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder; . . .’” Matthew 5:21 NASB You have heard – Judaism rejects Jesus, but not because of his claim to be the Messiah. Judaism rejects Jesus because Jews believe that Jesus rejected Torah. Since Torah is the fundamental and unalterable basis of…
“Therefore whatever you want others to do for you, do so for them; for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12 NASB The Law and the Prophets – Jacob Neusner, one of today’s experts in Judaism, makes the following observation: “What marks Judaism apart from the other monotheist religions? Judaism recognizes no other…
This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law that endures forever: all they that keep it shall come to life; but such as leave it shall die. Baruch 4:1 Endures forever – (This is a bit scholarly. Don’t give up too soon.) The Book of Baruch is part of the canon…
if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow-countrymen and save some of them. Romans 11:14 NASB Move – What have we done? That ought to be the paramount question for our time. I don’t mean what have we done to human dignity, social engineering, planetary capitalism, and the suicide of integrity. I mean what…
“The whole law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:40 (R. T. France) Hang – How do all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two? What exactly is the relationship? If you were reading this in Greek, you would notice something odd. The verb here (kremannumi) is a lengthened form…
“The whole law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:40 (R. T. France) Whole – How much of the Torah hangs on the two weightier commandments “love God” and “love your neighbor”? Holos – all of it! Agreed? Now think about what this means. If Yeshua is correct, then every one of…
