Learning from Our Jewish Friends

 

Learning from Our Jewish Friends

 

Yesterday (September 25, 2022) at sunset marked the beginning of the Jewish Holiday called Rosh Hashana.  It is the first day of the 10-day period called Israel’s “High Holy Days” and is the start of Israel’s New Year (this being Year 5783).  This 10-day period is commonly referred to as the “Days of Awe” or “Days of Repentance”, and culminates in the observance of Yom Kippur, the “Day of Atonement”.  (https://www.jewfaq.org/what_is_judaism )

I think it is important for Christians and others who are Bible students to not only be aware of these observances, but to also understand their relevance to those who believe in Jesus Christ.  It is to our benefit to know that our Lord has committed to bless those who bless Israel, and curse those who curse her (Genesis 12: 2-3; 27: 29; and Numbers 24: 1-9). However, even as we do not accept Israel’s teachings as our doctrine today, we definitely appreciate the value of their beliefs as having laid a foundation for our current doctrine (2 Timothy 3: 16-17).

With the onset of Israel’s New Year, our Jewish friends are called on to begin a period of soul-searching; reviewing their actions over the past year; and making plans to correct past mistakes.  These days of preparation come to conclusion on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. In the Torah Scripture, the LORD gave instructions to Moses as to how the Nation of Israel was to approach Him once yearly through their High Priest, to demonstrate their repentance and atone for their sins. That process required the blood of animals that had been sacrificed to be sprinkled on the Mercy Seat above the Ark of the Covenant, in the Holy of Holies in Israel’s Temple (Leviticus Chapter 16).  

Today, in the absence of Israel’s Temple, a Jew is to demonstrate repentance and make amends on an individual basis. Current Jewish religious practice defines how that is to be accomplished (https://www.jewfaq.org/yom_kippur )

For Christians, we believe that our Lord Jesus fulfilled God’s requirement for the shedding of innocent blood to atone for our sins through His suffering, Crucifixion and death (Hebrews Chapter Nine).  That is the foundation for our faith in the Gospel of Grace…that He died to atone / pay for our sins (1 Corinthians 15: 1-4; Romans 10: 9-13). We believe that His Resurrection confirmed that God has accepted His blood as full payment for our sins and established His complete victory over death on our behalf.  Through God’s Grace, we who believe what our Lord Jesus has done, have received eternal life… (and other blessings that will be the subject of another posting).

The context for what we as Christians believe is key for our understanding of how God has dealt with mankind over the centuries, especially through His Chosen People Israel.  God had been preparing them to be a “holy nation” and “kingdom of priests”, who would evangelize the Gentile world (Exodus 19: 1-6). Although they failed to meet that expectation through their rejection of our Lord Jesus, they have nonetheless given us invaluable information for our learning and doctrine (Romans 11: 1-11).

Dr. W.A. Robinson

 

Bible View of Man: One of a Kind and One Mankind

 

When physicians and other health professionals look at a patient, they are trained to focus on that individual. The training of those professionals leads them to analyze the patient from different perspectives ranging from the whole-body physical picture to the cellular / microscopic level.  In the field of public health, health professionals are trained to focus on groups of patients or prospective patients (population groups) to analyze those population groups in the context of the broader populations of mankind.

In a manner similar to the example above, the Bible encourages Christians to look at their existence both as individuals who have a personal history, relationship and destiny with our Lord Jesus and our Heavenly Father…as well as members of the world community of mankind. These combined personal and global perspectives allow us as Christians to have a very different view of the world we live in, compared to those who do not read or understand what the Scripture is teaching us.

Consider the amazing expression of God’s love for man from the beginning when He created the heaven and the earth.  God made the environment perfect in every way. Then He created man in His own image (an eternal spirit with a soul); gave man a physical body to facilitate his existence in this new, ideal environment; and then gave man dominion rule over the entire creation (Genesis Chapters One and Two).  This began our history of mankind as we know it.

Some unknown time after his creation, the first man Adam made the fateful choice to not believe God; rejecting His Love; and thereby receiving the penalty of death (separation from God). In this manner, Adam followed the deceitful temptation of the Evil One, casting all future generations into a life of sin / rebellion against God, and death. (Genesis Chapter Three). As a result, God regards each of us as individuals (one of a kind), but also as part of the family of “one mankind”.  We can make the choice to either believe God or reject His offer of redemption.

From the beginning, God’s love was evident in His providing for the redemption and restoration of Adam and Eve. God’s demonstration of how man could be restored to righteousness in His eyes (through the shedding of innocent blood) applied directly to these two individuals. The LORD God made coats of animal skins to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve, to replace the fig leaf aprons they had made to cover themselves (Genesis Chapter Three). Fortunately for us as individuals, this act by the LORD God established the pattern whereby all mankind could be saved through the shedding of the innocent Holy blood of the Son of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As Christians, we need only believe what God and our Lord Jesus have done on our behalf (John 3: 16 – 18; 1 Corinthians 15: 1-4; Romans 10: 9-13; and Ephesians 2: 4 – 9).

Throughout the Bible, the concept of each individual (one of a kind) making personal choices is evident.  But also evident is the fact that in many instances, the choices of individuals have had an impact on the future on mankind in general. Consider Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Pharaoh, Esther, David, Mary, John the Baptist, Pontius Pilate, and Saul / Paul, among others.

Our current world is a picture of the collective impact of mankind over many centuries.  Few would argue that this picture is what God wanted for mankind when He created the first man. This current world is the result of the collective actions of millions of men, too many, unfortunately under the influence of the sin-nature inherited from the first man Adam after he sinned against God. (See especially Romans Chapter Seven).

Now, all this leads to the ultimate results or consequences of the actions of each of us as individuals, as described in the final five chapters of the final book of Scripture, The Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Although John the Revelator wrote using a considerable amount of symbolism, it is clear that those individuals of the body of mankind who chose to believe God and have received His love gift of Righteousness through faith in His Son, have their names written in the Lamb’s Book of (Eternal) Life.   The rest of mankind is doomed to the eternal separation of their soul / spirit from the Creator God, as they have made the choice to not believe in His Son.

For those who would argue that God is not being fair to those who might not believe in our Lord Jesus, the Scripture declares: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation (unto eternal life) hath appeared to all men…” (Titus 2:11-14). We are not likely to fully understand how this happened, but we do believe that the Scripture is the true word of God (2 Timothy 3:16).  As Christians, we believe God.

More on the Bible’s message to mankind in general will be discussed in Part Two.

Dr. W.A. Robinson

 

Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth – Part 2

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15

In the first part of this topic, I indicated that the Apostle Paul’s instruction to his protégé` Timothy to “rightly divide the word of truth” might be referring to the differences in doctrine between those who initially followed our Lord Jesus based on His Earthly Ministry (members of Israel’s Jerusalem Church), and the doctrine of those (predominantly Gentiles) who learned about Him following His crucifixion, death, burial, Resurrection and Ascension.   My explanation follows.

When Timothy was to interact with those who had been or become followers of our Lord Jesus, it would be important for him to acknowledge the doctrine of the Jews in the Jerusalem Church, based on the Gospel of the Kingdom, and the different doctrine believed by those who had been taught the Gospel of Grace, revealed by the Ascended Lord to the Apostle Paul.  

When the Lord named His 12 Disciples, His command was that they preach saying “the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 10: 7).  He was directing them to announce His presence as the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah (Isaiah 45:17, 59: 20-21; Matthew 1: 18-23, Romans 11: 26-27, and others).  As John the Baptist had instructed believers in Israel to repent and be baptized (with water) for the remission of their sins (Matthew 3: 1-6, Mark 1: 1-8, Luke 3: 1-6), so also did the Apostle Peter after the Lord’s Ascension (Acts 2: 21-39).  If Israel as a Nation had repented, the Ascended Lord would return to establish His Eternal Kingdom in Jerusalem. That was the Gospel of the Kingdom.

On the other hand, the Gospel of Grace was introduced by the Ascended Lord Jesus after Israel’s rejection of Him as their Messiah. The Lord revealed to the Apostle Paul that through His crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection He had provided for the remission of the sins of all who would believe what He had accomplished on their behalf.  That Gospel (1 Corinthians 15: 1-4; Romans 10: 9-13) confirms that our Lord met God’s requirement for the remission of sin to be paid through the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9: 11-22).  The requirement for Salvation to eternal life for Christians (Jew and Gentile) today is that we simply believe / have faith in what the Lord has done on our behalf (Hebrews 11: 6).  Today we are saved through His Grace, not through the “works” that some Christians feel or might have been taught they must accomplish to be accepted by God.

That final sentence above was important enough that the Holy Spirit prompted Luke (in Acts Chapter 15) and the Apostle Paul (in the Book of Galatians) to specifically address this issue.  Quite noteworthy is the agreement reached between the officials of the Jerusalem Church and Paul and his associates.  The Jerusalem Church would continue to evangelize the people of the Circumcision / Nation of Israel under the Gospel of the Kingdom. Further, they would not interfere with Paul and others who taught the Uncircumcision / Gentiles the Gospel of Grace (Galatians 2: 1-10, Acts 15: 1-29).

As Paul had advised Timothy about “rightly dividing the word of truth”, it would be important for him to acknowledge these differences in doctrine…especially among those who continued to identify themselves as followers of our Lord Jesus.  I will write more on the distinctions between these two gospels soon.

Dr. W.A. Robinson

Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15

 

 

Several years ago, one of my teachers pointed to the verse above, and especially the phrase “…rightly dividing the word of truth.”  Finding clarification in the meaning of those few words totally changed my approach to understanding the Scripture. 

As he was nearing the end of his Apostleship and life, Paul had written to his young protégé` Timothy.  Paul sought to encourage him and give him instructions related to their newly established churches among the Gentiles. One key to Timothy’s success would be his being mindful of this admonition to rightly divide the word of truth.  

My earlier focus in Bible study had been on two key scripture verses from the same second letter from Paul to Timothy. In the next chapter Paul had advised: “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  Those two verses set a foundation for understanding that there are no insignificant portions of the Scripture.  At that time, I looked at the Old and New Testaments as a single scriptural document, to be taken as a “whole truth”. The call to “rightly divide” this truth brought this new perspective.

Early in my study as a Christian, and in my limited appreciation of the need to consider the Bible as a whole, I had regarded the Old Testament as only somewhat relevant.  It had been essentially focused on the Nation of Israel, but included some stories familiar even to Christians, such as Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark, David and Goliath, Samson and Delilah, and others.  But there was no mention of Jesus.  It seemed rather easy to think of the “dividing” of the word to be separating the Old Testament from the New Testament, where our Lord Jesus was introduced…but that might not have been the division the Apostle Paul wanted Timothy to address.

After further study of the life of our Lord Jesus, other factors became manifest. It was clear that during His Earthly ministry, the Lord was adamant that His Ministry was to be restricted to only the people of the Nation of Israel (Matthew 10: 1-6).  His rationale for excluding the Gentiles at that time would be revealed later.  His 12 Disciples and others who followed Him during those three-plus years were all members of the Nation of Israel.  From the heralding of John the Baptist who announced Him, until the Lord’s crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and Ascension, only Jews comprised what we now call the Jerusalem Church. 

That early group of the Lord’s followers must be distinguished from the group of predominantly (but not solely) Gentile Christians (us) who learned of salvation to eternal life through the Ascended Lord’s revelations to the Apostle Paul (beginning Acts Chapter Nine).  In the next section of this blog, I’ll explain why the “rightly dividing of the word of truth” likely relates to these two groups of followers of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Or maybe not that alone.

Dr. W. A. Robinson