Posted in Israel • Jews • Judaism • Law • Tradition • Whole Bible Christianity book

Judaizing

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Chapter 6, ‘Whole Bible Christianity’

The word ‘Judaizing’ has been wrongly used to describe a person who wants to follow all of God’s Word, including the Law. It implies that following the Law is a Jewish thing, and that Jewish things are bad (which isn’t necessarily true). Judaizing just means ‘to live like a Jew.’

14But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? (Galatians 2:14 NASB95, underline added)

To live like a Jew is to adopt Jewish customs. These are mostly added on to the Law, and are spelled out in the oral law (Talmud). Judaism doesn’t have much in common with the Bible. It elevates tradition and rabbi’s rulings over the Torah. Jesus (John 7:19) Stephen (Acts 7:53) and Paul (Galatians 6:13) say that Jews do not follow the Law. There are also places like 2 Kings 17 that describe ‘living like a Jew’ as a lot different than following Torah. Through Judaism prophets of God are killed, and the kingdom of heaven suffers violence (Matthew 11:12).

Israel (as a group) has only truly followed Torah a few brief times in their history. All sorts of tradition and interpretation were added at various times that took them far away from His Word. That’s why God got on their case so much. He managed to beat disobedience back on occasion with a prophet or a king like Josiah. For certain people Jesus managed to reduce the influence too. Torah is mixed in with Judaism, but Judaism is not solely a practice of Torah.

13Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, 14Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; And the wisdom of their wise men will perish, And the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.” (Isaiah 29:13-14 NASB95)

A whole Bible Christian strives for a balance between blindly embracing all of Jewish tradition bound up in Judaism, and rejecting anything and everything Jewish. Living the Law is different and better than living like a Jew.

Posted in Law • Whole Bible Christianity book • Works

Works of Law

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Chapter 6 – Whole Bible Objections, ‘Whole Bible Christianity’

Still another excuse some use to ignore the Law is the claim that “works of the Law” are bad. A section of this group even goes so far as to say actions done without “feeling like we are led by the Spirit” are “works of the Law.” They discourage any activity if it isn’t “felt” – the church version of “if it feels good, do it.” If they do something, such as work in a soup kitchen, without “feeling” it, then it must be a “work of the flesh” or by association one of those terrible “works of the Law.” So they avoid doing what God plainly commands because they don’t “feel led.” Feelings become king, and simple obedience to the whole of the Word is reduced to a sin.

On the surface it does look like parts of the Bible teach that works of the Law are not “from the Spirit,” that they don’t belong in a believer’s walk, and should be avoided. The NASB (and others) translates words from Paul in Romans 3, Galatians 2 and Galatians 3 as ‘works of the Law’ (capital L and with the added definite article ‘the’). Paul is made to look very negative about “works of the Law” at first glance.

Yet the translation is not correct according to the Greek. It also doesn’t stand up to a balanced scrutiny from the whole of the Word. The word ‘Law’ in those references should be lowercase and without the article, as in, ‘works of law.’ ‘Works of the Law’ is an attempt to limit works to the Mosaic Law. It castes obedience as wrong. The more accurate statement, ‘works of law,’ includes any legal relationship, any ‘work of the flesh,’ or any try at trading merit for grace. It includes the Law but isn’t limited to The Law. ‘Works of law’ isn’t the same as the anti-Law statement ‘works of the Law.’

‘Works of law’ describes a legal relationship. A legal relationship is where I do things that I get paid for, and I only do them if I get paid. This was the basis of the Satan’s accusation against Job. He said that Job only worshiped God because he got paid (Job 1:9-11). He thought that if God took away the pay or the “hedge” (God’s protection) that Job would falter.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego weren’t interested in pay for following God’s Word (Daniel 3). They were threatened with death by furnace, but even if God wouldn’t ‘pay off’ with a rescue they were still going to stick with Him.
17 “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 “But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”(Daniel 3:17-18 NASB95)

Posted in Daily Living • Judgment • Whole Bible Christianity book

Thorough Investigation

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From chapter 9 of ‘Whole Bible Christianity’

Our ninth guideline is where quite a few people falter in spectacular fashion. We jump to a conclusion based on what little we see. Or we react by our own set of laws instead of God’s. This is such a common occurrence now, especially in the church. It is easy to lose sight of the fact that it is a standard part of God’s Word to make a thorough investigation. After all, everyone should have a fair trial before the hanging!

14then you shall investigate and search out and inquire thoroughly. If it is true and the matter established that this abomination has been done among you, (Deuteronomy 13:14 NASB95)

18“The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely, 19then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. (Deuteronomy 19:18-19 NASB95)

I’m sure we’ve all experienced a rushed judgment directed at ourselves. We desperately wish that people would give us a chance to explain the circumstances. But they’ve already passed sentence and consigned you or me to the outer darkness for all they care. Sometimes there’s another agenda, such as someone just wanting to get rid of you or smear your reputation. This is another reason people don’t want to have an objective standard around. The standard makes it harder to railroad people.

If I am on the receiving end of this, there’s not much I can do except heave a large sigh of regret and move on. Actually, I’m quite practiced at this by now, because it seems very few people care to investigate thoroughly. But it really frustrates when people are judging you on their own personal criteria not connected with the Word.

A thorough investigation is when facts are gathered, witnesses come forward and we evaluate their testimony. We compare the facts to the Word in order to render an impartial and just verdict. At least, this is what’s supposed to happen. You and I both know how very rare this is in most congregations today.
Our God is a just god, and He expects His people to pursue justice too. But influence pedaling is a major past time. Pastors or rabbis are untouchable. Money is king with a lot of people. Real justice is scarce. Many want to commit the Law to the rubbish heap so they can pursue their agendas unburdened by accountability or humility.

And don’t try to sell me the lame concept that justice and love are separate. People try this all the time. You’ve heard it said (now where have I heard that statement before?) that we should exercise ‘justice in love.’ This is true, except that the two are not separate. Justice is love; love without justice isn’t love.

If we use the Word properly, we are doing both. The reason Jesus had to die is because justice and love both had to be satisfied. One could not be exercised by God without the other. It was a very difficult puzzle for God – how to justify sinners without merely ‘overlooking’ sin. The resolution of this puzzle was the death and resurrection of God in human form. There is such a thing as being too harsh. But that is condemnation, not justice. We condemn when we try to practice justice outside of God’s Word.

Posted in Adultery • Daily Living • Idolatry • Whole Bible Christianity book

Idolatry

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Again from ‘Whole Bible Christianity’

Another name for sin is idolatry. In modern times, we think of it only as bowing down to a statue or other image. This is part of it, but there is much more to idolatry than statues. Read Jeremiah 3:1-10.

Idolatry is ‘cheating’ on God. We cheat Him when we give Him less than whole-hearted obedience. In public, we might claim to be loyal spouses and appear to do what God says. But when we ignore His Word it’s just like cheating on a spouse. Any thought or action that doesn’t match His Word is idolatry. Or adultery.

We might comfort ourselves that we are not idolaters because we don’t have a statue in the living room (let’s overlook the crucifix, Christmas tree, Easter eggs and bunnies for now). But idolatry is not limited to actual images. If we reject His ways and do our own, it is idolatry. Paul says that covetousness is idolatry (Ephesians 5:5). God says the Chaldeans worship their own might, and Jesus says that Mammon is a god.

11 Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!” (Habakkuk 1:11 ESV)

13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Luke 16:13 ESV)

The statue in the center of disobedience is the self-image. A 3-D statue is really self-will personified. Idolatry comes from inside, from the heart. The statue just gives it a physical shape. Adam and Eve were booted out of paradise, not because they bowed to an image, but because they bowed to self-will and knowledge. Obedience is the same as worship. Their obedience to their own understanding was just the same as worshiping a statue of themselves.

Posted in Daily Living • Law • Whole Bible Christianity book

Shadows and Small Things

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Another selection from ‘Whole Bible Christianity’
Because a shadow is insubstantial, and Paul mentions that parts of the Law are a shadow, some conclude we don’t have to follow the Law.

16Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— 17things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17 NASB95)

Trouble is, this conclusion is false. There are many uses of the word ‘shadow’ in the Word, but the shadows are real. For instance, in Matthew 4:16 people are said to be under the shadow of death, and death is very real. Isaiah speaks of another type of shadow.

16“I have put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ ” (Isaiah 51:16 NASB95)

The “shadow of (God’s) hand” is obviously real too, and has a very real effect on us. Just because Paul used the concept of a shadow does not mean that the Law isn’t real and isn’t to be followed. A shadow can only be cast by the real thing. If you have the shadow, you have the reality too. We’ll cover more of Colossians 2 a little later in the book.

The life that we live here and now is a shadow of the next one, but that doesn’t mean it is any less substantial or real. What we do in this ‘shadow’ life will determine substance in the next life. What we do with the ‘shadows’ God gives us in His Law will be part. If we are faithful with very little ‘shadows’ it means we are faithful also in much bigger things, shadows or not.

10“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. (Luke 16:10 NASB95)

If it is true that God gave a “mere shadow” of things in the Law, then why give them in the first place? Why not just say (at Mount Sinai) “Oh, just do what you want because My Anointed will make everything cool in a thousand years or so?” What kind of sense does that make? The answer is it doesn’t make any sense. Yes, some of the things God gave at Sinai could be termed ‘shadows’ of things to come. But that does not mean they are not worth doing.

Posted in Grace • Law • Whole Bible Christianity book

Paul and the Law

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From the book ‘Whole Bible Christianity’

The letter from Paul to the assemblies of Galatia is right up there with difficult things that the untaught and unstable distort (2 Peter 3:16). Most of the time, this book is presented as a teaching against God’s Laws. But when we get into the book, and read carefully, we find that Paul is not telling us to ignore God’s Word, especially the Law. What he is doing is contrasting merit with grace through faith. The key verse says it all.

4You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. (Galatians 5:4 NASB95)

Some of the Galatians were seeking to be justified by their own actions (or doing what was right in their own eyes), when they were already justified through the blood of the Lamb. Trading on one’s own merit renders the sacrifice of the Christ useless. Merit is the idea that we have earned something, like wages for work. Some try to trade their (perceived) merit for eternal life. This is a mistake because it’s just not worth it to God. If we can be justified on our own merit by circumcising a little piece of skin, then we should just go the whole way and cut it all off. Then we will be really, really justified!

In other words, Paul is saying that following Laws (especially circumcision, meaning to become a Jew) is not the way to gain a place in God’s kingdom. It is only by grace through faith that anybody – Jew or Gentile, circumcised or not – has a place at all. The Law is for living after salvation, not the means to get it.

Posted in Daily Living • Law • Whole Bible Christianity • Whole Bible Christianity book

Don’t have to follow the Law?

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From the book ‘Whole Bible Christianity’

One of the first knee-jerk responses a whole Bible Christian will get when sharing these opinions with a group of standard Christians is, “We don’t have to follow the Law. It’s not a salvation issue.” My response is, “So let me get this straight. God is born into a human body, suffers in all ways as we do for around 30 years, dodges people trying to kill Him when He’s only a couple years old, gets to preaching about repentance and love only to be arrested on trumped up charges and executed in the most horrible, torturous fashion available at the time even though He was completely blameless. My question is did He have to?”

No, Jesus didn’t “have to” do those things. He did it because He loved us. If it could’ve been done any other way He’d of done it that way. “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as you will.” Whole Bible Christians echo our Messiah and say, “Not as I will, but as you will.” In all things. He loved us so much He left His glory in heaven shared with the Father and submitted to some miserable things in life. But He did it willingly, because of His gracious love.

Now, all you spiritual rocket scientists tell me again how “we don’t have to” copy our Messiah and do as our loving and gracious heavenly Father instructs. The Law is not a “salvation issue?” It’s not a tiny way to return the love our Father and Messiah lavish on us? Are you kidding me?

Posted in Gospel • Riddles

Gospel riddle answer

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Answer to the riddle asked a few days ago, “Why is the Law called ‘the gospel’ in Hebrews 4:2?”

The ‘good news’ at Sinai was that God was going to live with His people, and the Law was part of it. In other words, the church at Sinai had the good news of ‘God with us’ preached to them just as we have.

The Law was to facilitate ‘God with us,’ a.k.a. the gospel. God, in His grace, was taking up residence, and following the Law was (and is) a loving response (faith) to His presence. Jesus is the good news or gospel because He is ‘God with us.’ The Law, His Word, facilitates His dwelling amongst us. His sacrifice makes it possible for God to dwell within us forever, and the Law helps us learn to live accordingly. So the living oracles are part and parcel of the gospel – God with us.

Posted in Bible Verse • Gospel • Whole Bible Christianity book

The Gospel at Sinai

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From the book manuscript presently titled ‘Whole Bible Christianity.’

Like the New Covenant, most ‘New Testament’ or part-Bible Christians cannot tell you what the gospel is either. We tend to think of it as a feel-good message about Jesus being our buddy and saving us from bad stuff. Then He allows us to do whatever we want.

The gospel, which means ‘good news,’ however, might really make us feel good, and it should, but the message is not about feelings. It is about ‘God with us,’ which is the meaning of one of the names of Jesus (Immanuel, Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23).

Did you know that the gospel was preached to Israel at Mount Sinai by God through Moses? So says the writer of Hebrews.

2For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. (Hebrews 4:2 NASB95)

Stephen calls the group at Sinai the “congregation in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38) and that they received “living oracles” to pass on to their kids. These living oracles were none other than the Law. So this is another way of saying the gospel was preached to the church at Mount Sinai.

Here’s a riddle for you. Why is the Law called ‘the gospel’ in Hebrews 4:2?