Q. What is the Galatian controversy? Is it saying Christians don’t have to obey the Law anymore?
A. The book of Galatians is a misunderstood book by many and this is a good question. There are two main themes of Galatians. First, Paul was teaching that gentiles did not have to convert to Judaism to have a place in the Kingdom of G-d and to be saved through ritual circumcision. Second, Paul is not criticizing the written Torah but the Oral additions to it. So, let’s look at the circumcision issue. In the first century, oral traditions were added to the body of Jewish law. This is in violation of Deut. 4.2. These additions made up 95% of Jewish law. One of the additions said that gentiles had to convert to Judaism to be saved, and the sign of that is circumcision. That law was based on several Scriptures in the written Torah, Gen. 17 and Exo. 12. Many today still think a gentile believer needs to be circumcised, citing these same Scriptures and using the same line of thinking as these first century “Judaizers” and my response to that is the same as Paul. G-d clearly showed they did not in Acts 10 with Cornelius. That whole chapter is about how G-d has accepted people and it is not about doing away with the food laws, again a misinterpretation. Peter said the vision he saw was about people, not food (v28). Now there are several terms that need to be clarified in order to understand what Paul was saying in Galatians. When he says “not under the law”, there is no “the” in Greek. It should read “not under law.” It’s the same when he says “works of the law.” It should say “works of law.” Now, when Paul said the gentile believer (or Jewish for that matter) is not under law, or works of law, and knowing that 95 % of the body of Jewish law was oral additions of man, what was he saying? He was saying that the oral law has no authority over a believer. Oral laws were written by men and men makes mistakes, but the written law of G-d was written by G-d and He doesn’t. So, the Galatians did not have to obey man’s laws concerning gentile conversion to Judaism, which included circumcision. G-d had already showed them that gentiles were being saved and filled with the Spirit without circumcision, so why listen to people who say they were lacking in some way. They were already accepted by G-d. To accept circumcision is accepting man’s law and now it becomes a dead work. So, Paul says in Gal. 5.3 that if they accept circumcision according to the oral law additions, they were to obey “the whole law.” When he says the “whole law” he means all the oral additions of man. If you accept it as having authority over you, than accept all of it. G-ds written law was already accepted as having authority, so he has to mean the oral additions here. Also, in Gal. 4.9-10 he says they were turning to the weak and beggarly elements, where they desired to be in “bondage” again by observing days, months, times and years. To suggest that Paul is saying that the L-rds festivals in the Torah are “weak and beggarly” is ignorant and inconsistent on how believers felt towards the written laws of G-d. Again, what Paul is talking about is the additional Jewish festivals, holy days, fasts and feasts in the oral law, not commanded by G-d. Some of these include Chanukah, Purim, the fasts listed in Zech 8, the fast of Esther, the feasts of Acra and Nicanor, the feast of Wood-carrying, the New Year for Tree’s, (actually there were many “new years” in the oral law), semi-public fasts on Monday and Thursday, doubled the opening and closing days of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. There’s not enough room in this article to list them all, but it was these additions he was alluding to, not what was written in the Scriptures. Paul was angry over the fact that these Galatians started out “in the Spirit” but felt they had to be perfected in the fleshly human additions. He never once hinted that believers were not to obey the written law of G-d found in the Scriptures. I hope this helps.
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1 Corinthians 10:11 (NASB95)
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Q. Can we cook on the Sabbath?
Q. Can we cook on the Sabbath?
A. The word in Hebrew for Sabbath basically means “to cease” and it carries the idea of ceasing our occupations and our ways of “making money” for ourselves. In the book of Nehemiah the people were carrying commercial loads and people were selling and Nehemiah stopped it, but the issue of your question is cooking. If you are a cook and you make money and are gainfully employed you can’t cook for money. What you are ceasing is taking money for it. Cooking your own food is allowed. There are those who follow the Rabbinical Oral Law on this but let’s look at the Scriptures and see what they say. Some will quote Exo. 16.23 to say cooking isn’t allowed, but does it?
“And he said unto them, this is what the L-rd meant, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the L-rd: bake that which you will bake (today), and boil that which you will boil, and that which is left (what you have not cooked) keep for tomorrow” The words in parenthesis are mine and add what I believe the intention was. It doesn’t say bake/boil all of it so you don’t have to do it on Sabbath. It just says bake/boil what you need and the rest will not spoil (like it did on other days of the week Exo.16.19) when you need it the next day (Sabbath). Exo.12.16 seems to confirm this when it says that no manner of work should be done on a particular festival except what a person must eat. We are not to go out and acquire food in restaurants and stores but there is no law stating that you can’t prepare it. I know there are rabbinical laws about this, but that is oral law and any law written by man that is not found in the Word (Dt. 4.2) should be examined.
Now, what about the man carrying sticks in Num. 15.32? Isn’t there a law about making fires on Sabbath in Exo. 35.3? No, not really. The context of Exo. 35 is working on the Mishkan, or Tabernacle. So, the fires spoken about are work fires in relation to working on the Tabernacle. They were not to make work fires and it has nothing to do with cooking. What the rabbis have done is take the above mentioned scriptures, put them together to back up their prohibitions against cooking on the Sabbath. Taken in context, they don’t seem to be saying that at all. I hope this helps.
A. The word in Hebrew for Sabbath basically means “to cease” and it carries the idea of ceasing our occupations and our ways of “making money” for ourselves. In the book of Nehemiah the people were carrying commercial loads and people were selling and Nehemiah stopped it, but the issue of your question is cooking. If you are a cook and you make money and are gainfully employed you can’t cook for money. What you are ceasing is taking money for it. Cooking your own food is allowed. There are those who follow the Rabbinical Oral Law on this but let’s look at the Scriptures and see what they say. Some will quote Exo. 16.23 to say cooking isn’t allowed, but does it?
“And he said unto them, this is what the L-rd meant, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the L-rd: bake that which you will bake (today), and boil that which you will boil, and that which is left (what you have not cooked) keep for tomorrow” The words in parenthesis are mine and add what I believe the intention was. It doesn’t say bake/boil all of it so you don’t have to do it on Sabbath. It just says bake/boil what you need and the rest will not spoil (like it did on other days of the week Exo.16.19) when you need it the next day (Sabbath). Exo.12.16 seems to confirm this when it says that no manner of work should be done on a particular festival except what a person must eat. We are not to go out and acquire food in restaurants and stores but there is no law stating that you can’t prepare it. I know there are rabbinical laws about this, but that is oral law and any law written by man that is not found in the Word (Dt. 4.2) should be examined.
Now, what about the man carrying sticks in Num. 15.32? Isn’t there a law about making fires on Sabbath in Exo. 35.3? No, not really. The context of Exo. 35 is working on the Mishkan, or Tabernacle. So, the fires spoken about are work fires in relation to working on the Tabernacle. They were not to make work fires and it has nothing to do with cooking. What the rabbis have done is take the above mentioned scriptures, put them together to back up their prohibitions against cooking on the Sabbath. Taken in context, they don’t seem to be saying that at all. I hope this helps.
Q. I have two questions for you: Can you detail the five separate judgments and tell us the time, place and purpose? Secondly, can you tell where Hade
Q. I have two questions for you: Can you detail the five separate judgments and tell us the time, place and purpose? Secondly, can you tell where Hades is and explain what happens there?
A. I don’t know that I would classify the judgments into five categories because several overlap so let’s deal with the judgment and the resurrection as a topic to simplify things. Hebrews 6.2 says that understanding these issues is an elementary principle of the Faith so it is an important issue. We know that all mankind has sinned and therefore deserve death according to the L-rd’s absolute holiness (Gen. 2.17, Rom. 3.23) and sin is the transgression of the Torah (1Jn 3.4). We choose to sin and we fall. The problem with those that teach that the Torah (law) has been done away with is that you don’t know what sin is anymore, and therefore how can one repent? If you think eating pork is allowed, you don’t know that it is sin. Most of humanity doesn’t even know what sin is, including those that supposedly represent the L-rd. Until there is that realization, there can be no repentance because we must turn away from sin, but we need to know what it is. So, an individual must judge himself according to the written standard, the Torah/Scriptures. Now, Yeshua knew that G-d’s word was true and we deserved death and if something wasn’t done, man would be lost. So He offered to G-d what we didn’t, a perfect life and just as we chose to sin, we can choose to believe in Him. As a result of G-d’s acceptance of Yeshua’s perfect life, evidenced by the fact He was resurrected, we can have the assurance that by placing our faith in Him we will also be accepted. All of this can be considered a “judgment” that has been ongoing. A believer has now passed from condemnation and now obeys the Torah as a way of life and instruction, with the assurance that he has forgiveness. Believers will appear before the L-rd in heaven, at what is called the judgment seat of Messiah and his works will be judged. What he did in obedience to G-d will be rewarded, what was done in the flesh will not. This does not have anything to do with salvation and righteousness that has already been accepted by the believer by faith/action as a free gift from G-d based on Yeshua’s perfect life having been “accounted” to us. This judgment seat will happen on Rosh Ha Shanah, year 6001 from creation, in Heaven at the time of the “catching away” or Natzal, commonly know as the “rapture”. That takes care of the believers.
Unbelievers will die in their sin because they “don’t believe” and it is as simple as that. At the end of the Tribulation/birthpains Yeshua returns to Jerusalem on Yom Kippur. For five days (Tishri 10-15) all those that survived the Tribulation/birthpains will be brought before Him. Unbelievers will be brought first, judged and slain and their spirits consigned to Sheol/Hades to await their resurrection at the end of the 1000 Messianic Kingdom. They will appear before G-d for final sentencing and be consigned to Gehenna (hell) for eternity, along with all those who have died in unbelief going back to Adam. This judgment is called the Great white Throne judgment (Rev. 20. 11-15). The believers of the Tribulation/birthpains will go on into the Messianic Kingdom to live out the rest of their lives, pass away and their spirits go to heaven to await the end of the 1000 years and be resurrected, given glorified bodies that will go into eternity with all the other believers. At that time everything has been restored. Next week we will deal with your question about Sheol/Hades and discuss where it is, what it is, who goes there and what happens to it in the future.
A. I don’t know that I would classify the judgments into five categories because several overlap so let’s deal with the judgment and the resurrection as a topic to simplify things. Hebrews 6.2 says that understanding these issues is an elementary principle of the Faith so it is an important issue. We know that all mankind has sinned and therefore deserve death according to the L-rd’s absolute holiness (Gen. 2.17, Rom. 3.23) and sin is the transgression of the Torah (1Jn 3.4). We choose to sin and we fall. The problem with those that teach that the Torah (law) has been done away with is that you don’t know what sin is anymore, and therefore how can one repent? If you think eating pork is allowed, you don’t know that it is sin. Most of humanity doesn’t even know what sin is, including those that supposedly represent the L-rd. Until there is that realization, there can be no repentance because we must turn away from sin, but we need to know what it is. So, an individual must judge himself according to the written standard, the Torah/Scriptures. Now, Yeshua knew that G-d’s word was true and we deserved death and if something wasn’t done, man would be lost. So He offered to G-d what we didn’t, a perfect life and just as we chose to sin, we can choose to believe in Him. As a result of G-d’s acceptance of Yeshua’s perfect life, evidenced by the fact He was resurrected, we can have the assurance that by placing our faith in Him we will also be accepted. All of this can be considered a “judgment” that has been ongoing. A believer has now passed from condemnation and now obeys the Torah as a way of life and instruction, with the assurance that he has forgiveness. Believers will appear before the L-rd in heaven, at what is called the judgment seat of Messiah and his works will be judged. What he did in obedience to G-d will be rewarded, what was done in the flesh will not. This does not have anything to do with salvation and righteousness that has already been accepted by the believer by faith/action as a free gift from G-d based on Yeshua’s perfect life having been “accounted” to us. This judgment seat will happen on Rosh Ha Shanah, year 6001 from creation, in Heaven at the time of the “catching away” or Natzal, commonly know as the “rapture”. That takes care of the believers.
Unbelievers will die in their sin because they “don’t believe” and it is as simple as that. At the end of the Tribulation/birthpains Yeshua returns to Jerusalem on Yom Kippur. For five days (Tishri 10-15) all those that survived the Tribulation/birthpains will be brought before Him. Unbelievers will be brought first, judged and slain and their spirits consigned to Sheol/Hades to await their resurrection at the end of the 1000 Messianic Kingdom. They will appear before G-d for final sentencing and be consigned to Gehenna (hell) for eternity, along with all those who have died in unbelief going back to Adam. This judgment is called the Great white Throne judgment (Rev. 20. 11-15). The believers of the Tribulation/birthpains will go on into the Messianic Kingdom to live out the rest of their lives, pass away and their spirits go to heaven to await the end of the 1000 years and be resurrected, given glorified bodies that will go into eternity with all the other believers. At that time everything has been restored. Next week we will deal with your question about Sheol/Hades and discuss where it is, what it is, who goes there and what happens to it in the future.
Q. Can you tell where Hades is and what happens there?
Q. Can you tell where Hades is and what happens there?
A. Hades is the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew Sheol, which is the abode of the dead, or disembodied spirits called the Rephaim in Hebrew. Many mistakenly are taught that Hades is the grave, but not once is Hades /Sheol used for the grave, which is the word “kever” in Hebrew and “mneema” in Greek. The translators of the Septuagint never translated Hades as the grave. Look the word up in any lexicon and you will see that it is clearly the abode of the dead. The King James Version mistranslated the word Hades in every occurrence just like it did with Sheol. Hades is not death, that is the Greek word “thanatos” and they appear together in Rev. 1.18 where they are clearly not synonymous. Hades is not hell, the place of final punishment because that is the Greek word “gehenna”. Hades is not heaven, Greek “ouranos”, the place where the righteous go to await the coming resurrection. It is not the new heavens and new earth. So, we know what it doesn’t mean, so what is it. By the time of the New Testament period, the concept of Hades/Sheol had developed to the point where it was believed that Hades/Sheol had two compartments. One was called torment and the other Abraham’s bosom or paradise where the righteous went after death (Lk.16.19-31). It is believed that those who went there are conscious, converse, recognize others, in pain and distress, make moral judgments, not subject to physical needs of this life like marriage, planning and procreation. Before the resurrection of Yeshua, all those who died went there (Jn. 3.13). Paradise was the same as Abraham’s bosom. When Yeshua died, he went there for three days and three nights. On the feast of First Fruits he reentered the tomb and his body was changed and others were resurrected with him (Mt 27.51-53). He takes all those in Paradise to heaven with him (Eph 4.8-10) and that is where believers go after death today (Phil 1.23-24, 2 Cor 5.6-8). The wicked go to Hades/Sheol which is now one compartment to await the resurrection and the Day of Judgment (Rev 20.13-15). Hades/Sheol is described as being in the lowest parts of the earth, under the earth, the lower parts and so on. That is either literal or it is a figure of speech and it is not a part of this world and has an existence in another dimension. So, in conclusion, Hades/Sheol is the intermediate state between death and the resurrection where the wicked wait and are in torment. Hades is without paradise/Abraham’s bosom today and its inhabitants will one day be emptied into the lake of fire and gehenna (Rev 20.13-15)
A. Hades is the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew Sheol, which is the abode of the dead, or disembodied spirits called the Rephaim in Hebrew. Many mistakenly are taught that Hades is the grave, but not once is Hades /Sheol used for the grave, which is the word “kever” in Hebrew and “mneema” in Greek. The translators of the Septuagint never translated Hades as the grave. Look the word up in any lexicon and you will see that it is clearly the abode of the dead. The King James Version mistranslated the word Hades in every occurrence just like it did with Sheol. Hades is not death, that is the Greek word “thanatos” and they appear together in Rev. 1.18 where they are clearly not synonymous. Hades is not hell, the place of final punishment because that is the Greek word “gehenna”. Hades is not heaven, Greek “ouranos”, the place where the righteous go to await the coming resurrection. It is not the new heavens and new earth. So, we know what it doesn’t mean, so what is it. By the time of the New Testament period, the concept of Hades/Sheol had developed to the point where it was believed that Hades/Sheol had two compartments. One was called torment and the other Abraham’s bosom or paradise where the righteous went after death (Lk.16.19-31). It is believed that those who went there are conscious, converse, recognize others, in pain and distress, make moral judgments, not subject to physical needs of this life like marriage, planning and procreation. Before the resurrection of Yeshua, all those who died went there (Jn. 3.13). Paradise was the same as Abraham’s bosom. When Yeshua died, he went there for three days and three nights. On the feast of First Fruits he reentered the tomb and his body was changed and others were resurrected with him (Mt 27.51-53). He takes all those in Paradise to heaven with him (Eph 4.8-10) and that is where believers go after death today (Phil 1.23-24, 2 Cor 5.6-8). The wicked go to Hades/Sheol which is now one compartment to await the resurrection and the Day of Judgment (Rev 20.13-15). Hades/Sheol is described as being in the lowest parts of the earth, under the earth, the lower parts and so on. That is either literal or it is a figure of speech and it is not a part of this world and has an existence in another dimension. So, in conclusion, Hades/Sheol is the intermediate state between death and the resurrection where the wicked wait and are in torment. Hades is without paradise/Abraham’s bosom today and its inhabitants will one day be emptied into the lake of fire and gehenna (Rev 20.13-15)
Q. I hear there are 613 commandments in the Old Testament. Are all these applicable to everyone, or do certain laws apply to certain people?
Q. I hear there are 613 commandments in the Old Testament. Are all these applicable to everyone, or do certain laws apply to certain people?
A. The laws and commandments of the Tanak have not been done away with as some teach, but they don’t apply to everyone just like any code of law. Many of the laws in the Torah apply when you live in the land. Tithing applies when you live in the land and it is agricultural and you paid them to the Levites. So, under the circumstances, tithing doesn’t apply today. If you aren’t a king, you don’t need to obey the rules for kings. If you aren’t a high priest, or a regular priest for that matter, you don’t need to follow those laws. If you aren’t a woman the same rule applies and so on. The context of the law will dictate whether it applies to you and whether it is “active” today. There is no Temple so the laws governing purity regulations and offerings don’t apply. Let me give you an example. The United States Constitution is active today, just like the Torah. Its laws governing citizens applies to me, voting rights and so on. But, I’m not the president so it’s laws governing presidents doesn’t apply. I’m not in Congress, so its laws governing members of Congress, re-elections and so on doesn’t apply. So, all the laws of the Torah may not apply to me, but I should know them because they teach about the Messiah, redemption, eschatology, worship, loving my neighbor and variety of subjects that will make me a better “citizen” in the Kingdom of G-d.
Q. Where is the proof Jesus and His disciples observed the Torah and taught others to do the same?
A. In Deut. 13.1-5 it says that one of the marks of a false prophet is he will teach others to follow different gods by telling them that they don’t have to follow the Torah. So, what you are asking is whether or not Yeshua and His students are false prophets. Well, let’s look at what they said themselves and what their enemies said. Matt. 5.17-19 says that Yeshua did not come to destroy the law, and He came to teach the law. John, a disciple of Yeshua said in 1Jn 2.3-4 that if we say we know G-d and do not keep the commandments, we are a liar and the truth is not in us. In Acts 6 Stephen is brought before the council and in verse 13 it says they brought false witnesses to accuse him. What were they accusing him of? They said he was teaching against the Temple and the Torah by saying Yeshua was going to destroy the Temple and change the customs that Moses handed down (Torah). Notice these are false witnesses, which means Stephen did NOT teach against the Temple and did NOT teach that the Torah was going to be changed, or done away with. That is Christian doctrine today, but Stephen never taught it otherwise it would not have been a FALSE witness. Actually, the first “martyr” was a Torah observant believer who was falsely accused of not obeying the Torah. Today, that is the normal testimony of so-called believers, but that would not have ever been the doctrine or the practice of Yeshua and the believers of the 1st century. I hope this helps.
A. The laws and commandments of the Tanak have not been done away with as some teach, but they don’t apply to everyone just like any code of law. Many of the laws in the Torah apply when you live in the land. Tithing applies when you live in the land and it is agricultural and you paid them to the Levites. So, under the circumstances, tithing doesn’t apply today. If you aren’t a king, you don’t need to obey the rules for kings. If you aren’t a high priest, or a regular priest for that matter, you don’t need to follow those laws. If you aren’t a woman the same rule applies and so on. The context of the law will dictate whether it applies to you and whether it is “active” today. There is no Temple so the laws governing purity regulations and offerings don’t apply. Let me give you an example. The United States Constitution is active today, just like the Torah. Its laws governing citizens applies to me, voting rights and so on. But, I’m not the president so it’s laws governing presidents doesn’t apply. I’m not in Congress, so its laws governing members of Congress, re-elections and so on doesn’t apply. So, all the laws of the Torah may not apply to me, but I should know them because they teach about the Messiah, redemption, eschatology, worship, loving my neighbor and variety of subjects that will make me a better “citizen” in the Kingdom of G-d.
Q. Where is the proof Jesus and His disciples observed the Torah and taught others to do the same?
A. In Deut. 13.1-5 it says that one of the marks of a false prophet is he will teach others to follow different gods by telling them that they don’t have to follow the Torah. So, what you are asking is whether or not Yeshua and His students are false prophets. Well, let’s look at what they said themselves and what their enemies said. Matt. 5.17-19 says that Yeshua did not come to destroy the law, and He came to teach the law. John, a disciple of Yeshua said in 1Jn 2.3-4 that if we say we know G-d and do not keep the commandments, we are a liar and the truth is not in us. In Acts 6 Stephen is brought before the council and in verse 13 it says they brought false witnesses to accuse him. What were they accusing him of? They said he was teaching against the Temple and the Torah by saying Yeshua was going to destroy the Temple and change the customs that Moses handed down (Torah). Notice these are false witnesses, which means Stephen did NOT teach against the Temple and did NOT teach that the Torah was going to be changed, or done away with. That is Christian doctrine today, but Stephen never taught it otherwise it would not have been a FALSE witness. Actually, the first “martyr” was a Torah observant believer who was falsely accused of not obeying the Torah. Today, that is the normal testimony of so-called believers, but that would not have ever been the doctrine or the practice of Yeshua and the believers of the 1st century. I hope this helps.
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