By the time of Messiah Yeshua (Jesus the Christ) and His Disciples, the only scriptures to be found were in the TaNaK scrolls. DSS discoveries demonstrate that these included far more than what has eventually survived the greed and avarice of the Hasmonean imposters to the Priesthood, the perverted traditions of Pharisaic 'teachers', the political excesses of the Herodian (read: Edomite) scribes and the lawyers and the unimaginable and wonton atrocities of the Greek and Roman conquerors.
Further, there are the letters from the Messiah's students that quoted the scriptures to validate their instructions to the uninitiated. But their letters, in and of themselves, were not 'scripture', yet have been 'canonized' as such. The traditions of man and 'The Church' have supplanted the Holy Word of Our Creator.
So here we are, 2000 years later, and the same people that have no concept of the context from which those ancient scrolls were recorded then eisegesically project their own traditions, culture, philosophy and preconceived notions onto said scripture, without even a fundamental understanding of the who, what, when, where, and why of those same writings.
We take the scriptures of a people of radically different locations, languages, cultures and histories than our own and claim to understand it. We take the word of people that have political, monetary and personal motivations that would twist it to their own ends. We create a 'canon' that has been demonstrated to have additions, deletions and fictional commentary alterations passed off as original text - as the foundation of their understanding. We then form traditions based on these misconceptions and elevate these traditions of man above the Word of the most High!
I say 'we' because I once believed all these things too. But the more I studied these ancient peoples and their cultures, their languages and the histories, I came to be far less trusting of the traditions and teachings that the 'church' would have me unquestioningly accept.
Most modern protestant scriptures are founded in the Textus Receptus, which is the Greek Renewed Covenant writings of the Disciples. The 'scripture' they quoted in their writings came from the Original Testament and is based on the Masoretic text; a version of TaNaK that was
conceived and written about a 1000 years
after Messiah Yeshua (Jesus the Christ).
The Masoretic Text does not match the original text and has been proven to have certain omissions and additions, whether deliberate or otherwise. Further, the Masorets added vowel points. This is an important point in that pronunciation in Hebrew determines a words' meaning. But Hebrew is usually rightly based on the context of its usage. By predetermining the pronunciation, the Masorets determine the meaning of the words rather than letting the context provided by the authors determine its meaning. This of course, leads to errant understanding and erroneous translations into other languages - such as English.
We have older and more reliable texts available to us. These include the LLX (See:
Biblical Archaeology.), the DSS and the Samaritan Pentateuch. Equally important is understanding the context of the people and culture of the writers of these texts. For a little more information on how a culture's philosophy and linguistics influences our understanding of scripture, I would suggest this link to
Ancient-Hebrew.org.
The most important thing I have found in my walk with the Lord is context. Context is the only means we have of distinguishing between a prooftext and a pretext. Anyone can take a word or phrase out of context and make it mean anything they like. Such is the foundation of politics and the workings of the father of lies.
The only way I can see to correctly 'walk' with Messiah is to understand the scriptures He expounded upon and be able to clearly distinguish them from the traditions of man. Without an accurate understanding of scripture, and therefore His teaching that are based upon them, we are doomed to failure. He said He only did and said what the Father instructed. He said, if you love me, keep my commandments. Wouldn't is be logical to understand those instructions within the context from which they were given?
This is my 2 shekel worth. I pray that it blesses you.
NOTE: Edited for clarity
