JAL said in post #132:
Jesus was a prophet, not a seminary professor.
But note that Jesus taught Paul directly (Galatians 1:11-12) based on the Bible (Acts 26:22).
Similarly, Jesus taught the men on the road to Emmaus based on the Bible (Luke 24:25-27).
JAL said in post #132:
But Abraham is the paradigm for how ALL believers are to walk with God!
That's right, by faith in God's Word (Galatians 3:7), which is
now written down in the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
JAL said in post #132:
Since the Abrahamic covenant was still in effect (Gal 3), an exegete could defensibly regard it as perpetual (i.e. tied to the master Covenant/Promise).
Note that physical circumcision is not perpetual (Galatians 5:2).
Similarly, the fact that Abraham tithed doesn't make tithing perpetual.
That is, tithing isn't a New Covenant/New Testament commandment but was a part of the Old Covenant, the letter of which Jesus Christ abolished on the Cross (Ephesians 2:15-16, Colossians 2:14-17, Romans 7:6). Christians thinking they have to keep the letter of the Old Covenant tithe is just as mistaken as Christians thinking they have to keep the letter of the Old Covenant circumcision (Acts 15:1-11). If Christians keep the letter of the Old Covenant tithe thinking they have to, they're as fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4) as Christians who keep the letter of the Old Covenant circumcision thinking they have to (Galatians 5:2). They've become debtors to perform the letter of the entire Old Covenant law (Galatians 5:3). They've placed themselves under its curse (Galatians 3:10, Deuteronomy 27:26). It's sad some pastors even go out of their way to also lay the specific Old Covenant curse of Malachi 3:8-9 on their congregations.
Jesus Christ taught Christians have to obey His New Covenant/New Testament commandments (John 15:10), such as those He gave in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:19 to 7:29) and in the epistles of the apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 14:37). Jesus' New Covenant commandments exceed in righteousness the abolished letter of the Old Covenant commandments (Matthew 5:20-48). For Jesus' New Covenant requirement is Christians do much more than merely tithe: They must forsake everything they have (Luke 14:33).
JAL said in post #132:
You're basing your argument on the false assumption that Israel's New Covenant was in effect.
Note that it has been in effect since the Cross (Matthew 26:28, Hebrews 12:24).
JAL said in post #132:
. . . nor have you convinced me that water baptism is necessary.
Note that sola scriptura shows that in order to be saved ultimately, Christians must get water-immersion (burial) baptized into Jesus Christ's death for our sins (Mark 16:16; 1 Peter 3:21, Romans 6:3-11, Colossians 2:12, Galatians 3:27, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16). If people believe with all their heart Jesus Christ is the human/divine Son of God (Acts 8:37), they can get baptized anywhere there's water (Acts 8:36) into which they can be fully-immersed (buried) (Romans 6:3-11, Colossians 2:12). They need to make sure to be baptized in the name of God the Father; and of the Son, Jesus Christ; and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19, Acts 2:38). Christians can get water-immersion baptized at, for example, a Baptist-type congregation.
Besides getting water baptized, Christians can get Holy Spirit baptized (Acts 11:15-16, Acts 10:44-46). They usually have to ask to receive the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13b) baptism, for it's usually not given to them automatically at the moment they become Christians. That's why the apostle Paul asked some Christians: "
Have ye received the Holy Spirit since ye believed?" (Acts 19:2).
Christians usually receive Holy Spirit baptism through prayer accompanied by the laying on of hands, subsequent to water baptism (Acts 8:15-17, Acts 19:5-6). Holy Spirit baptism won't result in speaking in tongues for everyone (1 Corinthians 12:30), but for almost everyone, as tongues are one of the Spirit's lesser gifts (1 Corinthians 12:8-11,28; 1 Corinthians 14:5). Many Christians haven't yet experienced Holy Spirit baptism simply because they haven't yet asked for it, under the principle: "ye have not, because ye ask not" (James 4:2b). Many Christians haven't yet asked for it because they've come under the influence of mistaken teachings which say it's no longer in effect. Christians can get hands laid on them to receive Holy Spirit baptism at any Pentecostal-type congregation, or at any charismatic-type congregation, which can be of almost any denomination.
JAL said in post #132:
Israel's New Covenant (the New Jerusalem) is not in effect.
Note that the New Covenant (also called the New Testament) is in effect (2 Corinthians 3:6).
That is, the Bible, in English translations, sometimes calls the New Covenant the New Testament. For the original Greek word "diatheke" (G1242) can be translated into English as either "covenant" (Hebrews 8:8) or "testament" (Hebrews 9:15). So when Christians refer to the 2 main parts of the Bible as the Old Testament and New Testament, what they're really referring to are the 2 parts of the Bible which focus (for the most part) on the Old Covenant and New Covenant.
JAL said in post #132:
Israel's New Covenant (the New Jerusalem) is not in effect.
Regarding the New Covenant/New Testament being only for Israel (Jeremiah 31:31), note that just as the Gentile Ruth (a genetic forbear of Israel's Messiah: Matthew 1:5-16, Luke 3:23-32) could say to the Israelite Naomi: "thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God" (Ruth 1:16), so Gentiles in the Church have been grafted into Israel (Romans 11:17,24, Ephesians 2:12,19, Galatians 3:29).
That is, all Jews in the Church remain members of whichever tribe of Israel they were born into (Romans 11:1, Acts 4:36). And all Gentiles in the Church have been grafted into Israel (Romans 11:17,24, Ephesians 2:12,19, Galatians 3:29) and so have been grafted into its various tribes (cf. Ezekiel 47:21-23). So the entire Church is the 12 tribes of Israel (Revelation 21:9,12; 1 Peter 2:9-10). This is necessary, for all those in the Church are saved only by the New Covenant (Matthew 26:28; 1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 3:6, Hebrews 9:15), which is made only with Israel (Jeremiah 31:31-34, John 4:22b). John 10:16 refers to the "other sheep" of Gentile Christians being brought into "this fold" of Israel, which is the "one fold" of the Church (1 Corinthians 12:13, Ephesians 4:4-6, Revelation 21:9,12). A Gentile Christian can pray and ask which tribe of Israel he has been grafted into, and he will receive an answer from God, if he asks in faith (cf. Matthew 21:22), without any wavering (cf. James 1:6-7).
Also, all those in the Church, whether Jews (Acts 22:3) or Gentiles (Romans 16:4b), have become spiritually-circumcised Jews if they've undergone the spiritual circumcision of water-immersion (burial) baptism into Jesus Christ (Romans 2:29, Philippians 3:3, Colossians 2:11-13).
JAL said in post #132:
Israel's New Covenant (the New Jerusalem) is not in effect.
Regarding New Jerusalem, note that Revelation 21:12 refers to Israel's 12 tribes in its description of the bride of Christ in Revelation 21:9. And the bride of Christ is the Church (Ephesians 5:30-32; 2 Corinthians 11:2).
Revelation 21:2,9-10 means the physical structure of the literal city of New Jerusalem in heaven is a picture of the Church. Something can be literal and at the same time symbolically picture something else. For example, in Matthew 21:19 the fig tree was literal, and at the same time its being without fruit pictured unbelieving, Old Covenant Israel being without fruit (Matthew 21:43).
Just as New Jerusalem's literal wall foundations have the names of the 12 apostles on them (Revelation 21:14), so the Church's foundation is the apostles (Ephesians 2:20). And just as New Jerusalem's literal pearly gates have the names of Israel's 12 tribes on them (Revelation 21:12,21), so the church consists of Israel's 12 tribes.
New Jerusalem is a literal city, 1,500 miles cubed (Revelation 21:16), with literal pearly gates and literal streets of gold (Revelation 21:21). It's God the Father's house in the 3rd heaven (Revelation 21:2-3, cf. 2 Corinthians 12:2b,4, Revelation 2:7b, Revelation 22:2,14), in which house Jesus Christ left to prepare a place for the Church (John 14:2). All those in the Church, whether Jews or Gentiles, have figuratively come to New Jerusalem by coming under the New Covenant (Hebrews 12:22-24, Galatians 4:24-26), which is made only with Israel (Jeremiah 31:31-34), and which only the Church comes under by believing in Jesus' New Covenant suffering and death on the Cross for our sins (Matthew 26:28; 1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 3:6, Hebrews 9:15), the very heart of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
The Church looks for Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming, from heaven (Philippians 3:20), and the setting up of the physical aspect of His Kingdom on the earth with the physically resurrected Church for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4-6, Revelation 5:10, Revelation 2:26-29), a time period commonly called the Millennium. New Jerusalem won't descend from the 3rd heaven to the earth until after the future, New Earth (a new surface of the earth) has been created (Revelation 21:1-4), sometime after the future Millennium and subsequent events (Revelation 20:7-15). The Church will physically live and reign in New Jerusalem with God the Father and Jesus on the New Earth (Revelation 21:1 to 22:5). The Father and Jesus themselves will be the only temple in New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:22).
JAL said in post #132:
You don't believe what Paul said. He said that the terms of the Abrahamic Covenant were inviolable.
He meant in regard to the promise of salvation (Galatians 3:17).
JAL said in post #132:
God created us for fellowship and hence it's a voice-based covenant.
Note that the New Covenant is also a Bible-based covenant (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
JAL said in post #132:
So the stone tablets are the divine Word merely because the finger of God engraved then?
Of course. Although their letter is now abolished (Romans 7:6), by the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:7).
JAL said in post #132:
I don't care how many books God writes, that doesn't make them divine, whether He writes them on stone tablets or modern paper.
Note that the Bible is the divine Word because it is from the divine (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It is not from men (2 Peter 1:20-21).
*******
JAL said in post #138:
There's no escaping feelings of certainty . . .
Note that if they are wrong (Proverbs 14:12), they can be escaped by countering them with God's Word the Bible (2 Timothy 4:2-4).
*******
JAL said in post #139:
Everyone had a copy of the bible and access to a seminary library - AND the time to do the research?
No need for a copy or research. Simply
hear the Bible itself read out loud in church (2 Timothy 3:15, Romans 10:17).
But now that we all
do have copies of the Bible, there is no excuse for us not to also
read all of it for ourselves.
That is, the best way for us today to study the Bible, as a whole, is simply to read every word of it (Matthew 4:4) over and over again. It ends up explaining itself once what it teaches has become engrained in your memory, and you see the connections between verses regarding something in one place in the Bible and other verses regarding that same thing in other places in the Bible. It's by comparing and combining related verses in different places in the Bible that we arrive at correct doctrine (Isaiah 28:9-10; 1 Corinthians 2:13).
It's also a good practice to always start and end each Bible-reading session with a prayer for understanding and remembrance of the whole Bible.
One great way to read the whole Bible, over and over, is to think of it as 7 volumes:
1. Genesis to Deuteronomy
2. Joshua to Esther
3. Job to Song of Solomon
4. Isaiah to Malachi
5. Matthew to Acts
6. Romans to Philemon
7. Hebrews to Revelation
You can read a chapter in each volume every day. This will keep you current in every part of the Bible. After a while, there won't be any part you haven't read recently enough to remember what it teaches. When you reach the end of a volume, simply start again at the 1st chapter of that volume. In this way, you will be cycling through smaller volumes like #6 and #7 much more often than larger volumes like #2, but the smaller volumes are so much more dense with doctrine it's profitable to read them over and over more often.
Also, you can listen to recordings of people reading the Bible out loud whenever you need to keep your eyes on something else while you listen (such as keeping your eyes on the road while you're driving, or on a cutting board while you're preparing food, or on your clippers while you're trimming a hedge). In this way, you can listen to the Bible throughout the day, whenever you don't need to be thinking about something else (such as at your workplace or school). Also, you can listen to the Bible even while you're going to sleep, so it will become part of even your subconscious mind.
JAL said in post #139:
. . . it's not about whether someone claims to be an apostle, nor even if he IS in apostle, but whether his message triggers FEELINGS OF CERTAINTY.
Note that those feelings must still be checked against the Bible (Acts 17:11). For there are also false apostles (2 Corinthians 11:13).
*******
JAL said in post #140:
Thus there seems to be an ambiguity, for us as exegetes, as to whether God wanted ANYONE to persist in Jewish customs.
Note that the apostle Paul taught
both Jews and Gentiles not to keep the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law (Romans 7:6, Galatians 2:11-21, Galatians 4:21 to 5:8, Galatians 3:2-25; 2 Corinthians 3:6-18, Ephesians 2:15-16, Colossians 2:14-17).