Jewish Christian or Messianic Jew?

frienden thalord

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Knowing Torah is to know the DNA of Jesus. A mitzvah is a connection with G-d. A Jew has an obligation to study one in order to do the other. Your neshama, your Jewish soul, is what drives you to connect with G-d as He has made you. Go connect.
Knowing Torah can be done BY the SPIRIT . Knowing torah is not known by the flesh
but can only be revealed by the SPIRIT .
And Torah points to Christ and not the flesh of any man or men.
Who created both jew and gentile .
And NO jew or gentile is saved if they DENY GOD .
IF one denies the SON , THEY HAVE and do deny GOD.
The beauty of it all , is that true jews like peter , james , john , jude, All pointed to CHRIST
and not the flesh .
For the flesh profits nothing. It matters not if a man is born a gentile or a jew .
What matters is , IS HE BORN again OF SPIRIT and fully believes JESUS ALONE saves .
If a man or a woman , a child , or a donkey , a spirit or an angel says otherwise ,
they are accursed . ACCUSERD . Cursed . Dead . No life , twice dead .
We who are Christs , will point not to the flesh , BUT TO CHRIST .
LET all hear this . And he or she who denies CHRIST shall die the second death .
I AM done with men who point to anything or anyone OTHER than CHRIST .
SO hear this one , hear this O WORLD and nations , states and cities , and streets
and houses and all men who do dwell upon the face of the whole world , IF
any man points to man or any group , OTHER than CHRIST ONLY
this man , this house , this street , this state , this nation and this world IS CURSED
and the second death awaits all who do so . NOW GET BUSY pointing to JESUS and being prepared n
Him ,unto eternal life . Or get busy pointing to jews or men and being prepared unto death and the second death . Let all that has breath heed and hear this .
 
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frienden thalord

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All believers whether Jew or Gentile need to read and know the Torah as well as all of scripture. What enables us to connect with God is the Spirit of Christ/Messiah when He came to dwell in the believer by faith, Jewish or Gentile. Apart from Him (His Spirit) we can do nothing. And that is why unbelieving Jews are not connected/reconciled to God, sadly.

Also, there are only lost souls and redeemed souls....an unbelieving Jewish soul is just as lost and perishing as an unbelieving Gentile soul. All need to come to faith in Yeshua and receive of His Spirit, whether Jew or Gentile in order to be saved and reconciled to the Father....no man comes to the Father but by me, Yeshuah said.....remember this very same gospel is even to the Jew first, then the Gentile.

The only difference between Jew and Gentile mentioned in scripture is that the Jews have an advantage, just as Paul wrote.....to them belong the oracles of God. One might even argue that means Jews have less of an excuse if they reject the Messiah, (from God's point of view, not that I am judging anyone).

Romans 3:1-2

What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?

Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
The unbelieving jew as well as the unbelieving gentile are connected unto the very one
JESUS himself told the unbelieving jew . And that is , YE are of YOUR FATHER the DEVIL .
AND I STAND ON THIS no matter if the whole creation comes against me . PEROID .
 
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Erik Nelson

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https://weekly.israelbiblecenter.com/forgotten-rule-paul/

When asked, almost no one in the Christian world can answer this simple question: What unique rule did the Apostle Paul set in all his congregations?

In response to a letter sent by the leaders of the Corinthian congregation, Apostle Paul wrote: “… each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the congregations. Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised.” (1 Corinthians 7:17-18)
 
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Josephus

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Knowing Torah can be done BY the SPIRIT . Knowing torah is not known by the flesh
but can only be revealed by the SPIRIT .
And Torah points to Christ and not the flesh of any man or men.
Who created both jew and gentile .
And NO jew or gentile is saved if they DENY GOD .
IF one denies the SON , THEY HAVE and do deny GOD.
The beauty of it all , is that true jews like peter , james , john , jude, All pointed to CHRIST
and not the flesh .
For the flesh profits nothing. It matters not if a man is born a gentile or a jew .
What matters is , IS HE BORN again OF SPIRIT and fully believes JESUS ALONE saves .
If a man or a woman , a child , or a donkey , a spirit or an angel says otherwise ,
they are accursed . ACCUSERD . Cursed . Dead . No life , twice dead .
We who are Christs , will point not to the flesh , BUT TO CHRIST .
LET all hear this . And he or she who denies CHRIST shall die the second death .
I AM done with men who point to anything or anyone OTHER than CHRIST .
SO hear this one , hear this O WORLD and nations , states and cities , and streets
and houses and all men who do dwell upon the face of the whole world , IF
any man points to man or any group , OTHER than CHRIST ONLY
this man , this house , this street , this state , this nation and this world IS CURSED
and the second death awaits all who do so . NOW GET BUSY pointing to JESUS and being prepared n
Him ,unto eternal life . Or get busy pointing to jews or men and being prepared unto death and the second death . Let all that has breath heed and hear this .

The Torah is not just "anything". It's the DNA of Messiah. The Torah itself, personified as a man, is that which makes up the person, destiny, life, and actions of Messiah, or as John says "the Word became flesh."
 
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Josephus

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What enables us to connect with God is the Spirit of Christ/Messiah when He came to dwell in the believer by faith, Jewish or Gentile.

That sounds good and all, but the Hebrew word mitzvah, which many simply know as "command", literally means "connection." It's related to the Aramaic word tzavta, meaning "to attach or join." Tzavta can mean "companionship" or "personal attachment." When we obey G-d's mitzvot, we are literally connecting with G-d. Just like a tool being used in the hand of its master.

We can connect with G-d through the Spirit of G-d, but whenever one chooses to reject any of G-d's commands at the same time - it's not possible, as it is literally is choosing to disconnect from G-d.
 
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HeLeadethMe

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The Torah is not just "anything". It's the DNA of Messiah. The Torah itself, personified as a man, is that which makes up the person, destiny, life, and actions of Messiah, or as John says "the Word became flesh."
I don't know if I'm misunderstanding or not, brother....but you might be overstating the case:

Jhn 5:39-40
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
 
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HeLeadethMe

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That sounds good and all, but the Hebrew word mitzvah, which many simply know as "command", literally means "connection." It's related to the Aramaic word tzavta, meaning "to attach or join." Tzavta can mean "companionship" or "personal attachment." When we obey G-d's mitzvot, we are literally connecting with G-d. Just like a tool being used in the hand of its master.

We can connect with G-d through the Spirit of G-d, but whenever one chooses to reject any of G-d's commands at the same time - it's not possible, as it is literally is choosing to disconnect from G-d.
Again this seems to be overstating the case.....a lost soul can keep commandments til the cows come home, but that isn't what would save him. Our righteousness is as filthy rags to God. David was a man after God's own heart because he had the Spirit of God and understood what the Law was a type and shadow of....so much so that he had faith that he would not be condemned for eating the shewbread.

That's interesting the meaning of "command" though brother.....I think it shows how when we keep His commands through His Spirit, we are connected to Him by that Spirit. It's not of ourselves, that no man may boast before Him.
 
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When you undertake a prolonged study of this issue, you will find that the portions of scripture used against Messianic Judaism are really against Gentiles being forced to follow Judaism as a matter of course. The problem was Judaizing, not Jewishness. How interesting it is now that we have Gentilizing rather than Judaizing. If Judaizing is not good, is Gentilizing any better.

Paul and James, and the whole Council of Jerusalem didn't seem to think so. I don't think the WHOLE Council of Scripture does either.


Does it matter if a born-again follower of Jesus Christ is a Jew? If so, why?

I am an ethnic Jew. I wasn't raised with the Torah. I received the gift of salvation from Jesus as an adult about 10 years ago.

For the past few months, I've been reading the Old Testament prophets. This, with the gift of understanding granted to me by the Holy Spirit, has helped me learn much more about God. Things I never knew about Him and His people. I can't explain it, all I can say is read Isaiah if you haven't, and don't stop there. I have a newfound awe for the Lord.

So yesterday I had an interesting experience. I discovered the page of a Messianic Jewish synagogue and did some reading. They maintain that Jewishness is important. They quoted Acts 21:18-25. Then I read verse 26, which I had never noticed before:

“On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law, and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs. What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law. But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality." Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭21:18-26‬ ‭ESV‬‬

That was interesting to me, because in verse 26 it says that Paul purified himself!

What is the meaning of this? Am I to be a Jew? What does this mean for me, and all others who are Jews? Should all Christians live as Jews? What about Paul's rebuke of Peter eating with Jews instead of Gentiles? What about the Torah, how can it be kept without relying on it for righteousness? How can we follow the Torah and live in faith?

Then I remembered something very important last night. On that blessed day I received Jesus Christ as my savior, I was in my new friend's apartment. I asked about something she had hanging on her wall. Was it a cross or crucifix? No. It was a Star of David. I asked about it and she told me that she is a Messianic Jew. I received Jesus Christ as my savior within minutes, and the rest is history. But that was how I met the Lord on that day.

Wasn't it because of her Jewishness that I came to faith in Jesus Christ that day? You can see why it seems to be significant for me.

I just want to make sure I'm obeying God and seeking Him first. I really don't know what any of this means. I don't want to be one of the many Jews who stumbles on the stumbling block. In fact, my friend warned me that many Messianic Jewish synagogues are too "into" the law, and end up venerating Abraham and Moses - that is, their forefathers and their heritage - over Jesus. I certainly don't want to fall into that trap. I'd just as soon disregard my Jewishness if I would risk losing Jesus. But if Jesus sees my Jewishness as important, then I want to respect Him and obey whatever He has commanded me to do. And what would that be?

God bless!
“And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.” (Colossians 3:10–11) (KJV 1900)
 
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If that were so, why to people misunderstand it so profoundly? It is about Judaizing Gentiles, not Jewishness. It is about TRUSTING IN the Law and Circumcision, not about them in themselves.

Paul circumcised Timothy, even as he refused to circumcise Titus. Was he making Christ of no use to Timothy?


Galatians is pretty unambiguous.
 
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Paul and James, in the second half of Acts 21 seems to support the Messianic position pretty squarely.


I have a few problems with Messianicism that lead me to believe it is better to become a Jewish Christian. From a practical viewpoint Messianics as a movement aren't unified on what they want to do or accomplish. They all seem in favor of acting or being more Jewish (Focus on Torah, circumcision, Kosher and Sabbath) but the extent to which they are willing to go varies to the point where the term might only mean a preference for practicing Judaism. There is little unity amongst Messianics and that is not a powerful witness to God's work in them.

They are as a movement a rebuke to any historic Church or any Church out of the Protestant movement. Since I believe in the historic Church, from which we have constant faithful witnesses to Christ all throughout history, they seem on par with Restorationists groups.

Then there is the issue of their practice of Judaism or elements of Judaism itself. Either they imply or directly tell Christians they should practice certain elements of Old Testament law or they seem to suggest that as Jews they are held to a different standard. The latter destroys the unity in Christ between Jew and Gentile, the former I find un resolved with what Paul says in Galatians except by an extreme reinterpretation of the Apostle's words.

Ultimately it is better to become a Jewish Christian, to be completely unified with the Body of Christ than it is to insist on one's Jewish heritage or practice taking pride of place.
 
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Ignatius the Kiwi

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Paul and James, in the second half of Acts 21 seems to support the Messianic position pretty squarely.

That depends on how we want to reconcile what Paul does in acts with what he says in his Epistles. To me it seems like Paul was being more pragmatic than anything in agreeing to go through with the Nazarene vow and pay for the expenses, if only to show he was not what his enemies proclaimed someone radically against the law.

To that extent he clearly did not have the same understanding of the law with regards to some universal application of it by what we see in his epistles, Galatians especially. I don't think acts 21 is by itself evidence of a Messianic type position. If this is a emphasis a Messianic commitment to the law why does Paul when given a chance to speak to the crowd instead focus on Christ and his encounter with him primarily?
 
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Yeshua HaDerekh

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That depends on how we want to reconcile what Paul does in acts with what he says in his Epistles. To me it seems like Paul was being more pragmatic than anything in agreeing to go through with the Nazarene vow and pay for the expenses, if only to show he was not what his enemies proclaimed someone radically against the law.

To that extent he clearly did not have the same understanding of the law with regards to some universal application of it by what we see in his epistles, Galatians especially. I don't think acts 21 is by itself evidence of a Messianic type position. If this is a emphasis a Messianic commitment to the law why does Paul when given a chance to speak to the crowd instead focus on Christ and his encounter with him primarily?

It was not a "Nazarene" vow, it was a "nazirite" vow.
 
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Clearly he is adhering to one understanding of the Law that was in conflict with another view of the Law. Paul was clearly teaching Gentile believers to be Gentile believers and Jewish Believers to be Jewish Believers. He was rebuking the teachings that the only way to serve God was to embrace all of Jewish life and custom by converting. That was what the fight was about in Galatians, not some global refutation of Mosaic Law as obsolete. What you see as pragmatism, dare I say it... compromise(?) was no such thing. Rather it was a teaching moment for both Jews and Gentiles on the role each had to play in the world.

That depends on how we want to reconcile what Paul does in acts with what he says in his Epistles. To me it seems like Paul was being more pragmatic than anything in agreeing to go through with the Nazarene vow and pay for the expenses, if only to show he was not what his enemies proclaimed someone radically against the law.

To that extent he clearly did not have the same understanding of the law with regards to some universal application of it by what we see in his epistles, Galatians especially. I don't think acts 21 is by itself evidence of a Messianic type position. If this is a emphasis a Messianic commitment to the law why does Paul when given a chance to speak to the crowd instead focus on Christ and his encounter with him primarily?
 
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HeLeadethMe

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Clearly he is adhering to one understanding of the Law that was in conflict with another view of the Law. Paul was clearly teaching Gentile believers to be Gentile believers and Jewish Believers to be Jewish Believers. He was rebuking the teachings that the only way to serve God was to embrace all of Jewish life and custom by converting. That was what the fight was about in Galatians, not some global refutation of Mosaic Law as obsolete. What you see as pragmatism, dare I say it... compromise(?) was no such thing. Rather it was a teaching moment for both Jews and Gentiles on the role each had to play in the world.

There are lots of scriptures that talk about these very things, if you will kindly bear with the length of my reply here.

Gal 4:1-11

Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;

But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.

Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.

But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.

I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.


1Co 13:10-11

But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.


2Co 3:7-14

But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was,

how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?

For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory.

For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it.

For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech,

and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away.

But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.


Heb 8:13

When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.


Rom 13:8-10

Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.


Paul often kept various aspects of Law when it was expedient to do so, in order to win the Jews, not wanting to offend the Jews unnecessarily or cause them to stumble. He was as a Jew to win the Jews and as a Gentile to win the Gentiles. We also know from scripture that Peter also did not always live according to the Law. But nowhere in NT scripture are Jews COMMANDED to stop the practices of the Law……not by Jesus, Paul nor any other apostle. It is not a sin to simply practice the ordinances of the Law, and the Lord leaves it up to the growth and conscience of each Jew to do according to his/her own faith and growth…..because whatsoever is not of faith is sin. For a Jewish believer to cease practising some aspect of the Law against his/her own conscience would be sin. But if they come to a place where their conscience is clear on these things and they truly understand by faith that they are no longer bound to the Law, then they would be at liberty in the Lord to walk in that liberty. (Though at the same time, neither did Paul refrain from teaching the truth about how we are to look at the Law in light of the New Covenant, that the Law does not save souls).

1Co 9:20-21

To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.

To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.


Gal 2:14

But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

Rom 14:3-7

Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.

Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.

He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.

For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.

Rom 14:22-23

Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.

But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.

I can testify that the Lord by His Spirit has always kept me from thinking or telling Jewish believers that they MUST NOT practice the Law…..long before I understood these things I had a check in my spirit that kept me from doing that. And once I came to understand, I was so thankful that the Lord has kept me from sinning in that way and from causing any Jews to stumble.

(However, it is a sticking point if Jewish believers try to tell Gentile believers that they are obligated to keep the ordinances of the Law.)


Col 2:11

In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

Col 2:14

having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Col 2:16-17

So let no one judge (rule) you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
 
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The whole Council of Scripture is useful. In one sense you are quite correct in that we are not under the law in the sense that we do not obey out of our hope for salvation in good behavior. We are saved by Grace however because the Law is still there. If there were no Law, we would need no grace.

I believe that it is scripturally clear that Jewish Believers are normatively instructed to be JEWISH, i.e. observant, Believers. That being said, before I understood this I believe grace would have covered me for the sausage, egg and cheese croissants I had for breakfast at Burger King on the way to work so many mornings.

OTOH, now that I know better I think I might be cut less slack, if I now thumbed my nose at the instructions given. Paul and James Conversation in Acts 21 is powerful even in English, but far more powerful if you realize that it was probably spoken in Hebrew, especially since they were speaking of matters of the Law.

"Act 21:24 Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law.

In Hebrew "walking in order" is called Halacha, and is very common in discussions of how to act/behave in specific situations. "What is Halacha in this particular case? What is halakhically correct?"

That Paul "walks in order" is a big deal. That he keeps the law is something that he did... on an ongoing basis. It was NOT something he put on like a costume as part of a witnessing schtick to win fellow Jews. We have to have an Honest Paul or no Paul at all.

Act 21:25 As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.

Please note that the List here for Gentiles and in Acts 15 harkens back to the Law given to Noach in Genesis 9. Yes, you still have a dietary restriction... no blood.

And I agree with you that if anyone, Jew or Gentile, sez in a global way, that Gentiles need to follow the Law given to Moses, then . . . Game on!!!

Many of the other scriptures deal with the many parts of the body. I will touch on your last quote and a previous on.

Col 2:16 ¶ Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

Col 2:17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

The KJV, as opposed to the NIV, translates this far better than most.

The NIV totally screw it up.
Col 2:17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

The tense in here is NOT Aorist, but it is a Present active participle. The word "were" is entirely uncalled for.

A better translation might be rendered "Which are a shadow of things that ARE COMING."

That has a very different feel to it that most of us are used to, but that is what the text says. What we are called to do are not remnants from a bygone era, they are part of what is coming and right now even on the way.

Finally, I'm gonna hit on a sore spot for some. The Book of Hebrews is highly problematic. I believe God speaks through his word and his word is authoritative. That being said, we need to be sure what we are reading is really God's word.

The traditional test for whether a book should be included in the Canon is that 1.) it has to have Apostolic Authority and, 2.) It has to have been seen as authoritative in the Early Church.

Hebrews fails on both counts. First, we don't have an Apostolic thumbprint on it. We don't know who wrote it, but there is good linguistic evidence that Paul absolutely did not write it, and we really don't know who did.

Second, of all the books that came and went in the various lists of accepted, or even disputed books, Hebrews is never there even on the disputed lists. It was not made part of the Canon until the Council of Carthage at the Dawn of the Fifth Century.

We can discuss this later, but this is why I'm not ready to be persuaded by any references to Hebrews and an Authoritative source.

There are lots of scriptures that talk about these very things, if you will kindly bear with the length of my reply here.

Gal 4:1-11

Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;

But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.

Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.

But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.

I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.


1Co 13:10-11

But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.


2Co 3:7-14

But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was,

how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?

For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory.

For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it.

For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech,

and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away.

But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.


Heb 8:13

When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.


Rom 13:8-10

Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.


Paul often kept various aspects of Law when it was expedient to do so, in order to win the Jews, not wanting to offend the Jews unnecessarily or cause them to stumble. He was as a Jew to win the Jews and as a Gentile to win the Gentiles. We also know from scripture that Peter also did not always live according to the Law. But nowhere in NT scripture are Jews COMMANDED to stop the practices of the Law……not by Jesus, Paul nor any other apostle. It is not a sin to simply practice the ordinances of the Law, and the Lord leaves it up to the growth and conscience of each Jew to do according to his/her own faith and growth…..because whatsoever is not of faith is sin. For a Jewish believer to cease practising some aspect of the Law against his/her own conscience would be sin. But if they come to a place where their conscience is clear on these things and they truly understand by faith that they are no longer bound to the Law, then they would be at liberty in the Lord to walk in that liberty. (Though at the same time, neither did Paul refrain from teaching the truth about how we are to look at the Law in light of the New Covenant, that the Law does not save souls).

1Co 9:20-21

To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.

To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.


Gal 2:14

But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

Rom 14:3-7

Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.

Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.

He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.

For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.

Rom 14:22-23

Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.

But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.

I can testify that the Lord by His Spirit has always kept me from thinking or telling Jewish believers that they MUST NOT practice the Law…..long before I understood these things I had a check in my spirit that kept me from doing that. And once I came to understand, I was so thankful that the Lord has kept me from sinning in that way and from causing any Jews to stumble.

(However, it is a sticking point if Jewish believers try to tell Gentile believers that they are obligated to keep the ordinances of the Law.)


Col 2:11

In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

Col 2:14

having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Col 2:16-17

So let no one judge (rule) you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
 
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