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<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt;">The Famous Bultmann's Exalting Paul Leads To A Complete Invalidation of Paul</span></h1>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Introduction</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Beginning in the Reformation, Paul's epistles often supplanted any need to focus on the words of Christ. "Zwingli's copy of the NT was <strong><em>confined to Paul's Epistles</em></strong> and Hebrews." (Schaff, <em>Creeds of Christendom</em> Vol. 1 sec. <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:TyAoqFIemNwJ:www.lectionist.org/ccel/schaff/creeds1.ix.ii.i.html%3FscrBook%3DGal%26scrCh%3D5%26scrV%3D1+carlstadt+paul's+epistles&amp;cd=172&amp;hl=en&amp;ct=clnk&amp;gl=us">51</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Luther too emphasized Paul's words over the gospels. Luther quashed the co-founder of the Reformation - Carlstadt - when in 1520 Carlstadt wrote a book on canon which insisted Jesus's words had a priority over Paul's words. (See <a href="/home/1-jwo/193-carlstadt-research.html">Carlstadt Research</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The young Luther, however, triumphed and Carlstadt was banished.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Eventually, a rationale was needed to justify the continued maginalizing of Jesus' doctrines. For unlike Paul, Jesus taught justification is by repentance, not faith (Parable of the Publican and the Tax Collector, Luke <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2018:9-14&amp;version=ASV">18:9-14</a>). And unlike Paul, Jesus taught a necessary means to heaven is "heaven maimed" (by repentance) or you can go to hell "whole" (with no repentance). (Mark<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%209:42-47&amp;version=KJV"> 9:42-47</a>.) A faith that was alone could not save -- if you based your doctrine solely upon Jesus' words.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">To keep Paul's faith alone doctrine, Jesus' words had to be somehow marginalized. By 1929, a means was found that was explicitly based upon Paul's own direction to us in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20cor.%205:16&amp;version=ASV">2 Cor. 5:16</a> to ignore Jesus's words "in the flesh."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">It was Bultmann who established first this modern notion that Paul correctly viewed Jesus' teachings in the flesh as irrelevant and we must realize the only way to follow Christ is to follow Paul.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Although living in Germany,&nbsp;Bultmann professed Protestant Christianity and became the "dominant theological figure of his day." (<a href="http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/ReligionTheology/American/?view=usa&amp;ci=9780195341676">D'Elia</a>.) Bultmann is now regarded as one of the four most influential Christian theologians of the 20th Century. (<a href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Paul_Tillich">Tilich bio</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">In 1929, Bultmann quashed the "From Paul to Jesus" movement led by William Wrede with the argument you are about to hear. This is what explains the modern trend to explicitly acknowledge that Paul's Gospel differs from Jesus's Gospel but trumps Jesus anyway. (For examples, see this<a href="/home/1-jwo/200-paulinism-examples.html"> link</a>.)</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Synopsis of Bultmann's Thesis That Marginalizes Jesus's Words To 12 Apostles Prior to Paul</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann admitted the lack of importance to Paul of Jesus's teachings when Jesus was in the flesh. That is, Paul did not consider important the teachings Jesus gave the 12 which are recorded in the Gospels. For Paul never quotes Jesus except the liturgy which is taken from Luke's Gospel anyway.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, Bultmann claims this was deliberate, and<strong><em> perfectly explains Paul's meaning in 2 Cor. 5:16. </em></strong> Bultmann says we must obey this passage from Paul which tells us to reject any further obedience/adherence to Jesus's words while "in the flesh" <em>i.e.</em>, the period when Jesus taught the 12 apostles prior to Jesus' Ascension.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:16 that "even though&nbsp;<strong>we <em><strong>once knew Christ </strong></em></strong><em> by means of the <strong><em>flesh [</em></strong></em> kata sarka], we<em> know him thus <em><strong>no longer.</strong></em></em>"</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann interprets this to mean that Paul tells us that we once knew Jesus by means of doctrines delivered when in the flesh to the twelve, but now we know Jesus through messages delivered to Paul when Jesus was in his resurrected 'spiritual' body. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This is so <em><strong>even though Paul never even quotes Jesus from any vision Paul had</strong></em>, with the minor exception of three non-teaching events. First, Paul encountered a voice and light version of Jesus without flesh on the Road to Damascus. Jesus only had harsh remarks for Paul. (See Acts 9:7-11.) And the second communication relayed to us is when Paul asked Jesus that the "skolops" -- a sharp prod in his flesh which Paul says came from an Angel of Satan -- to be removed. In response, the "Lord" (presumably Jesus) told Paul&nbsp;<em>no</em>, explaining&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor.&nbsp;</span><a href="http://bible.cc/2_corinthians/12-8.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;">12:8-9</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">.)</span>&nbsp;Finally, Paul in Acts 22:17 recounts an encounter with "Jesus" in a trance in which that Damascus-Road Jesus told Paul not to go to Jerusalem because the Jerusalem church -- the 12 apostles in context -- would not believe Paul had become a convert. See our articles: <a href="/home/1-jwo/500-pauls-trance.html">Paul's Trance</a> and <a href="/home/1-jwo/593-proofs-that-paul-did-not-truly-meet-jesus-outside-damascus.html">Who Did Paul Meet Outside Damascus?</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, Bultmann is implying that everything Paul wrote in his letters are as if Jesus was writing constantly through Paul even though Paul never says this is the case. And that Paul was telling us, impliedly, in 2 Cor. 5:16, to only listen to the Jesus revealed "in me" (Paul) even though no attribution is given by Paul to Jesus for what Paul is writing except 2 Cor 12:7. That passsage is where Paul&rsquo;s Jesus leaves him subject to control and influence of a demon. Bultmann ignores that fact &mdash; a passage that is so embarrassing to Paul fans that they reject this passage nowadays as authentic. That is how deep is the chagrin of Paul-leaning scholars about the only unique quote of Jesus by Paul in his epistles. (The modern Paul defenders claim this passage could not be how Paul intended it to read.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, based on such a reading of 2 Cor. 5:16, Bultmann exalts Paul's revelations from the resurrected Jesus -- supposedly in all Paul's letters without even attribution to Jesus by Paul -- as superior because Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:16 that we are "no longer" to know Jesus from the time Jesus taught while in the "flesh." However, the one epistle that attributes words to Paul&rsquo;s Jesus &nbsp;&mdash; 2 Cor. 12, Bultmann ignores, leaving later Paul supporters to likewise ignore this. Or they reject this passage as truly from Jesus as this Jesus expressly left Paul under demonic influence, refusing Paul&rsquo;s repeated prayers for release.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1">Bultmann Concedes Jesus Pre-Cross Is Irrelevant To Paul</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">William&nbsp;<span class="highlight">Wrede</span> (1859-1906) in his book<em> Paul</em> (1904) had argued Paul's writings show little knowledge of the teachings of Jesus reflected in the Gospels. This led to the "back from Paul to Jesus movement" which is now largely forgotten due to Bultmann's influential reply. (Andreas J. K&ouml;stenberger, L. Scott Kellum,&nbsp;<em>The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament</em> (B&amp;H Publishing Group, 2009)&nbsp;at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=g-MG9sFLAz0C&amp;lpg=PA369&amp;dq=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;pg=PA370#v=onepage&amp;q=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;f=false">370</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="Quoted">Rudolf Bultmann, a famous theologian, conceded the point of Wrede's in Bultmann's&nbsp;<em>Significance of the Historical Jesus for the Theology of Paul </em>(1929) -- also republished in </span><em>Faith and Understanding</em> (New York: Harper &amp; Row, 1969) Vol. I at 220. However, Bultmann turned it around as a proof that we should<em><strong> only be following Paul</strong></em> because of Paul's direction in 2 Cor. 5:16.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann thus starts by admitting that Jesus's teachings (pre-resurrection) were indeed irrelevant to Paul:</span></p>
<blockquote>
<p><span class="Bodytextflush" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"It is most obvious that Paul does not appeal to the words of the Lord in support of his. . . . views. When the essentially Pauline conceptions are considered, it is clear that <strong><em>Paul is not dependent on Jesus</em></strong>. Jesus' teaching is -- to all intents and purposes --<strong><em> irrelevant for Paul</em></strong>." <em>Id.</em>, at 223.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As others summarize Bultmann's initial point, they state:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann noted that Paul rarely alluded to or quoted from the teachings of Jesus, and that these quotations and allusions were related to ethical rather than theological matters. (Andreas J. K&ouml;stenberger, L. Scott Kellum, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=g-MG9sFLAz0C&amp;lpg=PA369&amp;dq=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;pg=PA369#v=onepage&amp;q=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;f=false">The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament</a> (B&amp;H Publishing Group, 2009)&nbsp;at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=g-MG9sFLAz0C&amp;lpg=PA369&amp;dq=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;pg=PA369#v=onepage&amp;q=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;f=false">369</a>.)</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Bultmann Interprets Paul As Saying To Ignore The Pre-Cross Jesus</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann next turned around this admission as a point in favor of Paul because Paul supposedly deliberately ignored Jesus's teachings while "in the flesh." Bultmann says Paul gives us a pattern that we should imitate rather than be revulsed by, as William Wrede had portrayed its consequence.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For proof, Bultmann relied upon Paul's remarks in 2 Corinthians 5:16. Bultmann said this verse meant we no longer know Christ in the flesh,&nbsp;<em>i.e.</em>, we can dispense with Jesus's teachings when He was in the flesh. Bultmann said that only the messages Paul received from the resurrected Christ - who supposedly no longer had flesh -- is the means to know Christ any longer. This reading of "in the flesh" is compatible with how Origen and Clement read 2 Cor. 5:16 in the early church, although they did not deduce this meant we are now free to ignore Jesus's earthly teachings. (See our discussion at this <a href="/home/1-jwo/177-2-corinthians-516.html">link</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann's view was first put forth by Christian theologian and physician&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Schweitzer">Albert Schweitzer</a> (1875-1965). In Schweitzer's view of 2 Cor. 5:16 in his book of 1911 <em><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=J8HhOwAACAAJ">Geschichte Der Paulinischen Forschung</a> </em>(J. C. B. Mohr)&nbsp;at 191 (and in English translation, <span style="color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"></span><a href="http://archive.org/details/paulandhisinterp00schwuoft" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">Paul and His Interpreters</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">&nbsp;(1911) - archive.org /&nbsp;</span><a href="/images/stories/JWOBook/Part_1_Schweitzer_Paul_and_His_Interpreters_1911.pdf" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">PDF</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">-Part 1 &nbsp;&nbsp;</span><a href="/images/stories/JWOBook/Part_2_Schweitzer_Paul_and_His_Interpreters_1911.pdf" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">PDF-Part 2</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">&nbsp;/&nbsp;</span><a href="/topicindex/446-schweitzer-paul-and-his-interpreters-1911.html" style="color: #517291; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;">Cleaned Text</a>&nbsp;<em></em>at page 36), Schweitzer explained: "since the death and resurrection of the Lord [Paul believed] conditions were present that were so wholly new that <strong><em>they made his</em></strong> [<em>i.e.</em>, Jesus's]<em><strong> teaching inapplicable</strong></em>." (<em>Id</em>.) Thus, Albert Schweitzer says this is what explains Paul's failure to mention any significant teachings of Jesus: "If we had only St Paul to guide us, we should not know that Jesus spoke in&nbsp;parables, that He spoke the Sermon on the Mount and taught His people the Lord's Prayer." This was stated by Schweitzer to prove Paul intended us to similarly ignore such lessons from Jesus.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Schweitzer concluded we know Christ no longer in His historical teachings but through the spiritual Jesus of Paul's visions. Schweitzer wrote:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The truth is, it is <strong><em>not Jesus as historically known</em></strong>, but as spiritually risen within, who is significant for our time and can help it. <strong><em>Not the historical Jesus</em></strong>, but the spirit which goes forth from Him...which overcomes the world. (Quoted in Mark Powell,&nbsp;<em>Jesus as a figure in history: how modern historians view the man from Galilee </em>(Westminster John Knox Press, 1998) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=IJP4DRCVaUMC&amp;lpg=PA19&amp;ots=KVHP56_wWM&amp;dq=bultmann%20acceptance%20evangelical%20christianity&amp;pg=PA19#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">19</a>, quoting Schweitzer.)</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann saw things the same way, but took it further. Bultmann said the post-resurrection Jesus of Paul now held exclusive importance <em><strong>because Paul said so</strong></em>. As one commentator on Bultmann summarized his influential view of 2 Corinthians 5:16:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann...regards the <strong><em>historical Jesus as irrelevant</em></strong> as to the <em>kerygma</em> [<em>i.e., </em>preaching]&nbsp;of the risen Lord whom Paul proclaimed. Bultmann understood 2 Corinthians 5:16 ("even though<strong><em> we once knew Christ</em></strong> <em>kata sarka</em> [through/by<em><strong> means of the flesh</strong></em>], we<em><strong> know him thus no longer</strong></em>") to mean that Paul chose not to employ his knowledge of Jesus kerygmatically, a view with which<strong><em> Bultmann agreed</em></strong> [with Paul.]. Accordingly, the influential scholar of Marburg [<em>i.e.</em>, Bultmann] declared Paul the "founder of Christian theology." (Paul Barnett, <em>Paul: Missionary of Jesus</em> (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2008)&nbsp;at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=J7tnFxRTlbYC&amp;lpg=PA13&amp;dq=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;pg=PA13#v=onepage&amp;q=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;f=false">13</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, Bultmann was blunt: Paul in 2 Cor. 5:16 meant the pre-cross messages from Jesus were irrelevant because Jesus was then in the flesh. Jesus now had a resurrected body, and Paul says we now no longer know Jesus from the time He was in the flesh. Bultmann said that on the road to Damascus, Paul met the resurrected Christ, and Paul was <strong><em>passing those post-resurrection messages to us</em></strong>. The pre-cross Christ represented Jesus in the flesh whose doctrines, Paul wishes us to understand (per Bultmann), were now supposedly irrelevant for the NT church.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As a consequence of this view of 2 Cor. 5:16, Bultmann said it was nonsense to imagine we would abandon Paul and find Jesus as Wrede claimed. Bultmann insisted rather that "one could <em><strong>only find Jesus through Paul</strong></em>," as the authors of&nbsp;<em>The Cradle, the Cross</em>, etc.<em>, </em>summarized Bultmann's interpretation of Paul.&nbsp;<em>Id.</em>, at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=g-MG9sFLAz0C&amp;lpg=PA369&amp;dq=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;pg=PA370#v=onepage&amp;q=Bultmann%20Theology%20of%20Paul%20irrelevant%20jesus&amp;f=false">370</a>. Hence, Bultmann ridiculed as nonsense the notion of "the back from Paul to Jesus" movement.&nbsp;<em>Id.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann's view has become a key justification today for modern dispensationalism that disposes of Jesus' words as entirely intended for a prior dispensation under the Law. See our collection of dispensational quotes in our article on <a href="/home/1-jwo/200-paulinism-examples.html">Paulinism</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This view has filtered into popular opinion. In one post quoting 2 Cor. 5:16, the writer was blunt that Jesus in the Synoptics is dead and gone and now we only look to the Resurrected Jesus (whom Paul it is claimed presented): </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"The<strong><em> story</em></strong> that is chronicled in the Gospels and has been trumpeted by the church systems for two thousand years is one about the Jesus that is <strong><em>forever gone,</em></strong> never to walk the paths of earth again." (<a href="http://www.city-data.com/forum/christianity/995258-worshipping-jesus-man-idolatry.html">Elmer 6/30/2010</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Incidentally, in this analysis by Bultmann, he is guilty of an obvious logical fallacy of <em><strong>circular reasoning</strong></em>. While Wrede doubted Paul's authority because Paul treated Jesus' teachings as irrelevant, Bultmann affirmed Paul's own words as proving <em>why</em> Paul ignored Jesus's teachings as<strong><em> proof of Paul's authority</em></strong>. But that means Paul's authority to eradicate the historical Jesus's importance <strong><em>rests on no proof but the assumption of Paul's authority</em></strong>. This is <strong><em>circular logic</em></strong>. It assumes as a premise -- Paul has authority -- its own conclusion which is that Paul has authority over the historical Jesus'words in the flesh. Bultmann clearly engaged in the bootstrap fallacy but no one has ever pointed out this obvious defect in his reasoning</span>.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">How This Aligns With Paul's Teaching That Flesh Cannot Inherit Eternal Life</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Regardless, Bultmann's view of 2 Cor. 5:16 appears a correct interpretation of Paul. (But a terribly wrong path for those following Jesus.) &nbsp;Bultmann's interpretation lines up with Paul's view that "flesh cannot inherit eternal life" (1 Cor. 15:50-54). That verse confirms Paul's experience with a post-ascension "Jesus" was with a being who did not have flesh. For 1 Cor. 15:50-54 with 2 Cor. 5:16 support believing<em><strong> Paul admits he never met a Jesus who had flesh</strong></em>. Thus, Paul must have encountered someone on the Road to Damascus who said he was Jesus and did not have flesh, but had a "spiritual body" without flesh. The blinding "light" and "voice" version of Jesus in the three appearance accounts, we are left to understand, was a "spiritual body" without flesh. For more on the distinction between a body of flesh and a spiritual body, see&nbsp;"<a href="/home/4-recommendedreading/178-bodies-upon-ascension.html">Bodies After Ascension</a></span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">How 2 Cor. 5:16 Aligns Further With Barnabas' Statement in Hebrews 6:1</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Tertullian ca. 200 AD said Barnabas wrote Hebrews. (See our <a href="/home/9-bible/272-authorship-of-hebrews.html">link</a>.) Barnabas' ideas in Hebrews have many cross-mixtures with Paul's ideas, especially in its Christology. Plus Paul and Barnabas were missionary allies at one point. The Epistle to the Hebrews has a similar statement about leaving behind Jesus' doctrine, including repentance from sin / works (now denigrated as 'dead works), and instead building salvation doctrine upon faith alone, as Bultmann found in 2 Cor. 5:16. We read in Hebrews <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews%206:1&amp;version=ASV">6:1</a>:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&ldquo;Therefore<strong><em> let us abandon</em></strong> (or<strong><em> leave behind</em></strong>)(Gk. <em>aphentes</em>) the<strong><em> elementary doctrine of Christ</em></strong> and go on to more maturity, <strong><em>not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works </em></strong>but of faith toward God.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The same verb <em>aphentes</em> is properly translated in Mark 1:18 as "<strong><em>threw aside</em></strong>." (Donahue &amp; Harrington, <em>The Gospel of Mark</em> (2005)&nbsp;at&nbsp;<a href="/home/4-recommendedreading/178-bodies-upon-ascension.html"> </a><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=FfAWQh9ybFYC&amp;lpg=PA74&amp;ots=zDVZRI48A-&amp;dq=aphentes%20greek&amp;pg=PA74#v=onepage&amp;q=aphentes%20greek&amp;f=false">74</a>.) Some translate as "forsook." (Mark 1:<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%201:18&amp;version=KJV">18</a>, KJV.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Barnabas draws a parallel between "elementary doctrine of Christ" and "a foundation of repentance from dead works...," thereby speaking derogatorily about a beginner's version of Christ's doctrine -- a <strong><em>foundation of repentance from dead works</em></strong>. Barnabas says this is now supplanted by a superior doctrine of "faith toward God" instead.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hebrews 6:1 thus can be viewed just like 2 Cor. 5:16. If so, it represents a<em><strong> brazen attack</strong></em> by Barnabas upon&nbsp;<strong><em>the Christianity taught by Jesus</em></strong>. In this verse, Barnabas arguably implied that Jesus&rsquo; teaching was immature, while Barnabas was able to take Christianity to the next level. Hence, if Hebrews 6:1 is speaking just like 2 Cor. 5:16, Barnabas saw the message of Jesus in the same way that Bultmann read Paul in 2 Cor. 5:16. Barnabas would be seeing Jesus's doctrine as irrelevant, superseded by the new teaching brought by Paul about faith. This possible reading of Hebrews 6:1 thus lends credence that Bultmann is properly reading 2 Cor. 5:16 to make a similar point.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Bultmann's Argument Implodes Unwittingly Any Validity for Paul</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">No one has seen how Paul has invalidated himself if Bultmann's influential interpretation of 2 Cor. 5:16 were examined carefully.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">From what Bultmann just said, Paul is claiming the message of the flesh-bound Jesus no longer applies once Jesus resurrected, right? Then this means the resurrected Jesus whom Paul met did not have flesh? Right? In fact, didn't Paul simply describe Jesus as a "light" and a "voice" when He returned to visit Paul? Indeed, because Paul teaches "flesh" cannot inherit eternal life (1 Cor. 15:50-54), Paul must have met a Jesus (so he assumed) who only had a "spiritual body," and not flesh.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And from what Bultmann says, it follows that the person communicating to Paul taught the commands Jesus gave in His earthly ministry no longer applied after the resurrection, right?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Each of these consequences of Bultmann's reading of 2 Cor. 5:16 separately <strong>destroy </strong>Paul's validity.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Paul Did Not Meet The Resurrected Jesus If Bultmann Has Read 2 Cor. 5:16 Correctly</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First of all, didn't Thomas discover something unusual when Thomas met the resurrected Jesus? Jesus had flesh. But Paul seems to think that the resurrected Jesus has no flesh, right? For we are now no longer to know Jesus that way -- "through the flesh" -- the time Jesus had flesh, so Paul teaches. Paul encountered solely a Jesus without flesh - at least Paul thought it was Jesus. However, Thomas saw the nail holes in Jesus's hands and the scar on His side. That sounds like flesh to me. Doesn't it to you? Jesus even said to Thomas to handle him to prove He was "flesh and bone." (Luke <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2024:39&amp;version=KJV">24:39</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, the person Paul claims to have encountered in the wilderness outside Damascus as Jesus in a post-resurrection period<strong><em> must not really have been Jesus</em></strong>. Paul should have seen Jesus's nail-holes and scars, and realized Jesus still had flesh. (See also <a href="/home/1-jwo/292-jesus-prophecy-about-who-identified-himself-as-jesus-to-paul.html">our discussion </a>of Matt 24:24-27 that Jesus said not to believe someone who says "I am Jesus" in the wilderness.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But Paul in 2 Cor. 5:16, as Bultmann reads the passage, did not believe the resurrected Jesus whom Paul met in the wilderness had flesh, right? And the Paul who wrote&nbsp;1 Cor. 15:<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20cor.%2015:50&amp;version=ASV">50</a> did not believe "flesh" could inherit eternal life, but that is precisely what Jesus enjoys "in the flesh" that He took into heaven. Both passages confirm Paul met in the wilderness only a spiritual body, and <strong><em>one lacking flesh</em></strong> -- a body wholly unlike what Thomas encountered when Thomas met the resurrected Christ.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is further confirmed by the 3 appearance accounts of Acts 9, 22, and 26 where Paul's account says Jesus merely appeared in the wilderness outside Damascus as a blinding "light" and a "voice." This apparently was a spiritual body.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Now we realize something that did not cross our mind earlier when studying the appearance accounts of Paul in Acts. Nowhere in Paul's encounters do we know <strong><em>how Paul identified Jesus </em></strong>as Jesus. It appears Paul simply relied upon a spiritual body (lacking flesh) to tell Paul "I am Jesus." What did that prove? Paul <strong><em>never realized he could not just trust the voice</em></strong> in his appearance accounts to say "I am Jesus." Paul should have realized<strong><em> he needed to see the nail-holes to validate whom Paul saw </em></strong>truly was Jesus. That's what Apostle Thomas saw.&nbsp;Yet, in <em><strong>none of Paul's three appearance account</strong></em>s in Acts 9, 22 and 26 <strong><em>does Paul ever validate</em></strong>, like Thomas did visually, that <strong><em>this indeed was Jesus</em></strong>. Now we know why: Paul met a spiritual body who only was simply a blinding light and voice.&nbsp;&nbsp;"The journey is interrupted when Paul sees a blinding light, and communicates directly with a divine voice." ("<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_of_Paul">Conversion of Paul</a>," <em>Wikipedia</em>.)&nbsp;Paul did not meet a flesh-and-blood being--although a glorified one--who was Jesus Christ.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Devil-in-Disguise Principle Eluded Paul</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul describes Jesus in Acts as a disembodied light. In the first account, Jesus is a light; in the next a great light, and in the third a light brighter than the Sun. (See Acts 9:1-9; 22:3-11; 26:9-20.)</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Apparently all it took to convince Paul that he was hearing the voice of Jesus was for the voice to say so."&nbsp;&nbsp;(Delos B. McKown,&nbsp;<em>Behold the Antichrist: Bentham on Religion </em>(Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus, 2004) at&nbsp;122.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">McKown, a professor on religion, acknowledges that "taken at face value, this reveals credulity (or gullibility) of a high order." <em>Id. </em>at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?ei=TOTOTIyKD8SCngfG9vjeCQ&amp;ct=result&amp;id=qh3XAAAAMAAJ&amp;dq=(Delos+B.+McKown+Behold+the+Antichrist:+Bentham+on+Religion&amp;q=gullibility#search_anchor">122</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But Paul knows that the devil can disguise himself as an angel of light. See <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+11%3A14&amp;version=NIV">2 Cor. 11:14</a>. Yet the Devil-in-Disguise Principle was not applied by Paul on this occasion. Luke gives us no sign of any effort by Paul to verify the light and voice was truly from Jesus.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Delos B. McKown while critically summarizing Bentham's <em>Not Paul But Jesus</em> realizes the validity of some points of Bentham. So McKown recounts his exchange with a student on this point when a student claims Jesus told him to do something outrageous, and then McKown applies this to Paul for our benefit on how to interpret Paul's experience on the Road to Damascus:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">To this I said, But how can you be sure it was Jesus and not the <strong><em>Devil disguised as Jesus</em></strong> who told you to do as you are doing (see 2 Cor. 11:14 for Paul's description of the prowess of the Devil as a deceiver)? The waif, clearly shaken by the application of what I call the<em><strong> Devil-in-Disguise (DID) Principle</strong></em>, fell silent for a time. Then confidently, serenly he assured me saying, 'Oh, it was Jesus all right.' Having done my best to '<strong><em>test the spirit</em></strong>' in question, I bade my visitors farewell. Even if we grant that Paul heard an extramental voice addressing him on the Damascus road, <em><strong>why did he not apply the DID principle</strong></em>? Why did the [author of Acts] not make inquiries about this and <strong><em>tell us how Paul verified the genuiness of the voice</em></strong>? &nbsp;(Delos B. McKown, <em>Behold the Antichrist: Bentham on Religion </em>(Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus, 2004) at&nbsp;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?ei=TOTOTIyKD8SCngfG9vjeCQ&amp;ct=result&amp;id=qh3XAAAAMAAJ&amp;dq=(Delos+B.+McKown+Behold+the+Antichrist:+Bentham+on+Religion&amp;q=verified#search_anchor">155</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Indeed, in light of what Bultmann says, we have a serious factual flaw in Paul's encounter with a disembodied voice. Jesus could not be recognized in that manner, even if the voice said he was Jesus. In fact, our Lord warned that "many will come in my Name," but are false. They will point to terrestial appearances of Jesus with great "signs and wonders" (blinding light?) and many will be deceived. (Matt. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+24&amp;version=NIV">24</a>.) &nbsp;Jesus says in Matthew <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt.%2024:5&amp;version=NIV">24:5</a> (NIV) in particular that very soon some will come in 'my name" and say "I am the Messiah"-- several verses prior to Jesus warning about the false Christs that will come:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For many will come <strong><em>in my name</em></strong>, claiming, &lsquo;<em><strong>I am the Messiah</strong></em>,&rsquo; and will deceive many.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul did not care much for Jesus' words in the flesh, but these words among them would have warned him that a 'blinding light' whose 'voice' says "I am Jesus" (Acts <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%209:5&amp;version=NIV">9:5</a>) is precisely the kind of statement Jesus warned about in Matthew 24:5. It is someone coming in Jesus' name claiming 'I am the Messiah,' <em>i.e.</em>, I am Jesus. But&nbsp;Jesus said this kind of statement could lead astray <em>even</em> the elect to follow a false Jesus.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But Paul credulously, nay gullibly, believed this voice was from Jesus. It could not be because the post-resurrection Jesus had flesh, and 2 Cor. 5:16 proves Paul did not meet a flesh-and-blood Jesus.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Had Jesus Come Back To Paul In A Different Manner Than When He Left?</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Another incongruity is that if Jesus returned as a "voice" and "light" to Paul, it contradicts the angel's message in Acts <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%201:11&amp;version=KJV">1:11</a> that "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so&nbsp;<strong><em>come in like manner </em></strong>as ye have seen him go into heaven." Jesus left as a body of flesh. If He returned to visit Paul, He should still have had a body of flesh. This is what the angel prophesied.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Recap on Bultmann's Point #1</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In sum on point #1, Bultmann's reading of 2 Cor. 5:16 (combined with&nbsp;1 Cor. 15:50-54)&nbsp;reveals Paul had a misapprehension that Jesus no longer had human flesh after the resurrection. Paul is utterly and completely invalidated unwittingly by Bultmann. Hence, a pro-Paul reader of 2 Cor. 5:16 -- Bultmann -- actually found an interpretation that unwittingly destroyed Paul's validity.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Paul's Command To No Longer Know Christ According To The Flesh Contradicts Christ</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Second, Jesus' final words on earth as He ascended into heaven were that the Apostles (the ones he taught during His ministry; Paul was not there) should teach "<strong><em>everything that I commanded you</em></strong>...." Matt. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2028:20&amp;version=NIV">28:20</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If Paul is correct in 2 Cor. 5:16 as Bultmann construes him, then the Jesus of Matt. 28:20 is in total conflict with the "Jesus" who inspired 2 Cor. 5:16. Jesus is still in the flesh post-resurrection, as proven to Thomas. He wants teachings while still in the flesh taught to all the world. But Paul in reliance on the "Jesus" he met says <em>NO! </em>This proves the message of 2 Cor. 5:16 is not a message from the true Jesus. Paul's "Jesus" contradicts completely the final words on Earth of the true Jesus. The true Jesus could only have meant that post-Ascension the apostles were to teach the <strong><em>pre-Cross</em></strong> teachings of the true Jesus when our Divine Lord was clearly "in the flesh."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, Paul taught we are "no longer" to know Christ through the teachings of Jesus while in the flesh (2 Cor. 5:16), when the true Jesus says the opposite to His true Apostles in Matt. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2028:20&amp;version=NIV">28:20</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And the true Jesus gives us an ominous warning if we follow Paul's command to no longer know Jesus according to Jesus' teachings while in the flesh: "He who rejects me and <strong><em>does not receive my sayings</em></strong> has a judge; the word that I have spoken <strong><em>will be his judge</em></strong> on the last day." (John <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2012:48&amp;version=NIV">12:48</a>.)</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Conclusion</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">While very weak efforts have been attempted by scholars to refute Bultmann -- Voulgaris, for example, argues that knowing Jesus "according to the flesh" in 5:16 means knowing Jesus "as a Jew" -- these efforts only strengthen one's confidence that Bultmann's reading is the correct one. Bultmann's view is also consistent with the reading in the early church of 2 Cor. 5:16, although the early church did not extrapolate that we should disregard Jesus in His earthly ministry. See our discussion of the various readings of 2 Cor. 5:16 at this <a href="/home/1-jwo/177-2-corinthians-516.html">link</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This means, if Bultmann is correct, that Paul in 2 Cor. 5:16 deliberately sought to displace the commands that Jesus gave to his true apostles with a set of commands Paul got from a stranger who lacked flesh -- who could not have had the verifying evidence of scars and flesh-wounds that Thomas saw -- and who gave a direction to dispense with the words of Jesus's earthly ministry contrary to Christ's command in Matt. 28:20.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, <em>if Bultmann is correct</em> in his scholarly interpretation of 2 Cor. 5:16, and we have little reason to doubt it is correct, Paul was a<strong><em> total dupe of some strange figure who did not reveal any flesh, and this is why Paul assumed Jesus had solely a spiritual body. </em><span style="font-weight: normal;">This figure intended Paul not to see that he lacked the scars and nail-holes that would verify whether the blinding light and voice were from the true Jesus Himself.</span><em> The true Jesus would have no reason to conceal these wounds</em><span style="font-weight: normal;"> from Paul if Paul had met the true Jesus. Someone other than Jesus, however, would have motive to conceal his true identity from Paul, and thus only appear as a "voice" and "light," leading Paul to think Jesus no longer had a body of flesh in His resurrected state. </span></strong>We need not speculate on who that figure was of <strong><em>blinding</em></strong> light at this juncture. It is more important that we can say that we confidently know who it was NOT. If Bultmann is correct in interpreting Paul,<strong><em> it could not be the true Jesus.</em></strong></span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Further Study</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">On the Bible identifying Satan as Lucifer, an angel of blinding light -- in Hebrew <em>helel</em> -- from <em>Helios</em> -- the name of the "<strong><em>Sun-God</em></strong>" of paganism, see this <a href="/home/1-jwo/223-who-is-the-blinding-angel-of-light.html">link.</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bultmann has had a long acceptance among evangelicals. However, he was loose in terms of our NT text. He concluded any "I sayings" of Jesus in the Gospels were not actually uttered by Jesus. He says they came from the Palestinian or Hellenistic church. See&nbsp;Daniel S. Dapaah, <em>The relationship between John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth</em> (University Press of America, 2005) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=S0P18O3fGR4C&amp;lpg=PA33&amp;ots=1LXOZqgO25&amp;dq=%22The%20Gospel%20of%20Thomas%3A%20Does%20It%20Contain%20Authentic%20Sayings%20of%20Jesus%3F%22&amp;pg=PA14#v=onepage&amp;q=%22The%20Gospel%20of%20Thomas:%20Does%20It%20Contain%20Authentic%20Sayings%20of%20Jesus?%22&amp;f=false">14</a>-15. Professor Martin Hengel was the one evangelical scholar who tried to debunk Bultmann's pessimism about the authenticity of these portions of our NT. See<a href="http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2009/07/the_champion_wh.html"> this</a> <em>Christianity Today</em> discussion.</span></p>
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<h3>Recommendations</h3>
<p><a href="/home/14-audio/401-music-store-manager.html">Only Jesus</a> (great song by Big Daddy)</p>
<p><a href="http://astore.amazon.com/jwoogm-20?node=1&amp;page=2">What Did Jesus Say?</a> (2012) - 7 topics&nbsp;</p>
<p>None above affiliated with me</p> </div>
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<h1>Acts Chapter 19 - Yada Yahweh's Analysis on Paul's Actions</h1>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul in Acts ch 19 says that followers of John did not have the right message, and Paul had a different message for them to accept. As a result of accepting Paul's message, they spoke in tongues, and changed the spirit of John's followers. The website Yada Yahweh says Paul implied that he, Paul, was the figure who came in fulfillment of what John said was another coming. And as a result, a whole different spirit fell on them. Paul clearly rebaptized John's followers into a new spirit ... raising a question whether Paul's followers were truly following the spirit of the true Yahshua which John should have imparted to his followers prior to his beheading.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This action by Paul also thereby created 12 new apostles for Paul. So if Paul is to be trusted, this disciple of Yahshua --- John --- supposedly did not understand enough to teach about Jesus/ Yahshua to these same 12 men. Here is the <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yada/2013/03/22/shabat-scripture-study">radio commentary</a>&nbsp;by Yada Yahweh about this. Also here below are the radio notes which I offer without comment:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #222222;" data-mce-mark="1">The reason I said that Yahowsha’s prophetic warning was the last He would make before returning home, is that from heaven, Yahowsha’ warned Yahowchanan about the wannabe Apostle. Writing to the Called-Out Assembly in Ephesus, the place where Yahowchanan’s and Sha’uwl’s footsteps and writings crossed paths, the Ma’aseyah in heaven told His beloved Disciple:</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><b><span style="color: #222222;">“I know that you cannot possibly accept, tolerate, or endure&nbsp;</span></b><span style="color: #222222;">(<i>ou dynamai</i>&nbsp;<i>bastazo</i>&nbsp;– haven’t the will, ability, or state of mind to take up with, walk along side of, lift up or carry forward (i.e., advance or promote))&nbsp;<b>those who think errantly, those who are wrong, injurious, pernicious, destructive, or baneful&nbsp;</b>(<i>kakos</i>&nbsp;– are incorrect, wicked, evil, harmful, noisome, morally corrupt, diseased, culpable, mischievous, demonic, or hurtful)<b>. And you have observed and objectively tested&nbsp;</b>(<i>peirazo</i>&nbsp;– scrutinized, examined through enquiry)&nbsp;<b>those who claim and maintain</b>&nbsp;(<i>phasko</i>&nbsp;– say, affirm, profess, declare, promise, or preach)&nbsp;<b>of themselves&nbsp;</b>(<i>eautous</i>)&nbsp;<b>that they</b>&nbsp;<b>are</b>&nbsp;(<i>eimi</i>)&nbsp;<b>Apostles</b>&nbsp;(<i>apostolos</i>&nbsp;– someone who is prepared and sent forth)&nbsp;<b>but are not. And you have found them&nbsp;</b>(<i>heurisko&nbsp;</i>– examined, scrutinized, come to understand them, and discovered through closely observing them that they are)&nbsp;<b>false, deceitful liars</b>&nbsp;(<i>pseudes&nbsp;</i>–&nbsp;are pretending to be something they are not, they are erroneous deceivers)<b>.”&nbsp;</b>(Revelation 2:2)</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">It is especially relevant to this statement that Ephesus was the only city listed among the seven described in Yahowsha’s Revelation letters where Paul and his pals were known to have preached. And it is the only one with a warning against false Apostles. Surely this is not a coincidence.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">While Revelation is a prophetic book, Yahowsha’s commendation was written in the present and past tense. And that is significant because Yahowchanan scribed Revelation in 69 CE, seven years after Sha’uwl wrote his letter to the Ephesians, and two years after the wannabe and self-proclaimed imposter Apostle’s death. So considering the fact that Paul and his traveling companions were the only men who claimed to be Apostles in Ephesus during this short span of time, Yahowsha’ was calling Sha’uwl an “errant, demonic, deceitful, charlatan.” We are without excuse. Christians cannot claim that they were not warned about this horrible man.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">Even Yahowsha’s parting comments paralleled things we have read pertaining to the distinction between Yahowah’s Way and Paul’s way.&nbsp;<b>“And you have</b>&nbsp;<b>loyal steadfastness and enduring consistency&nbsp;</b>(<i>hupomone</i>)&nbsp;<b>and have endured&nbsp;</b>(<i>bastazo</i>)&nbsp;<b>through My</b>&nbsp;<b>name. You have worked hard</b>&nbsp;(<i>kopiao</i>)&nbsp;<b>and have not grown tired.”</b>&nbsp;(Revelation 2:3)</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">Since I’ve made the claim that Paul and pals preached in Ephesus, and that they presented a contrarian view to that of Yahowsha’s Disciples, and notably, Yahowchanan, and thus singled themselves out as being the deceitful liars who were falsely claiming to be apostles, let’s consider the evidence. I’ll be providing this testimony using the&nbsp;<i>Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament, 27<sup>th</sup>&nbsp;Edition with McReynolds English Interlinear</i>&nbsp;to be as accurate as possible. What follows is based upon Paul’s personal testimony, which was presented as a historical portrait by Luke, so much of this is difficult to read.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><b><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">“But it became in the Apollos&nbsp;</span></b><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(one of Paul’s accomplices and a man who still bore the name of the Greek god Apollo)&nbsp;<b>to be in Corinth&nbsp;</b>(the Greek city in which Paul preached the longest and to which he wrote two early letters, in the second of which he admitted to being demon possessed by a messenger of Satan)<b>, Paulos, having gone through the uppermost parts, came down to Ephesus so as to find which Disciples.”</b>&nbsp;(Acts 19:1)</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><b><span style="color: #222222;">“And he said against and regarding&nbsp;</span></b><span style="color: #222222;">(<i>pros</i>)&nbsp;<b>them, ‘If conditionally, spirit holy you received having trusted the ones but to him but but not if conditionally spirit holy there is we heard.’</b>&nbsp;<b>He said, ‘But into what then were you immersed?’ And they said, ‘Into Yahowchanan’s immersion.’”</b>&nbsp;(Acts 19:2-3)</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><b><span style="color: #222222;">“Said but Paul, ‘Yahowchanan immersed immersion of change mind to the people, saying to the coming after him that they might believe this is in the Iesous.’ So having heard, they were immersed into the name of the Lord Iesous.”</span></b><span style="color: #222222;">(Acts 19:4-5)</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><b><span style="color: #222222;">“And having set on them the hands of Paul came the spirit of the holy on them. They were speaking but in tongues and were speaking inspired utterances. Were but the all men as twelve.”</span></b><span style="color: #222222;">&nbsp;(Acts 19:6-7)</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">While it is impossible based upon the quality of this testimony to know for certain what actually happened, I suspect that based upon information Paul received from Apollos in Corinth, Sha’uwl felt threatened. He recognized that his message was vastly different than Yahowsha’s Disciples, and he was convinced that one or more of them was treading upon his exclusive dominion over every race and nation. So he headed south, arriving in Ephesus to determine who was responsible for the encroachment and then to reestablish himself as the exclusive source of salvation for Greeks and Romans. When he arrived, rather than meeting with Shim’own or Yahowchanan, Paul undermined them, suggesting that the Spirit they received as a result of responding to Yahowchanan was not the right spirit. This is why Paul used&nbsp;<i>pros</i>&nbsp;to say that his contrarian message was regarding and against the Disciples, not to them.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">But then this dialogue gets a bit murky because Paul’s next sentence has two hypothetical conditions, three buts, and a negation. And yet as we continue to read, some things become abundantly clear. When Paul learned that these people had been immersed in Yahowchanan’s message, <b><i>Paul immediately claimed that Yahowchanan had changed it, altering their thinking</i></b>. He then questioned the nature of the spirit they had received. He told them that they should instead believe that Iesous had sent him. So after listening to Paul’s contrarian view, these Ephesians were re-baptized by Paul, with Paul laying his hands on them in the name of his Lord. This then <b><i>imbued these men with an entirely different spirit, one which caused them to blather on in tongues, believing that they were inspired prophets.</i></b> But whatever they were saying, they were now Sha’uwl’s twelve disciples, just as Yahowsha’ had chosen twelve.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">That was bad, but it gets worse. Paul was just warming up.&nbsp;<b>“And having moved into the synagogue he was speaking boldly for three months, disputing and persuading about the kingdom of the god.”</b>&nbsp;(Acts 19:8) Here, “speaking boldly” was from&nbsp;<i>parrhesiazomai</i>, which means that he was “using the freedom to speak in an unreserved manner.” It is a compound of&nbsp;<i>pas</i>, which means “individually,” and&nbsp;<i>rheo</i>, meaning “to pour forth.” So let there be no mistake: this was Sha’uwl’s message and his alone.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">Also insightful, “disputing” was from&nbsp;<i>dialegomai</i>, which means “to argue against someone using different thinking.” It is “to contend with and convince though discourse.”</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">Even more important, take notice of the order of the verbs. The message and spirit of Yahowchanan had to be “<i>dialegomai</i>&nbsp;– disputed” prior to Paul “<i>peitho</i>&nbsp;– persuading others to obey and to become followers.”&nbsp;<i>Peitho</i>&nbsp;speaks of tranquilizing those who listen, inducing them through words to believe, persuading them to favor one individual over another and to join with them. So it is hard to miss the fact that Paul is confessing to the crime Yahowsha’ addressed in His letter to Ephesus through Yahowchanan.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">I have always held hypocrites in low esteem. Sha’uwl is a textbook case. He erroneously presents his “Gospel of Grace” as the alternative to obeying God’s Torah, which he presents as an onerous set of laws. And while there is no Hebrew word for “obey,” and while Torah does not mean “law,” Paul routinely lashes out at people for not obeying him.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><b><span style="color: #222222;">“And now because some were becoming stubborn and they were disobedient, speaking abusively of and maligning the way before the multitude, having separated from them, abandoning and forsaking them, he appointed and marked off boundaries, separating and excluding the Disciples through daily disputes in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. And this took place for two years so that everyone residing the Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Judeans and Greeks.”</span></b><span style="color: #222222;">&nbsp;(Acts 19:9-10)</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">Just as Yahowsha’ had explained, there were some in Ephesus who did not believe Paul. And while Yahowsha’ praised them for rejecting the liar and his lies, Paul saw them differently. He said that they were “<i>skleruno</i>&nbsp;– stubborn and obstinate.” Based upon&nbsp;<i>skleros</i>, Paul viewed those he could not beguile as “hard, harsh, and rough men who were stern, offensive, and intolerant.”</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">Sha’uwl said that they were “<i>apeitheo</i>&nbsp;– disobedient” because they “<i>apeitheo</i>&nbsp;– refused to believe” him. They “were not persuaded,” they “refused to comply,” and thus were in Paul’s words: “<i>apeitheo</i>&nbsp;– contumacious,” which is “to be flagrantly disobedient and rebellious, disobeying an order or law without a good reason.” Paul was laying down the law, his law, to which everyone had to obey or suffer the consequences. There was a new Lord in town.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">The next verb in Paul’s intolerant diatribe was translated “speaking abusively of and maligning.” It is from&nbsp;<i>kakologeo</i>, which is “to curse and revile, denouncing through evil and insulting speech.” The verb is a compound of&nbsp;<i>kakos</i>, which describes that which is “of a bad nature, an inappropriate mode of thinking, feeling, or acting which is troublesome, pernicious, baneful, and wicked,” and&nbsp;<i>logos</i>, the “spoken word.” Paul, like all insecure people, was ever ready to curse his perceived opponents but would not tolerate any reciprocation.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">Yahowsha and His Disciples are often translated using&nbsp;<i>histemi</i>&nbsp;to convey that God stood up for us so that we could stand with Him. But Paul’s twist on this is markedly different.&nbsp;<i>Aphistemi</i>, rendered “having separated from them, abandoning and forsaking them,” is colored by&nbsp;<i>apo</i>, which speaks of separation, even of abandonment. It tells us that Paul “caused the rebellion” and then “avoided association, forsaking and abandoning” the Disciples.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">But that’s not the half of it. The very next verb is&nbsp;<i>aphorizo</i>. Speaking of Paul, it reads that “he appointed and marked off boundaries, separating and excluding” the Disciples.&nbsp;<i>Aphorizo</i>’s primary connotation is “to determine, to define, and to mark off boundaries for those who are disreputable, specifically to separate them by establishing limits which they may not transgress.” It means “to divide and to exclude, to sever a relationship and to get rid of particular individuals.” And when the object of such constraints are Yahowsha’s Disciples, Paul is at war with them.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">Contentious to the bitter end, Paul once again bragged of “<i>dialegomai</i>&nbsp;– arguing against and disputing” the Disciples because their “thinking was markedly different.” But this time Paul was not to be found in the synagogue, in the place where those seeking to learn about Yahowah considered His Torah, Prophets, and Psalms. He turned to the “<i>Tyrannos Schole</i>.” Tyrannos is based upon<i>kurios</i>, denoting “the Lord.” But this time there would be no mistaking that this lord was a tyrant and despot seeking supremacy. And Paul was lecturing on his behalf.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">It is a fact little known by Christians, but if Paul’s preaching is reflected in his letters, he never accurately shared the word of Yahowsha’. In one of his thirteen letters he made a brief passing attempt, citing a snippet, but even then he got that wrong. So rest assured, when Sha’uwl claims that everyone in Asia heard him “preach the word of the Lord,” it’s Satan’s message which is being proclaimed. Yahowah consistently refers to the Adversary as “<i>ba’al</i>&nbsp;– lord” because Satan, like Sha’uwl, craves supremacy, mastery, control, and ownership.” This very passage affirms Paul’s predilection for these very same things.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">Yahowah and Yahowsha’ routinely tell us that “<i>dunamis</i>&nbsp;– ability, inherent power, miracles, signs, and wonders” are often, if not usually, associated with false prophets. But since Christians don’t listen to either, they typically associate such things with God. And yet here, Paul is saying that God had nothing to do with them. His supernatural power and his extraordinary mastery and skill were the work of his hands, conceived, fashioned, and brought forth without God’s assistance.&nbsp;<b>“Miraculous power and supernatural deeds and not having experienced the god were performed through the hands of Paulos.”&nbsp;</b>(Acts 19:11)</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><i><span style="color: #222222;">Tugchano</span></i><span style="color: #222222;">, which was negated in this statement by “<i>ou</i>&nbsp;– not in any way,” speaks of “hitting the mark and becoming a master, especially at throwing a deadly weapon.” It was rendered here as “having experienced,” but be aware that it is an equivocal term denoting that the actions are only probable. It is used to describe “extraordinary and unexpected performances which require uncommon skill.”</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><b><span style="color: #222222;">“So that also on the being weak to be carried away from the skin of him handkerchiefs or aprons and to be settled from them the illnesses and annoying spirits to depart out.”</span></b><span style="color: #222222;">&nbsp;(Acts 19:12)</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">“Handkerchiefs” is from&nbsp;<i>soudarion</i>, which also means “a piece of cloth, towel, or napkin which may or may not be used as a burial cloth over the face of the deceased, to blow one’s nose, to wipe perspiration for one’s face, or to dry one’s hands.” It is of Latin origin. “Aprons” was rendered from&nbsp;<i>simikinthion</i>, another Latin word, which is “a worker’s smock or bib-apron worn by common workers and servants to protect their clothing.”</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">So what Paul is saying here is that <b><i>napkins and aprons were placed upon his skin and then carried to those who were sick, and that as a result annoying spirits were exercised from the diseased.</i></b> It is creepy in the extreme, not unlike today’s charlatans who fleece their flock by pretending to heal the sick.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">The term Paul chose to infer that his handkerchiefs were healing the sick,&nbsp;<i>apallassomai</i>, means “to change, to settle with, and to reconcile,” which then infers that the feeble may have simply come to accept their maladies. It is derived from&nbsp;<i>allasso</i>, which denotes “exchanging one thing for another.” Perhaps lepers stopped complaining when they were given malaria?</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.3in; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #222222;">The “spirits to depart out” were called “<i>poneros</i>&nbsp;– annoying, burdensome, harassing, troublesome, wicked, corrupt, worthless, faulty, and criminal.” But remember, the Spirit associated with Yahowchanan, Yahowsha’s most beloved Disciple, was rejected by Sha’uwl and replaced by another of his choosing. So I suspect that the reason Paul saw the Set-Apart Spirit as “annoying,” is that She was opposed to him.</span></p> </td>
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<p><a href="/home/14-audio/401-music-store-manager.html">Only Jesus</a> (great song by Big Daddy)</p>
<p><a href="http://astore.amazon.com/jwoogm-20?node=1&amp;page=2">What Did Jesus Say?</a> (2012) - 7 topics&nbsp;</p>
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<p><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The New Testament in Prophecy</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The whole notion that the New Testament does away with the original Covenant's Law is contrary to the prophecies of what the New Covenant represents. It may be what Paul claims happened, but Paul's words cannot be accepted at odds with the prior Holy Scripture. The words "new covenant" only appear in one passage, and that is in Jeremiah. The inspired scripture teaches clearly that the New Covenant will be with the "House of Israel" -- whom God previously divorced (meaning the northern kingdom) -- to revitalize the Covenant-Law given Moses by placing it on these people's hearts rather than only on tables of stone:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&ldquo;Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: <em><strong>I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts</strong></em>. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, &lsquo;Know the Lord,&rsquo; for <strong>they shall all know me</strong>, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will <strong>forgive their iniquity</strong>, and I will remember their sin no more.&rdquo; (Jeremiah 31:31&ndash;34, ESV.)</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">See also Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 5:10; Ezekiel 11:19-21)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Ezekiel, who lived around the same time as Jeremiah, appears to explain the new covenant further, adding that God will give a new spirit, and the Holy Spirit will cause believers to walk in God&rsquo;s statutes and obey His rules.</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">26&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And I have given to you a <strong>new heart,</strong> And a new spirit I give in your midst, And I have turned aside the heart of stone out of your flesh, And I have given to you a heart of flesh.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">27&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And My Spirit I give in your midst, And I have done this, s<em><strong>o that in My statutes ye walk, And My judgments ye keep</strong></em>, and have done them. (Ezekiel 36:26-27 YLT.)</span></span></p>
<p><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The original "Covenant" means the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 34:28 KJV, it reads: "And he wrote upon the tables the words of <strong>the covenant, the ten commandments</strong>."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The New Covenant does not change the ten commandments, but instead will change hearts to want to obey the first covenant on stone tablets, the ten commandments. God will write the covenant -- the ten commandments (perhaps more -- it is not clear) -- on a new heart of flesh that turns "aside the heart of stone." </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jeremiah and Ezekiel were written about 600 years before Christ, so everyone knew what &ldquo;my Law&rdquo; and "My statutes" meant. It is none other than the living oracles (as Stephen called them in Acts 7:38) given at Mt. Sinai by God through Moses -- the Ten Commandments at minimum.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, instead of the Law or the Covenant of the Ten Commandments being some horrible thing we must flee from, supposedly because it makes us a 'legalist' (Paulinists speaking again), the Law, including the Covenant of the Ten Commandments, is always spoken everywhere else very highly:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is <strong>love</strong> (John 15:10, 12-14),<em><strong> light and lamp</strong></em> (Proverbs 6:23; Psalm 119:105; Isaiah 8:20; Revelation 21:23, 22:5); <em><strong>life</strong></em> (Deuteronomy 4:1, 32:46-47; Proverbs 1:17, 8:33-36; Matthew 19:16,17); <strong>seed</strong> (Matthew 13:18-23), <strong><em>instructions</em></strong> (Isaiah 1:10; Exodus 16:4 24:12; Jeremiah 35:13; Job 22:22, 36:10; Psalm 78:1; Zephaniah 3:1-7; Malachi 2:1-9, Proverbs 1:2,3,7,8 4:1,2); law (Jeremiah 6:18-19; Zechariah 7:12; Deut 5:5 17:11, 27:1-3, 26, 30:10,14, 32:46,47; John 15:25; Acts 6:2-4,7 13:44,48,49, 28:23); <strong><em>commands, judgments, teachings &amp; ways</em></strong> (Isaiah 2:3; Proverbs 5:12 7:2 8:10 1:8 4:2 3:1 6:20-23; Jeremiah 32:33; Deuteronomy 4:1; 2 Chronicles 15:1-7; Matthew 4:23 7:28,29 9:35 13:54 15:9 28:20; Acts 2:42 4:2 18:11); <strong><em>wisdom, and truth</em></strong> (Psalm 119:43,44,142 138:2; Proverbs 23:23; Malachi 2:6; 1 Kings 2:3-4; John 17:17, 18:37-38, 8:31-32; James 1:18, 21-23,25). &nbsp;It is the straight paths for our feet and a light to our way. (This list is taken from <a href="http://www.wholebible.com/Doctrinal_Specifics.htm">WholeBible.com</a>.)</span></p>
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<p><a href="/home/14-audio/401-music-store-manager.html">Only Jesus</a> (great song by Big Daddy)</p>
<p><a href="http://astore.amazon.com/jwoogm-20?node=1&amp;page=2">What Did Jesus Say?</a> (2012) - 7 topics&nbsp;</p>
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<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">The Jesus' Words Only Principle Explained</span></strong></span></h1>
<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt; color: #000080;"><strong><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></strong></span></h1>
<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt; color: #000080;"><strong><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Introduction</span></strong></span></h1>
<p><span style="color: #000080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">A. Not All Messages from God Are Equally Authoritative</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Even a very astute and logical Christian thinker can denigrate the "sole teacher" status Jesus said He had. Such a good Christian and evangelical radio personality -- Greg K. -- recently wrote in an article entitled "Are the Red Letters More Important" in his monthly newsletter for&nbsp;June 2014:</span></p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1402466227737_5820" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: 'Gill Sans', Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Therefore, <em><strong>Jesus&rsquo; words have no more authority than Jude&rsquo;s, and Paul&rsquo;s words have no less authority than Christ&rsquo;s</strong></em>.&nbsp; In fact, since Jesus is God&mdash;the same God who inspired all of Scripture&mdash;in a very real sense, Titus&rsquo;s words and <em><strong>Paul&rsquo;s words are Jesus&rsquo; words</strong></em>.</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1402466227737_5888" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: 'Gill Sans', Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Since the same doctrine supporting Jesus&rsquo; words endorses every other biblical writer, <strong><em>singling out Jesus as a special authority undermines the doctrine of inspiration for all of Scripture</em></strong>.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In his monthly newsletter&nbsp;of June 23, 2014, this same well-known Bible commentator likewise writes: </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"<span style="color: #494949; line-height: normal;">The mistake [of Red Letter Christians] is thinking that red-letter verses (the words of Jesus) have more authority than the rest of the Bible."</span><span style="line-height: 1.3em;"></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">So if this Christian thinker is correct, then the words "that are difficult to be understood" from Paul, as <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Peter%203">Second Peter 3:15</a> says about Paul's words, are of equal weight to those from "The Prophet" as Peter calls Jesus in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2018:15,18;%20Acts%203:20,22;7:37;%20Hebrews%203:2-6">Acts 3:22,</a> quoting Deuteronomy 18:18-19.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">But if that were true, then why did John the Baptist&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;-- the greatest prophet who ever lived prior to Jesus (Matthew&nbsp;</span><a href="http://bible.cc/matthew/11-11.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; line-height: 21px;">11:11</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">) -- believe he "must decrease" so that unfettered acceptance of Jesus' message would "increase" (John</span><a href="http://bible.cc/john/3-30.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; line-height: 21px;">&nbsp;3:30-31</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">)?</span>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In the Deuteronomy passage which Peter quotes in Acts 3:22 (more on those words later), God Yahweh tells Moses that "every word" of a special prophet called "the Prophet" will be from Yahweh, and God will hold every man "to account" who does not follow what "the Prophet says." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+18:18-19">Deut. 18:18-19</a>.) </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">God never says this about anyone else other than <em><strong>the Prophet</strong></em>. Not everything any other prophet ever spoke was <strong><em>always</em></strong> from Yahweh. Only the words a prophet <strong><em>quoted Yahweh as saying </em></strong>were from Yahweh. Casual talk and explanations recorded in the Bible even though uttered by a prophet are not words from Yahweh.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Moses had no constant inspiration in everything he said or did. Sometimes his acts were sinful as when he struck a rock inconsistent with what God told him to do. God punished him by not letting him enter the promised land of Israel. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">An example of the lack of constant inspiration is the one time Moses was confronted with a difficult legal case to decide, and he concluded he was unable <strong><em>on his own</em></strong> to resolve it. So he "went" to Yahweh with the issue. &nbsp;(Numbers 27:3 <em>et seq.</em>)&nbsp;This is in accord with Deut. 1:17&nbsp;"The case that is<em><strong> too hard for you</strong></em>, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it" (Deuteronomy 1:17). </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus, however, would not have had the same difficulty or limitation, as we shall see.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">There was something distinctly different, unique and superior about <em><strong>The Prophet</strong> </em>to come where every word he spoke somehow was from God Yahweh Himself. We know now how this happened, for as Jesus says "the <em><strong>father dwells in me</strong></em>" -- John 14:10 -- an event never true of any other prophet who always, other than Moses, God communicated with by visions. In those cases, the Holy Spirit spoke to the prophet by visions. More proof on that below.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, <em><strong>The Prophet</strong></em> has an even superior standing to Moses, as Moses heard intermittently from Yahweh. Even when Moses in Deuteronomy 18:18-19 announces the words from Yahweh about The Prophet, Moses introduced the quote by his own explanation of the words from Yahweh to follow. See <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+18%3A15-16&amp;version=ASV">Deut 18:15-16</a>. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Moses necessarily implied his own explanation is <em><strong>NOT</strong></em> what Yahweh said, but Moses' own interpretation of what it meant. Other than that comment, Moses quotes Yahweh promising that a unique prophet is yet to come -- whom we now know as Jesus -- whose<em><strong> every word</strong></em> is God speaking through Him, and thus we are held to account to The Prophet above all prophets.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus below, I will establish that Greg --- the Bible thinker who<strong> says Jesus' words are not more important than any other passage in the Bible</strong> -- is not only an ill-informed opinion, but is <strong>soundly rejected by God</strong> in Numbers 12:1-14. God explains in that passage that not even all prophets speaking in Holy Scripture when quoting God are speaking with equal authority and clarity. It may be all equally inspired in a general sense when quoting God, but their words do not all have the same priority of emphasis and clarity as to Moses' revelation from God. Our God explains this in Numbers 12:1-14 and Deuteronomy 18:18-19, as more fully discussed below. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And Jesus also explained that the "<strong><em>apostle is not more important than his master."</em></strong>&nbsp;John&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/john/13-16.htm" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;">13:16</a>. Thus, Jesus explained His words have a priority over any words from an apostle, particularly one whom Second Peter says speaks with "words difficult to be understand." Those words in Second Peter directly relate to God's rebuke of Miriam in Numbers 12:1-14. In that passage, Yahweh says all prophets (except The Prophet) are inferior to Moses because God speaks less clearly to general prophets -- via visions -- and thus in a way more difficult to be understood than God speaks to Moses or The Prophet to come. To repeat, the latter speaks verbatim God's words by some unexplained direct and obviously much clearer means.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">An Error in Categories by Greg</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Besides these principles of priority. we will prove below that Greg makes a categorical error in the above quote. He describes <em><strong>non-prophets</strong></em> as on par with Jesus. That certainly endangers taking Jesus' words as seriously as intended by God.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> For example, Jude is no prophet; he was simply a bishop of Jerusalem. The third Bishop of Jerusalem, to be precise.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul is also not a prophet. The best that any one has claimed for Paul is that he is an apostle of Jesus. While there are not two witnesses to establish that as true, even so, Jesus said the apostles were only inspired to remember Jesus' words which he spoke to them.&nbsp;(John&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/john/14-26.htm" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;">14:26</a>.) However, Paul in his epistles never quotes Jesus except two passages in Luke's Gospel -- the communion liturgy and the worker is worth his wage. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The only exception in Paul's epistles is 2 Corinthians 12:7, &nbsp;but it is so problematical that even Paul aficionados reject these were possibly the words of our Lord Jesus. There Paul says the "Lord" (Jesus? Paul does not say) refused Paul's repeated prayers to be free from the "torment" of an "angel of Satan.&rdquo; The Lord of Paul supposedly refused to do so, telling Paul that "my grace is sufficient for you." &nbsp;Because this apparently has our Lord Jesus refuse to lift a demonic influence over Paul, Pauline teachers insists that there is something wrong in this text. It supposedly could not be as Paul intended it. &nbsp;Regardless, this would be the only words of a "Lord" -- possibly Jesus -- quoted in Paul's epistles other than the two quotes of Jesus from Luke's Gospel. &nbsp;This is hardly any track record to conclude that Paul was a prophet of Jesus' words.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;<br /><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence Paul has no words in his epistles from Jesus which are unique and depend upon Paul's recollection that can be relied upon. &nbsp;In fact, Paul only a few times says the "Lord" says something -- probably intended as an allusion by Paul to OT scripture: 1 Cor. 14:37; 1 Tim. 2:11; 1 Cor. 2:13; 1 Thess.4:1-2,8; 1 Thess. 2:13; Eph. 4:17. cf. 1 Cor. 7:25, 40.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Tiers of Authority</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Instead, there are four tiers of inspired authority which God demands we follow differently based upon which has priority over the other. The primary passages establishing this are Numbers 12:1-14 and Deuteronomy 18:18-19.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Consequence of Breaching This Order of Priority</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">As we shall demonstrate below, when we defy this order of priority, God says we are disgraced in God's view. We have improperly inverted the order of authority within those given revelations from God. <em><strong>One is more clear than the other</strong></em>. For example in Numbers 12:1-14, God says Moses' words are<strong><em> more authoritative than words of a mere prophet because God speaks more clearly to Moses than He does to a mere prophet</em></strong>. God intends we understand the more clear authority trumps the authority of the less clear.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">How do we defy this order of priority? God says we do so when we treat someone of lesser authority (such as an ordinary prophet who has only a vision, or a prophet's messenger / apostle of God's word) as on par --- of equal WEIGHT --- with a higher authority such as Moses who spoke with God "mouth to mouth" or <em><strong>The Prophet</strong></em> to come who has the most intimate connection of all. God Yahweh explains these principles in Numbers 12:1-14 and Deuteronomy 18:17-18, as we will explore below.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #000080;"><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">B. The Four Tiers of Authority Versus A Disgraced God-Encounter</span></span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">These four tiers of authority are: (1) The Prophet (Messiah); (2) next below Him is Moses; (3) next below Moses are all other prophets because they merely have visions in which God speaks to them; and (4) next below any of the above are prophets only secondarily -- as a "messenger" (apostle) of one who is in divine communication with God, e.g., carrying the message of another who is in divine contact with God -- such as either Aaron who was an apostle to Moses or one of the 12 apostles to <em><strong>The</strong></em> Prophet (Jesus). &nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">There is a fifth category of one who experiences a direct communication with God. However, God's purpose in this category is to disgrace that person and chastise them for disobeying the priority of authority outlined here, as God does with Miriam in Numbers 12. Because this kind of experience intends to disgrace the recipient, the actual sight of God's form or the vision lends no authority or credence in the recipient's words or teachings.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">We shall see this happens to Miriam because she speaks up for her brother Aaron and herself as prophets too. "Has Yahweh only just spoken through Moses?" (Numbers <a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/12-2.htm">12:2</a>, Friedman.) God then disgraces her for this audacity of claiming equal divine communication as Moses, despite she and Aaron did have some limited prophetic experiences.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #000080;"><strong><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">C. Aaron &amp; Miriam as Prophets, And Messengers of A Prophet (Moses)</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">To understand Numbers ch. 12, we need to know about the prior prophetic role of Aaron and Miriam. Each has a valid claim, but not as significant or substantial as Moses.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">First, Aaron primarily acted as a messenger of God's word between God and his brother Moses.&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, Aaron was called Moses' "prophet" in addressing the Pharoah. (</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/7-1.htm" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 19.1875px;">Exodus 7:1</a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;("Aaron will be your prophet")</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">. This event signified that whatever words Moses heard from the Lord Yahweh were then spoken through Aaron to Pharoah.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Aaron also performed signs before the people. (Exodus 4:15-16.) God commanded Moses once to tell Aaron to stretch out his wooden rod in order to bring on the first of the three plagues. (<a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/7-19.htm">Exodus 7:19</a>, Yahweh told Moses "tell Aaron..."); 8:1, 12.) </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">With one exception that we know of, Aaron never received a direct prophecy that went only to Aaron. Instead,&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">it is said fifteen times in the&nbsp;</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torah" style="line-height: 19.1875px; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: underline; background-image: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" title="Torah">Pentateuch</a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;that "the Lord spoke to Moses and&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"></em></span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Aaron" ("<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">Aaron</a>," Wikipedia) -- obviously in a messenger role first exemplified in Exodus 7:1. The exception is in <a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/4-27.htm">Exodus 4:27</a> "Yahweh said to Aaron, 'Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.'" This was a rather insignificant prophecy directly with Aaron.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">As a result, Aaron was an inferior "prophet" to Moses. This was understood in early Judaism although in the later post-exile period Rabbinical Judaism elevated Aaron's status to an equality with Moses. But in the Bible itself, we learn:</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus Aaron, the first priest,&nbsp;<em><strong>ranks below Moses</strong></em>: he is his&nbsp;<em><strong>mouthpiece</strong></em>, and the executor of the will of&nbsp;<strong><em>God revealed through Moses</em></strong>, although it is pointed out</span><sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate; font-family: sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron#cite_note-11" style="color: #0b0080; text-decoration: underline; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[10]</a></sup><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;that it is said fifteen times in the Pentateuch&nbsp;</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torah" style="color: #0b0080; text-decoration: underline; background-image: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;" title="Torah"></a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">that "the Lord spoke to Moses and&nbsp;</span><em style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"></em><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Aaron." ("<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">Aaron</a>,"&nbsp;<em>Wikipedia</em>.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, in Aaron's primary role, it was inferior to Moses. God would directly speak a prophetic message to Moses which Aaron would likely hear second-hand from Moses. (Or perhaps sometimes heard simultaneously. We cannot rule out that possibility.) Then Aaron would repeat that message to another. In that Messenger role, Aaron was clearly inferior to his master (Moses). In Greek, the word "messenger" is "apostolos" - rendered Apostle in English. On this topic, Jesus explained that the "apostolos is not more important than the one who sent him."&nbsp;(John&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/john/13-16.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 20px;">13:16</a>.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Otherwise, as noted above, the only direct prophetic communication to Aaron recorded is in Exodus 4:27. But it was quite inconsequential: "Yahweh told Aaron, 'Go to see Moses in the wilderness....'"</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">As to Miriam, we read in <a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/15-20.htm">Exodus 15:20</a>: "</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Then <em><strong>Miriam the prophet</strong></em>, Aaron's sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing."</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, both Aaron and Miriam had valid claims to be prophets of God. However, Aaron was more the messenger (apostle) of Moses -- repeating what Moses heard from Yahweh. It is unclear what prophetic messages Miriam received, but we know they took place. Thus, both Aaron and Miriam were within their right to both claim to be prophets of God.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #000080;"><strong><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">D. Levels of Authority Based on Clarity And Directness of Communication</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">These four types of prophetic experiences are a tiered hierarchy where the words given by one are more important than the rest, the second than the third, etc. </span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">As discussed below, in Numbers ch. 12 God explains the second and third tiers of authority in my list, indicating&nbsp;Moses is greater than ordinary prophets who God only speaks to in riddles (enigmas) or in visions or in dreams. However, with Moses, God spoke face-to-face ("mouth to mouth"), and explains He does not speak in riddles, speaks clearly to Moses, and Moses sees the form of Yahweh.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">As Friedman explains in <em><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Commentary on the Torah</span></em> (Harper 2001) at pages 467-468 -- a great Jewish resource for Christians:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong>In a vision, in a dream</strong></span>. All prophetic experiences in the Tanak [the Law, Prophets &amp; Writings of the Hebrew Bible] are understood to be all through <em><strong>visions and dreams &nbsp;-- except Moses'</strong></em>. The fifteen books of the Hebrew Bible that are named for prophets either identify the prophet's experiences as visions or else leave the form of the experiences undescribed (Ezek 12:27, 40:2; Hos. 12:11; Hab. 2:2; Mic. 3:6). Many begin by identifying the book's contents as the prophet's vision: "The<em><strong> vision</strong></em> of Isaiah" (Isa 1:1; cf. 2 Chr. 32:32); "The <em><strong>vision</strong></em> of Obadaiah" (Oba 1); "The book of the<em><strong> vision</strong></em> of Nahum" (Nah 1:1); "The words of Amos...which he <em><strong>envisioned</strong></em>" (Amos 1:1); "The word of YHWH that came to Micah...which he <strong><em>envisioned</em></strong>" (Mic 1:1); "The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet <strong><em>envisioned</em></strong>." (Hab 1:1).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, <em><strong>Moses' priority exists from the CLARITY of expression God uses</strong></em> with Moses, unlike the way God speaks less clearly and more enigmatically to the ordinary prophet.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Then the priority of The Prophet over Moses is explained in Deuteronomy 18. There God Yahweh explains there is The Prophet who is to come. He is even greater than Moses because "every word" The Prophet speaks is from God. This is a higher connection than even Moses had whereby Moses intermittently heard messages directly from the Lord. Not everything Moses said reflected God's word unlike The Prophet to come whose every word would be from God. </span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">E. Why Jesus Has The Most Direct Connection</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">How did this constant direct inspiration operate with Jesus?</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus explained how it worked: the "Father dwells in me" (John 14:10). Every word or act Jesus did was because He saw and heard first the Father doing it. (John 5:19).</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">In conformance with the priority of Jesus over the classic prophet, we learn John the Baptist -- the "greatest prophet" &nbsp;-- stops his ministry once he sees Jesus is on the scene. "I must decrease so he may increase." <span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">(John</span><a href="http://bible.cc/john/3-30.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 20px;">&nbsp;3:30-31</a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">.)&nbsp;</span>John, the greatest prophet, knew Jesus had the priority over a mere prophet, even the "greatest prophet." For God spoke from heaven at John's baptism to Jesus: "this day I have begotten thee." (See<a href="/home/16-hebrew-matthew/235-hebrew-matthew-baptismal-account.html"> link</a>.) John realized the Logos had become flesh.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">In addition, Jesus in the NT says He is the "sole teacher" <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">(</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2023:6-11&amp;version=NASB" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">Matt. 23:6-11</a><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">, NASB)&nbsp;</span>and "sole pastor" <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;(</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2010:16&amp;version=NASB" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">John 10:16</a><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">.)</span>&nbsp;and otherwise, there is no hierarchy to exist in the church among equal brethren. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">(</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+20%3A25-26&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">Matt. 20:25-26</a><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">.)&nbsp;</span>This preserved His role as the superior within the church -- even greater than "apostles" (messengers) -- because all members were equal.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">So the Jesus' Words Only principle teaches the New Testament is solely subject to one voice, one set of commands -- those of Jesus. Yet, when Jesus reaffirms the Law given Moses continues (Matt 5:17-19), that means those commands continue based upon the authority of Jesus despite a "New Testament." The new does not remove or replace the old. They are revitilized and re-interpreted with the greatest clarity by Jesus.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Nevertheless, Jesus has superiority over all the predecessors due to the intimate connection which even Moses did not have: the abiding presence of the Father within Himself. (John 14:10.) Jesus would then be a recipient of even a more clear communication from the Father than even Moses received.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">With that introduction in mind, let's begin our study.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #000080;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #000080;">Numbers 12: God Reproves Miriam and Aaron On Tiers of Prophetic Authority</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Miriam and Aaron were upset that Moses took a Cushite wife. They claimed they too spoke for God, or that God had communicated with them. So therefore Moses should not be the sole point of authority among the Israelites. To this, God reproved them. Here is the entire series of related verses:</span></p>
<p class="chapter-2" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Ch. 12 &nbsp;1.&nbsp;</span>Miriam<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;for he had married a Cushite.</span>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">2&nbsp;</span>&ldquo;<strong><em>Has the&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>&nbsp;spoken only through Moses?&rdquo; they asked. &ldquo;Hasn&rsquo;t he also spoken through us?&rdquo;</em></strong><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;And the&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>&nbsp;heard this.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">3&nbsp;</span>(Now Moses was a very humble man,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">4&nbsp;At once the Lord&nbsp;[Yawheh] said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, &ldquo;Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.&rdquo; So the three of them went out.&nbsp;5&nbsp;Then the&nbsp;Lord [Yahweh]&nbsp;came down in a pillar of cloud;&nbsp;he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward,&nbsp;6&nbsp;he said, &ldquo;Listen to my words:</span></p>
<div class="poetry top-05" style="margin-top: 1em; margin-left: 33px; position: relative; margin-bottom: 1em; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">
<p class="line" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&ldquo;When there is <strong><em>a prophet among you</em></strong>,</span><br /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">I, the&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord [Yahweh]</span>, <em><strong>reveal<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;myself to them in visions,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></strong></em></span></span><br /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em><strong><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></strong></em><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em><strong>I speak to them in dreams</strong></em>.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">7&nbsp;</span>But this is not true of my servant <strong><em>Moses</em></strong>;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span><br /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">he is faithful in all my house.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">8&nbsp;</span><em><strong>With him I speak face to face,</strong></em></span><br /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em><strong><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">clearly and not in riddles;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span></strong></em></span><br /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em><strong><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></strong></em><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em><strong>he sees the form of the&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>.</strong></em><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Why then were you <em><strong>not afraid</strong></em></span><br /><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em><strong><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></strong></em><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em><strong>to speak against my servant Moses</strong></em>?&rdquo;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span></p>
</div>
<p class="top-05" style="margin-top: -0.5em; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">9&nbsp;</span>The anger of the&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>&nbsp;burned against them,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;and he left them.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">10&nbsp;</span>When the cloud lifted from above the tent,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;Miriam&rsquo;s skin was leprous<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+12&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-4070a" style="color: #b37162; vertical-align: top;" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</span>&mdash;it became as white as snow.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">11&nbsp;</span>and he said to Moses, &ldquo;Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">12&nbsp;</span>Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother&rsquo;s womb with its flesh half eaten away.&rdquo;</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">13&nbsp;</span>So Moses cried out to the&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>, &ldquo;Please, God, heal her!<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&rdquo;</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">14&nbsp;</span>The&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>&nbsp;replied to Moses, &ldquo;If <strong><em>her father had spit in her face</em></strong>,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;for seven days; after that she can be brought back.&rdquo;</span>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">15&nbsp;</span>So Miriam was confined outside the camp<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;for seven days,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;and the people did not move on till she was brought back. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+12&amp;version=NIV">Numbers 12:1-14 NIV</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">God essentially equates Miriam's act of rebellion as justifying God disgracing her by leprosy -- the equivalent of "spitting" in her face.&nbsp;<br /></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">What was Miriam's contention against Moses about?</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Miriam was claiming with Aaron that since God used Aaron and her as prophets, they had an equal authority as prophets from God.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">But God explains in Numbers 12 that Aaron or Miriam -- although prophets -- they still rank below Moses. God reproves Miriam for attacking the priority of Moses over them. &nbsp;The difference God said between the way He speaks to a mere prophet (like them) versus the way He speaks to Moses is:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">God speaks clearly and without riddles ("enigmas") to Moses.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">God does not speak clearly or without riddles to ordinary prophets.</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Proof of the latter is that John the Baptist, the greatest prophet, was never told by God Yahweh that Jesus was Messiah. (Matt 11:2.) John met Jesus at the baptism, saw the sign from heaven, and heard the voice of Yahweh, but even then nothing was said that Jesus was Messiah. The voice said "this is my beloved son," etc. So John was in the dark -- no doubt hearing riddles and unclear messages. Yet, Jesus calls John the "greatest prophet." Obviously, that did not put John on a higher plane than Moses or Jesus. Those two were on a higher plane. &nbsp;John never prophetically knew Jesus was Messiah,&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">and thus had to ask Jesus through his disciples visiting Jesus to inquire. (Matt. 11:2.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">And Jesus was on the highest plane of all, as Deuteronomy 18 will demonstrate.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Deuteronomy 18: The Prophet Is Someone Where Communication is Unique</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">When people saw Jesus feed the 5000, they thought this meant Jesus was "the Prophet." <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+6%3A14-15&amp;version=ESV">John 6:14-15</a>. After the Ascension, Peter in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+3%3A22-23&amp;version=KJV">Acts 3:22-23</a> and Stephen in&nbsp;<a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/7-37.htm">Acts 7:37</a> says Jesus is indeed "The Prophet" spoken about in Deuteronomy 18. There Moses first tells Israelites about "The Prophet." After his preface, Moses then quotes God Yahweh directly on what He said about "The Prophet" in the following passage:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">15&nbsp;</span>The&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>&nbsp;[Yahweh] your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;<em><strong>You must listen to him</strong></em>.</span>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">16&nbsp;</span>For this is what you asked of the&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>&nbsp;[Yahweh] your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, &ldquo;Let us not hear the voice of the&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>&nbsp;[Yahweh] our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.&rdquo;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 60px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">17&nbsp;</span>The&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>&nbsp;[Yahweh] said to me: &ldquo;What they say is good.</span>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">18&nbsp;</span>I will raise up for them a prophet<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;in his mouth.<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;He will tell them everything I command him.<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">19&nbsp;</span>I myself will call to account<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;anyone who does not <em><strong>listen<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;to my words</strong></em> that <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">the prophet</span></strong></span> speaks in my name.<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span>&nbsp;(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deuteronomy%2018&amp;version=NIV">Deut. 18:18-19 NIV</a>.)</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Note at&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus' transfiguration, a voice of the same Yahweh speaks from heaven and says of Jesus "<em><strong>listen to Him</strong></em>." (</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%209:7&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">Mark 9:7</a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">; Matt 17:5, transfiguration.)&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">These words -- "listen to Him" -- repeat what Moses said about The Prophet in Deuteronomy 18.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Note too that Moses is not shy to tell you this Prophet is above himself in intimacy to Yahweh. The Prophet will be a fellow-Israelite. But then something different is true. God is no longer speaking face-to-face to this one like Yahweh does with Moses, or by visions with ordinary prophets:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">and I will put my words<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;in his mouth.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;He will tell them everything I command him.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">19&nbsp;</span>I myself will call to account<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;anyone who does not listen<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;to my words that <em><strong>the prophet</strong> </em>speaks in my name.<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deuteronomy%2018&amp;version=NIV">Deut 18:18-19 NIV</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Moses explains why God is working this way through this One to come:</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">16&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">For this is what you asked of the&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, &ldquo;Let us not hear <strong><em>the voice of the&nbsp;</em></strong></span><strong><em><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span></em></strong><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><em>&nbsp;</em></strong>our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.&rdquo; (Deut 18:16.)</span></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, God was going to work directly through a MAN like Moses who would not freighten people, as when God was talking from within a fire. This Man would be just as if God was speaking to them with "the voice of the Lord," but now instead of a fire with a scary voice, it would be a voice coming from a "fellow Israelite," a Man who would not freighten them. For previously, the people were so alarmed hearing God's voice, they begged Moses as follows: "Then they said to Moses, Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+20%3A19&amp;version=NASB">Exodus 20:19 NASB</a>.)</span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">It is clearly implied in Deuteronomy 18:16 that this One is not an ordinary prophet who has a vision, or even hears "mouth to mouth" like Moses did. Instead, this prophet was different. God says "I will put my words in his mouth."</span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;Because this obviously produces a greater clarity and directness than even Moses enjoyed, God says "I myself will call to account &nbsp;anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name." &nbsp;</span><em style="line-height: 19.1875px; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;"></em><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">The words of that prophet will judge every man.</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">God never implies in this context that any ordinary prophet will have this role, because again in Numbers 12 God already told us that an ordinary prophet does not hear as clearly or as directly as did Moses. But here, "the" prophet depicted in Deuteronomy 18 enjoys a special status of somehow being the "voice of the Lord" talking as directly through himself as God spoke from the fire on Mount Sinai.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus explained how this worked.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">First,&nbsp;John 1:1,<a href="http://biblos.com/john/1-14.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; line-height: 20px;">14</a>&nbsp;tells us the&nbsp;"Logos [was] made flesh." But Jesus tells us in John&nbsp;<a href="http://biblos.com/john/14-24.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; line-height: 20px;">14:24</a>&nbsp;that the&nbsp;"Logos you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me." In the same context, Jesus tells us in John&nbsp;<a href="http://bible.cc/john/14-10.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; line-height: 20px;">14:10</a>, the "Father ...dwells in me."&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Jesus said that He was simply doing (and saying) what He saw (and heard) the Father doing (and saying):</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">"Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because <em><strong>whatever the Father does the Son also does</strong></em>." (<a href="http://biblehub.com/john/5-19.htm">John 5:19 NIV</a>.)</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">As Jesus elsewhere said: "</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;to say all that I have spoken." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2012:49&amp;version=NIV">John 12:49 NIV</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Conclusion</span></strong></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, Jesus was unique. He had a communication with the Father that even Moses knew ahead of time was uniquely different from the way God spoke with Moses. So even though God told Moses, Miriam and Aaron that Moses had a clear and more meaningful contact with Yahweh-God, Moses revealed an even more direct use of The Prophet in the future. This servant would operate like the burning bush served in Moses' encounter. However, instead of the voice coming out of the bush -- scaring people -- it would come out of a Man -- a "fellow Israelite" -- and thus be more familiar and less freightening.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">At the same time, God reproved Aaron and Miriam for thinking merely because Aaron spoke God's words which God gave Moses to Pharoah, and on other occassions both Aaron and Miriam spoke as true prophets, that this made Aaron and Miriam equal to Moses. Instead, Aaron remained a mere "messenger prophet" -- having no significant direct revelation akin to Moses' connection to Yahweh. Aaron's messages were derivative of Moses, and hence Aaron could not speak with the same authority which Moses had. And when Miriam and Aaron spoke as prophets, it was merely as temporary visions of God which God says is not the same as He speaks with Moses which is "mouth to mouth," where Moses can see God's "form" and most importantly, God speaks "clearly" and not by "enigmas."</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">What does God-Yahweh say He regards one who is a Messenger (Apostle) claiming authority equal to one like Moses, let alone one superior to Moses? as equal to or superior to The Prophet Jesus? God said it deserved His doing what is equivalent to spitting in your face to show how disgraced you are before Him.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Remember Miriam was struck with a skin disease as punishment, and then God explained what she had done:</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">13&nbsp;</span>So Moses cried out to the&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>, &ldquo;Please, God, heal her!<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&rdquo;</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">14&nbsp;</span>The&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span>&nbsp;replied to Moses, &ldquo;<em><strong>If her father had spit in her face,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;would she not have been in disgrace for seven days</strong></em>? Confine her outside the camp<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;for seven days; after that she can be brought back.&rdquo;</span>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">15&nbsp;</span>So Miriam was confined outside the camp<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;for seven days,<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span>&nbsp;and the people did not move on till she was brought back. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=numbers%2012&amp;version=NIV">Numbers 12:13-15 NIV</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, even though Miriam's encounter with God appears that now she even saw God's form standing in front of the tent, and shared this amazing experience with Moses and Aaron, it certainly was not intended to create any kind of trust in Miriam or Aaron thereafter. We were to view them now with distrust for such disgrace. </span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Hence, not every communication with God and even seeing His form is the same or signifies someone is thereafter a prophet. Miriam and Aaron only served as "witnesses" of this appearance of God and His words as Moses recorded them in Numbers 12. God was not making Miriam or Aaron ongoing prophets after this shameful act, and never spoke through them again.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Paul had a similar experience to the reproof of Miriam and Aaron. Paul has only one encounter with what he once calls a "vision" of light that says "I am Jesus." (Other times Paul says he saw in the light a physical appearance of the resurrected Jesus, making himself an equal witness to the 12 of the resurrection.) </span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">The words of this "Jesus" are all negative toward Paul. Like Miriam's affliction with leprosy, Paul is afflicted with blindness.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Later, Paul is told that another -- &nbsp;one Ananias (about whom nothing is known) -- that Paul would be a "martus" -- a witness -- to the Gentiles. Not an apostle, not a prophet, but just a witness of this appearance of Jesus to himself to the Gentiles. So nothing greater was invested in Paul than was Miriam invested with when she saw God outside the tent of meeting in Numbers 12 to repove her with leprosy. Paul's reproof was blindness. </span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">While I believe there is reason to disbelieve this is the true Jesus in Acts 9 afflicting Paul (see <a href="/home/1-jwo/292-jesus-prophecy-about-who-identified-himself-as-jesus-to-paul.html">link</a>), let's assume it is so. Here is Acts 9 depiction of this event similar to Miriam's experience, where an angry reproof is given to Paul by one who says "I am Jesus" -- The Prophet - similar to what God said to Miriam outside the tent of meeting in Numbers 12:<br /></span></p>
<p class="chapter-1" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">9&nbsp;</span>And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">2&nbsp;</span>And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">3&nbsp;</span>And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">4&nbsp;</span>And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, <span style="color: #ff0000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em><strong>Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?</strong></em></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">5&nbsp;</span>And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong><em><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks</span>.</em></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">6&nbsp;</span>And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, <span style="color: #ff0000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><em><strong>Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.</strong></em></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">7&nbsp;</span>And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">8&nbsp;</span>And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+9&amp;version=KJV">KJV</a>)</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">The words this Jesus speaks directly heard by Paul -- and not through others -- are <em><strong>entirely negative</strong></em>. All words spoken by this Jesus in this account are highlighted in red and bold. You can see they are the <strong><em>same kind of reproof Miriam received</em></strong>. An affliction of blindness happens as well, <strong><em>similar to what Miriam suffered</em></strong>. This experience does not make Paul a prophet or an apostle. Later Ananias tells Paul that the Holy One told him that Paul should "bear" Jesus name to the Gentiles. The role for Paul depicted in other versions of this account is he would be a "witness" -- Paul would be a witness of this Jesus's reproof for trying to kill Christians. This is not making Paul a "messenger" of any messages of Jesus privately communicated to Paul. <em><strong>Paul was just a witness</strong></em>. </span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, Paul is not even at the level of Aaron -- who typically was a messenger of God's word given first to Moses. Paul was outside the four tiers of authority -- and rather was a witness to the wrath and negativity of Jesus for persecuting His people. Paul was to share this negative experience to the Gentiles, just like Miriam could witness to the world what negative experience comes from God when you claim to be on par with Moses but you are just a mere prophet, as she was.</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">On top of this, even Second Peter -- often cited to equate Paul to 'scripture (although a misreading of what this means, see <a href="/home/4-recommendedreading/57-second-peter-reference-to-paul.html">our</a> link), says Paul is "difficult to understand." (2 Peter 3:15-17.) &nbsp;When true, this implies Paul is subject to the higher priority of those to whom God spoke more "clearly" and not in "enigmas" (riddles) (Numbers 12:8). Paul is thus a lesser authority (even if intermittently inspired) than Moses or Jesus. What does this imply? The Bethel Church of God in 2012 said it right:</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Based on the above texts, as well as others, there is<strong><em>&nbsp;only one way to understand Paul&rsquo;s Epistles.</em></strong>&nbsp;They&nbsp;<strong>must be interpreted</strong>&nbsp;by the clear texts in the Bible,<strong><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;texts that are</span>&nbsp;</strong><em><strong>not</strong></em><strong>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">difficult to understand</span></strong>. ("<a href="http://www.bethelcog.org/church/understanding-paul/understanding-paul-1" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">Understanding Paul</a>," Bethel Church of God (2012).)</span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Because Paul's epistles never quote Jesus other than the liturgy and maybe the worker-is-worthy-of-his his wage (both of&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">which are in Luke), and once dubiously Paul's Lord refused to release Paul from a torment by an "Angel of Satan" (2 Cor. 12:7),&nbsp;</span>any reliance on every word of Paul as inspired is a disgraceful act, God says. Why? </span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Because when you treat Paul's<em><strong> every word</strong></em> as on par with Jesus, as well as able to subvert and revoke Moses' words, you are subject to disgrace for three misdeeds:&nbsp;</span></p>
<ul>
<li style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">first, by putting Paul equal in authority to The Prophet;&nbsp;</span></li>
<li style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">second, by putting Paul's words above Moses words which Aaron and Miriam did not even dare to do -- who were reproved sorely for pleading for an equality between Miriam's and Aaron's roles and Moses' role; and</span></li>
<li style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">finally, by treating Paul as if Paul were The Prophet whose every word was inspired -- which is only true of The Prophet, and not even true of Moses who only had intermittent communication with God!</span></li>
</ul>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Paulinists thus will suffer, absent repentance, God's disgrace upon them, equivalent to God spitting in their face on Judgment Day.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">So why would we want to ever take the chance of treating someone like Paul as an inspired authority in every word written even when <strong>99% of the time Paul never claims to be quoting God or Jesus</strong>? The only two times Paul quotes Jesus is [1] his quote in 1 Cor. 11:24 from Luke's liturgy of the communion in Luke 22:19 and [2] apparently in 1</span></span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Tim 5:18 about the worker is worthy of his wage. Paul each time does not even imply this involved any inspiration by himself -- Paul. Otherwise, &nbsp;we are left with the highly problematic quote by Paul of a "Lord" &nbsp;refusing to release Paul from the torment by an angel of Satan in Paul's flesh. (2Cor. 12:7.)</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Then there are only five examples where Paul is quoting the Lord God (not Jesus specifically), and we can infer Paul was quoting what he accepted as oral Torah or it was a loose quotation of the Law or Prophets. See&nbsp;</span></span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">1 Cor. 14:37; 1 Tim. 2:11; 1 Cor. 2:13; 1 Thess.4:1-2,8; 1 Thess. 2:13; Eph. 4:17.</span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;See also our article "</span><a href="/home/4-recommendedreading/80-paul-admits-often-uninspired.html" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 19.1875px;">Paul Admits He Often Is Speaking Without Inspiration</a><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">."</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">What we have done incorrectly is quote Paul as inspired in every word just like we can quote Jesus as inspired in every word. The only reason that is true of Jesus is because Deuteronomy 18 said <strong><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">this would be true alone of The Prophet</span></strong>.&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deuteronomy%2018&amp;version=NIV" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">Deut 18:18-19 NIV</a>.)</span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp; No such honor or elevation belongs to Paul's mere letters. To give them such importance will cause what? God's disgrace upon you, especially as you have let yourself be drawn away from the words and teachings of Jesus - our&nbsp;<em><strong>sole teacher</strong></em>.</span></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">End.</span></strong></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;D. &nbsp;v.</span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Study Notes</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Not all inspiration is of the same authority. This explains why Jews always taught that Torah had higher authority than the prophets. &nbsp;The Law or Pentateuch - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy &amp; Numbers -- given by God to Moses - always had an authority above any of the Prophets in the Prophets section. (See "</span><a href="/recommendedreading/335-writings-section-of-original-testament-of-bible-knol.html" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 20px;">Writings in the Original Testament</a><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">.")</span>&nbsp;</span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">A father spitting in a child's face was the most extreme form of displeasure and disgrace to exhibit in the Middle East of that era. God was saying that is what Miriam deserved.</span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">The verb for spit is repeated twice here in Numbers 12, to suggest repeated spitting. This means it was not some accidental act of a father. Rather, it was the punishment from a father upon a child.</span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Aaron was silent, incidentally, as Miriam spoke up on his behalf for an equality with Moses. He was not punished, showing a lesser anger at him for colluding quietly than against Miriam who was the instigator. Friedman suggests it was because Aaron was the high priest, and he had to make personal atonement rather than be disgraced due to his office.</span></p>
<hr />
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #800080; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;<span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">Email Comments</span></span></strong></span></p>
<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">I read this entire article- it&rsquo;s absolutely great!</span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;&nbsp; (Matt P, graduate Dallas Theological Seminary, July 29, 2013).</span></span></p>
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<div class="heading passage-class-1" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 15px; color: #5c1101; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">
<h3 style="font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+27%3A21%2CDeuteronomy+17%3A8-11%2CJeremiah+18%3A18%2CEzekiel+7%3A26&amp;version=NASB"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000;"></span></a></span></h3>
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<td valign="top" ><p>"But [Carlstadt's] most remarkable position [in 1520]...[was] the<em><strong> word of Paul</strong></em> is not to be put on a level with Christ." Beard <em>Luther </em>(1899)</p></td>
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<h3>Recommendations</h3>
<p><a href="/home/14-audio/401-music-store-manager.html">Only Jesus</a> (great song by Big Daddy)</p>
<p><a href="http://astore.amazon.com/jwoogm-20?node=1&amp;page=2">What Did Jesus Say?</a> (2012) - 7 topics&nbsp;</p>
<p>None above affiliated with me</p> </div>
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<h1>Email Exchange On Law Applicable Today</h1>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Wheeler M. email May 26, 2010:</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I have recently found your site and am reading through it with great interest. If I may, I'd like to ask a question. In your view that the law of Moses is still binding for the Christian, does this include the ceremonial law? The food laws? Many thanks in advance for your consideration of these questions.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">My Response</span></strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hi Wheeler,</span><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Is Law Binding Today?</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Based upon Matthew 5:17-19, Jesus is saying the Law will continue until heaven and earth pass away. Jesus likewise says in Luke that the Law and Prophets were "proclaimed until John," and now the "kingdom of God" is proclaimed. (Luke 16:16.) Then Jesus explains this does not mean the Law has passed away or fallen away. In the next verse, Jesus says that it is easier for "heaven and earth to pass away" than for one small dot which forms a letter, like the dot in our letter i (called in Hebrew a "tittle") to "fall" from the Law. Jesus necessarily means that even though we preach the kingdom of God, it is based upon centuries of foundation of preaching of the Law and prophets, from which not a single provision will pass away while the heavens and earth still stand.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">What Laws Apply to Gentiles?</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">A very narrow set of commands apply to Gentiles living in the tribes of Israel, and by spiritual analogy, it is the same for Gentiles in whom the kingdom of God lives today.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The principle of reading the Law by a Gentile is simple: if the Law says it applies to a foreigner/sojourner, it applies to Gentiles. A sojourner was an uncircumcised member of the nations. Otherwise, it applies only to Israelites, <em>e.g.</em>, circumcision in Lev. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus%2012&amp;version=KJV">12:1-3</a>&nbsp;applies only to "sons of Israel." </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Sometimes a command only to "sons of Israel" extends the same duty to Gentiles in&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">an exception which thereby broadens the duty to also be upon Gentiles in the gates ("sojourners"). For example, on circumcision, while the Law was only upon "sons of Israel" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus+12%3A1-3&amp;version=ASV">Lev. 12:1-3</a>), it had two exceptions where a sojourner (Gentile) living in community in Israel had to be circumcised.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> First, if a sojourner (Gentile) wishes to participate in the Passover feast at someone's home -- which is voluntary, then the Gentile must be circumcised. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+12%3A48&amp;version=KJV">Exodus 12:48</a>.) Also later, Ezekiel added prophetically that a Ge</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">ntile who wished to enter the Temple had to be circumcised. </span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ezekiel+44%3A9&amp;version=KJV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">Ezekiel 44:9</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #000000; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 21px;">Hence, figuring out the duty of a Gentile living in the kingdom under the Law is fairly easy and obvious to determine.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #000000; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 21px;">Below, I provide you encyclopedia summaries of the laws in the Torah that apply to Gentiles. As you will come to realize, many people exaggerate what applies, apparently from self-interest, or to appear more 'strict,' etc. But the Law is the Law. We must put aside the filters of our own and read it as it reads -- neither adding to it or subtracting from it.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; line-height: 21px;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Gentiles Promised Tribal Inheritance without Circumcision</span></strong> &nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 21px;">Before we get into the laws applicable to Gentiles, it is important to know the prophet Ezekiel made clear that if a sojourner lived in the kingdom of Israel,<strong> they became a co-inheritor within the tribe they chose to dwell</strong>. Yet, they remained in the legal category of sojourners, and were never "sons of Israel" thereafter. There was no requirement of circumcision, yet they were entitled to an "inheritance" in the kingdom equal to a son of Israel, meaning the land they lived on could pass to their children. By analogy to us Gentiles today, we jointly share in the kingdom of God by a similar principle. Here is the passage in Ezekiel:&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; line-height: 21px;"><span id="en-ASV-21701" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold;">21&nbsp;</span>So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel.&nbsp;</span><span id="en-ASV-21702" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold;">22&nbsp;</span>And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you and to the strangers that sojourn among you, who shall beget children among you; and they shall be unto you as the home-born among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.&nbsp;</span><span id="en-ASV-21703" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold;">23&nbsp;</span>And it shall come to pass, that <em><strong>in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith</strong></em> the Lord Jehovah [sic: Yahweh]. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel+47:21-23">Ezek 47:21-23 ASV.</a></span></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What About the One Law Verse: Its Meaning</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">A Gentile can voluntarily comply with a Law only applicable to "sons of Israel" such as the command to be circumcised. But if the Gentile attempts to do so, then he / she must comply with that particular Law's prescriptions. In that sense, and only in that sense, is there one Law applicable to Sons of Israel and sojourners (gentiles). </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is evident in Numbers 15:13-15 which says if a "stranger" or one "living permanently" with Sons of Israel "wishes to offer a food offering...<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">he shall do as you do</span></strong>." After saying this, it says "For there is <em><strong>one statute for you and the stranger who sojourns with you</strong></em>...." </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Here, the sojourner had the right <em><strong>not to comply with the offering statute at all.</strong></em> However, once the duty was assumed to offer a food offering, then the sojourner must do so in the same manner as the "son of Israel." Hence, unless a law binds a sojourner, <em>i.e</em>., it is directed at the sojourner, it is optional. But once assumed, the Gentile must comply with its terms.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The sojourner-directed laws represent a very small set of commands -- largely the 10 commandments - which applies to Gentiles. (More can be found between Lev. 17-26 known as the Code of Righteousness.) See heading below: LAW FOR SOJOURNERS.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Luther in <em>Antinomian Theses</em> and Bonhoeffer in<em> Cost of Discipleship</em> reduced it more-or-less simply to the 10 commandments. However, I think that is too narrow. Many of Jesus' moral statements were paraphrases of the Lev. 17-26 section. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">All four commands James declared in Acts 15:9 for Gentiles to follow come from prescriptions that each time the law expressly applies to both "sons of Israel" and sojurners ("ger"): Lev. 17:3-9 (not eat meat sacrificed to idols - bring instead to Temple for sacrifice); Lev. 18:6-26 (sexual immorality), viz. 18:26; Lev. 17:15-16 (do not eat animal killed by strangulation); Lev. 17:10-14 (abstain from eating meat with blood in it, viz. 17:11. See Bryan T. Huie <a href="http://www.herealittletherealittle.net/index.cfm?page_name=Acts-Chapter-15">What Was the Objective of the Jerusalem Council</a>?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">Tyndale is also consistent with how I interpret the scope of the Law on Gentiles.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, when Jesus said the "greatest" in the kingdom teach the Law (in Matt. 5:17-19), He meant largely these provisions.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As a result, none of the ceremonial laws or clean-unclean laws apply to foreigners/sojourners unless expressly stated to apply to foreigners/sojourners, of which are few. (I keep the food laws as health laws, and not laws of right/wrong. Jesus said the food that goes in you does not make you a sinner. Hence "clean" "unclean" in the Law signified a health issue, not a moral one.&nbsp; Eating idol meat was in Deuteronomy / Exodus / Leviticus -- in different texts from food laws of "clean / unclean" (health) &nbsp;-- and eating idol meat was a moral wrong. Not much concern today about that.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Also, in my opinion, any of the temple laws are in suspense due to the destruction of the temple.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I also believe Jesus' sacrifice as God's Lamb fulills satisfactorily the blood to be shed as an atonement sacrifice. This does not mean the Law of atonement is done away with. Very much the opposite is true. Instead, we must call on Jesus' sacrifice as our atonement today. When doing so, we are calling on a Law that only appears in the Mosaic Law. It did not exist in the Abrahamic Covenant. Thus, under the Mosaic Law, we Gentiles always have had a right to call on the Atonement principle. (See Numbers 22:18 discussed below.) </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The only difference today is we recognize that Isaiah 53 prophesied that a servant-man would come as God's lamb and pay that atonement price. Thus no bulls, goats or lambs would be needed any more even if the Temple still stood. Instead, the blood of God's lamb is our atonement. Hence, the rule of atonement still applies to favor Gentiles if they so wish to appropriate it. It was a privilege for Gentiles under the Law to do so, yet, under Numbers 22:18, the Gentile who sought atonement had to satisfy the same conditions for atonement that sons of Israel had to satisfy -- repentance and works worthy of repentance. See below.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Did this help?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Doug</span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">James Gave Us Starter Rules, Trusting Weekly Readings from the Law to Fill In Our Knowledge</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The bishop of Jerusalem, James, in Acts 15:19 gave us the starter 4 rules from the Law given Moses to follow as Gentiles. For example, James told us not to eat meat with blood in it. This is in the Noahide Commands and the Mosaic Torah Law. Yet, Christians routinely violate this command by eating meat without the three-pressings out of blood to render meat clean of blood. It now turns out that science shows it is the heme iron in meat that renders it toxic to humans. The heme iron activates oxidative damage that can explain the statistical correlation between cancer, heart disease, etc. and eating meat with the blood in it. See our article <a href="/home/18-the-law-given-moses/699-bible-study-on-eating-meat-with-the-blood-in-it.html">Eating Meat with the Blood In It</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">James in Acts 15:19 in his decision on the four rules then implies in verse 21 that we Gentiles will progress in obedience to the Torah as we attend on Sabbath the synagogue where a portion of the Law is read weekly. For James adds in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+15&amp;version=WEB">Acts 15:21</a> "For Moses from generations of old has in every city those who preach him, <em><strong>being read in the synagogues every Sabbath</strong></em>.&rdquo;&nbsp; </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As Todd Derstine explains what this means: "At the conclusion of the first Apostolic Conference in Acts 15, James said that the new Gentile converts to the Way would be able to grow in righteousness by having Moses read to them in the synagogues every Sabbath day." Bryan Huie also reads this verse in context, and understands it similarly:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 30px;">What does the concluding statement by James mean?&nbsp; This declaration has been widely misunderstood by scholars because of a prevailing antinomian bias in interpretation.&nbsp; However, if we keep in mind that James is explaining here the&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">reason</span>&nbsp;for his decision not to require circumcision of adult Gentile males, as well as the reason for the four commands he did bind upon the Gentiles, this verse begins to make sense.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black; padding-left: 30px;"><span>James <strong>expected</strong> that after being accepted into the congregation of Israel by obeying these four minimal requirements, the Gentiles would <strong>attend synagogue services on the Sabbath and LEARN the Law of Moses</strong>.&nbsp; If one was truly converted, with this familiarization would come OBEDIENCE.&nbsp; (Huie, <a href="http://www.herealittletherealittle.net/index.cfm?page_name=Acts-Chapter-15">supra</a>.) </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;"><span>And following the logic that James only applied four commands for immediate obedience in Acts 15:19, which each specified in the Law were applicable to sojourners, that meant circumcision would not apply unless the Law specifically mentioned a sojourner must obey it. Since Lev. 12:1-3 imposes circumicsion on only "Sons of Israel," it did not apply to Gentiles. However, because there were two exceptions elsewhere - for observance of Passover in a home, if a Gentile chose to participate, or for entry into the Temple, the sojourner controlled whether ever he had to be circumcised simply by not celebrating passover or by not entering the Temple. See&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAcAAAAICAYAAAA1BOUGAAAAcklEQVQIW2NkwAMYp02bpsTMzBwBVfP9////OzMyMq6B+IwzZszwYGRk3A5kLwFKcAFpPyDfOz09fReypABQ4CNQ8SGg5CUgOwcuCdTVAhTkBurMBLJjgUavQZZcA5R4D5TYw8TEtB6o8zeGsciOxysJAFsxQAl0kP1+AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC');"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+12%3A48&amp;version=KJV">Exodus 12:48</a>&nbsp;(circumcision if participate in Passover);&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ezekiel+44%3A9&amp;version=KJV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;">Ezekiel 44:9</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 18pt;">(Gentile entering Temple must be circumcised).</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; background-color: transparent;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I interpret Acts 15 similar to Derstine &amp; Huie. In context, James intended not to burden Gentiles with a long list of commands right at the beginning. James offered a time to learn them by weekly Sabbath readings of the Law. Our conscience would improve as time went on...God knowing whether we seek to obey or not during that time of growing. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, some read the decision by James - the bishop of Jerusalem and not an apostle -- as saying Gentiles need obey only four laws from the Law. If true, this makes Jesus' endorsement of the ten commandments and principles found in Leviticus' Code of Righteousness as <strong>legitimately cast aside by a non-apostle</strong> - James. That cannot be James' point. But this conclusion is wrong in context anyway - as James immediately follows mention of these four rules by saying "For the Law" has been "preached" in weekly sabbath from old times, implying that such practice will surely continue and the knowledge of the Law can gradually be learned. This fits what Luke mentions elsewhere in Acts, such as that Gentiles were attending synagogue services on Sabbath at that time and "hearing the word of the Lord" that way. See <a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/13-44.htm">Acts 13:44-45</a>. And certainly Gentiles who accepted Christ would continue to do this because they were following Christ's example, as we are told to do, in Luke's Gospel that Jesus' "custom" was to "go to synagogue on the Sabbath." (<a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/13-44.htm">Luke 4:16</a>.) Gentiles were at the same time told by Peter that "Christ left you an example," and you should "follow in His steps." (1 Peter 2:21). John likewise said "one who says he abides in Him should walk even as he walked." (1 John 2:6.) Hence, Luke who wrote Acts presumably understood James meant the very same thing: that Gentiles would learn the Law gradually by following Jesus' example of attending regular synagogue services on Sabbath where the Law is read each week.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, the argument against this obvious meaning by Michael Morrison in <a href="https://www.gci.org/bible/act15">Christians and the Law of Moses: A Study of Acts 15</a>&nbsp;exposes the weakness of any counter-argument. He says Acts 15:21's following the four rules to tell Gentiles to follow implies nothing about the Gentiles' future learning about the Law by attending sabbath services. Morrison says:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 60px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 14pt;">Instead, it will be enough to give them four rules, which they will find easy to comply with. <strong>Why give them these rules?</strong> Notice the reason that James gives: &ldquo;For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath&rdquo; (v. 21).</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 60px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 14pt;">James was <strong>not encouraging Gentile Christians to attend the synagogues</strong>. He was <strong>not saying they should listen to the laws of Moses</strong>. No, but <strong>because those laws were commonly preached, the apostles should tell the Gentiles four rules</strong>. Then they would not think that Christianity is more difficult than it is.</span></div>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">&nbsp;However, this argument is reading this backwards, as if James is giving four immediate rules as a means to allow Gentiles to avoid ever needing to attend a Sabbath service to learn more. Instead, it is obviously the other way around. James is giving them the four rules because he explains the "law of Moses has been preached ...and read in the synagogues every Sabbath." The connection is obvious: no more than four laws from the Law need be put on a new Gentile at this time -- the issue in Acts 15:2 on what are the essential laws for salvation -- because the Gentiles will learn gradually the laws that apply to them. Circumcision was not one of them, as the Law imposes that only on "sons of Israel" in Lev. 12:1-3.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">To help foster the mistake that Morrison falls into, a deliberate fabrication was added to Acts 15:24 in the 10th century that had the apostles say 'we gave no command to obey the law to Gentiles.' This ended up in many English Bibles, but the ASV of 1901 and the NIV removed the fraud. See this <a href="/home/1-jwo/750-deliberate-fabrication-in-acts-1524-by-10th-century.html">link</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, God holds us accountable like a child who is growing in conscience. God affirms we can know nothing or little of the Law given Moses yet obey the same principles of God by conscience. For example,&nbsp;Jesus extolled Job ... a Gentile man 500 years prior to the Law. God said to Satan about this Gentile man that &ldquo;there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and turneth away from evil: and he still holdeth fast his integrity....&rdquo; (Job 2:3.) </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Likewise Apostle Peter realizes in Cornelius, a Gentile, that those who "fear" God and &ldquo;do righteousness&rdquo; are &ldquo;acceptable to God&rdquo; whether Gentile or Jew. (Acts 10:35.) This must have been obedience to principles known without the Law as Cornelius was a Gentile.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">But, as James indicated, God intends our conscience to grow, impelled by our Love of God and our regular reading from or hearing the Law and the Master's words.</span></p>
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<h2><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Law for Sojourners Today</strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The Law given Noah to not eat meat with the blood in it (Genesis 9) is de facto universal on all mankind, whether Jew or Gentile. This command precedes the Law given Moses, and thus whatever one thinks about the Mosaic law, there is still this one command. Interestingly, all meats, including chicken and beef are sold today with the blood undrained fully. Only a Kosher market will sell fully drained meats. Is it any wonder that we are learning that a predominant cause of deadly health diseases, e.g., cancer, cardiac problems, etc., stem from eating animal meat -- which by default are sold with the blood in it. See our article <a href="/home/18-the-law-given-moses/699-bible-study-on-eating-meat-with-the-blood-in-it.html">Do Gentiles Have To Avoid Eating Meat with the Blood in It?</a>&nbsp;But many think such laws can change? We know supposedly how to make meat safe, and we can leave the blood in the meat at no risk to our health. While breaking this law is breaking a law to protect our health, and does not mean we have broken a moral law that would render us a sinner, it is still a Law of God -- for our health, and we should not presume we know better than God.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">For what does God say?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Law of God given to Moses is perfect and unchanging. Ps. 19:7; James 1:25. It is "<em><strong>eternal for all generations</strong></em>" -- a statement repeated 11 times:&nbsp;Ex. 27:21; 30:21; Lev. 6:18; 7:36; 10:9; 17:7; 23:14, 21, 41; 24:3; Num. 10:8.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But Charles Ryrie, the famous Paulinist evangelical scholar, insists "the Law was<em><strong> never given to Gentiles</strong></em>, and was <strong><em>expressly done away</em></strong> for the Christian." (Charles Ryrie, <em><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=wCjXQwAACAAJ&amp;dq=ryrie+balancing+the+christian+life&amp;hl=en&amp;ei=u8diTYGLIpK0sAOBsLzpBw&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=result&amp;resnum=1&amp;ved=0CD0Q6AEwAA">Balancing the Christian Life</a></em> (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969) at 88, quoted in Mathison: 88.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Charles Mathison, a Reformed Christian, correctly responds -- albeit from within his Reformed world-view -- that Ryrie errs:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But that claim cannot be substantiated Biblically. Throughout Scripture there is only one ultimate standard to which God holds not only the Jews<em><strong> but also the "stranger" among them</strong></em> (Lev. 24:22), "the nations" (Ps. 9:4-5), "the world" (<em>id.</em>, vv. 7-8), that is the Gentiles....God is the universal king over "all the earth," and not only Israel. (Ps. 47: 2, 7-9)...In many passages, Scripture teaches that non-Israelites have the same moral standards as Israelites and are punished for breaking them (<em>e.g.</em>, Lev. 18:24-27; 2 Kings 17:24-41; Ps. 119:118-19; Prov. 14:34; 16:12; 17:15; Isa. 10:1; 24:5-6; Dan. 4:24-25; Amos 1:3, 6,9,11,13; 2:1,4,6.) (Keith Mathison, <em><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=UZ4LAAAACAAJ&amp;dq=mathison+dispensationalism+rightly+dividing&amp;hl=en&amp;ei=6MliTbqqHonSsAPzwMHaCA&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=result&amp;resnum=1&amp;ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA">Dispensationalism: Rightly Dividing the People of God?</a></em> (P&amp;R Publishing: 1995) at 88.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Mathison is correct that there is one Law, and the Gentile was subject to the commands therein, often referenced by the name 'strangers' or 'foreigners' or,'sojourner.'</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">As Blaine Robinson, M.A. explains in the <a href="http://www.blainerobison.com/hebroots/twelve-tribes.htm">Twelve Tribes of Israel</a>&nbsp;(2010) a Gentile who was a citizen of Israel's community was known as a sojourner, and not an Israelite:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal; font-family: Verdana;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">No Gentile was ever called an Israelite (<em>cf.</em> Acts 4:10; 9:15; Rom 11:25) .... Gentiles that &ldquo;sojourned&rdquo; with Israel were treated as citizens of the commonwealth, as long as they obeyed the laws of God. (</span></span><span data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">See Ex 12:19, 43-49; 20:10; 23:12; Lev 16:29; 17:8-15; 18:26; 20:2; 22:10, 18-19; 24:16, 22; Num 9:14; 15:14-16, 26-30; 19:10; Deut 5:14; 16:11, 14; 31:12.)&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: normal;" data-mce-mark="1">This status meant that they had the same justice rights as native-born Israelites. Gentiles could also share in the Passover meal as long as the males were circumcised (Ex 12:48).</span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">How do we know when the Law extends to the sojourners? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Some misinterpret the following verse to believe there is no distinction, and thus all commands in the Torah apply to Gentiles as well who live in Israel:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you. (Numbers 15:16)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">While it is true there is one Law (Torah) which is the same for an Israelite and Gentile -- that means the One BOOK of Torah. The Numbers verse does not mean every law in the Torah applies to both the Israelite and Gentile-sojourner in Israel. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">We know that is a wrong reading because the Law differentiates frequently between each, thus evincing it is incorrect to interpret the "one Law" verse in Numbers as meaning the scope of the Law is identical. The most glaring difference is the law of circumcision which the Law says solely applies to "sons of Israel" (Lev. 12:1-3) but not to sojourners (Gentiles) unless they wish to participate in Passover. (Exodus 12:48.) (Later, Ezekiel also added that a Gentile who wished to enter the Temple had to be circumcised. Ezekiel 44:9.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The excellent ministry First Fruits of Zion recently explained the Numbers passage is limited by context. After quoting Numbers 15:16, it explains:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This seems simple enough. According to these verses, there is one law for both Jews and Gentiles. Therefore, Gentile believers should keep the whole Torah.<br /> <br /> But wait. It&rsquo;s not that clear.<br /> <br /> First of all, the context deals<em><strong> not with the application of Torah as a whole, but specifically with the sacrifices</strong></em>. In other words, if an alien wanted to offer a sacrifice in the Temple <strong><em>he needed to follow the same Torah guidelines as the Israelite</em></strong>. [See Lev. 22:18.] The passage is not saying that all the laws of Torah apply equally to Jews and Gentiles. ("One Law and the Gentiles,"&nbsp;<em>The Weekly E-drash&nbsp;</em>(First Fruits of Zion, June 10, 2014).</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Thus, when we read Leviticus 22:18, we see that "sojourners" (Gentiles) are now added so that when they too bring offerings -- although not mandatory on them -- they must follow the same legal standards. Thus, those standards are introduced by this verse:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">18&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&ldquo;Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to them,</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">When any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Lord</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">,</span>&nbsp;... (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus+22%3A18&amp;version=ESV">Lev. 22:18</a>, ESV.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The scholar Jan Joosten reviewed the Holiness Code (Lev. 17-26), and found the sacrifices are not obligatory on the Gentiles in Israel -- the sojourners, but the Law provided if they wanted to participate, they had to abide by the same legal standard as applied to "sons of Israel" as their obligation. Jan Joosten explains in<em> People and Land in the Holiness Code: An Exegetical Study of the Ideational Framework of the Law in Leviticus 17-26</em>, Volume 67 (Brill 1996)&nbsp;at <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=bv0x1WyNp8IC&amp;lpg=PA68&amp;ots=FWTnZV-mE8&amp;dq=sojourners%20bring%20sacrifice%20at%20temple&amp;pg=PA68#v=onepage&amp;q=sojourners%20bring%20sacrifice%20at%20temple&amp;f=false">page 68</a>:</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Here [in Lev. 22:18], as in [Lev.] 17:8, the <em>ger</em> [sojourner / Gentile] is seen to bring sacrifices which could lead one to think of a proselyte. However, the priestly laws nowhere limit the bringing of sacrifices exclusively to the Israelites. [FN. Cf. the sacrifice brought by the foreigner in 22:25, and Numbers 15:14 where both gerim and 'whoever else is living among you' are permitted to bring sacrifices.] Also note that the present law does not require that the&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>ger</em> offer sacrifices to YHWH, but merely regulates for that eventuality. The picture which is emerging is of an alien residing among the Israelites in their land to whom the possibility of sacrificing at the Israelite shrine is open. Should he wish to bring sacrifice, then his sacrifice must meet all the usual requirements.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">With that correct understanding, let's examine carefully what Laws in the one Law squarely apply to Gentiles. Whenever they apply equally, they are construed identically, as&nbsp;<em>First Fruits of Zion</em> makes clear.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1">Five Categories of Law Applicable to Gentiles</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In my opinion, there are five types of Laws in the Original Testament that apply to sojourning Gentiles.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">First, under the Law, certain commands were open-ended, applicable to all. I put the Ten Commandments here.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Second, some applied only to the sons of Israel, such as the circumcision command. See Lev. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus%2012&amp;version=KJV">12:1-3</a> ("sons of Israel"). Only if an uncircumcised Gentile wished to enter the Temple / sanctuary, he had to be circumcised. Ezek. 44:9. Or if he wished to share in the Passover meal. Ex. 12:48.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Third, some commands were extended to both Israel and sojourners equally (such as the moral commands between Leviticus 17 and 26 and others sprinkled elsewhere in Leviticus). Some of the food laws are within this category too, <em>e.g.</em>, not to eat animals killed by other animals. Lev. <a href="http://bible.cc/leviticus/17-15.htm">17:15</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Fourth, some commands applied equally only depending upon special circumstances (<em>e.g.</em>, if a sojourner wanted to participate in Passover seder, they had to be circumcised (Ex. 12:48), or if the sojourner wanted an atonement for their sin, they were subject to the same conditions as an Israelite (Lev. 22:18 <em>et seq</em>.).)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Incidentally, since the temple has been destroyed, Jews cannot accomplish the legal technicalities for an offering for sin. Thus, neither could Gentiles if they wanted to do so. However, as believers that Isaiah 53 prophesied of a Messiah Servant, Jesus, who would atone for both Israelites and Gentiles, we would extend the principle of Lev. 22:18 to the moral conditions one must satisfy to acquire Jesus' atonement. We would say the conditions on atonement equally apply now to both Israelite and Gentile who accept Yahshua Jesus as Messiah (=Prince, King, Ruler). Jesus explained the conditional moral principles in <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A22-26&amp;version=ASV" style="color: #517291; outline: none; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;">Matt 5:22-26</a>&nbsp;(be reconciled / appease the one you offended before bringing your sacrifice to the altar.)&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">These moral conditions of atonement - which were simplified by John the Baptist and Jesus as "works worthy of repentance" -- were previously stated in&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Jer. 7:20-25; Mic. 6:6-8,&nbsp;</span><a href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Atonementhtml.html#pgfId=478171" class="footnote" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;"></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Joel 2:13, Hos.14:1-2;&nbsp;</span><a href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Atonementhtml.html#pgfId=478194" class="footnote" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;"></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">and Mal. 1:10,</span><a href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Atonementhtml.html#pgfId=478214" class="footnote" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;"></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;3:3-4. Cf. Isaiah 27:9. The pro</span>phets clarified atonement could not be used as some form of magic or divination of a power over God that would insist God somehow made an unconditional promise of atonement for those who had <strong>not</strong> turned from sin but who had invoked the legal right of atonement for sin. Jesus reconfirmed these prophetic clarifications on the moral conditions of the right to atonement in Matthew 5:22-26. This is discussed in detail in <a href="/books/jesuswordssalvation/128-chapter-1-jwos.html">chapter one</a> of my book&nbsp;<em>Jesus' Words on Salvation.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Finally, some of the Law was extended solely to non-Israelite sojourners, <em>e.g.</em>, eating animals that died naturally which Israelites were prohibited from eating. Deut. 14:21.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For more detailed information, see below: "Encyclopedia References to Law Applicable to Gentiles Under the Torah."</span></p>
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<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">So What Laws Apply to Gentiles In The Torah?</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">The Ten Commandments appear open-ended and have universal application to Israel and Sojourners living in community with Israel. But others argue the Ten Commandments (Decalogue) are not open-ended, implied from Exodus 20:2 which says "I...brought you out of the Land of Egypt."&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This point is largely irrelevant. You can find specific mention of most of the Ten Commandments imposed on sojourners: blasphemy -- using God's name in vain / insultingly (Lev. 24:16; Num 15:30); murder (Lev. 24:17); Sabbath-breaking (Deut. 5:12-15; Lev. 25:6; Exo 23:12); adultery (Lev. 20:2, 10), etc.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Even if the Decalogue / Ten Commandments as a whole does not apply, Bonhoeffer says Jesus extended the Decalogue to all in the New Covenant when He spoke to the young rich man. (Matthew 19:16-26; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-26.) See Bonhoeffer,&nbsp;<em>Cost of Discipleship</em> (1937) at 72-84.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And as explained above, we who invoke Jesus' atonement pursuant to Leviticus 22:18 <em>et seq.</em>, must satisfy the same moral conditions that applied to Israelites: leave your gift at the altar, and go be reconciled to the one whom you offended - either God or man, or both. Jesus and John the Baptist also refered to this as "works worthy of repentance."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">To find more commands applicable to Gentiles, I suggest one start by reading Leviticus 17 to the end of Leviticus 26-- known as the HOLINESS CODE. In doing so, highlight any command you think applies to sojourners or is open ended. I call this the MORAL SECTION of the Law. Jesus regularly quoted from this moral section in His sermons.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">God Promises Salvation to Sojourners Who Obey Sabbath and The Law</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">In Isaiah 56:1-7, we read about the salvation terms for the "son of the stranger" (<em>i.e.</em>, the non-Jew who joins with the Jews):</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>1</sup>Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>2</sup>Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>3</sup><strong><em>Neither</em></strong> let the <em><strong>son of the stranger</strong></em>, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, <strong>saying</strong>, The LORD hath<em><strong> utterly separated me from his people:</strong></em> neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>4</sup>For thus saith the LORD unto the<strong><em> eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me</em></strong>, and take hold of my covenant;</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>5</sup>Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls<strong><em> a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters</em></strong>: I will give them an<strong><em> everlasting name, that shall not be cut off</em></strong>.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>6</sup>Also the <strong><em>sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant</em></strong>;</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>7</sup>Even them will<em><strong> I bring to my holy mountain</strong></em>, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. (Isaiah <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah%2056:1-7&amp;version=KJV">56:1-7</a> KJV.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This passage makes crystal clear that laying hold of the covenant and doing things pleasing to God, including taking our Sabbath rest, are the conditions of salvation for Gentiles.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The inclusion of Gentiles was in the Law itself.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Deuteronomy 32:43 -</strong> Rejoice, O ye nations,&nbsp;<strong>with his people</strong>: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And in the Prophets, Jeremiah <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jer.%203:17&amp;version=YLT">3:17</a> reads:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Yahweh; and<strong><em> all the nations shall be gathered unto it</em></strong>, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Command To Rest The Land</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What about the command to rest the land from sowing every seven years?</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. (<a href="http://biblehub.com/leviticus/25-4.htm">Lev. 25:4</a>.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The land was not to be sown from the last harvest of the 6th year of a cycle. The vines were not to be cut back to allow new growth. The land itself would still grow food / grapes, etc. The law continues, and specifically allows Israelites and "sojourners" to gather the natural growth of the field in year 7. The point was to stop making the land have to work to produce food.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Does this apply to a sojourner who owns land? The command is over the land, and not to whoever owns it. This would appear to be a principle applicable to Gentiles who own land. This principle turns out to be good husbandry of the land. It allows the nutrients to rebuild as the little worms work the soil. See "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_rotation">Crop Rotation</a>,"&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>Wikipedia</em>.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This command to rest the land, incidentally, is a moral one. Apparently with the Babylonian captivity in view, God prophesied in Leviticus that if the Israelites did not give the land rest, God would send them into captivity long enough to make up for the overdue rest which the Land deserved.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="color: #592902; font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 21px;" data-mce-mark="1">&ldquo;I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you.&nbsp; Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins.&nbsp; Then the land will enjoy its Sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths.&nbsp; All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the Sabbaths you lived in it.&rdquo; &nbsp;</span><em style="color: #592902; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;">(Leviticus 26:33&ndash;35)</em></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If the Babylonian captivity fulfilled this prophesied punishment, this means that the 50 years in Babylon made up for 50 cycles without any Sabbath annual rest.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If this implies it is a moral command, as I suggest due to the serious punishment attached to its violation, this would be a command that a Gentile follower of Jesus should follow if they own land that requires tilling to create new crops. Furthermore, now we scientifically know we should be glad to do so anyway.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #3366ff;">What About Passover?</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Passover dinner, which precedes the feast of unleavened bread, is optional for the Sojourner. However, if he "will keep it," then the Sojourner has to be circumcised. (Exo 12:48; Nu 9:14.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, Passover was an honor for a non-Jew sojourner to celebrate. If he chose to do so, he must be circumcised.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color: #3366ff; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What About Tithing?</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Tithing clearly does not apply to Gentiles, but only to sons of Israel. Gentiles, whether poor or not, were one of the several beneficiaries of the tithe paid by Sons of Israel, along with widows, orphans, and Levite priests. See our article on <a href="/home/18-the-law-given-moses/562-whether-gentile-christians-have-to-tithe.html">Whether Gentiles Are Subject to the Law of Tithing</a>.</span></p>
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<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #333399;">The Didache Instructions</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="color: #000000;"></span><br /></span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Didache of about 100 AD -- considered the oldest surviving manual of Christianity -- addressed what Law applied to Gentiles from the Torah. It claimed it was written by the 12 Apostles. Rather than make any careful distinction, as we did above, it said to<em><strong> do your best to keep all of it</strong></em>. The Temple was gone, so this may be a prudent general instruction, measured by historical Christianity. The ministry First Fruits of Zion explains this historical background in the article I previously quoted. It explains that it is likely that most Gentile Christians early on tried to keep as much of the Torah as possible:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 11.25pt 0in 12pt 30px; line-height: 16.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The <em>Didache</em> is allegedly a collection of apostolic instructions for Gentile believers. When discussing the question of how much Torah a Gentile is obligated to keep, the <em>Didache</em> recommends keeping all of it, but leaves the matter up to an individual&rsquo;s capacity:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 11.25pt 0in 15pt 60px; line-height: 16.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If you are able to bear all the yoke of the Lord [i.e., Torah], you will be perfect; but if you are not able, do as much as you are able to do. (<em>Didache</em> 6:2)</span></p>
<p style="margin: 11.25pt 0in 12pt 30px; line-height: 16.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The <em>Didache</em> agrees with Numbers 15:15&ndash;16. There is not supposed to be a different Torah for Gentile believers. The Gentile believers are not supposed to have a different type of worship or religion. There is only one Torah for God&rsquo;s people. The only question left open is to what extent the Gentile believer is obligated. Most of the laws of the Torah apply equally to Jewish and Gentile disciples of Yeshua. </span><br /> <br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> On the other hand, Gentile believers <em><strong>are not obligated to keep all of the ceremonial laws as the Jewish believers such as circumcision and other distinct markers of Jewish identity like the calendar, the holy days, the dietary laws, and so forth</strong></em>. Despite that, the Bible does not create alternative Gentile versions of these institutions.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> In the days of the apostles, the Gentile believers kept most of those things along with the Jewish believers as part of their participation in their shared religion.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 12pt; line-height: 16.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, according to FFOZ the Law given Moses does not extend to Gentiles the duties to keep circumcision, the calendar, the holy days, the dietary laws, etc. As we saw above, it did extend Sabbath and some food prohibitions on Gentiles (which even James repeated in Acts), so this is an overstatement by FFOZ. Yet, perhaps it is wise to follow the rule of the Didache: keep as much of it as you can feasibly apply to your life. If you don't wear 4 cornered clothes, you don't need to wear philacteries, so don't worry about that command, for example. </span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 12pt; line-height: 16.5pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #3366ff;">What about Other Feast Days Than Passover? </span></strong></p>
<p style="margin-top: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 12pt; line-height: 16.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">A young man who is a Christian and keeps Sabbath has a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y1AFbfVqtQ">You Tube video</a> that reviews whether feast days are mandatory for a Christian to observe. He argues they no longer apply. I disagree as to Passover and possibly the Day of Atonement. He points out that Lev. 23:27 says the feast days are to be holy convocations to make an offering by fire. He contends that without sacrifices, they would cease to be feast days. He says Deut 16:2 says the passover is necessarily a sacrifice. However, I see it has a second function that continues -- a remembrance of God's provisions when Israel was in bondage in Egypt. He relies upon Paul to say that circumcision was abolished, and no longer necessary. (See 4:20 mark.) While I don't agree with his conclusion entirely, he may have a point about any holiday that is only about sacrifice, since they are suspended at the Temple.&nbsp;</span></p>
<h2><strong><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #333399;"></span></strong></h2>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #333399;">Supplemental Comments</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong>Blessings of God After A Meal</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There are certain laws that are wise to follow. &nbsp;For example, the Law apparently commands a blessing after one has eaten and is satisfied. See&nbsp;Deuteronomy <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%208:10&amp;version=NIV">8:10</a>.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">When you have eaten and are satisfied, <strong><em>praise the LORD your God</em></strong> <strong><em>for the good land</em></strong> he has given you.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It apparently is a&nbsp;safeguard against ungratefulness and idolatry. Cf. 8:12; 31:20. There is no command to bless God prior to a meal. But neither is there a prohibition from doing so.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong>What Of Levitical Interpretations of the Law?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Levites had a special authority under the Law to provide binding interpretations of the Law (not to extend it or nullify it):</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in&nbsp;those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment: And thou&nbsp;shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall&nbsp;choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform&nbsp;thee<strong><em>: According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee</em></strong>, and according&nbsp;to the judgment which they shall tell thee, <strong><em>thou shalt do</em></strong>: thou shalt not decline from&nbsp;the sentence which they shall shew thee, [to] the right hand, nor [to] the left. And the&nbsp;man that will do presumptuously,<strong><em> and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth&nbsp;to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall&nbsp;die</em></strong>: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel." Deuteronomy 17:9-12.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What do we do now that there are no more Levites to turn to? In my opinion, God took them away so our High Priest Jesus / Yahshua would be the one whose words interpreting the Law would be paramount. We would not sway to the left or right, but "listen to Him," as Yah spoke twice from heaven about Jesus / Yahshua -- once at His baptism and second at His transfiguration.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;" data-mce-mark="1">Encyclopedia References to Law Applicable to Gentiles Under Torah</span></strong></span></h2>
<h4><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=6OJvO2jMCr8C&amp;pg=PA562&amp;lpg=PA562&amp;dq=Certain+rights+were+conceded+to+them&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Fuo3Dkw-xy&amp;sig=du5LhrkRXBWD7vETc3Xs7nKmDA4&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=u6tzUO2fNaXKyQHa1IGoAw&amp;ved=0CE8Q6AEwBg">The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia </a>reads in its article "Sojourners":</span></h4>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"The Mosaic legislation was quite <strong><em>open to receive outsiders into the covenant community</em></strong> (hence the LXX rendering of&nbsp;ger proselytos). Certain rights were conceded to them, including sabbatical rest (Ex. 20:10; 23:12; Dt. 5:14), a fair trial (1:16), access to the cities of refuge (Nu. 35:15; Josh. 20:9), and participation in the Feasts of Booths and Weeks (Dt. 16:11, 14). Their sustenance was to be guaranteed by provision for gleaning (along with other needy groups, Lev. 19:10; 23:22), by the triennial tithe (Dt. 26:11f) and by the produce of the land during the Sabbatical Year (Lev. 25:6f). Indeed, the juxtaposition of ger with "native of the land" (e.g., Ex. 12:19, 48), "your countrymen" (lit "your brother"), "sons of Israel," and similar expressions clearly indicates that<strong><em> sojourners were to be treated for the most part just like ordinary Israelites.</em></strong> Their&nbsp;privileges and responsibilities thus included observing the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:29), the Passover (Ex. 12:49; Nu. 9:14), Unleavened Bread (Ex. 12:19); sacrificial procedures (Lev. 17:8; 22:18; Nu. 15:14&ndash;16);&nbsp;atonement for unintentional and defiant sin (15:26&ndash;31); purification rites after eating unclean meat (Lev. 17:15; Nu. 19:10), sacrifices to Molech (Lev. 20:2); blaspheming the name of the Lord (24:16), sexual and moral purity (18:26),lex talionis (24:20&ndash;22). Lev. 19:33f summarized the idealized position of the&nbsp;ger's [Heb. native born] position was so secure that his prosperity could conceivably exceed that of the native Israelites, and the latter could become servants for the former (Lev. 25:47&ndash;55). Covenantal infidelity would bring these conditions as a curse upon Israel (Dt. 28:43)..... Whereas Lev. 17:15 forbids the native and the&nbsp;ger to eat animals that have died a natural death, Dt. 14:21 suggests that such animals could be given to the&nbsp;ger or sold to foreigners for consumption.... At an early period Israel probably adhered to these ideals (Dt. 29:10f [MT 9f]; cf. also 31:12, which included the <em><strong>sojourners in the assembly of those gathered for instruction in the Torah and the fear of the Lord).</strong></em> The <em><strong>ger&icirc;m were also present at the covenant renewal ceremony</strong></em> conducted at Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim (Josh. 8:33). ...&nbsp;Second-class treatment of sojourners may, however, be documented from later history. The&nbsp;g&ecirc;r&icirc;m noted separately in David&rsquo;s census (2 Ch. 2:17 [MT 16]) became the basis of Solomon&rsquo;s work crews, some of which consisted entirely of sojourners (cf. 1 Ch. 22:2). Nevertheless, in&nbsp;Ezekiel&rsquo;s vision of the restored community (47:22), the identification of the&nbsp;g&ecirc;r&icirc;m with native Israelites is almost complete, even to receiving an inheritance of land in the midst of the tribe in which they resided. [<em>ISBE</em> (Editor Geoffrey Bromiley)(1995) Vol. 4 at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=6OJvO2jMCr8C&amp;lpg=PA562&amp;ots=Fuo3Dkw-xy&amp;dq=Certain%20rights%20were%20conceded%20to%20them&amp;pg=PA562#v=onepage&amp;q=Certain%20rights%20were%20conceded%20to%20them&amp;f=false">562</a>, with some bracketed corrections.]</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Alien," <em>Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible </em><em>reads:</em></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Foreigners or sojourners had certain rights but also certain limitations while in Israel. They could <strong><em>offer sacrifices </em></strong>(Lv 17:8; 22:18) but <em><strong>could not enter the sanctuary unless circumcised </strong></em>(Ez 44:9). They were allowed to participate in the three great Jewish festivals (Dt 16:11, 14) but <em><strong>could not eat the Passover meal unless circumcised</strong></em> (Ex 12:43, 48)....They were <em><strong>not to work on the sabbath</strong></em> and the Day of Atonement (Ex 20:10; 23:12; Lv 16:29; Dt 5:14) and could be stoned for reviling or blaspheming God&rsquo;s name (Lv 24:16; Nm 15:30). Foreigners <strong><em>were forbidden to eat blood</em></strong> (Lv 17:10, 12) but could eat animals that had died a natural death (Dt 14:21). Israel&rsquo;s code of <em><strong>sexual morality also applied to the foreigner</strong></em> (Lv 18:26).&nbsp;There were prohibitions against Israelite intermarriage with foreigners, but it was nevertheless a common occurrence (Gn 34:14; Ex 34:12, 16; Dt 7:3, 4; Jos 23:12). ...<em><strong>Civil rights were provided for foreigners by the Law of Moses</strong></em> (Ex 12:49; Lv 24:22), and they came under the <em><strong>same legal processes and penalties</strong></em> (Lv 20:2; 24:16, 22; Dt 1:16). They were to be treated politely (Ex 22:21; 23:9), loved as those under the love of God (Lv 19:34; Dt 10:18, 19), and <em><strong>treated generously if poor and receive the fruits of the harvest</strong></em> (Lv 19:10; 23:22; Dt 24:19&ndash;22).&nbsp;They could receive asylum in times of trouble (Nm 35:15; Jos 20:9). <em><strong>Foreign servants were to receive treatment equal to Hebrew servants</strong></em> (Dt 24:14). A foreigner could not take part in tribal deliberations or become a king (17:15). The prophet Ezekiel looked forward to the messianic age when the foreigner would share all the blessings of the land with God&rsquo;s own people (Ez 47:22, 23) in Israel.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">'Anyone' Commands</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There are other commands applicable to "<em><strong>anyone</strong></em>" and I would say this word means they apply to both Israelites and Sojourning-Gentiles living in their community. For example, there is a command to return what you stole, whether entrusted to you or by robbery, plus pay 1/5 (20%) more. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%206&amp;version=NIV">Leviticus 6:1-8 NIV</a>. This begins saying "Yahweh told Moses, If <strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">anyone</span></strong> sins and is unfaithful to Yahweh by deceiving...." Then there are later additions to this principle to tie into it. In Numbers 5:8, it teaches if when you repent, and now you must restore the goods or items stolen, but there is no one any longer to whom to give, you give the restitution to Yahweh - implying you donate it to the Temple "alms" box for the poor. Since there is no longer any such box at most Christian churches, I would say you still must find a way to route this money to the poor.</span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: x-large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Identifiable Moral Commands In A Mixed Context</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Sometimes there are passages clearly directed to the Sons of Israel that contain commands that would seem to have a moral component having nothing to do with only the Sons of Israel. For example, Exodus 23 is a long list of commands, and clearly it is only to the Sons of Israel, as it describes what they are to do when they come into the land that has Gentiles which evidently is only a command to Israelites. Among the moral commands is one against taking bribes, and I would not construe its presence in this context as intended to limit it to Israelite judges:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">"Do not accept a bribe [<em>i.e.</em>, payment to allow a wrong to be done / ignored],</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">&nbsp;for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2023&amp;version=NIV">Exodus 23:8</a> NIV.)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">So if I am a Gentile and serve as a Judge, can I as a Christian accept a bribe? The answer is clear that this command comes with an&nbsp;<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>identifier</em> of the rationale -- a universal rationale. It says a "bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent." Hence, this is a moral command, and not merely a command which could have a non-universal application just to Israelites. Hence, I would follow it, and obviously accept its moral imperative from Yahweh to me as a judge.</span></span></p>
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<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Email on July 20, 2012</span></strong></span></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">D writes me:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">You may recall I told you we were having a Bible Study in our home conducted by a Messianic Jew.... and at one time we had 20 people attending. Slowly, one by one, they stopped coming. In retrospect, I believe there was too much Jewish tradition that was not explained. At least, that was the case for me.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For example, wearing a&nbsp;shawl or a scull cap when praying. I understand all Jews follow this tradition. At present, I'm not sure, as a gentile, exactly what I should and should not be doing. One thing that turned me off regarding the Messianic movement was when I saw on the Internet<em><strong> a bunch of Jew wannabees wearing a scull cap along with a long beard.</strong></em> HOWEVER, I'm simply seeking truth. If I discover I need to be wearing certain things while praying, I will do so, to be obedient to our heavenly Father.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What is <em><strong>your understanding or belief regarding what you wear while praying?</strong></em> For example, at sundown on Friday night, while praying in the Sabbath.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I'm currently studying the feasts mentioned in the Torah. There seems to be a lot of blessings we are missing by not celebrating these dates. What are your thoughts on this subject? Have you written anything on this subject?</span></p>
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<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">My Reply to D on July 21, 2012</span></strong></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">To answer how to know what laws apply, I start first with Yashua's words - Yahweh appointed him in Deuteronomy 18 as "the prophet" -- the obedience to whose words would be "required." This is a universal principle for Jew and Gentile stated in the Law.</span></p>
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<div><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Next, I read the Law as having often distinct commands to Israel versus "sojourners" or "foreigners" (not Israelites) who lived in Israel. The latter are now known as Gentiles. If they live in community with Israel, <em><strong>some but not all commands applicable to Israel applies to the Gentiles by the strict reading of the Law itself.</strong></em> So Leviticus 12:1-3 says Israelites must be circumcised, but the Law has no blanket command to Gentiles to do so. It implicitly says they don't have to be circumcised in all cases to live in community with Israel because elsewhere it says if the Gentile (sojourner / foreigner) wishes to celebrate Passover (no compulsion to do so), they must be circumcised. Exodus 12:19. I believe these kind of distinctions in the Law are why James in Acts 15 did not impose circumcision on Gentiles who came to Christ -- apparently &nbsp;strictly reading Leviticus 12:1-3 which narrows its application to the "sons of Israel."</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, the issue about a prayer shawl must turn on the text of the command, if any, found in the Law, and then whether it also applies to Gentiles.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">WIkipedia on the Tallit&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallit" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.<wbr />org/wiki/Tallit</a> has this to say:</span></div>
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<blockquote><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The&nbsp;<strong>Bible does not command wearing of a unique prayer shawl or tallit</strong>. Instead, it presumes that people wore a garment of some type to cover themselves and instructs them to add fringes (tzitzit) to the 4 corners of these (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Numbers" target="_blank" title="Book of Numbers">Numbers</a> 15:38, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deuteronomy" target="_blank" title="Deuteronomy">Deuteronomy</a> </span><wbr /><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">22:12). These passages do not specify tying particular types or numbers of knots in the fringes. Nor do they specify a gender division between men and women, or between native Israelite/Hebrew people and those assimilated by them. The exact customs regarding the tying of the tzitzit and the format of the tallit are post-Biblical and rabbinical and can vary between various Jewish communities.</span></span></blockquote>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, there is no command to pray with a shawl. (Paul taught a woman must have a head covering, but even Paul had no command that a man use a prayer shawl.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Incidentally, the fringes command only applies if you are wearing a 4 cornered garment, but there is <em><strong>no command to wear a four cornered garment (like a poncho).</strong></em> Thus, it is largely anachronistic -- meaning clothing practices of today rarely involve where one puts on a four cornered poncho. It can happen. But I don't concern myself about it because I do not wear such clothes.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">By the way, the command about not cutting one's beard in a certain way is not a command to have a beard. It is a command not in effect to have a Fu Manchu shaped beard. I have a page on that if you need it. It is in JWO. Hence, having a beard, even for a Jew, is not required.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, a lot of traditions are just that ... traditions.... or <strong><em>hedges around the Law</em></strong> -- <em><strong>exaggerated readings to prevent any possible theoretical violation</strong></em>. Jesus / Yashua told us<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;"> not to live with such excessive unnecessary burdens not in the Law itself</span></strong>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Perhaps the people attending at your home faded away when non-Biblical traditions were being suggested while the true Law was being denied validity by the Pauline rabbi you mentioned.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I personally celebrate Passover because it was an option for a circumcised Gentile under the Law to do so (Exodus 12:19), and I love its meaning. I don't understand the other high holy days as applicable to Gentiles. Booths clearly is for Jews. The Day of Atonement critically depends upon the Temple, but I celebrate it anyway in a spiritualized sense.</span></p>
<div><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The key is to not let Pauline thinking contaminate us where the "letter of the Law kills" and "incites" sin in us. See Roman's 7:7-11. &nbsp;That is blasphemy. Instead, the Law is good for us, frees us, settles us, guides us, comforts us, teaches us, and ultimately helps us admire and love God for His goodness and mercy.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">That's my take on things....Shabbat Shalom D.</span></div>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">God Set Jews Apart As Light of Law to Gentiles</span></strong></span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; color: #000000;" align="justify"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1">God chose the lineage of Jews / Israel to show off a people who were priests who kept God's covenant, and as God's treasure / riches, this would teach non-Israelites to see "you are called by the name of Yahweh" and fear the Israelites.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; color: #000000; margin-left: 30px;" align="justify"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-mark="1"><big>Exodus 19:5-6&mdash;<small>&nbsp;</small></big><strong><big><small><br /></small></big></strong><big><small>5 Now therefore,&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;" data-mce-mark="1">if you will truly obey My voice, by keeping My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people</span>; for all the earth&nbsp;<em>is</em>&nbsp;Mine.&nbsp;<br />6 And you shall be&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;" data-mce-mark="1">to Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation</span>...</small></big></span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; color: #000000; margin-left: 30px;" align="justify"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><small><big><big>Deuteronomy 28:9-10&mdash;</big></big><strong><big>&nbsp;<br /></big></strong><big>9 Yahweh will&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;">establish you as His Holy People</span>&nbsp;unto Himself, as&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;">He promised you on oath, if you will keep the Laws of Yahweh your Father, and walk in all His ways</span>.&nbsp;<br />10&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Then all the people on the earth will see that you are called by the Name of Yahweh</span>, and they will fear you.</big></small></span></p>
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<p style="color: #4a4a4a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;" align="justify"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><big><span style="color: black;">I Peter 2:9&mdash;</span></big><span style="color: black;"></span><br style="color: black;" /><span style="color: black;">But you&nbsp;</span><em style="color: black;">are&nbsp;</em><span style="color: black;">a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you would show forth the praises of Him Who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Email on Why Did James Appear To Give Gentiles A Short List of Commands? 11/26/2015</strong></span></p>
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<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: black; font-size: 18pt;">....I do have one more question though...one that has been causing me a great deal of confusion over the past month or so. Why in Acts 15 and Acts 21 does James and Peter say that all the Gentiles need to do is refrain from eating blood, things strangled, things sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality. Certainly there is more commands that we must follow as Gentiles. I am very confused by this..Can you you shed some light on this issue?</span></p>
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<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: black; font-size: 18pt;">Blessings,</span></p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: black; font-size: 18pt;">Joey</span></p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">My Response on 11/26/2015</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #1f497d;">Hi Joseph</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #1f497d;">Yes, right after this in Acts 15 verse 21 James implied &ndash; due to the Greek present tense in verse 19 versus the import of verse 21 -- that the gentiles start with these few principles in vv 19-20, because they will continue to learn from the weekly readings &ndash; readings of the Law, as v 21 implies &nbsp;Here is the key passage &ndash; and the last verse is the key:</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="text"><strong><sup><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">19&nbsp;</span></sup></strong></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">&ldquo;Therefore my judgment is that we don&rsquo;t trouble those from among the Gentiles who turn to God,</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"></span></span><span class="text"><strong><sup><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">20&nbsp;</span></sup></strong></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">but that we write to them that they abstain from the pollution of idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"></span></span><span class="text"><strong><sup><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">21&nbsp;</span></sup></strong></span><span class="text"><strong><span style="color: red; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">For Moses from generations of old has in every city those who preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath</span></strong></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">.&rdquo; (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+15&amp;version=WEB">Acts 15:19-21</a>.)</span></span></span></p>
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<p><span class="text" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"></span></span></p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span class="text" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">So James is not excepting anything from the law applicable to Gentiles. He is simply giving them a starter set of principles, and if they attend weekly readings from Moses, they will pick up the rest.</span></span></p>
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<p><span class="text" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"></span></span></p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span class="text" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Does that help?</span></span></p>
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<p><span class="text" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"></span></span></p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="text" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: black; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Doug</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: #1f497d;">&nbsp; V</span></span></p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">&nbsp;</p>
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