Month: October 2020

Jesus as Torah

The gospel of John begins with the words, “In the beginning was the Word.” (John 1:1) This is clearly intended to allude to the beginning of the book of Genesis and the statement, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) But what is this Word that he is talking about?

The passage in John goes on to say, “and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (1:1b) This last phrase is a little problematic in that the first occurrence of “God” comes with the definite article (“the”), while the next one doesn’t. Literally it’s “And the Word was with (toward) the God, and God (theos) was the Word.” In the following verse the statement is repeated with the definite article. “This one was in the beginning with (toward) the God.” (1:2) Why is the article left off the statement about the identity of the Word?

The Watchtower translation (New World Translation) translates this phrase, “And the Word was a God.” Grammatically this might fit the absence of a definite article, but it seems to contradict the rest of scripture, especially passages like Deuteronomy 6:4 that state that God is one. It seems to me that the best way to translate it is something like, “And the Word was divine.” In this case it’s almost like an adjective, attributing the quality of divinity to this Word.

But what is this Word, and why is it described as a “Word”? Later in verse 14 we have the statement, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (1:14) So whatever this Word was, it received embodiment in Jesus when the time came. But there must be a reason that it’s referred to as “Word”.

I propose that what John is getting at here is the idea of Torah, God’s law. We are all familiar with Psalm 119 in which virtually every statement pertains to God’s Torah, and many synonyms for it are used, including “commands”, “statutes”, “precepts”, “decrees”, and “word”. God’s word is his Torah, his standard of right and wrong and his instructions to his people to live in a certain way.

We have a previous example of a particular characteristic of God portrayed as a being in itself in the early chapters of Proverbs. Here Wisdom is anthropomorphized as a woman whose acquaintance should be made. There is even similar language about being involved in creation. “By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place.” (Proverbs 3:19) “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began. When there were no oceans, I was given birth, when there were no springs abounding with water; before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, before he made the earth or its fields or any of the dust of the world. I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence.” (Proverbs 8:22-30) It seems to me that this is what John is trying to do with the concept of “Word” in John 1.

I think that it’s also significant that the Torah is specifically mentioned in the John passage in a parallel construction with Jesus. “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (1:17) Christians often look at this verse as a contrast because of the history of Christanity abandoning the law in the second century. But it’s really a continuity. And there’s really no reason to mention the law in this context unless it is to shed further light on John’s concept of the Word.

So God’s Word, his Torah, his standard of right and wrong predates the creation of the universe. And Jesus instantiates this standard. Jesus is God’s living Torah, his Word.

Jesus Misunderstood

The Jesus that is portrayed by most churches and Christians is significantly different from the Jesus of the New Testament. He is often portrayed as someone whose Jewishness is unimportant, who taught people not to follow God’s law (Torah), and who rejected the Jewish people. None of this is true. This kind of Jesus could not possibly be embraced by faithful Jews and those who believe the Hebrew scriptures.

Jesus’ Jewishness was central to his identity. He was a religiously observant Jew all his life. His family followed the instructions of the Torah strictly, having him circumcized on the eighth day, bringing him to the temple for the purification ritual, and making annual trips to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Torah was God’s standard of right and wrong, and if Jesus had not followed it completely all his life, he could not be a sinless sacrifice as a payment for our sins.

Also critical was that Jesus was a descendant of David in the Jewish kingly line. The geneologies in the gospels are to establish that he was descended from David and an heir to the throne. There were many mentions in the Hebrew prophets that God would have one of David’s descendants on the throne of Israel forever. When Jesus’ conception and birth was announced, this was the central theme; he was to be the Davidic king of the Jews.

When Jesus started preaching, one of the first things he did was to affirm God’s law in no uncertain terms. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-19)

During his lifetime he worshiped and taught regularly in the synagogue; he observed the biblical festivals, and when he healed people, he directed them to go through the rituals that were prescribed by the law given by Moses. He told people that the Pharisees sat in Moses’ seat and people should do as they say, although they themselves did not always set a good example. Several times he criticized them for not following the law closely enough.

When Jesus began preaching, his primary message was that the end-times kingdom of God (kingdom of heaven) was “at hand”, and that he was God’s designated king for it. He performed miracles of healing and other kinds to demonstrate that he was indeed the promised king.

Jesus did not come to start a new religion and he did not do so. When he was asked whether his teachings were new, he pointedly denied it, saying, “You don’t fix an old coat with a new patch and you don’t fill an old wineskin with new wine. They would tear and ruin them. Besides, everybody knows that old wine is better.” (Luke 5:36-39 paraphrased) Jesus’ message was entirely Judaism, with the addition of the fact that he was the designated king of the kingdom of God.

When this offer of the kingdom was rejected by the Jewish leaders, his immediate mission changed. He was still the king, but the kingdom was delayed to a future time. His immediate task became being the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of God’s people. This was foreseen by God and predicted in the Hebrew scriptures as well.

His death and resurrection, as foreseen by the prophets, inaugurated the new covenant that Jeremiah spoke of. This covenant will not be completely in effect until the future kingdom but it initiated the prophecied time when people of the nations would join with Israel in worshiping Israel’s God and following his commandments.

The teaching of Jesus, as well as all his immediate followers, was that of Judaism as taught in the Hebrew scriptures. He embraced Torah and the prophecies of a future kingdom of God on earth. May we who claim to follow Jesus do the same.

The Prodigal Son

In Luke 15 we have three parables that Jesus told, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. In the case of the sheep and the coin the issue is simply the single-minded searching for the lost item and the rejoicing upon finding it as a metaphor for the rejoicing in heaven over a sinner who repents.

The story that we have called the prodigal son, on the other hand, gives a lot more detail and builds more of a plot. Perhaps there is more in the symbolism of this story than meets the eye.

To recap the story, a man has two sons. The younger son wanted to receive his inheritance early so he could go live it up. He did, and he went to a far country and squandered it all in wild living. Being broke, he took a job feeding pigs, and the pigs ate better than he did. Finally he resolves to come home and apologize to his father. His father, out watching, saw him coming and ran to embrace him. There followed a big celebration. The older brother, who had remained with the family, was jealous at all the attention that his brother got. The father assured him that he was still loved and the rest of the inheritance was his, but it was still right to celebrate the return of his brother.

It doesn’t take a big stretch to imagine that the older brother represents the Jews to whom Jesus is telling the story. He expects them to absorb the lesson of rejoicing when a sinner repents. If this is true, then perhaps the younger brother is intended to represent Gentile believers in Jesus. As it happens, the trajectory of the Gentile church follows pretty closely the story of the younger son.

As I’ve explained in other posts, in the late first century Rome imposed a heavy tax on Jews, the Fiscus Judaicus. Gentile believers, under the instruction of Paul and others to no longer live like Gentiles (Ephesians 4:17), were embracing much of the culture of Judaism, which God had commanded his people to follow, but were doing so as Gentiles, not converting to Judaism. But the way that Rome determined who should pay the tax was by people’s lifestyles. Who lived like Jews?

Understandably the believing Gentiles didn’t want to be taxed as Jews, since they were not Jews. Over a period of time they began to separate and contrast themselves with Judaism. They chose new holy days and rejected the Sabbath and festivals given by God in scripture. They abandoned much of the law that God gave his people, justifying it by misinterpreting some of Paul’s words. And they began to identify themselves as “Christian”, a religion in contrast to Judaism. They began a process of hating and persecuting Jews that was to last for many centuries.

This trajectory of Christianity and its departure from the instructions that God gave his people seems to parallel the younger son in the parable who left home and got into all kinds of trouble. His feeding of pigs recalls the departure of the church from God’s instructions for eating, where pork is prohibited as food. The effect of the church’s departure from God’s instructions continues to this day.

But if we consider the parable to be prophetic, there is coming a day when the church will realize its error and return to God. The Father is watching every day for that repentence to take place. That’s one of the main reasons that I started this blog, to encourage Christians to return to the scriptures and the faith that was embraced by the first century followers of Jesus, which was essentially biblical Judaism, with the addition that the identity of the promised Davidic king (Messiah) was to be Jesus (Yeshua) of Nazareth.

Repent and return to God. He will be ever so happy that you do.

Adoption

One of the themes in Paul’s epistles is the idea of adoption. Paul mentions it in Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians. The idea in all contexts is that the believer in Jesus becomes a son (child) of God through adoption.

We’re all familiar with the situation of a child who has no living parents, or his parents are unable to care for him. Another family adopts him and becomes legally his parents. Ideally they will treat adopted children the same as their biological children, although the difference between biological and adopted will always remain.

It seems that this is how it is with Gentile believers in Jesus in relation to Jews. Throughout the Hebrew scriptures God identifies the people of Israel as his son(s). This is perhaps best illustrated in Exodus 4:22. “And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, ‘Thus saith the LORD, “Israel is my son, even my first-born.”‘”

The kings of Israel were considered to be sons of God in a special way, especially Solomon. “Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days. He shall build an house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.” (I Chronicles 22:9-10) “And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.” (II Samuel 7:12-16) David is spoken of in a similar way. “He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also I will make him my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth.” (Psalm 89:26-27)

With Israel considered as the natural-born children of God, Gentile believers seem to be in a position of adopted children. In Romans Paul describes Israel as having many advantages over Gentiles. “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.” (Romans 3:1-2) But then in chapter eleven he uses the metaphor of Gentile believers being wild olive branches that are grafted into the olive tree of Israel. He tells a similar story in different words in Ephesians 2:12-13. “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” It’s clear that Gentile believers are brought in, adopted into the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to become sons of God and participants in the covenants along with Israel.

Interestingly, Paul, in discussing the advantages of Israel in Romans 9, says that, “Theirs is the adoption as sons.” (9:4) If Israel is considered the natural-born sons as opposed to the adopted ones, why are they called adopted here? It appears that the Greek word for adoption is broader than the English word and refers to sonship in general. Israel’s advantage is that they are considered sons of God.

There are two other mentions of adoption in Romans 8 and they both seem to refer mostly to Gentile believers, who are the primary focus of the epistle. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” (8:14-17) A passage a little later seems to consider adoption to be something that is culminated at the resurrection. “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” (8:23-25) This passage seems to show the ultimate destiny of being children of God.

But this adoption pertains to the past as well as the future. In Ephesians 1 Paul points out that this adoption was planned by God in the past. “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, thta we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” (1:4-5) It was always God’s plan that some Gentiles be included in his family along with Israel.

Unfortunately, much of Christianity has come to the conclusion that Israel, the natural-born children, are no longer part of God’s plan, and that Christians have taken their place. God promised many times in scripture that this would never happen. “Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.” (Jeremiah 31:35-37) We need to take seriously Paul’s admonition in Romans 11:18. “Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.” We Gentiles are adopted into the family along with Israel, not in place of her.

Plagues as Divine Judgment

In the Hebrew scriptures God used a number of methods for punishing disobedience and sin. Sometimes he was punishing his people Israel for not following his commands, and sometimes he was punishing Gentile cities, nations, or mankind at large for their sinful actions.

During the time of Noah, the sinfulness of humanity was punished by a flood. The only survivors were those aboard the ark. God promised that he would never destroy the earth by that method again.

Cities that harbored particular wickedness, such as Sodom and Gomorrah, were destroyed by fire. Lot and his family were warned in advance to flee the city and escape judgment. There are repeated warnings in the epistle of II Peter (3:7, 10, 12) that the present earth is destined to be destroyed by fire.

The various peoples in Canaan, who occupied the land that God wanted to give to his people Israel, were destroyed through warfare and conquest. Jericho was an example of that. The Israelites didn’t follow through on the conquest as much as God wanted them to, and as a result they were led astray by the peoples that remained to worship their gods, leading to long-term punishment and exile from their land.

But there were many times when God used sickness, often described as “plagues”, to punish people. One of the first instances of this is in Genesis 12. Abram went to live in Egypt because of a famine in Canaan. He told Pharoah that Sarai was his sister (which was partly true), and when Pharoah showed romantic interest in her, God inflicted diseases on Pharoah and his household. (Genesis 12:17)

After God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt by sending various kinds of plagues on the Egyptians, it was common for Israel to turn their back on God, and be punished with sickness. While Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving God’s law, the people had Aaron make them a golden calf which they worshiped. One of the punishments for that was a plague that God sent. (Exodus 32:35)

Several times during the subsequent forty years of wandering in the desert, God punished their disobedience with plagues. When the people complained about the manna that God was providing, he sent quail for them to eat, but he also sent a severe plague that killed many of them. (Numbers 11:33)

When Moses sent spies to scout the land of Canaan, ten of the twelve spies said that it would be too hard to take the land, even though God had promised to give it to them. These ten spies influenced the people to reject God’s plan, and as a result these ten faithless spies were all killed by a plague. (Numbers 14:37)

A little later there was a general rebellion against Moses led by Korah and his followers. The earth opened up and consumed many of them. In addition, fire came down from heaven and consumed hundreds of them. But in addition to this, there was a plague that killed over fourteen thousand of them. (Numbers 16:46-50)

Toward the end of the desert wanderings, the people of Israel began to indulge in immoral relations with Moabite women and worship their gods. As a result, God sent a plague that killed 24,000 of them. (Numbers 25:9)

In our present situation, with CoVid-19 afflicting every nation in the world, I don’t know if it’s a plague sent by God, but it’s not unusual if it is. Our society has embraced and normalized many kinds of immorality. Even many of those who claim to follow the God of Israel have abandoned his commands and have done so for many centuries. We need to repent and turn back to God, read his word to find out what he expects of us, and learn to love his law as the psalmist did. “If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life.” (Psalm 119:92-93)