Author: Harry Buerer

Why Prefer Acts?

The apostle Paul who is described in the Acts of the Apostles can be seen as very different from the Paul of the epistles. The Paul of Acts is very Torah-positive. His mentor in the faith, Ananias, was described as “a devout observer of the law”. (Acts 22:12) He had Timothy circumcised to affirm that he was Jewish through his mother. (16:3) He preached in Jewish synagogues everywhere he went. When he was in Jerusalem, he cooperated in a demonstration to show that he encouraged believing Jews to follow the law, and that he observed it himself, (21:24) contrary to false rumors that were going around about Paul’s teaching. (21:21) He spent the bulk of his trip to Rome repeatedly emphasizing to one audience after another that the charges against him were false, that he teaches only what the law and the scriptures say, and that his faith is the same as those opposing him. (24:14-16; 25:8; 26:6, 20-22; 28:17-20) In all this he seemed to echo Jesus, who insisted that “until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law.” (Matthew 5:18)

In some of Paul’s epistles, on the other hand, there are statements that have led some interpreters to think that Paul opposed the idea of believers, either Jew or Gentile, observing God’s law. That has become the default position of most of Christianity since the second century. This is in spite of the fact that Paul’s epistles say things like “For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.” (Romans 2:13) “Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.” (Romans 3:31) “Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts.” (I Corinthians 7:19)

It is true that Paul’s epistles, taken as a whole, make statements that seem both positive and negative toward Torah in approximately equal amounts, while the impression given of Paul in Acts is overwhelmingly Torah-positive. Which of these is the true representation of Paul and his attitude toward the law?

Many Christian interpreters have expressed a preference for the epistles of Paul as presenting his genuine viewpoints. The reasons they give are that the epistles are from Paul’s own hand. They also mention that the epistles were probably written earlier than the book of Acts. These reasons seem plausible on first examination.

On the other hand, I’m convinced that the book of Acts is a much more objective portrayal of Paul’s attitudes than his epistles. Acts was written to be an objective account of what happened, without any particular agenda. It was written as history.

The epistles, in contrast, were each written to individual congregations in response to specific issues. Paul’s discussion is in the context of those issues. Unless we understand accurately what problems Paul is writing to correct, reading his epistles is like hearing one side of a telephone conversation. For example, Galatians is often taken as teaching that obedience to the law is not necessary. In reality, the Gentile believers in Galatia are being tempted to think that they need to officially convert to Judaism, to be circumcised, in order to be pleasing to God. Paul warns them not to do this because it was prophesied that in the end times people from the nations will come to worship the God of Israel. If they convert to Judaism, they will no longer be people from the nations. That would defeat the purpose of the prophecies.

What we need to do is to understand Paul and his teaching based on the book of Acts. He repeatedly identifies his faith as Judaism, the faith of Israel. (23:6; 24:14; 26:5) Every passage in the epistles that seems to teach that the law has become obsolete in Christ can be accounted for by taking into account things in the context that clarify the issue, or by translation changes that are needed for accuracy. You can count on the book of Acts for a valid description of Paul. Take that as a starting place and work to harmonize the epistles with it.

David Anointed Twice

One of the stumbling blocks to Jews considering Jesus to be the Messiah is the fact that he didn’t do most of the things that the Messiah was expected to do. The primary expectation of the Messiah (anointed one), based on the prophetic scriptures, was to set up the promised kingdom of God and reign from David’s throne in Jerusalem. Jesus certainly did not do that in the first century C.E.

Many of us who follow Jesus and consider him to be the Messiah believe that he will return and do exactly that at some point in the future. Jesus was a teacher of Judaism, and he announced the prophetic kingdom as being near, with himself as the king. When that kingdom was rejected by the Jewish leaders of the time, the plan changed. Jesus became the sacrificial servant described in Isaiah 53. But the plan for the kingdom was delayed until a future time.

This delay can be seen to be illustrated in the experience of David, the prototypical king of Israel, to whom it was promised that his descendants would retain the throne of Israel forever. (II Samuel 7:16) David was anointed by Samuel to be king when he was just a boy. Saul had recently been chosen as Israel’s first king. But Saul had disobeyed God’s commands on a couple of occasions. God rejected him as king, and sent Samuel to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as the next king. Jesse’s seven older sons were presented, but each one was rejected by God for the role. Finally David, the youngest, was summoned from watching the sheep, and anointed by Samuel as God’s choice.

Interestingly, it was many years before David actually assumed the throne. During the intervening years David played the harp for Saul, defeated Goliath, and was loved by the people to the extent that Saul became jealous and tried to kill him. These efforts were not successful, as David, in a way, defeated death. Many years later, as David and his followers were living among the Philistines, the enemies of Israel, Saul and his son Jonathan were killed in battle against the Philistines. David then was recognized as king over Israel, and anointed again to that position.

These events in David’s life could be taken to illustrate the past and future appearances of Jesus. He was proclaimed as the anointed Messiah during his lifetime. But he actually was killed and was resurrected. Those who claim to be his followers have often opposed the people of Israel. But many of us believe that the time is coming when Jesus will return and set up God’s kingdom over Israel. At that point, if not before, Jews will recognize him and embrace him as their promised Messiah. That is the message that his first century followers taught.

Just as David’s actual reign was delayed for many years after his anointing by Samuel, so Jesus’ kingdom has been delayed for thousands of years. But events such as the establishment of the state of Israel imply that maybe the time is coming soon for the kingdom to be established. As Jesus announced at his first coming, “Repent, and turn to God, for the kingdom is near.” He commanded his followers to pray for the coming of the kingdom. In the same way, we pray, “Return in mercy to Jerusalem Your city and dwell therein as You have promised; speedily establish therein the throne of David Your servant, and rebuild it, soon in our days, as an everlasting edifice. Speedily cause the scion of David your servant to flourish, and increase his power by Your salvation, for we hope for Your salvation all day.”

Moving from Secularism to Biblical Faith

Perhaps you are someone who hasn’t claimed to be an adherent of either Judaism or Christianity, or of any religious system. Many of the people addressed in the New Testament letters had been in that situation.

When Paul was in Athens (Acts 17:16-34), he addressed people in the town square. He saw that they had an altar “to an unknown God.” So he told them that he would explain this God to them. This was the God who created the world and everything in it. He also has moral standards that he expects humans to meet. Unfortunately, all people who ever lived (except Jesus) have broken God’s moral standards repeatedly, and deserve only God’s judgment. But the death of Jesus, the sinless servant of God, has paid for the sins of every person who accepts that payment for himself. (Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”)

God raised Jesus from the dead in order to affirm that he accepted Jesus’ payment for sin. For many centuries prior to that time God had been working primarily with a specific group of people, the Jews. He had called Abraham to leave his country and go to a new land. Even though Abraham had no children, God miraculously gave him a son in his old age. God promised that his descendants would become a great nation, they would be God’s special people, and God would give them the land of Canaan as their eternal possession.

Through this group of people, God communicated how he wanted them to live and to worship him. He made many promises to this people, including that in the last days he would bring them from all over the world to the land he had promised them, and he would establish a kingdom for them, ruled by a descendant of King David.

Jesus was born as a descendant of David, and he announced to people that he was the promised king. The word “Christ” means “anointed one”, after the ritual that was used to establish someone as the king of Israel. Jesus did not come to start a new religion, as many people seem to think. He came in fulfillment of the words of the Jewish prophets who predicted this end-times kingdom.

When the Jewish leaders rejected his offer of this kingdom, his role and message changed. At that point he became the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of humanity. After his resurrection, although he assured his followers that he would set up this kingdom eventually, he ascended to heaven, leaving his followers to spread the good news of how he had paid for the sins of anyone who would accept that payment for himself.

Maybe you have a hard time accepting the idea that an infinitely small and dense piece of nothing exploded for no reason, and became the universe that we see. Maybe it’s hard for you to believe that the complexities of life and the unique intelligence of humans happened entirely by random chance. Don’t worry; you don’t have to accept that. The Bible tells us that there was a God who created the whole thing, perhaps by initiating the “big bang”. It also tells us that this God loves and cares about each one of us, and wants us to acknowledge and worship him.

In the years after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, God had his followers spread the message to people outside of the nation of Israel. The Jews continue to be God’s special people, but the rest of us who are not Jews are invited to join with Israel in becoming God’s greater people. Many people have accepted that invitation.

Unfortunately, in the centuries after Jesus, many of his followers were misled, due to heavy Roman taxes on Jews, to repudiate God’s people Israel and the instructions that God had given to them. As a result, much of Christianity took a wrong turn that affects them to this day.

I recommend that in finding a group of believers in Jesus to worship with, you try out a local Messianic congregation. Another option is to meet in a home study group. One I particularly recommend is the Torah Club system, sponsored by First Fruits of Zion. These groups can help you to learn about Jesus in his Jewish context, and how to follow him as a disciple. Embrace the God of Israel, the people of Israel, the faith of Israel, and the Messiah of Israel. May God bless you in your journey of discovery.

Moving from Judaism to Biblical Faith

It’s a shorter move from Judaism than from Christianity because Jesus and all his immediate followers were proponents of biblical Judaism. They affirmed Torah. They worshiped in synagogues and the temple. Paul called his version of faith, “the Way”, which was considered a form of Judaism. (Acts 24:14) He spends the last few chapters of Acts insisting that what he is teaching accords with the law and the prophets. (26:6, 22)

Jesus, too, when asked if he was teaching something new, something different than the prophets and rabbis taught, responded by saying that you don’t fix an old coat with a new patch and you don’t fill an old wineskin with new wine. (Luke 5:36-37) The old coat and wineskin represented the Judaism of his day and he was denying that he was adding anything new. The only thing he was declaring was how he fit into that package, as the Davidic king that the prophets announced.

If your present faith is Judaism, there are two things I would recommend in order to embrace the Tanakh that Jesus taught, as well as the New Testament. The first is to take Torah seriously. Only you know what your current relation to Torah is. Jesus preached almost exclusively to Jewish audiences, and his message was, “Repent”, i.e. get right with God and his commands, “for the kingdom of heaven (God) is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) The kingdom was subsequently delayed because the leaders didn’t accept it. But it will come, and Jesus wanted his followers to live in light of that coming.

The second thing I would recommend is that you open your mind to the possibility that the teaching of Jesus and the rest of the New Testament is continuous with Judaism. Jesus offered a kingdom that the prophets announced. When this kingdom was rejected, as God knew it would be, Jesus took the role of the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of mankind. This is totally consistent with the Hebrew scriptures. The whole sacrificial system pointed forward to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

When Isaiah writes abut the servant of God, he seems to be speaking of Israel as a nation. (Isaiah 41:8) But on the other hand, he seems to be speaking of an individual who represents the nation. (Isaiah 42:1) Both aspects of this servant are illustrated in Isaiah 49 where verse 3 seems to speak of the nation of Israel, and verses 5 and 6 seem to be speaking of an individual. As we go on to chapter 53 we see a description that fits Jesus perfectly. I’m not going to cite the entirety of Isaiah 53, but I urge you to read it. The role of Jesus in being the lamb of God (John 1:29) who bore the sin of many (Isaiah 53:12) is the core message of the New Testament.

In the book of Acts and the New Testament epistles the opportunity to turn to God because of what Jesus had done was opened up to non-Jews as well. The prophets reported that in the last days people from the nations would embrace Israel’s God and worship him. That is why Paul and the other disciples of Jesus urged the Gentiles not to become circumcized and convert to Judaism. (Acts 15; Galatians) If they converted, they would be Jews, and not people of the nations any more. Since the last days began, according to Paul, with the resurrection of Jesus, it was important to Paul that these new worshipers of God continue to be people from the nations, and not Jews. He did say that once they embraced the God of Israel, through Jesus, they would be like wild branches grafted into the Jewish olive tree (Romans 11) and become part of the covenant people of greater Israel. But they continued to be Gentiles, people of the nations.

I am not recommending that you “convert to Christianity.” Since the second century C.E., traditional Christianity has mostly abandoned the Torah and God’s promises to Israel. But the New Testament doesn’t support that. The early believers worshiped in synagogues, and if you’re happy with your synagogue, there’s no reason you should leave it. But the early believers also met together in homes, besides their synagogue meetings. If you can find a Messianic Jewish congregation, you may want to try them out. Another option is to connect with a Torah Club sponsored by First Fruits of Zion. These are small groups that meet in homes and follow a guided study that examines the Jewishness of Jesus and his followers. I recommend them highly.

Even though “Christians” from the second century on have separated from Judaism and been in the forefront of persecuting Jews, they don’t represent Jesus or the teaching of the New Testament in that regard. Israel continues to be God’s chosen people. Paul and other New Testament writers predict that eventually the Jewish people as a whole will recognize Jesus (Yeshua) as their promised Messiah. (Romans 11:25-29) Then the promised kingdom will come, with Messiah reigning from the throne of David in Jerusalem. May it come soon.

Moving From Christianity to Biblical Faith

Christianity as we know it didn’t exist during the ministry of Jesus and his apostles. It came about during the late first and second century when the pressure of the Fiscus Judaicus, the Roman tax on Jews, motivated non-Jews who believed in Jesus to distance themselves from Judaism. Nevertheless, Christianity gets some important things right, particularly the importance of faith in Jesus and his sacrificial death as payment for our sins.

While Christianity has correctly identified the Messiah of Israel, the issues where it has historically struggled are with the People of Israel and the Faith of Israel. It has not typically recognized Jews as co-religionists with it. It has commonly downplayed the grafting into the Jewish olive tree that Paul discusses in Romans 11. And it often doesn’t portray Jesus the way the New Testament presents him, as a practitioner and teacher of Judaism and Torah observance.

If you have a background in traditional Christianity and you want to move toward biblical faith and practicing the life that God commanded for his followers, good for you. A key is to learn to see the New Testament from a Jewish perspective. Don’t necessarily leave your church home, at least not right away. But if you can find a Messianic congregation to worship with, that could be a big help in developing a Jewish perspective on Jesus. Some Messianic congregations, however, seem to exist for the sole purpose of converting Jews to Christianity. This is not good nor appropriate. You will do much better if you can find such a congregation that exists for the purpose of helping you to live and worship in a God-pleasing way, following God’s instructions throughout the Bible.

If you can’t easily find such a congregation to worship with, another avenue is to find a weekday Torah Club meeting. First Fruits of Zion (ffoz.org) sponsors Torah Clubs all over the world, and that is a great opportunity to interact with others who are trying to become disciples of Jesus in a biblical way.

Acts 15 seems to give a model for non-Jews to move from a Gentile lifestyle to one that follows God’s Torah. There seem to be two elements to this model. Start following Torah little by little, a few issues at a time. And also, be getting regular training in how to expand your obedience to God.

An easy way to begin is to read older posts in this blog. Clicking on the menu item “Chronology” will give you links to all the posts since this blog was started. That will give you a chance to internalize the concepts involved.

A good place to start your Torah observance is with the Sabbath. This command was important enough for God to include it in the ten that he spoke from Mt. Sinai in Exodus 20. And yet most Christians have ignored the Sabbath that God gave, the seventh day of the week, and have treated the first day of the week as something special. Even if you keep attending your Sunday church, you can start treating the Sabbath day as holy. From sundown on Friday evening until sundown on Saturday, avoid working your job or business if possible. Avoid doing regular tasks and use it as a day of rest. Reading the Bible or other spiritual material, or doing things for relaxation are appropriate.

The biblical festivals may be something that you haven’t given much thought to in the past. Begin by just being aware of when they occur on the calendar, the festivals of Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost), and Sukkot (Tabernacles), as well as Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. As you learn more about them, you can start observing them in appropriate ways, either alone or with your group. The minor holidays of Purim and Hanukkah, although not commanded by God, are appropriate to observe as well.

A good thing to take note of is the list of things that God commanded his people to avoid eating. You can find this information in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. If you want to study further on this issue, a good book to read is “Holy Cow! Does God Care About What We Eat?” by Hope Egan.

To learn continually more about following God’s commands, read the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) regularly. The five books of Moses give the basic history and instructions for how to live. The prophets are important to read to see the future that God has planned for Israel and his Gentile followers. I recommend reading the New Testament from a translation like David Stern’s “Jewish New Testament”. Traditional translations often have a lot of Christian assumptions built in. Reading Paul’s epistles is tricky, since most of Christianity has misunderstood parts of them for centuries. The author of II Peter points out that Paul’s epistles are hard to understand, and that people have distorted them and been carried away by the error of lawless men. That is exactly what has happened with many interpreters. Recently Mark Nanos, a Jewish scholar, has pioneered understanding Paul within Judaism. I recommend reading anything by Mark Nanos, especially “The Mystery of Romans”.

For further education, you can do online study with courses at the college level. Two sources I would recommend for this are Torah Resource Institute (torahresource.com) and Israel Bible Center (israelbiblecenter.com). Both of these organizations offer a lot of fine training in biblical backgrounds.

Wherever you are on your pilgrimage, the important thing is to love God and want to please him. Take a step or two in the right direction and he will continue to lead you as you walk with him.

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)