What is the gospel?2 Thess 1:7-9 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power.What I taught and what is still taught by many congregations is that the word gospel in this verse includes everything in the NT.
All the Christians on the day of Pentecost obeyed the gospel before any of the New Testament was written and all the Christians who died at the orders of Saul died before any of the New Testament was written.
In about 58 a.d. Paul wrote Galatians, the second book of the New Testament to be written. All the Galatians had obeyed the gospel and some wanted to leave it, before they read Galatians, and probably before they read any book of the New Testament. Galatians may be part of the gospel to some Christians, but it certainly was not part of the gospel to the Galatians.
The NT Christians did not need Galatians, Romans, Acts, Matthew or other letters to be in fellowship with God. Faith in the death, burial, resurrection, ascension and the promises through that sacrifice placed them in fellowship with God.
Why were the epistles of Paul, Galatians, Romans, Corinthians, etc. written? It appears that some of the churches wrote to Paul with questions. They wanted answers to some of the things they didn't understand. Paul heard that some churches were having problems and Paul wrote these churches to correct some problems. Have you ever noticed that we would have a very small New Testament if the church had been perfect? Most of the New Testament was written to correct some problem in the church. Some do apply to us and some don't apply, but we have a multitude of principles that we can use.
In other words, "the Gospel" does not equate to "the New Testament".
Some might respond that the early Christians had all the information provided by the New Testament via supernatural revelation, even if it had not yet been written down. But in at least the question of whether Gentile Christians had to submit to the Jewish Law (Acts 15), there were Gentile Christians who had obeyed "the Gospel" prior to this matter being settled. Thus, in this issue at least, the New Testament contains information which those Gentile (or Jewish) Christians could not have known even though they had obeyed "the Gospel".
Simply put, once again, "the Gospel" is not the same as "the New Testament".
4 comments:
(le-havdil), A analysis (found here: www.netzarim.co.il (that is the only legitimate Netzarim)) of all extant source documents and archaeology using a rational and logical methodology proves that the historical Ribi Yehosuha ha-Mashiakh (the Messiah) from Nazareth and his talmidim (apprentice-students), called the Netzarim, taught and lived Torah all of their lives; and that Netzarim and Christianity were always antithetical.
Judaism and Christianity have always been two antithetical religions, and thus the term “Jewish Christianity” is an oxymoron and the statement “statement is that the first Christians were Jews. “ is wrong.
The mitzwot (directives or military-style orders) in Torah (claimed in Tan’’kh (the Jewish Bible) to be the instructions of the Creator), the core of the Judaism, are an indivisible whole. Rejecting any one constitutes rejecting of the whole… and the Church rejected many mitzwot, for example rejecting to observe the Shabat on the seventh day in the Jewish week. Examples are endless. Devarim (“Deuteronomy”) 13.1-6 explicitly precludes the Christian “NT”. Devarim 13:1-6 forbids the addition of mitzwot and subtraction of mitzwot from Torah.
Ribi Yehoshuas talmidim Netzarim still observes Torah non-selectively to their utmost today and the research in the above website implies that becoming one of Ribi Yehoshuas Netzarim-followers is the only way to follow him.
Anders Branderud
Anders Branderud said:
Judaism and Christianity have always been two antithetical religions, and thus the term “Jewish Christianity” is an oxymoron and the statement “statement is that the first Christians were Jews. “ is wrong.
But the Scriptures say:
[Phil 3:4-5] If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I [Saul/Paul] have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews...."
and
[Acts 11:25-26] Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
Anders also said:
... Netzarim [the Jewish followers of Rabbi Yehoshua] and Christianity were always antithetical.
But again the Scriptures say:
[Eph 2:14ff] For [Christ] himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Of course, Anders is operating from the belief that the New Testament writings are not Scripture ("Devarim precludes it"), nor are accurate historical records. I tried to surf the site he provided, but it's way too busy and inaccessible for a quick tour, and will have to wait until I'm in front of my two-monitor setup and have some time to explore it more fully.
So the core issue is: "Are the NT writings what they claim to be -- the writings of Yehoshua's students -- or are they not?"
From what I read in Anders writings, I would be concerned with following the "mitzwot." Following mens writing and using them as God's law is forbidden by the NT writings as well and in Devarim 13:1-6 . The Torah has been altered over the generations because of the need to write and understand God's intent. Those who practice tradions taught as God's word many be deceived by those practices.
God does not want to be worshiped in rituals and traditions.
Our Ribi Yehosuha ha-Mashiakh (the Messiah) gave his ideas of judging others for their practices or beliefs in Matthew 7:1-5
Matthew 1:1-5 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. (King James Version)
In man's word, make sure you are
living and teaching correctly and don't accuse others of being in a wrong.
I believe the New Testment to be God's word by faith in our Lord and God.
Anders, have you ever just sat down and read the New Testment on your own without another man telling you it is a false document?
Linda Willard
I want to correct a misperseption on my part in understanding the word mitzwot. When I went back to study in the Jewish New Testament translation by David H. Stern, 1989, I found the definition of mitzvah,(plural) mitzvot--literally: "command", "commandment": more broadly: general principle for living, good deed as used in Matthew 5:19, Mattew 19:16-19 and Mark 12: 28-31 Luke 18: 18-19.
So in Mattityahu (Matthew)15:1-8 The some P'rushim and Torah-teachers from Yerushalayim came to Yeshua and asked him, "Why is it that your talmidim break the Tradition of the Elders? They don't do n'tilat-yadayim before they eat!" He (Yeshua) answere, "Indeed, why do you break the command of God by your tradition? (and then describes the tradition of giving instead of taking care of their parents).
In Mattityahu (Matthew)19:16-19 A man approached Yeshua and said, "Rabbi, what good thing should I do in order to have eternal life?" He said to him, Why are you asking me about good? There is One who is good! But if you want to obtain eternal life, observe the mitzvot." The man asked him, "Which ones?" and Yeshua said "Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't give false testimony, honor father and mother and love your neighbor as yourself." (Which is from Leviticus 19:18) Yeshua repeats himself in Mark 10:17-19 and in Luke 18;18-19.
Then Sha'ul (Paul) an emissary of the Messiah Yeshua tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:5-11 states, "The purpose of this order is to promote love from a clean heart, from a good conscience and from sincere trust. Some by aiming amiss, have wandered off into fruitless discussion. They want to be teachers of Torah, but they understand neither their own words not the matters about which they make such emphatic pronouncements. We know that the Torah is good, provided one uses it in the way the Torah itself intends. We are aware that Torah is not for the person who is righteous, but for those who are heedless of Torah and rebellious, ungodly and sinful, wicked and wordly, for people who killed their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, slave-dealers, liars, perjurers, and anyone who acts contrary to the sound teaching that accords with the Good News of the glorious and blessed God.
I realize everyone has an opinion, however I don't want mine to be in opposition to Yeshua's teachings.
If we can believe a Messianic Jew (David Stern) in his translation of the word mitzwot (mitzvot ,mitzvah) actually means "commandments."
Post a Comment