Author: Jeff

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Apostolic Writings Discussions

Mature believers and the Torah: Meaning of ‘Sarah’ and ‘Hagar’ in Galatians 4

Mature believers and the Torah: Meaning of 'Sarah' and 'Hagar' in Galatians 4. 'Jerusalem above is free' vs. 'Present Jerusalem ... is in slavery.'

Galatians 4, with its discussion of freedom from being “under [the] law” and not of the Jerusalem related to the flesh, is often cited by those who argue that observing the Torah is a backward step for believers in Messiah Yeshua. However, considering what Paul already wrote in chapters 1 through 3 and the parallel discussion in Romans 5–7, his point in this chapter is that both Jews and non-Jews are in the same situation without God’s method of salvation, which isn’t God’s Law. Yet God’s goal for humanity long-term is heart-led obedience to His Law.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions

Galatians 1:10–3:29: God’s declaring believers righteous determines membership in ‘His people’ rather than observance of His law

Galatians in general and chapters 2 and 3 in particular frequently are used to prove that observing the Law isn’t required for believers. However, the discussion of “justification” and “works of [the] law” in this passage reinforces that the real problem was excluding “justified” believers in God and His Messiah from membership in Israel, whose constitution is the Law of God.

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Appointments With God Tabernacles

Two weddings and a funeral — Wedding Feast of the Lamb

Sukkot is a harvest festival, and harvesting involves cutting plant material, separating it from its previous environment on a branch or stalk and starting its journey of transformation to something else. That something else could be decorations for a sukkah, which looks forward to God’s setting up a permanent home for the Kingdom of God on Earth. Today’s we’ll explore two weddings and a funeral found in Scripture.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions

Galatians 1:6-9 — What is the ‘different gospel’ in this letter? A look at Colossians 2-4, Romans 5-7

Who makes us holy? Paul calls his hearers to remember that it is Yeshua who makes us holy. Yeshua makes us holy when He creates in us a new heart. We discover the definition of sin and the remedy for sin in the same text. Paul is not giving the Galatians a new Torah, a new teaching. He is sending them back to the old ways that were there all along yet hidden and ignored. We explore the “new covenant” transformation from “old self” to “new self” in Colossians 2–4 and Romans 5-7.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions

Galatians 1:6-9 — What is the ‘different gospel’ addressed in this letter? A look at Ephesians 2-4

We continue to explore the “gospel” that Paul delivered to the Galatians by reading what is recorded of his messages to those congregations and his parallel explanations in letter to other congregations. Today, we explore Ephesians 2-4 and its discussion of the “new man” and “old man.”

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Apostolic Writings Discussions

Galatians 1:1-9, Acts 13:14-52 — the ‘gospel’ to Galatia

We are continuing our New Testament study on the New Covenant as revealed in the writings of the Apostle Paul. Before figuring out “different gospel” Paul is speaking against in the letter to the Galatians, we should look at what “gospel” he presented to the Galatian congregations, as recorded in Acts 13:14-52.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions

Galatians introduction, part 2 : 2Corinthians 3 on ‘new covenant,’ ‘old covenant,’ ministries of condemnation and righteousness

The kind of presuppositions we bring to the New Testament can color our view of the Bible as a whole. This is a discussion series on the more difficult passages of the New Testament that anti-nomians often use to try to take us away from Torah and lead us to “freedom.”

Today, we look at 2nd Corinthians 3, which includes an involved discussion on the “new covenant,” “old covenant” and a “veil” over it, “ministry of the spirit,” “ministry of condemnation/death” and “ministry of righteousness.” As this passage is commonly interpreted, Paul taught that Christ abolished the “old covenant,” doing away with the “ceremonial law,” which was anything connected to the tabernacle/temple ministry. That would include Shabbat (Sabbath) and the other “appointed times to the LORD” as well as “clean” and “unclean” foods. This discussion will explore how Paul explained himself in this letter and in other writings on the same topic.