Category: Apostolic Writings

These studies cover the writings by the closest shelakhim (apostles) of Yeshua haMashiakh (Jesus the Christ). Commonly called the “New Testament,” this standard canon includes the four Gospels, the letters and the Apocalypse (Revelation).

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Apostolic Writings Appointments With God Chanukah Discussions

Rededicating our ‘temples’ to a unified portrayal of God and His High Priest

The overarching theme of Chanukah is dedication and rededication of the physical temples of God. Yet the prophets’ warned that God can’t be contained in buildings (1 Kings. 8:27; 2 Chr. 6:18; cf. Jer. 7:1–7), even ones He ordered built (Ex. 25:40; Heb. 8:5). And Messiah Yeshua told a woman in Samaria that worshiping God “in spirit and in truth” doesn’t have to be in a building (John 4:20-24).

The apostles Paul and Peter taught that the physical bodies of believers, especially their minds, are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; 1 Pet. 2:4–8). As such, believers are interconnected with one another through the Spirit and Messiah in a mutually supportive network (Rom. 12:3–13; 1 Cor. 12:12–26).

Paul said we believers also are “ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20). The need for unified “good news” is so important that the Messiah prayed, “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:20-21). Earthly leaders of nations recall their ambassadors or consuls general if they are not “one” in message and attitude with the leader. Yet many believers in the Messiah haven’t learned such “earthly things” in their treatment of other believers, and thus are working against the message of “heavenly things” (John 3:12).

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Apostolic Writings Discussions

Studies from Matthew

Because of limited disk space on the server. most of the Hallel Fellowship Bible studies from Matthew in 2006 and 2007 have been archived offline. If you are interested in these studies, please let us know via the Contact page.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions

Galatians 6 — Law plus Spirit vs. Law plus flesh

The Christ-like life is compared to a race, but it’s not a cut-throat competition against our fellow believers. We are to help one another reach the ultimate goal. The “fruit of the Spirit” that are given to us by God to help us and others in this life are not a “grab bag” that we can pick and chose which fruits we want. We should want them all and use them all and we should share them with our fellow believers and the world at large. We are also called to understand that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He has one plan for the salvation of man, not two, three for four versions.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions

Conversion by circumcision vs. by the Spirit (Galatians 5)

Paul’s discussions of circumcision, mainly in Galatians, Philippians and Romans, have been interpreted as being condemnation against the Torah, because the Law calls for circumcision for newborns and those wanting to participate in key parts of worship of God.

However, it must be remembered that circumcision by the first century A.D. had become an “identity marker” separating Jews from non-Jews. Like observance of Shabbat, circumcision was listed among the “works of [the] law” in the Dead Sea Scrolls that defined those separate from the corrupt religious system around the time of the first century. The rite of circumcision could be behind the division between Jewish and “unconverted” non-Jews that Paul dressed down Peter and the Galatian congregations in chapters 2 and 3 of this letter.

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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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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.