This is the first of four questions between Yeshua and various authorities in the Temple, who unbeknownst to them were examining Yeshua as the spiritually unblemished Lamb of God for the ultimate Passover.
Tag: Pharisees/P’rushim
Modern society views the rite of circumcision to be backward at best and barbaric at worst. Yet, it actually is a cutting memorial of what God has cut away from the faithful — men and women — through the Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus).
At the beginning of a chapter with three parables about God’s seeking to bring back to the Kingdom of God those who are “lost,” Yeshua demonstrated how God makes the “unholy” “holy.”
We are in danger of making God’s name common and of no repute — i.e., “taking it in vain” — if we reject those who He is calling to Himself just because they don’t have the same understanding we have.
Most Christians interpret Rom. 7:6 to mean that the Torah has been cast aside and that we don’t have to live by the rules of the Torah anymore. Life does not come from the letter of the Law — and it never did.
We deserve death under God’s holy law, but Yeshuah the Messiah gives us life to live the law with a new “heart.” That’s the message of יום כיפרים Yom Kippurim, the Day of Atonement.
After Paul appeared before the Roman authorities in Jerusalem and found not guilty of violating Roman law, the Roman commander allows the Sanhedrin to convene and subject Paul to inquisition. Paul gets to the heart of the hatred against him, Peter, Stephen and Messiah Yeshua Himself. Without resurrection of the dead — only possible by God’s power — all our efforts at being pious are “pitiful.” The differences between Pharisees and Sadducees are reviewed.
Acts 15 recounts a “watershed” moment among believers in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) — should believers among the nations be allowed into the assembly of Israel and how. These events didn’t happen in a vacuum. Events from Acts 1–14 — Peter’s encounter with Cornelius and Paul’s first tour of Asia Minor — led to this momentous ruling by the elders. The passage from Amos 9 of restoration of a tabernacle for all believers is important. The Yerushalayim council ruled that we mustn’t “trouble” new believers as they learn Torah.