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Apostolic Writings Discussions

Luke 18:9-27: Enough with trust in our righteousness and other stuff!

There are several questions posed in Luke 18 on faith, which as we’ve seen in verses 1–8 is better translated as trust. Do we trust in God’s justice or our own vengeance? Do we trust in God’s righteousness or in our own righteousness?

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

Mark of a gift: Messianic meaning of circumcision

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).

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Apostolic Writings Discussions

Can one be ‘under grace’ yet obey God’s Torah?

How do we explain to others about being “under grace” and still obey the Torah? Are we “under grace” or “under law”? Paul explains this in his letter to the Romans.

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Apostolic Writings Appointments With God Atonement Discussions

Yom Kippur and being ‘released from the law’

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.

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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.