romans 16

Read Romans 16 at Bible Gateway.

“Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil.” Rom 16:17-19

Since the beginning of chapter 14, Paul has been explaining what to do about the divisions and offenses that arose in the church because of disputes over doubtful things (Rom 14:1). Disputes over doubtful things are contrary to the doctrine which we were taught in Christ.

The prayer of Jesus is, that His disciples may be one as He and the Father are one (Joh 17:11). The word one is the cardinal number. In Hebrew it is Strong's H259, dja, echad, one, from the primitive root meaning “to unite.” So, “Hear O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one (echad);” (Deu 6:4).

The Hebrew letters which convey echad mean, from the ancient pictographs, “to strongly fence the door.” In other words, if two are together, and a dispute breaks out, neither one of them departs from the other, because the exit door is strongly fenced. That is what it means in Hebrew to be united, to be one. If we are one, as Yeshua and His Father are one, then there is no departing from each other.

Since there is no departing, a way needs to be found to dwell together in unity (echad, Psa 133:1), or else life will not be either good or pleasant! We do this by focusing on that which unites us and not on that which divides us. We do this by focusing on the log in our own eye and not the speck in our brother's eye (Mat 7:3-5). We do this by serving the needs of our brother above the needs of ourselves.

Those who cause divisions and offenses focus on that which divides; they focus on the specks in others' eyes; and they focus on serving their needs and not the needs of others.

A division is in Greek, Strong's G1370, dichostasia, and it is from the same root that our English word “dichotomy” comes from. The root “di” indicates division in many languages other than Greek. The Greek word is from two roots which mean, “asunder, apart,” and “standing;” so a division is that which causes “a standing apart," “a standing asunder.”

Sometimes we have to come out from among them and be ye separate (2 Cor 6:17), or else send them out from us, as we saw yesterday, for unrepentant violations of clear Scripture (1 Cor 5:1-2). But Paul is talking about disputes or divisions -- tearings asunder -- over doubtful things (Rom 14:1).

An offense is in Greek, Strong's G4625, skandalon, and it is from the same root that our English word “scandal” comes from. It literally means the trigger- stick of a trap, like the thing on a mousetrap that the cheese is put by, that causes the trap to snap shut if it is moved. Thus it is any impediment placed in the way of another that causes them to stumble in their walk. Offenses, which can be caused by disputes over doubtful things, are stumbling blocks put in the way of others, that trips them up so that they fall and have trouble walking with God!

Paul says, first mark such people, look at them, observe them with scrutiny, paying heed to them and contemplating them with attention. Then, avoid such people, for they are not serving the Lord Jesus Christ but themselves. When Paul says, be wise in what is good, one thing to be wise in, is that it is good to avoid those who put stumbling blocks in the paths of others! The world's definition of good is to tolerate everything; but that is not the Word's definition of good!

romans 15

Read Romans 15 at Bible Gateway.

“We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” Rom 15:1

“Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.” Rom 15:7

Now in this chapter Paul is concluding his argument that he began in chapter 14:

“Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.” Rom 14:1-3

He began his discourse on receiving one another, both the strong and the weak, in these verses, and spent chapter 14 explaining his reasoning, then in chapter 15, he is concluding his discourse.

Back to chapter 14: The one who believes he may eat all things, we can infer is the strong, because the weak eats only vegetables. We saw that Paul defines “all things” for us later in the chapter (remember he is answering a specific question the Romans asked him, and we do not know what the question was, but Paul is assuming that they do, therefore he does not restate the question or explain what his topic is for our benefit. We have to do some detective work to not misunderstand him).

All things means eating vegetables AND meat (Rom 14:21; it is the eating of meat that is causing the weak to stumble). One side of the dispute, the strong side of the dispute, believes they can eat vegetables AND meat (all things), while the other side of the dispute, the weak side of the dispute, believes they can eat vegetables only. The debate was whether eating meat sacrificed to idols constituted idolatry. All the butcher shops in the Empire obtained its meat from animals sacrificed in the temples. The debate was NOT whether pork was now clean for a person to eat. Clean and unclean meat was clearly defined already in Scripture and was not a doubtful thing (Rom 14:1). It was whether clean meat, say lamb, was made unclean and thus unfit to eat because it had been purchased in a butcher shop, i.e. sacrificed in a pagan temple.

(More on Romans 14 and the clean and unclean food question here.)

Now we saw yesterday that while most of chapter 14 deals with the meat sacrificed to idols issue, whether that made clean meat unclean, Paul also discussed esteeming days. We saw that one observes “the day,” (we are not told which day was in question), it could have been, for example, the day of Easter -- since on that day Jesus rose from the dead, in order to honor the Lord. And another does not observe “the day,” it could have been, for example, the day of Easter --since it is the festival which honors the pagan fertility goddess -- in order to honor the Lord, and to not have anything to do with idolatry in any way, shape, or form.

Both of these questions - which are doubtful things, not clearly explained in Scripture already - have to do with what a believer does in his pagan culture which constitutes idolatry. Paul lumped them together because it was the same kind of question, dealing with the same spiritual principle.

Idolatry comes from the heart. The believer who knows - who has faith - that his heart is pure before God and that he gives no place in it in devotion to idols, is strong. He can eat vegetables AND meat, he can visit his mother's house on “the day” in order to honor her even though she has the place decked out in eggs and bunnies. The believer who is not fully convinced in his own mind, is weak. He is not sure that eating a lamb chop which has been sacrificed to an idol does not honor that idol, so he eats vegetables only. He is not fully convinced that visiting his mother on “the day” when her house is decked out in eggs and bunnies, is not honoring that idol, so he stays home and observes not “the day” in order to honor the Lord.

Before we misunderstand: the definition of strong is not one who does anything, and the definition of weak is not one who refrains from doing some things. The strong is the one who is fully convinced in his own mind, and the weak is the one who has doubts. I believe the strong have an extra responsibility, not only to not cause others to stumble, but also to be certain that their convictions are firmly rooted in the truth, in Scripture. It is not a crime to be weak. It is not a crime to be unsure because you are still learning, and to know there are some things you don't know yet. It is not a crime to err on the side of caution. Remember that Daniel ate only vegetables so as not to transgress the dietary commands of Torah, and he is a mighty man of faith (Dan 1, Heb 11:33).

Paul is saying, Hey, receive one another even if your convictions over doubtful things are different. Accept each other, don't break fellowship or separate from each other and say that group over there (consisting of strong believers) is steeped in idolatry and sin, so they can't be a part of us; or that group over there (consisting of weak believers) doesn't have faith and they rely too much on works, so they can't be a part of us.

Christ is our example. He received us while we were still sinners and as ignorant of His Word and His ways as the day is long. With open arms! The Greek word “receive” is Strong's G4355, proslambano, to take to one's self, as one's companion, into one's home, to grant one access to one's heart, to take into friendship and intercourse! Wow! Let's extend that reception to each other, Paul is saying, not making divisions and exclusions over doubtful things!

Now, let's remember this admonition applies to differing personal convictions in issues which are doubtful things. Those things which are clear in Scripture are not doubtful, and Paul chastised the Corinthians, for example, for retaining in fellowship a believer who was having relations with his father's wife, a clear violation of Scripture (1 Cor 5:1-2).

romans 14

Read Romans 14 at Bible Gateway.

I have already addressed clean and unclean food, the assumed dispute in Rom 14:1-4.

“One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.” Rom 14:5-6

The Greek word translated “above” in verse 5 is para, a common preposition which is not translated “above” in the New Testament except for here. As an example, remember that the Greek for the Holy Spirit is Parakletos, the Helper? Literally, The one who comes beside (para). The prep can mean different nuances of from, beside, by, with, at, or of depending on the grammar of the noun which is its object. The normal Greek preposition which denotes a position above, is huper, which is not in this sentence.

Para can sometimes mean more or less than. For example,

“Collect no more than [para of the accusative] what is appointed for you.” Luk 3:13

“From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus (para of the accusative) one.” 2 Cor 11:24

Out of the 200 times this preposition occurs in the Greek New Testament, very few times does the grammar demand “more than” or “less than.” Four times, by my count? Luk 3:13, 13:2, Rom 14:5, and 2 Cor 11:24.

To further complicate things, “one” is not in the Greek, nor is “alike.” So reading the Greek just as it is, it reads:

“One person esteems a day (more or less than, trans. “above”) another; another esteems every day.” To the non- Jews who were translating the Bible centuries after its events, esteeming every day made no sense, but they were familiar with esteeming one day ABOVE another - an obvious reference to the Sabbath. They added the “alike” in for clarity, because it made more sense to them with it in. So back to whether one day is above another or not in a minute. What does esteeming every day, taking out the “alike,” mean?

We know now, what maybe the original translators from the 1600s didn't know then: that in the pagan culture in which Paul lived, among the Gentiles which were Paul's mission field, every day was dedicated to a different god. Sunday was the first day of the week and thus dedicated to the sun god as the most important god in the pantheon. This is why where I live, on Sunday evenings, the pagans gather at the beach to venerate the sun as it sinks into the Gulf of Mexico. Still today! So on Sunday, the devout pagans sacrificed to the sun god. Monday was dedicated to the moon god, (moon day), so on Mondays the pagans sacrificed to the moon god. Tuesday was dedicated to the war god (Ares in Greek, Tiw in Saxon, so Tiw's day) and so on through out the week.

This might be what Paul means when he says others esteem every day. It does not necessarily mean that every day is esteemed alike. That changes the meaning of the original, to make it seem as if no days were esteemed at all, and that was not happening in his place in his time. That happens in our culture in our time, but not in his. We have to remember the first rule of Bible interpretation: CONTEXT! Including the context of the culture and time in which it was written!

So now back to one day being esteemed above another. Because para is never translated “above,” Paul's intent might have been, One person esteems a day more than another, or, One person esteems a day less than another. Or even, One person esteems a day alongside another, or nigh unto another, or even, against another - all accepted translations of the preposition para in this grammatical construction.

Which way to translate it? It is a guess, because in this letter Paul is answering a question posed to him by the church at Rome, and we do not know what the question was. We do know it had to do with differing personal interpretation in gray areas, which were doubtful things (vs. 1) - something the Old Testament (the only Scriptures they had) did not address clearly. It very well could have had to do with pagan Gentile customs associated with esteeming days mentioned above that might have been retained culturally among those coming to faith in Christ. The context of the chapter is cultural idolatry, so that it had something to do with pagan practice or custom is an educated guess.

But it is a guess, that is the thing. What if the debate was similar to one that is becoming more and more common in the church in our days: whether if we esteem EASTER, then we have honored Ishtar the fertility goddess and a great enemy of YHVH? What if that is the ONE DAY that the Romans were asking Paul about? Or what if some in the church did not celebrate the resurrection of Yeshua on Ishtar's day because they were loathe to give any honor to the goddess at all? These are true gray areas. That is why Paul seems to be saying, in verse 4, Hey, how can you judge for another person whether by doing this (eating, or esteeming days, or whatever) he is really practicing idolatry in his heart or not? Only God knows!

We assume, because we have been raised with an anti- Torah bias, that the text MUST be talking about Sabbath, but can you see how that is a pure assumption? But I think that to say that the verse MUST mean, that if we are honoring the Sabbath as God commands numerous times and places throughout Scripture (not a gray area), that those who do so are weak in the faith, is an interpretation coming from an anti- Torah bias that has been imposed on the text, but which the text does not require.

The main point is in verse 12:

“So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.”

Each one of us needs to be fully convinced in his own mind (vs. 5)! And if someone's practice is different from yours, in a gray area, in a doubtful thing, then let us not judge one another anymore. My personal opinion is that anything which God has previously addressed specifically in the Old Testament or through the mouth of Jesus, is NOT a gray area. That is me. :) It pays for us to know just what God has said! Yeah, but Christine, even in Habakkuk? Who reads that? YES, even Habakkuk! The Word of God has been preserved as it is for a REASON! We ought not to be ignorant of it!

romans 13

Read Romans 13 at Bible Gateway.

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.” Rom 13:1-4

“Governing authorities” is in Greek, exousia, Strong's G1849, from the Hebrew Strong's H4475, dominion. We go on to read that there is no dominion except from God, and every dominion that exists is appointed by God. This distinction is key to understand this verse. If we go back to the beginning (of Scripture, the Torah is the foundation and dictionary of the whole Bible) and read what dominion was appointed by God, we find first of all, that all dominion is in God, for He is Creator of all. Because He is Creator, He is also Ruler. This is why He and only He can establish or appoint dominion.

In Gen 1:16, God gives dominion to the sun and moon, to rule over the day and night. They do this by emitting light to see by! Think about that for a moment, as we try to understand the nature of the dominion which is from God.

Then He gives dominion to Adam and Eve (man and woman), over every animal on the earth, and the earth itself (Gen 1:26). This dominion carries with it the charge to subdue it (them), and to tend and keep it (them). Gen 1:26 and 2:15.

The next dominion is found in Gen 3:16, “To the woman He said, “... your husband ... shall rule over you.”

Then as we get deeper into Torah, God establishes the dominion of fathers and mothers over children (Deu 5:16), judges over the community (Deu 16:18), priests over the congregation of the believers (Deu 17:8-10), prophets over His people (Deu 18:15-22), and lastly kings over the nation (Deu 17:14-15). These are the different dominions which have been established by God. Would it surprise you to learn that there are seven different types?

1. sun and moon over day and night, i.e., the celestial bodies are the “gears” by which the universe marks time;
2. mankind (male and female; human beings) over the earth and its creatures;
3. man (male) over his household, his wife as husband and children as father;
4. judges over the community, to uphold God's Law;
5. priests over the congregation;
6. prophets over the congregation; - still learning the distinction between priest and prophet, but there is a distinction;
7. kings over the nation.

These are the governing authorities. Only because we have been infused with the world's way of thinking, from which we need to have our minds renewed so that we may prove what is the good and perfect will of God, do we think that dominion only applies to political authorities. Political authority is one of the authorities established by God, but not the only one. Each of the different kinds hold their authority for a reason, having to do with imparting a blessing to those under their authority. In God's way of doing things, authority is given so that the strength of that authority can be a help to the weak under their care.

Each of the different kinds of authorities not only have responsibilities toward those under them, but also boundaries or limitations that they must not transgress. Fathers are to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (responsibility), and are not to provoke them to wrath (boundary, Eph 6:4). No delegated authority is absolute. When authorities begin transgressing their boundaries, that is when God starts taking them down.

Now this does not mean that every different style of political government is godly or of God. Think about this for a moment. The Nazis had the political authority over most of Europe, and they used that authority to kidnap, imprison, and murder Jews. There were people in the countries they exercised control over who resisted them. And God helped them supernaturally in many cases, in their resistance. If every political authority is from God, then God was working against Himself by helping people save Jews from the gas chamber! Read The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom!

In this passage in Romans, Paul explains that political authorities hold their authority in order to bear the sword to punish evildoers, and to praise those who do good (vs. 3-4). Good and evil as God has defined it in Scripture. So when a political authority transgresses their boundaries, and breaks God's decrees instead of enforces them, the people have the right to re-establish godly authority over themselves again. In fact in Torah, when a prophet begins to speak false prophecies which are not from God, in order to corrupt the people from worshiping God, He commands the people to remove that prophet from his office (by death, Deu 18:20).

The founding fathers, being very Scripturally literate, saw these principles running through Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, and much of the literature of the founding era in America is devoted to discussing the righteousness (or not) of obeying, resisting, and removing the British from authority over the colonies, because of their transgressions of the boundaries established for a political authority by God.

Now the Roman authority under which Jesus and Paul lived was corrupt. Jesus did not spend His life trying to change that authority. I cannot find one place in the Gospels where He preached revolution against Rome. This is because the seed that He was planting would grow and produce its own fruit. The small stone of Daniel, which strikes the statue of the kingdoms of this world in the feet of clay, will grow to a great mountain, and will topple the statue (Dan 2:31-35). We can spend our lives, living under the kingship of Messiah in our lives, so that His kingdom will come beginning in our households (Mat 6:9-10). And from there His kingdom will spread, like leaven leavening the whole lump. But we have to start with our own lives, with removing the log from our own eye and getting our own life subject to the kingship of Yeshua Messiah.

I am studying the ancient Hebrew right now on dominion and authority. What I am learning is blowing my mind! Maybe when I have it complete I will send that topical study if enough people want it. God is so awesome and amazing!

romans 12, the gifts of the Spirit

Read Romans 12 at Bible Gateway.

First a little background. God uses several literary devices in Torah to get His point across. He wants to be understood, but He does not throw His pearls before swine (Mat 7:6). His gold and silver requires a bit deeper digging, but treasure can be unearthed for those willing to look for it (Pro 2:1-6)! Some of these are:

The plain meaning of the text. God's Word literally means what it literally says. Duh, but often overlooked.

Patterns and repetition. God establishes patterns in the narrative. Then He often breaks the pattern to draw attention to the break. For an important reason!

Paragraph divisions. The Spirit gave Moses paragraph breaks in the original ancient Hebrew. There are two kinds - a weak division and a strong division. A weak division indicates another facet of the same theme. A strong division indicates a new theme. These paragraph divisions have been preserved through generations by the Hebrew scribes who faithfully copied every letter of Torah. They were discarded by the English translators. But the thing is, often God includes things in one of His paragraphs for a reason - He is trying to make a point! He is trying to teach us something! Where the paragraph divisions AREN'T are often just as telling as where they are!

Comparison and contrast. Examples are: Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Israel and Canaan. The Word and the Spirit. Grace and Law. Faith and Works. The contrast between two things throws a spotlight on each, which is revealing.

Original Hebrew. The Torah was penned in ancient Hebrew, God's beautiful language. Investigation into the Hebrew root words in a passage reveals so much that out of necessity translation misses! For example, the Hebrew word for “husband” as in, “For your Maker is your husband,” Isa 54:5, is from the root, lub, bet ayin lamed = ba'al. Of course this word has a negative connotation because the Canaanites worshiped an idol they called Baal. But long before there were Canaanites, there were God's Words in Hebrew and husbands. :) The bet is the picture of the house or family. The ayin is the picture of the eye. The lamed is the picture of the shepherd's staff. The husband, then, is the one who watches over or shades his house(hold) like a shepherd watches over or shades his flock. As God designed things from the beginning. Isn't that beautiful?

Chiastic structures. The Torah is FULL of these things. A chiastic structure is a narrative that has a central point that is THE key point of the passage, and the Spirit points to that point by having the narrative around it zero in on it like an arrow. It happens this way. Let's say there are four elements or ideas in a passage, then the central point, then the same four ideas or elements are repeated after the central point, but in reverse order. There can be any number of elements or ideas. But that they repeat in reverse order around a central point is the key characteristic. I have found these structures in Torah that were one paragraph long, then I have found them that were five, ten, or twenty chapters long, with mini chiastic structures within them. The thing that is amazing, once you begin seeing them, is that the central point often isn't what you might expect it to be! But God has a reason for making His central point the way that it is. Often He is revealing something beautiful and amazing about His character or about Messiah! Sometimes He reveals prophetic pictures! At any rate, He is trying to help us understand Him!

And there are other literary devices that I have not learned yet - I am still a baby in these things!

I bring this up, because as I was studying Romans 12 yesterday, lo and behold, there is a chiastic structure embedded in that chapter! Well, Paul was a Hebrew scholar and a Torah scholar, and these are the kinds of things they studied, and maybe it came out of him without thinking. Or maybe the Spirit was guiding him as He did Moses!

Here is what I found:

1A Rom 12:1-2 be a living sacrifice, not conformed to the world but to God's will;
1B Rom 12:3-5 walk in humility;
CENTRAL AXIS: Rom 12:6-15 the gifts;
2B Rom 12:16 walk in humility;
2A Rom 12:17-21 the world's way contrasted with God's way (will).

Now the central axis is interesting. It doesn't seem at first as if Rom 12:6-8 goes with Rom 12:9-15, but they do go together:

Gifts:
1) Prophecy, 12:6; exhortation for that gift: 12:9 “Let love be without hypocrisy ...”
2) Ministry, 12:7, exhortation for that gift: 12:10 “Be kindly affectionate toward one another ...”
3) Teaching, 12:7, exhortation for teachers: 12:11 “Not lagging in diligence ...”
4) Exhortation, 12:8, exhortation for exhorters: 12:12 “Rejoicing in hope ...”
5) Giving, 12:8, exhortation for givers: 12:13 “Distributing to the needs of the saints ...”
6) Leading, 12:8, exhortation for leaders: 12:14 “Bless those who persecute you ...”
7) Mercy, 12:8, exhortation for that gift: 12:15 “Rejoice with those who rejoice ...”

The instruction about serving in your gift (which is the topic of the chapter, giving our lives in service to God as an acceptable sacrifice), is wrapped around, first, an instruction to not be haughty or think of ourselves more highly than we ought. We can think, because we have this gift, whatever it is, that we are so important. Well, we are important to the Body and to God's plan. But because of Him, not because of us! So never take the cover of humility off of our service in the gifts! Then the package of the gifts, wrapped in humility, is again wrapped in the wrapping of knowing what the will of the Lord is. And not only knowing it with our minds, but living according to it!

So, so many think that because they operate in a certain gift by the Spirit, that if they fudge in their personal holiness here or there, what does it matter? God is using them, isn't He? But the Spirit is here teaching us, that once we have wrapped our service in the gifts in humility, then it needs to be wrapped again in knowing and living the will of God, which can never be discarded!

In so many ways, throughout God's Word, the Lord shows us that His Word and His Spirit are in harmony with each other, and that both are necessary! That they compliment each other and one cannot be properly effective without the other!

I just LOVE God's Word! It is so beautiful in every aspect!

romans 12

Read Romans 12 at Bible Gateway.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Rom 12:1-2

The chapter opens with a “therefore.” My pastor in Colorado always used to tell us, when you come across a “therefore,” you have to find out what it is there for, LOL. The chapter and verse divisions were not originally in Paul's letter, and while they help us read a portion of Scripture every day in a neat little package, sometimes the chapter divisions interrupt the flow of a thought, so we have to read our single chapters with what has gone before in mind - sometimes with the entire book in mind.

At the end of chapter 11, Paul had just finished extolling the greatness of God's mercy, wisdom, and judgment! God had consigned all men, Jew and Greek, under disobedience, so that He might have mercy on all. O how great is His mercy! How deep the riches of His wisdom and knowledge! How His judgments and His ways are past finding out! For all things are of Him, and through Him, and to Him, and to Him will be glory forever and ever! (Rom 11:32-36).

THEREFORE, because the God we serve is SO great, SO high, SO wonderful, SO deep, SO rich in mercy, SO mighty, SO past finding out, we ought to think about and do the things in Rom 12.

Because God is merciful and mighty, THEN let us present ourselves a living sacrifice of service, which is holy and acceptable to God. Why is our service “reasonable?” This word in Greek (Strong's G3050) means, “rational,” “logical,” “pertaining to reason.” In other words, it is only rational and logical that we give our lives in service to such an awesome God. Not becoming a living sacrifice to such a great and merciful God as YHVH, is illogical.

The language of verse 1 is taken from the Hebrew recorded in Lev 1, the law concerning the whole burnt offering (Strong's H5930, olah in Hebrew). The sacrifice is consumed entire on the altar, in fire. This offering can only be presented to God by one who is already cleansed from sin, righteous, and in right standing with God. The sinner cannot bring the whole burnt offering; he can only bring the sin offering. Remember the topic of this letter to the Romans - what makes us righteous before God? Now that Paul has established the fact of our righteousness, he is going on to describe, as a worshiper of YHVH Most High, what we now go on to do. What we now go on to do, is to lay ourselves down upon God's altar, and allow His fire (Mat 3:11) to consume us entire, and we spend all that we are - spirit, soul, and body; and all that we have - time, talents, and possessions - in service to our great God. WOW!

How do we remain in holiness, acceptable to God? Do not conform ourselves to this world! But transform ourselves (by conforming to His kingdom instead is implied) - how? By renewing our minds. God by His Spirit makes our hearts new. When our hearts are made new, we become this creature kind of pulled between two worlds, as Paul describes in Rom 7. Our hearts want to serve God, our flesh wants to serve sin. Standing between the two, is our minds. Our unrenewed minds. Which way our minds go, will determine who wins out in our daily lives - our new hearts, or our old flesh. If we leave our minds unrenewed, our flesh will win out. But if we renew our minds, our hearts will win out.

That is a whole study in itself, how we renew our minds. Let me just say, the Word of God is key! The Word of God is not just ink on paper, it is words full of power and life, so much so that those words created the universe (Gen 1) and continue to uphold the universe even today (Heb 1:3). The Word of God has to be continually going into our minds, by our ears, by our eyes, and by our thoughts. If it is, it can change the way we think, which can then change the way we feel and act. The Word washes our minds (Eph 5:23). It washes the world out of our minds, and allows the kingdom of heaven to flourish there instead!

romans 11

Read Romans 11 at Bible Gateway.

“For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.” Rom 11:16-18

Today let's talk about the two olive trees of Scripture. Paul refers to them here. One is wild, who are the Gentiles, and one is cultivated, who are the Jews. This is not the first place in Scripture that the two olive trees are mentioned! Paul did not get this out of thin air!

“Now the angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. And he said to me, “What do you see?” So I said, “I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left.” ... Then I answered and said to him, “What are these two olive trees—at the right of the lampstand and at its left?” ... So he said, “These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.” Zec 4

The literal Hebrew for “two anointed ones,” is “two sons of new oil.” Whoa! This is a vision of two olive trees, from which come the golden oil, which gives light to the menorah! The oil and the light are metaphors for the Spirit and Word of God (see for example, 1 Sam 16:13, and Psa 119:105).

“I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.” Rev 11:1-6

Just from these three passages, in Zec 4, Rom 11, and Rev 11, we can learn a lot about the two olive trees. We know one is wild and one is cultivated. We know one represents the Gentiles and one represents the Jews. We know they both stand before the God of the whole earth. We know they are both anointed. Rev shows us that the olive trees, who are the witnesses, shut up the sky so that there is no rain, and strike the earth with plagues. Shutting up the sky is the miracle Elijah is known for (1 Kin 17 & 18). Striking the earth with plagues is the miracle Moses is known for (Exo 7 through 12).

Wild olive tree = Gentiles (i.e., Christians) = Elijah (and I will go further and say that Elijah also represents the Spirit of God);

Cultivated olive tree = Jews = Moses (and I will go further and say that Moses also represents the Law of God).

Notice that when Jesus was transfigured, when He appeared in His glory prophetically, Moses appeared on one side of Him, and Elijah on the other (Mat 17:1-3). There they are again, Moses and Elijah, the two witnesses, the two olive trees, the Law and the Spirit who are not opposed to each other, Jews and Gentiles together!

There is much in the Torah and prophetic Scriptures about these two, who are also known as the two houses of Israel, Judah (Moses) and Ephraim (Elijah). If you want to learn more, get a book by Batya Wooten called Redeemed Israel, and the prophecies concerning God's chosen people - who are us also! - will be revealed to you! These things have been shut up until the latter days, because they concern the latter days. They concern, as Paul says in Rom 11, the fullness of the Gentiles coming to salvation, the Jews coming to salvation, and that which the salvation of the Jews triggers - LIFE FROM THE DEAD! The actual dead rising up to life; resurrection at the last trump and the return of Jesus Christ!

romans 10

Read Romans 10 at Bible Gateway.

“For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.”” Rom 10:3-5

Paul is still on his same topic - where does righteousness come from? They - Israel - were ignorant of God's righteousness, which is the righteousness which is by faith. They were preached this righteousness! (Heb 4:2). How did they have the gospel preached to them? The blood of the Passover lamb was applied to their doorposts by faith, before they ever heard one word of the Law! But when they received the Law, then they misunderstood its purpose. It was only after they were delivered from slavery, from the kingdom of Egypt, or darkness, only after they were free as an act of grace, that God gave them His commandments on Mt. Sinai. Now that they were in His house, and free from the house of Pharaoh, their Papa was giving them the rules of His house, just as any good papa does his children. :) But following the rules of the house is not what makes one a child of the house. :)

Someone seeks to establish his own righteousness when they attempt to be made righteous by works of obedience to the Law. When righteousness comes from obedience, then there has not been submission to God's righteousness, which is of faith.

Now Paul has thoroughly established that righteousness cannot come from works of obedience to the Law, it must come from faith. When he says that Messiah is the end of the Law for righteousness for everyone who believes, then what is he saying? Messiah is the extremity of the Law, the end point, the goal, the completion of the righteous requirement of the Law (telos, Strong's G5056 from Hebrew H7093). This is why Paul says Messiah is the end of the Law for righteousness - in order to make one in right standing before God. Now that Messiah has come, the Law no longer makes one righteous (which was its misunderstood purpose; that was never its purpose as Moses taught it).

Paul is not saying that the every purpose of the Law has ended. Just the one in which we obey the Law for righteousness. He is not saying that the Law no longer has any benefit at all. He is not saying that the Law no longer explains what righteous behavior looks like, nor is he saying that now that we are reckoned righteous by faith, we can live unrighteously, in opposition to the Law.

Much of the New Testament is devoted to explaining this distinction. Paul says, in many other places, look, someone who is truly born of the Spirit is not going to live a life characterized by unrighteousness (1 Cor 6:9-11). James says that our (righteous) deeds give outward evidence of the inward faith (that made us righteous before God in the first place, Jam 2:14-26). John says that the one who practices lawlessness, who says he knows Jesus, is lying (1 Joh 2:3-8). Jesus said that a good tree cannot produce bad fruit (Luk 6:43-45).

We saw before that the seed, which is Messiah, which is the Word, which is received by faith in the heart, produces its own fruit. The seed of Messiah cannot produce the fruit of lawlessness, unrighteousness, and sinfulness. We can be deceived in our minds, and not understand what righteous fruit looks like. That is the benefit of the Word - the Word is the plumb line, which tells us whether our thoughts, our actions, our lives are straight or not. All of us need our minds renewed, without which we will not be able to tell what the will of God is (Rom 12:2). None of us is born with perfect knowledge of God's definition of righteous behavior. Because we live in a fallen world, in a body of flesh, with minds which are not born again, it would be good for us to be continually washing our minds with the water of the Word (Eph 5:25-27). We need to keep His Word before our eyes and guard it in our hearts, so that the Spirit by it can be constantly informing us of how to fine tune our responses, our words, and our actions. :)

But Paul is not suggesting that because, by the Spirit, we seek to conform ourselves to the Word, and not to the world, that it means we are trying to get saved by living rightly in accordance with the Law. No. We have been saved, and are now working out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phi 2:12). We are learning how saved people live, and making adjustments all along the way. If we make a mistake, do not listen to the devil beat us up over it! Making a mistake cannot unsave us any more than not making a mistake can save us! We fell down; all children learning to walk do! (We are the children of God, not the adults of God). Get up, brush off, and try again! Our transgressions of Torah have been nailed to the cross (Col 2:14)!

romans 9

Read Romans 9 at Bible Gateway.

“But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.” Rom 9:6-8

I have been learning a lot lately about the principle of the seed, the foundational principle of Scripture! And this is the principle that Paul is talking about here in Rom 9. So first, some background:

The principle of the seed begins in Gen 1 and continues throughout the Scriptures. There are 3 seeds spoken of in just the first three chapters of Genesis!

The first seed is the agricultural seed:

“Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” Gen 1:11-12

The principle is, God created the seed first, of grass and trees and the different kinds of plants, and planted, or hid it, in the ground. The ground then brought forth the grass and trees and fruit containing seed within itself, so that more grass and trees and fruits will be forever forthcoming.

The second seed is the biological seed:

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”” Gen 1:27-28

The biological seed by which the fruitfulness and the multiplication takes place isn't mentioned, but we know that we also contain seed within ourselves, just as the plants do. And the principle is the same: when a man hides his seed within his wife, his wife brings forth fruit after the kind, or in the image of, her husband. The fruit of the man also contains seed within himself or herself, so that more men and women will be forever forthcoming.

“Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD.”” Gen 4:1

“And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.” Gen 5:3

“Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh.” Gen 5:6

The third seed is the spiritual seed:

“And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” Gen 3:15

This seed, who is her seed, we know, is Messiah! He is the Promised Seed! Note that the serpent also has spiritual seed. Hmmmm ...

Now, going back to Paul, he said that not all are children because they are the seed of Abraham, but in Isaac your seed shall be called.

Obviously he is talking about seed here. Abraham had two sons, or two fruits of his body, at first. The firstborn was Ishmael, and he was of the seed of Abraham's flesh - i.e., he was of the biological seed (type 2) mentioned above. The second born was Isaac, and he was of the seed of the promise, the seed of faith - i.e., he was of the spiritual seed (type 3) mentioned above.

Paul explains this same concept in Galatians:

“Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” Gal 3:7

“Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.” Gal 3:16

“For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic.” Gal 4:22-24

Paul is saying, that those who are children (of Abraham, who are children of God) are those who are born of faith, of the promise, of the Spirit; and not of the flesh.

John says the same:

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Joh 1:12-13.

So how does the spiritual Seed work? The same way the agricultural seed and the biological seed works! The natural comes first, then the spiritual (1 Cor 15:46) i.e., the natural is a visual aid, which helps us see how the spiritual works. The natural is in fact the shadow cast by the spiritual (Heb 8:5).

When the Seed, who is Messiah, is hidden within the heart, then the heart brings forth the fruit of the Messiah, which Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). It cannot be any other way, because it is a law that like kind must produce like kind (Luk 6:43-44). The fruit of the Spirit, then, contains the Seed of Messiah within it (Him), so that it can be sown among other hearts, and perhaps implanted in some. It is because the Messiah, who is the Seed, is also the Word of God, that when the sower goes out to sow the seed, it means he is sowing the Word (Mar 4:13-20).

The Father and the Son and the Spirit and the Word and the Seed are all One! They all agree with each other!

Okay, back to Paul. Now there is a very clear law of the firstborn in Torah. It is the firstborn son who is to receive the blessing and birthright and inheritance from the father. Have you ever wondered why it was not Adam's firstborn son - Cain - who contained the seed from which the Messiah would come, but his second born son - Abel? Abel was replaced by Seth, for Cain killed him. Cain was the son of the flesh, the biological seed, but Abel and Seth were the sons of the spiritual Seed. Abraham's firstborn son was the son of the flesh - Ishmael - but God called Isaac Abraham's only son! (Gen 22:2). Isaac was the firstborn son of the spiritual Seed.

Isaac's firstborn was Esau, but the son of the spiritual Seed was Jacob. Jacob's firstborn was Reuben, but the son of the spiritual Seed was Judah (or Joseph, or perhaps I should say AND Joseph. Judah and Joseph - the two houses of Israel - appear together throughout Torah and throughout the Prophets for a reason).

God considers His children those who are born of the spiritual Seed - Messiah. These are those who are not born of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of the will of God (the will of God is also the Word of God - the Word is the Seed, remember). So God does not break His own Torah. But the second born of the biological seed received the inheritance, because they were the firstborn of the spiritual Seed. This is why God could call Isaac Abraham's only son.

And this is why they are not all [spiritual] children who are of the [biological] seed of Abraham, because God's children are born from His Seed, the spiritual Seed, who is Messiah.

I do NOT believe the Scriptures teach replacement theology; i.e. that believers in Messiah have replaced the Jews in God's plan. The fact is, many Jews who have not yet seen that Yeshua is Messiah have circumcised hearts toward God! But not all who were born Jewish do. What will happen to the biological seed of Abraham? Stay tuned, Paul is going to explain that!

Let me just recommend Brad Scott's book, The Principle of the Seed, if you liked this. He is a gifted Hebrew teacher who goes into the roots of everything to explain these principles: www.wildbranch.org/.

romans 8

Read Romans 8 at Bible Gateway.

Okay, yesterday in Rom 7 Paul introduced a new law. Up until now we have been assuming that when he speaks of the law, he is speaking of the Law of God, which is Torah. Yesterday he introduced the law of sin. The inward man desires to obey the Law of God, but the flesh desires to obey the law of sin (Rom 7:23). What is the law of sin?

"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Rom 8:1-4

Paul is still on his same topic - where does our righteousness come from? Notice in verse 4 he is still talking about the righteous requirement of the law! The law of sin and death (vs. 2), which is the law of sin, is the law that says, "He who sins, dies." Another way to put the law of sin and death is, The wages of sin is death. This is the law we obey with our flesh.

When we WALK according to the flesh, we are living in such a way that we are allowing the flesh to have DOMINION over us. We are obeying the flesh. When the flesh has dominion over us, then we are UNDER the law of sin and death, because if the flesh seeks to obey God at all, it is by the flesh, which results in self- righteousness, which results in sin and death.

But, when we WALK according to the Spirit, we are living in such a way that we are allowing the Spirit to have DOMINION over us. We learned from the Scriptures, that when the Spirit has dominion over us, we will walk in the Lord's statutes, and we will keep His judgments and do them (Eze 36:25-27). The Lord's statutes and judgments are explained in Torah. But instead of walking in His statutes from the flesh, we are walking in His statutes from the Spirit. It is the Spirit that is causing us to walk in them.

When we walk in obedience to the Spirit, when we are submitted to Him and not to the flesh, then there is no condemnation for us. I heard a story recently of some Gentile believers in Jesus who visited a Messianic (Jewish believers in Jesus) congregation for the first time, and there was a pot luck following the service. The Gentiles brought hot dogs - pork - not knowing that Jews don't eat pork because it is forbidden in Torah. So after a few in the congregation snickered at the poor ignorant Gentiles, the rabbi went to their table and ate one of their hot dogs, as a way to show them love and acceptance within his group. This sweet rabbi was walking in the Spirit! He was under no condemnation for breaking Torah, because love covers a multitude of sins, and love is the fulfilling of the Torah!

That might have been the first pork that rabbi ever ate in his life, and I am sure that he did not then start eating pork regularly. There are health reasons why we are not to eat pork! God is trying to keep us from sickness and disease by that Law! But this is an example of what it means to walk by the Spirit and not be under condemnation of the Law.

Now let's say there was a picnic next door to this one, in which a believer in Jesus Christ was eating bbq ribs because his flesh covets them (coveting is sin - God's definitions have not changed). They ate pork just as the rabbi did, but can you see the difference? One is walking according to the flesh, and one is walking according to the Spirit. I am sure the rabbi would have preferred NOT to eat the pork, but he submitted himself to the Spirit because the Love of Messiah CONSTRAINED him (2 Cor 5:14)!

Now God has condemned sin in the flesh through Messiah Yeshua for both these believers in the Lord Jesus Christ! Our transgressions of Torah have been nailed to the cross! But for myself, I do not want to deceive myself, and convince myself that I am walking according to the Spirit when I am continuing to sin against God (that which is sin is explained in Torah, 1 Joh 2-3), because my transgressions of it have been forgiven. I do not want to continue to live according to the flesh, under the DOMINION of the flesh, and call it living under the dominion of the Spirit when it is not!

The fact remains, that some, who thought that they were "in" because they prophesied in the name of Jesus and cast out demons in the name of Jesus (what many would consider walking according to the Spirit), Jesus will say to them, "Depart from Me, for I never knew you who practice Lawlessness!" (Mat 7:21-23) Those who do the WILL of the Father will say to Jesus, Lord, Lord - for He is our Lord, when we do His WILL. God has revealed His will to man in His Word, in Torah, in the prophets, and in the life of Jesus our Messiah!

This is the value of worshiping God in Spirit AND in Truth. We need both. The Word reveals His Truth. The Spirit shows us how living His Truth out in our daily lives looks like. If we only worship God in Truth, and do not avail ourselves of the Spirit, then the rabbi would not have shown the love of Messiah to newcomers who did not know better, because ONLY Truth would have said to us, Never eat pork hot dogs. If we worship God in Spirit, and do not avail ourselves of the Truth, then we might cast out demons in the name of Jesus, but not knowing the Truth of what the will of the Father is, we run the risk of being one of those Jesus speaks to in Mat 7:21-23. I do not want to be one of those, so my motto is, GOD IS SMARTER THAN I AM! He has revealed His will and I am going to learn it and submit myself to it - by the Spirit!

romans 7

Read Romans7 at Bible Gateway.

Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Rom 7:4-6

Paul has not left his topic, which he began in Rom 2: that is, that when we try to obey the law from our flesh, the fruit that is produced is sin and death. For no one can obtain righteousness by the works of the flesh and observance of the law! This is Paul's central point which we cannot forget!

But in contrast, when we by nature do what the law requires, because God has recreated us with a new nature, with His nature, our obedience (of the righteousness that the law defines) proceeds from the resurrection life which we have from Jesus Christ (who obeyed the law in righteousness leading to life), and the fruit that is produced is obedience and life!

So when Paul says we have become dead to the Law, does he mean that God's instruction in righteous living no longer applies to us? This is the interpretation the churches are making who ordain homo[s-x]ual pastors who are living with their partners. But how can it be right, when Paul just instructed us that we ought to present our members as slaves to obedience leading to righteousness? To what does Paul suggest we become obedient? Of course, that which God has said! What He has voiced, His Word, which contains His Law! It is the instruction or teaching in righteousness, which is not sin, which is holy and just and good, and which is even spiritual. Of course it has to be, since the Word came forth from the mouth of God, by the Spirit of God! God's Word and His Spirit agree, and His Word, which is Torah, which is Messiah, is not divided against Himself to cross purposes!

I believe Paul is saying that we have become dead to trying to obey the law from our flesh, through the body of Messiah! We lay down our own flesh, because the body (flesh) of another has allowed us to lay it down! Through the body of Messiah, we have access to God's righteousness now, and we are free from needing to establish our own righteousness by works of obedience to the law!

Because we have died, we can now be married to another - our relationship to God is now just that, a relationship, rather than a religious system, which is what anything done out of the flesh becomes. The fruit we bore when we were under law, when we were in the flesh, i.e., when we were trying to establish our own righteousness by the working of the flesh to obey the law, was self- righteousness, pride, sin, and death. Now that we have been delivered from the law, i.e. delivered from having to obey the law in order to try to establish our own righteousness, the fruit which we bear to God, now that we are under grace, and our righteousness is of God and not of the flesh, is true fruit! (Gal 5:22-23).

Now instead of serving in the oldness of the letter - having to obey the law from letters written on tablets of stone OUTSIDE of our hearts - we are serving in the newness of the Spirit - we are obeying the law from a new heart in which the Spirit has written the law on the tablets of our hearts, INSIDE our hearts. (Eze 36:25-27). We are still serving the same God who has not changed, whose definitions have not changed, and whose Word has not changed! What pleases Him has not changed! What has changed, is us! Instead of trying to serve Him from our flesh and failing, now we serve Him from our hearts by the Spirit, by grace, by new life, and succeeding!

I cannot reiterate enough, that God's Word and His Spirit agree with each other! God is looking for worshipers who worship Him in SPIRIT and in TRUTH (Joh 4:24)! True truth is expressed by God's Word, and God's Word has been breathed by His Spirit! As Paul takes pains to clarify, it is NOT His Word, which includes His Law, which is the enemy. His Law is NOT sin, His Law is Spirit(ual), His Law is holy, His Law is just, His Law is good! In other words, His Law is an expression of His nature, in both righteousness and mercy!

Look at it this way: Torah and Messiah are one! For Messiah IS the Word (Joh 1:1, 14), and all of Torah preaches Messiah (Joh 5:45-46)! Why did God establish a Law of Substitutionary Sacrifice if He was not by that Law TEACHING mercy and forgiveness through Messiah's substitutionary sacrifice? Why establish a Law of Sabbath Rest if He was not by that Law TEACHING rest from work(s of the flesh) through Messiah? HE WAS! All Torah is prophetic of Messiah and moreover expresses Messiah. We have to remember that the HEART of the Tabernacle in the wilderness was the MERCY SEAT (which COVERED the tablets of the Law contained within the ark)! Torah is not our enemy, dear believers in Yeshua Messiah who are saved by grace through faith! It is Torah which prophesied and reveals such salvation!

Now, since we have so great a salvation, which was freely gifted to us, let us not dishonor Him who saved us by continuing to live in sin, and continuing to be willfully ignorant of God's definition of righteous behavior contained in Torah! Let us truly leave behind living like Gentiles (Eph 4:17-24), for by the blood of Jesus we are Gentiles no longer (Eph 2:11, Rom 11:17)! Let us live as who we are, ISRAEL in COVENANT with YHVH (Eph 2:11-13)!

romans 6

Read Romans 6 at Bible Gateway.

“For he who has died has been freed from sin. ... For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” Rom 6:7, 14-16

What does it mean to be “under law” and “under grace”? We need to understand this, because sin does not have dominion over us, because we are under grace. Paul is talking about dominion. Go back through chapters 5 and 6 and see how many times Paul talks about dominion:

Rom 5:14 - death REIGNED from Adam to Moses;
Rom 5:17 - by one man's offense death REIGNED through the one (over many is implied, Rom 5:15);
Rom 5:17-18 - by one man's righteous act, life REIGNED through the one (over many is implied in verse 18);
Rom 5:21 - sin REIGNED in death;
Rom 5:21 - grace REIGNS in righteousness to eternal life;
Rom 6:9 - death no longer has DOMINION over Messiah, now that He has died to sin and been raised from the dead;
Rom 6:12 - do not let sin REIGN in your bodies (since we who have died to sin have been freed from sin's DOMINION is implied, Rom 6:7-8);
Rom 6:14 - sin will not have DOMINION over us, because we are not under law but under grace.

Dominion means in Greek, to be lord of, to rule over, to have dominion over. Dominion, according to Webster's, means supreme authority or absolute ownership. Where there is dominion, there is something over and something under. When we are under law, though, it is not law that has dominion over us, but sin (Rom 5:21, 6:12, 14) and death (Rom 5:14, 17, 6:9).

In contrast, to be under grace is to let Messiah's resurrection life have dominion over us through grace (Rom 5:17-18, 21). This has to do with where our righteousness is coming from, as Paul has been explaining since the second chapter of Romans! When a person is RULED by striving after self righteousness through works of the law (to be “under law”, then sin and death have dominion over him (vs. 14); but when a person is RULED by not striving after self righteousness because God's righteousness has been imputed to him through grace leading to life (to be “under grace”), then obedience and life have dominion over him (vs. 14-16).

To make it even more plain - the old man who was born after the nature of his father Adam, over whom sin and death reigned, has died. The new man who was born after the nature of his Father YHVH through Jesus Christ, over whom righteousness and life reigned, lives. We are a different creature now, one over which sin does not have dominion. Our new nature is one in which obedience has dominion, because our righteousness is not earned! We don't have to work, so we can simply live in accordance with our new nature!

So then what benefit is the written Torah? I think it is simply, to instruct our minds, which have not been reborn. (The Hebrew meaning of the word torah, by the way, is not law but instruction or teaching.) We need to learn what God considers righteous behavior, not so that we can conform to it to earn righteousness, but so that we can conform to it because we love our Father and it is the longing of our heart to please Him and conform our actions to His nature!

Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Mat 4:4) “Every word” includes Torah, which shows us our understanding of Torah has been tainted. According to Jesus, every word of God including Torah is life- giving! It is only when we try to establish our own righteousness by Torah observance (to be “under law” instead of “under grace”) that the fruit of sin and death is produced.

I keep coming back to Torah because it is the only portion of God's Word which has been dismissed for most of us in our minds. There is a reason God wants us to walk in His whole Word in these last days!

romans 5

Read Romans 5 at Bible Gateway.

"For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Rom 5:6-8

God's kind of love was demonstrated toward us, by Messiah Jesus dying for us while we were still sinners. Okay, we have been learning that our righteousness before God, is of God, it is of faith, it is not of Torah observance. Now we learn that not only did God make us righteous without Torah observance, He loved us before we ever knew anything about Him or Torah, or if we knew we did not care - we were sinners. We weren't trying to live righteously or to live with Him in mind.

This word love is in Greek, agape. The Septuagint translators translated the Hebrew word aleph hey bet hey as agape. So doing some digging in lexicons and concordances, the Hebrew three- letter primitive root of that word, that contains its most essential and pure meaning, is ahab, aleph hey bet (Strong's H157). The first time this word is used in Scripture is in the love story between Jacob and Rachel:

"And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him [but] a few days, for the love he had to her." Gen 29:20

The love Jacob had for Rachel was the ahab, the agape that he had for her, which made seven years of servitude seem unto him as a few days.

So we learned that Hebrew is a concrete pictoral language, in which God takes abstract concepts like love, and paints concrete pictoral parables with the letters that describe that word so that even five- year- olds can understand its meaning.

The Hebrew letters that form this root, ahab, the aleph hey bet, mean this: the aleph is an ox head, meaning strong, power, or leader. The hey is a man with his arms raised as if in worship. It means, to look, reveal, breath, or sigh. The bet is the tent floorplan, the house, household, or family. Ahab seems to be saying, to strongly long for your family with sighing. The hey, being the central character, is the heart of the Hebrew root, so the longing for with sighing is the heart of the verb. The aleph tells us how intense the longing is (it is the most intense form of longing) and the bet tells us what kind of longing it is - the kind that you reserve for your intimate family.

That is the concrete picture God paints of agape so that even five- year- olds can understand it. Now we can begin to understand the love God has for the sinner - the sinner is more to Him than just some random person. The sinner is to Him as a member of His intimate family. That is why the longing for him is so strong in God's heart. That is why He, being the Supreme Creator and Ruler of the universe, was willing to put on flesh and dwell among us, and not only dwell among us, but be crucified for us, so that we, even if we were oblivious to Him, could now be in shalom with Him, dwelling in His house, in peace with Him (Rom 5:1).

So much to be thankful for this Tabernacles season!

romans 4

Read Romans 4 at Bible Gateway.

"For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression." Rom 4:13-15

Paul has already said that Abraham received justification before God, before he was circumcised, so that the righteousness that is of God (from Rom 3) is of faith for both the uncircumcised and the circumcised. Paul is not saying that circumcision in and of itself is an enemy of faith. For God, who cannot be pleased without faith, instituted circumcision for Abraham and his seed. Circumcision does not benefit God in any way; it is for man's benefit - it is the outward expression of the what we hope to be the state of the inward heart - circumcised (cutting away of the flesh) toward God.

Baptism is the same - what does it benefit God? Baptism benefits us as an outward sign of an inward reality.

So circumcision, or more broadly, our action, our works, follows faith, it does not precede it. All Paul is saying is that faith sets us in right standing, in relationship, with God; then what we do in obedience to God flows from our faith and our relationship. Works cannot establish the relationship, it can only be evidence of a relationship that already exists.

Now in verse 13 and 14, what does Paul mean when he says "through the law" and "of the law"? I think he is continuing in the same vein that he began already in Romans - that those who try to earn righteousness through their obedience to the Law, as the Pharisees did, could not inherit the promise that was given to Abraham's children who are not his children of the flesh (Ishmael) but who are his children through faith in the promise (Isaac). In the same way, those who try to establish their own righteousness based on obedience of the Law, cannot be the heirs of the promise.

Paul is not saying that we should ignore what God considers righteous behavior and sinful behavior -- ignore the Torah now. He just reiterated to us not to make that mistake in Rom 3:31. So do not read verse 14, "For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect," and think if we obey God's commandments then we have excluded ourselves from being heirs. He is talking about those whose righteousness is of the Law. But he is continuing to develop his argument, that righteousness before God is of faith and is not of obedience to Torah ("of the law" or "through the law").

romans 3

Read Romans 3 at Bible Gateway.

"Therefore by the deeds of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the Law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the Law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Rom 3:20-24

In this short paragraph, we learn that one of the purposes of the Law is to give us the knowledge of sin (vs. 20); i.e. it is by the commandments and statutes in Torah, that man learns what is right behavior and what is sinful behavior. John says the same in 1 Joh 3:4. By the Law, we learn that it is wrong to murder or commit adultery. By the same Law, we learn that God considers one day, the seventh day, holy and set apart to Himself and that He considers it right (not sin) when men rest on His set apart day.

Why is Sabbath rest so important that it made it into the Ten Commandments, along with not murdering? I don't know, but that it is important to God, can be clearly seen by reading, not only the Torah (Exo 16:22-30), but the Prophets as well (Isa 58:13-14). When it comes to the Torah, and the definition of righteous behavior and sinful behavior, my attitude is God is smarter than I am. :)

Next Paul brings out that by obeying the Torah, no one can be made righteous (vs. 20), and even that, the righteousness of God is not the same as the righteousness of Torah observance (vs. 21). Jesus taught this. He said (in the passage where He said that He did not come to abolish the Torah, and that whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven) that unless our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, we will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Mat 5:17-20). The righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees was the righteousness of Torah observance, or righteousness by Torah observance. They were trying to be justified by the deeds of the Law. Unless, Jesus said, our righteousness exceeds that of their righteousness, the righteousness by Torah observance, we would not enter the kingdom of heaven. What righteousness exceeds the righteousness of Torah observance? The righteousness of God.

In fact, Paul says, the righteousness of God, which is not the righteousness of Torah observance, is free justification for all those who have faith in Jesus Christ. The only way we can become truly righteous, because every one of us has sinned, is to have the righteousness of God imputed to us.

Now Paul goes on to say that the Torah even teaches that the righteousness that is of God is by faith, and not by Torah observance. This is the critical error the scribes and Pharisees made that Jesus referred to. They thought the Torah taught that if you do these commands, you will be righteous. No! Neither the Torah nor the Prophets taught that! The Torah teaches that if you do these commands, you will have blessings that will benefit you in this life, in the life for the physical man.

That the Torah teaches that righteousness is by faith through grace: Gen 6:8-9, Gen 15:6, Deu 9:4-6, Heb 3:19, among others.

That the Torah teaches that Torah obedience is to bless the physical man in this life (not the spiritual man for eternal life): Deu 10:12-13, Deu 11:8-9, Deu 11:13-15, Deu 28:1-14, Deu 30:2, 6, among many others.

"Do we then make void the Law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the Law." Rom 3:31

So the mistake that is often made now, is that because the purpose of Torah obedience is not to be justified - made in right standing - before God, then the Torah can be ignored all together. That is not what the Torah or the Prophets or Jesus taught nor the apostles nor Paul. But the Prophets taught that in the New Covenant, the Torah would be obeyed from a new heart by the Spirit (Eze 36:25-27). Jesus taught that not one jot or tittle would pass from the Torah until all was fulfilled (Mat 5:17-20). Paul taught that we do not make void the Law simply because we are justified by faith. And John taught that someone who says that he knows Jesus but does not keep Jesus' commandments is a liar (1 Joh 2:4). Are Jesus' commandments different from the Father's commandments? How can they be if He and the Father are One (Joh 10:30), and it is He Himself who is the Word which contains the commandments (Joh 1:1, 14)?

Jesus said that the two laws of Love summarize the commandments (Mat 22:36-40). The first five of the Ten Commandments show us what God considers loving Him looks like, and the last five of the Ten Commandments show us what God considers loving our neighbors looks like. Paul says the same in Romans (Rom 13:8-10), which we will get to. In fact the Ten Commandments also summarize the 613 commandments which the rabbis have distilled the entire Torah down to. In other words, the entire Torah explains what obeying the Ten Commandments mean (Deu 4:13).

You can obey God and not rely on your obedience to save you! You can simply obey God because you love Him (Joh 14:15)! And because you want His blessing on you in this life for the physical man!