In Part 14, we saw how the New Testament is divided up. Why do we need to distinguish between Paul's letters and the others? Because Peter, James, John and Jude were apostles to the CIRCUMCISED, meaning the Jews, although as I said, it is believed that Paul wrote Hebrews. It is quite obvious by the very name of the book that it is written to "THE HEBREWS," not to the non-Jewish Church.
Why is this important? Because many things, although of interest and instruction to non-Jewish believers, do not apply to the non-Jewish Church. They were directed to the Jewish people of Paul's day. He was addressing problems that the first century Jewish church faced that the Gentile Church never did.
The Jewish people of our day, meaning the end times, face many of the same issues. You find this throughout the gospels. For instance the entire Olivet discourse in Matthew 24 is neither for nor about the Church. It is directed to Jewish people of the end times.
Is there a message for the Church at all in the gospels? Yes. Jesus' message to us is found in the upper room discourse in John's gospel, but it is incomplete. Jesus had many other things to say which could only be revealed after He shed His blood, rose from the dead and ascended back to His Father.
All Paul’s letters, on the other hand, were written TO ALL believers, both Jewish and non-Jewish. Remember what we learned about CONTEXT. Want to grow fast in your Christian life? Read all his of letters. They are written TO us while the letters to the Jews are written to, well, THE JEWS. They are written FOR non-Jewish believers but we need to keep in mind WHO is being spoken “OF” or TO." Don't apply to the Church something that only applies to Jewish people.
Kind of interesting to note that the names Peter, James and John mean, "stone, replace and grace,"
respectively. There's a message in the meanings of their names. That's why they always appear in that exact order.
I hope this will help some of you to have a better understanding of the Bible in general and help you not be confused by "obscure passages" that have been misunderstood, misused, even abused and misapplied to the Church to call into question your salvation. YOU ARE ETERNALLY SECURE. NOTHING and no one...NOT EVEN YOU...can pluck you out of His hand.
All Paul’s letters, on the other hand, were written TO ALL believers, both Jewish and non-Jewish. Remember what we learned about CONTEXT. Want to grow fast in your Christian life? Read all his of letters. They are written TO us while the letters to the Jews are written to, well, THE JEWS. They are written FOR non-Jewish believers but we need to keep in mind WHO is being spoken “OF” or TO." Don't apply to the Church something that only applies to Jewish people.
Kind of interesting to note that the names Peter, James and John mean, "stone, replace and grace,"
respectively. There's a message in the meanings of their names. That's why they always appear in that exact order.
The Jewish people were under the law of a Moses for 1500 years. Now you know why these three were called minister to them: They were there to roll away the stone of the law from the lives of their people! "The Law--stone (Peter) has been replaced/usurped (James) by grace (John)!
The Gentiles, on the other hand, never needed the "stone" to be rolled away because they were NEVER under the law; never, that is, until some Judiazers had the "bright idea" that Gentiles, now that they were saved, needed to obey the Ten Commandments.
The Council of Jerusalem held 15 years AFTER the mass conversion at the home of the Roman Centurion, Cornelius, was supposed to put that FALSE doctrine to bed. They decided that, NO, WE ARE NOT UNDER LAW.
Folks, that was a settled issue way back in the 1st century! This formerly "settled" conflict has reared it's ugly head again in these last days just like in Galatia. Paul's letter to that Church was written to addressed this very issue. I guess man really hasn't changed much in 2,000 years. He still wants to think there's something he can "DO."
My prayer is that more theologians today revisit this letter because, once again, the church needs to have the stone--the law--rolled away and the veil removed from her face. Yep. The law has once again crept in by stealth.
(For more on this topic follow the link below:
http://emmausrevelations.blogspot.com/2014/07/why-is-there-fig-tree-in-my-vineyard.html?m=1)
Paul was an apostle primarily TO THE GENTILES while Peter, James and John were primarily Apostles TO THE CIRCUMCISED, the Jews. Please don’t get the wrong idea that we can't or shouldn’t read the books written to the Jewish people. After all, they were writing to Christians. We just need to keep in mind that they were addressing Jewish believers of the 1st century. They faced circumstances that non-Jewish believers did not. Jewish people of our day who are not saved need to be warned and protected from the dangers they face right now.
Here's a good example:
When you read Hebrews and see things like, "if you partake of all these things and you sin willfully, there remains no more forgiveness...," it's not talking about you. The writer is addressing Jewish people, the "almosts" who turned their back on Jesus. These Jews had not accepted Him as their Savior. Even worse, they went back to the animal sacrifices of the temple.
God was NOT PLEASED! Had He not just sent Beloved Son to die the most horrific death in history? He was THE FINAL SACRIFICE! There is no more forgiveness of sins by offering bulls and goats. God closed the door on that system. Jesus is the final One; THE ONLY ONE we can present to the Father so that our sins can be FOREVER CLEANSED, not temporarily covered as under the Old Covenant.(For more on this topic, follow this link:
http://emmausrevelations.blogspot.com/2014/07/promissory-notes.html?m=1)
These are the passages--Hebrews 6 & 10--that "certain contentious (law-centric?) people" love to talk about, aren't they? Now hear this: THESE CHAPTERS HAVE NOTHING WHATEVER TO DO WITH THE CHURCH. No one, not even the Jews today, can go back to temple sacrifices anymore because THERE IS NO MORE TEMPLE. End of story.
This is why it's SO IMPORTANT for you to be able to RIGHTLY DIVIDE THE WORD OF GOD. Know who is being addressed or spoken to. Understand which Covenant is being discussed. Not all of scripture is addressing the non-Jewish church.
Otherwise you may risk falling prey to those who would place you back under bondage to the law. YUK!
I hope this will help some of you to have a better understanding of the Bible in general and help you not be confused by "obscure passages" that have been misunderstood, misused, even abused and misapplied to the Church to call into question your salvation. YOU ARE ETERNALLY SECURE. NOTHING and no one...NOT EVEN YOU...can pluck you out of His hand.
Please proceed to Part 16, the final portion of our study on Rightly Dividing The Word Of God. We will end our study by discussing a few more passages that are obscure and have often confused the Church:
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