Hey
ya folks, it’s been years since I decided to post something here (Check out my previous posts too, you might
find them enlightening or at the least amusing π)
Now, you are probably thinking what’s with the hype on these few verses and why
is it so freaking important that I had to write a blog to explain about all
this. Before we get down to brass tacks, let's devour the following verses from the Big-man (Jesus) himself please:
Matthew 7: 21-23 onwards (Jesus Christ) :
Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of
Heaven, only those who DO WHAT MY FATHER IN HEAVEN WANTS.
On that day, many
will say to me, `Lord, Lord! Didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we expel
demons in your name? Didn't we perform many miracles in your name?'
Then I will
tell them to their faces, 'I never knew you! GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU WORKERS OF LAWLESSNESS!"
I have wrestled with various thoughts over the years like, “How can a benevolent loving Jesus allow men and women who PERFORM MIRACLES IN HIS NAME BE THROWN IN HELL? HOW?
As I pondered over this, images of Great Evangelical leaders conjured up in my head! … with frightening thoughts like… If they get the boot (And these are honorable individuals according to most church-goers) WHERE WOULD I BE GOING AFTER I DIE???
It never made sense to me how Christ can be so cruel to people who sacrificed so much of their lives in honor of him, preached to the masses, healed human-beings of deadly diseases, and in some cases witnesses testified people were brought back from the dead!
What baffled me further was the often simpleton-like answers given by a lot of well-meaning Christian/Christian leaders when explaining this scary proposition from Christ away SO EASILY!
That is using a strawman defense by misunderstanding and misquoting St. Paul muddied the waters even more (which I will discuss in detail below) - their answers made it clear to me they were either ignorant, perhaps didn't want to dig deep to find out the TRUTH, or just SCARED TO FACE THE TRUTH on these verses.
However, call it serendipity, call it fate, call it God’s will for me, the past decade has lit a fiery fuse in me like never before! Something/someone (I have to concede that something is God) has revealed a passion inside me which I was ignorant about before, through the sheer volume of COINCIDENTAL-like happenings, it’s just bloody bizarre!
That consistent passion has been unravelling truth’s in the most famous written Ancient manuscript on the planet through it’s original lens - the Bible π.
Best analogy to describe my predicament would be a lot like a snippet from the second movie of the "Transformers" franchise, wherein Shia LaBeouf (the protagonist of the film), suddenly behaves erratic with an influx of codes to understand the good, and of course the enemy!
Not saying that’s exactly what’s happened to m (just citing a close movie example, grin ya’ll! π ).
Fun fact as you are reading, THE BIBLE WAS ALWAYS MEANT TO BE READ ALOUD (Not quietly).
After you have finished perusing with the translation in your hand on Matthew 7:21-23, please look at the interpretation which I had pasted at the very start of the page and tell me if you find anything odd or different?
To the naked eye everything seems fine and dandy for most of these three verses, however let's look closer at the last word from Verse 23.
Do you buy that all three words have more or less the same meaning (Iniquity, Evildoers or Lawlessness) or you think we are UNNECESSARILY BREAKING OUR HEADS, whilst you role your eyes on this topic? If so, please close this page right now.
However, If you are curious and inquisitive, then sojourn with me a little further please with what the original translation holds.
Please notice the highlighted yellow in the Interlinear bible screenshot below for Matthew 7:23, the exact word for “Lawlessness” from it’s original-source is the Greek-word “ANOMIAN”.
In the screenshot below, we can see that Strong’s concordance (A venerated tool for translating scriptures) defines the word anomia as, “Lawlessness”: the utter disregard for God’s Law.
At present, the million dollar question on your mind should be is what is God’s law?
- Is it the “Law of the Land”: that is the law of the Country we reside in (Eg: African Laws, Australian Civil laws, perhaps American laws)?
- Could it be the Roman Civil law (of the reviled Roman-Empire), which so much of the Jewish population DETESTED and wanted to get rid of during Jesus’s times.
- Could it be referring to a Universal-Law based on a vague definition of “Love through Christ” encompassing tolerance and inclusivity of homosexual individuals and more?
- Or perhaps trendy new church lingo's to keep up with the times, like the “Law of Christ”?
Perhaps, It could mean the only LAW that made sense to the Local crowd of predominant Jews and other members of the Jewish diaspora that Jesus of Nazareth was addressing to in those verses:
The Law of Moses also known as the TORAH …
Now, which of these probable solutions struck a chord close to your heart, ask yourself wisely please.
Meditate on this as much as you want because this is key to unlocking something so profound it cannot be described in a few words but I’ll try … it could mean your chance for Christ to smile and say one day, “I’m proud of you daughter (or son), you fought the good fight and truly persevered KEEPING MY FATHER'S LAW,”
Or it could mean our savior saying something similar to Matthew 7: 21-23, “You could move a mountain with the faith of a mustard seed, that NEVER REALLY IMPRESSED ME, I'VE SEEN IT ALL! But SINCE YOU DID NOT KEEP MY FATHER'S WORD (God’s law’s), get away from me right now, I NEVER KNEW YOU!”
Get it? It could mean Life or death for eternity! Why misunderstanding even one word can have dangerous consequences in the long term.
So, what do you think is “Anomian”?
- Is it Evildoers?
- Is it Iniquity?
- Is it Lawlessness?
WHAT IS THE TORAH?
The Torah is the First 5 books of Moses, Christendom-scholars call it the Pentateuch (Greek for the first 5 books consisting of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy).
What is so important about these 5 Books, you may wonder? Perhaps you are thinking I’ve read them a dozen times already, get of my case already jeez!
Well, apparently Jesus of Nazareth CLEARLY LASHES OUT at prominent men and women of God who did miracles in his name because they did not embrace the clear-cut instructions contained in “God’s Law”, or did these people miss out on something π?
In the purplish word-image above, the Torah is defined using the word, “instruct”, it's a way better definition of what the Torah means to our modern-day way of thinking, because when we envision the word, “Law”, we think of courts, advocates, breaking the law, speeding-tickets etc… that is NOT WHAT THE TORAH WAS MEANT TO BE UNDERSTOOD AS.
Ideally, it represents for Mankind a set of instructions which was sent forth for Israel, but because of belief in her Mashiach/Messiah or “the Anointed one” - (Jesus of Nazareth), we (Gentiles) also inherit the duties and responsibilities laid out to her (Israel).
According to Jesus Christ in the following verses, “So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot (Hebrew for commands) and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I tell you that UNLESS YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS FAR GREATER THAN THAT OF THE TORAH-TEACHERS and P'rushim (Pharisees), YOU WILL CERTAINLY NOT ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN! – From Matthew 5:19-20.
Taking a quick-glance at those verses makes one wonder why is Jesus Christ giving such prominence to this “Torah” aka God’s-Law so much? Exactly, what is the Torah? (I imagine these are a few of the questions that are probing your inquisitive mind’s, that is if you are being genuinely curious).
Rest assured, I can guarantee even if your translation may vary here and there from the one I’ve quoted above, cross-check with Strong’s concordance, refer to other good translation’s, talk it over with a Bible-scholar (Secular or Religious) and you will realize the “Torah” is the only Law that Jesus of Nazareth is talking about here.
Still not sold, uh? You know what, let’s just shrug our shoulders and behave like Esau did when he got what he wanted at first before losing his “First-born Blessings” to his brother eventually. If we recall, we all know he (Esau) gladly gave away his “Birthright” for a bowl of lentil-stew early on in the narrative.
Most Christians might not know this, but that same birthright entails all the Responsibilities one has to do in order to lead as head of the clan; that is why he was actually quite eager to give it away, not because he was negligent but because he knew fully well the consequences of letting go of that dreaded burden of “responsibilities”, keeping laws… ring a bell somewhere?
See, its easy to understand why we can effortlessly resort to writings of St. Paul to soften the blows to our conscience, that is whenever we read verses from Christ warning us about breaking "God's Law”, and unfortunately most of the Church encourages this sad practice.
Besides, when you meditate on it some more, it makes perfect sense to use PAUL AS A SCAPEGOAT with a tried and tested doctrine; as by no means is Paul an ordinary man, he is of course a highly revered and honored Man of God.
Now, I am sure anyone reading this will wholeheartedly agree it is wiser to rely on the “Original-sources” than to fish for compliments through tainted translations of any piece of literature, leave alone the most important book in the planet (Our Bible's!)
But honestly, how many people actually see things this way? Especially when there is a really EASY WAY OUT through Paul's translated letters π, and even that depends on the interpretation of the church of your denomination (which is more than 3000 sects in Christendom).
Furthermore, is there more to this that meets the eye? I’d say if we are intellectually honest, then our “inner-voice” would start to flare up some unflinching “Red-flags”, while we try to puzzle it all out … or we can always do the opposite and make light of something as important as our eternity!
Now, ask yourself why does one have to resort to Paul's writings to justify their stance on “The Law”, particularly against its significance as Jesus Christ (Paul’s master) apparently prioritizes the Law to be, the debater usually falls back on the popular church-doctrine of once saved by the Blood of Jesus we no longer are burdened by the archaic-laws of the Old Testament.
Since, after all we are saved by Grace and we are free of the Law, then one can easily assume and conclude that PAUL IS PERHAPS A MORE POWERFUL MAN THAN CHRIST himself (Note: Grace was never a New testament invention it was always there in the Old testament, an anecdote for another day) π.
BLASPHEMY, I AM TREADING ON, you say? It would behoove you to know that the Medieval-Church in Europe was so entrenched with Paul’s letters, it was called on most occasions the “Pauline Church”.
Gentiles in general center around Paul’s many letter’s to defend their stance on the New Testament's doctrine of "grace", while ending-up prioritizing the New over the Old Testament relegating the latter to fascinating and interesting tales of King's bringing down Giants, with Sea’s parting and some intriguing world-deluges π.
A Few books in the Old testament are slightly alluring to an average Gentile-Christian, perhaps the wise sayings of Solomon and King David in his “Psalms”, and of course the chapters pertaining to the Prophecy of Jesus Christ which is the crΓ¨me da la crΓ¨me for any Goy (Gentile in Hebrew), since here is where they can take aim and fire at Jews in a diatribe, yes those despicable Jews for daring to show contempt at our savior! (FYI: I was being sarcastic, if a Jew is reading this, I LOVE ISRAEL AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE) … and finally a few Sunday school tales for the kids with guys like Samson ripping of gates etc.
But the important understanding of the rituals, the purity laws, the in-depth detail of the sacrificial-system contained in “God’s Law”; which is paramount to understanding our Messiah’s selfless sacrifice, well that is just tossed aside by most Churches while only a few will spend time ruminating on it.
Christ never once contradicts his stance on keeping the Torah, but his servant (St. Paul) seems on the surface to give us a backdoor out of keeping the Law, but is that truly the case? π
I firmly believe that if you need to resort to words from a mere-mortal (Paul) to defend your position against the words of the “Son of God”, then YOU ARE COMPLICATING IT, and don’t get the gist enough to explain it away as simple as 2+2=4.
As Albert Einstein himself once remarked, “If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, then you really don't understand it yourself (The Quote above is paraphrased from the original).”
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the first verse of Romans 1 verse 1 to showcase a tiny example of why Paul is such a misunderstood apostle of Yeshua. Romans 1:1 - Sha'ul, a slave of the Messiah Yeshua, an emissary because I was called and set apart for the Good News of God.
When we think of slavery (and keep in mind our mindset is heavily influenced by western-thought pertaining to this sorrowful time) we have a very low-opinion of it because of the history behind demeaning races π₯.
And with this verse in particular (Romans 1:1), a gentile Christian immediately envisions Paul humbling himself by using the denigrating designation of “slave”.
However, reality is always different. In the Biblical Hebrew society of his day being a slave of God was a position of special honor which Paul was proudly ascribing himself with, It would be somewhat like saying I’m a Priest of God.
That is why Paul immediately follows up the “Slave of Yeshua” label (an especially honorable title) by adding the equally respectable, but different, title that he is also an emissary (an apostle) because God has set him apart for a special purpose.
Let me be clear again: to the average gentile Bible reader the 1st verse of Romans 1 looks to be Paul humbling himself; HE'S NOT! He’s actually claiming that he holds a high position of great authority due to his special association with God.
Don’t believe me? In Hebrew society a “slave” was a title or status that was ACTUALLY HONORABLE and admirable when that person was described as being a slave of God. The Hebrew word for slave is EVED; it meant both servant and slave because they were seen as essentially the same thing.
Moses was called a slave of YHWH in Joshua 14:7, the Prophet Elijah was called a slave of YHWH in 2 Kings 10:10, and DAVID WAS REGULARLY CALLED A SLAVE OF G-D. This was, in Hebrew thought, high praise. There are many more examples of this in Scripture.
Paul was explaining and communicating in Jewish thought pattern, but always remind yourself he is confined to having to use the Greek language to do it since his letter recipients were Greek speakers.
Paul is thinking in Hebrew societal and theological terms, but having to use the best available Greek words to translate. And as any translator will tell you, this can be a difficult task as THERE AREN'T ALWAYS PRECISE PARARELLEL WORDS BETWEEN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES, so often the meaning gets a bit skewed.
As you can see from the above excerpt of Romans 1 verse 1 (Some content above from www.torahclass.com) one misunderstanding in a word can change the entire
context of the verse. A Minute ago we thought of Paul humbling himself as a
Servant of Yeshua and now we realize he was actually boasting of his high
position with God.
Does it not change the context of the whole verse? Please think about how many other verses have we misunderstood (like the word Anomian), all because
of language inconsistencies, misunderstanding culture & more.
Some individuals would declare that most Modern-day Bible's are incredibly
accurate from the original-source! Either they have never investigated even a few
books in the Bible with proper due-diligence (by cross-checking from the
Original-source) or they are buying drivel from someone who really hasn’t down
his or her homework meticulously.
The image above will give you a basic overview on the popular two approaches of
how Bible-translations are compiled.
It all comes down to your belief subconsciously, that is; is Paul’s
status higher than Jesus of Nazareth? If “No” like myself, then how come
Paul’s words suddenly takes precedence over his Master’s words with sensitive
subjects such as “God’s Law”? Is not
Christ called, “The word”?.
Why does our psychological defensive mechanisms kick-in so quickly that we grab our bibles in haste to quote one of his faithful-follower’s words (Paul),
to subtly rebuke the King (Jesus) himself?
If God in his infinite wisdom asks you today, “Who’s words do you value the
most in the New-Testament?” What would your answer be?
Whenever there is a theological tug of war (especially when it comes to the “Law” and as a consequence Paul and Christ’s verses are in question), It might interest you to know even Peter who was filled with the Holy-Spirit and smarter than most people give him credit for (especially Modern-day christians); well even he was utterly baffled and confused with Paul’s letters.
So, in light of this and more … do you honestly think we could comprehend a lot of Paul’s words π? Given the fact we are already at a crippled disadvantage of 2000 years (give or take a few decades), add to the mix a number of translations (Greek, Latin, English and various other translations), therefore the context and meaning of a significant word gets easily lost in translation … in most cases it was unintentional, but unfortunately in a lot of cases it was intentionally aided by Anti-Semitic church fathers.
You might like to dismiss these images above as the work of Catholics … wait, wait not so fast! These are just a few Church-fathers I have brought up, (there are many which goes right up to this century from almost every denomination of Christianity, the list includes some famous names like the image below).
Also, these venerated “Church-fathers” have impacted the Reformation and modern-day Evangelical movements far more than people actually give credit for, but rarely does that data find the light of day.
Take Martin Luther for example, the highly raved and talked about leader in Reformation history, few know that he was an anti-Semite who openly admitted it during the latter part of his life. So much so that Hitler and his band of brothers (The NAZI’S) used to quote Martin Luther’s work's; explaining they are only doing what Martin foresaw during their extermination of the Jews π’.
Perhaps, if you are like me, you would resort to the simple and obvious solution … that maybe we are misunderstanding Paul’s words in light of the fact that he is faithful to Jesus Christ (which I unequivocally agree on).
Maybe you are reasoning, “Yes, Paul is below Christ but it is you who are misunderstanding the Messiah, it’s you who got it wrong Johnny! So many brilliant men of God have vouched that only Grace through our Messiah’s blood brings salvation and the law was nailed to the cross! You have no clue what you are talking about, I know who you really are! What have you accomplished, uh? I will silently pray for you...”
True, all your speculations about me is more or less true perhaps, and I definitely appreciate prayers anyday π, but distracting your mind’s with my shortcomings isn’t going to solve the critical juxtaposition of Paul versus our Messiah’s words when it comes to the “Law”.
Salvation does come through our Savior’s blood! Not once in this whole composition have I disagreed or voiced it because it’s always been the elementary “A, B, C’s of our Christian faith”.
According to him (Jesus Christ) we must embrace keeping “God’s law” or we would be penalized in an eternity away from Christ due to our Lawlessness or dereliction of Torah.
Do you think your Mother would instruct you to tidy your room if her own room is a mess! You can always point a finger at her and say something about her hypocrisy right? π
In the same way, don’t you think our Savior, Jesus Christ (better than any biological-parent) can lash out in similar fashion with words like, “I didn’t sacrifice myself by keeping my Father’s word (The Torah) perfectly SO YOU CAN DO WHAT YOU WANT, go be an example and keep my Father’s word (Torah) too!”
Whoever you are, it’s your prerogative to Ignore the Law for 6 days and renew your fire-insurance policy of Salvation on a Sunday-service (as do the majority of most believers). Undeniably better than some who call themselves believers in Christ, yet never make it for an hour of prayer in even one of those 7 days.
In Conclusion, these unusual verses from Matthew isn’t for Atheists or Non-believers, it’s for those who proudly likes to think of herself/himself as a Slave of Yeshua.
So, after reading all this, what's it going to be π?
“Do you want to take a chance with Christ for eternity by accepting his sacrifice, but rebuked for your “Anomian/Lawlessness”?
Or
“Do you want to be loved by Yeshua in every possible way for that massive undertaking (His sacrifice), by doing everything he expects of us (Including God’s Law/ aka the Torah)?”
I leave you to contemplate with the image below, Shalom and thanks for your time. :-)
(Lot of the material here is inspired directly from www.torahclass.com, the images are mostly of the net)