Q: I’m almost finished reading your
Jewish Roots of Christianity book. I’ve appreciated learning so much history
that I never knew, but it makes me sad to think that people who have called
themselves by the name of Christ have acted so horrendously… It helps me to
understand a little better the anti-Semitism that we saw (and were SHOCKED by)
in Ukraine.
I’m meditating on the thought that you bring forth in the book that Messianic
Jews still need to follow the law… What do you do then with Paul’s remarks in
Galatians 2:11-14, where Paul calls Peter on the carpet for reverting back to
following the laws when the circumcision party shows up in Antioch? Paul
certainly talks here, and in other places, like he is not following the dietary
laws at least…
Infant Baptism? (Q&A)
Q: [In
response to our teaching, “The Washing of Water with the Word”:] I'm going to get into trouble here, but here
goes anyway....please notice that the verse you mention says that the Messiah
does the cleansing by the washing of water with the word. We
don't do it. Therefore it is a gift, just like our name from our
parents. So there is no need for someone to wait until they are
"ready" for baptism. It is a gift that we cannot by our own
power or will do anything to be "ready" to receive. Moral of my
story is --get your kids baptized and don't wait another day. –Stephanie
K.
A: Thanks for your enthusiasm in defending
infant baptism--a long-held and widely practiced tradition of the Church.
But this tradition ignores a key component of the original idea of baptism: that receiving the word of God—being “cleansed...by his word” (Eph. 5:26)—requires
being able to understand that word. Traditional churches themselves
admit to the inadequacy of infant baptism by their practice of confirmation, a
rite mentioned nowhere in the Bible. Having teenagers confirm
or accept their baptisms is a recognition that infant
baptism is incomplete without the conscious and believing
participation of the one being baptized. And that's exactly the
point. Baptism is the outward, public response to an inner faith:
the sign of a conscious repentance of sin and a decision to follow Jesus.
This decision brings an inner cleansing (Acts 15:9), while baptism completes
the process with an outer washing: “the
outward sign of an inward grace,” as Augustine of Hippo put it. There
is just no other way to make sense of the Biblical description of this rite as
a "baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins," unless there
is an actual repentance on the part of the person being baptized (Mark 1:4, Luke 3:3, Acts 13:24, 19:4). This requires a conscious appeal to God (1
Pet. 3:21 ) by faith (Col.
2:12). Infants are completely incapable of doing these things.
The Meaning of Psalm 23
“A psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing” (Psa. 23:1).
The original historical context
of Psalm 23 is the ancient Kingdom of Israel, in which sheep were a major part
of the economy. We’re talking about huge
flocks of sheep running into the thousands in some cases. King David, probably the most famous king of
Israel, worked as a shepherd when he was a boy, just as many other boys did at
the time. This Psalm, which is
associated with his name, likely reflects his own experience as a shepherd as he
reflects on God as the shepherd of his own life.
The sheep-grazing areas
in Israel are mostly dry, rocky, semi-desert areas, where the sheep are often taken
far away from the agricultural land near town, especially in the spring and
summer. This is an area of steep and
dangerous cliffs and canyons. Even a
sure-footed sheep or goat is in real danger of falling to its death. In fact, I’ve
seen a couple of them nearly fall myself out in this area.
The Non-Trinitarian Views of Eric Chang (Q&A)
Q: I have just finished studying your book 'The Jewish Roots of Christianity', which I found very readable, and being a Bible student of some
40+ years I found some of the content (surprisingly) most enlightening--things
I have wondered about for a long time regarding Paul's writing.
As I was reading your book I did wonder if you have ever
come across and read the books of Eric Chang, 'The One True God' and 'The Only
Perfect Man.' If you haven't I think you will find them extremely interesting,
they are freely available as downloadable pdf's at this link:
As a serious student of the truth I would very much appreciate
your views of the content covered in this material, considering your extensive
and knowledgeable background and area of expertise. If you have a little time
to examine it, you may find it interesting yourself. (They are also available
on Amazon books if you prefer physical books, as I do. I have nothing to do with
their church by the way).
I hope you have time to respond, looking forward to hearing
from you.
With kind regards --Phil
A: Thanks for the positive feedback about our Jewish Roots of
Christianity book. I’ve glanced briefly
through Eric Chang’s The Only True God at your request. It’s nice to see him struggling honestly with the
challenges of Christian monotheism in a way that the original sources
invite. However, to strengthen his
credibility, he needs to wrestle more with early Christian sources from the pre-Augustinian era. The views of Trinitarians have not always
been monolithic, and many of these early voices have important insights to add
to the conversation. To put it another
way: not everyone who claims to be a
Trinitarian agrees about what that means.
A Hebrew Matthew and Jerome (Q&A)
Q: [In response to our Q&A on the Du Tillet
manuscript:] ...I believe, based on the
statements of various "early church fathers," that the Gospel of
Matthew WAS written in Aramaic. I do not agree with those who try to
"prove" that the other Gospels or even the entire New Testament were
written in Hebrew or Aramaic!!!!!!!!!! If you would like I can e-mail you
a website that I know about that shows many of the textual variants of the
New Testament. Yet the issue of who the manuscripts of the New Testament come
from bothers me. What do you think of the fact that it is said that Jerome
got manuscripts for his gospel of Matthew from Jewish believers in
Yeshua?...--Jeremy J.
A: You are right that there is quite a bit
of evidence among the early church fathers for a non-Greek original to the
gospel of Matthew. This evidence comes from places as diverse as India Arabia , and Israel
That Matthew was originally written in Hebrew is sometimes contested by scholars who cling to the outdated notion that Jesus taught in Aramaic. But the evidence for Hebrew literacy in Israel in the Second Temple period is clear, both from archeology and textual sources. Today there is no legitimate reason to deny that these church fathers knew what they were talking about when they said that Matthew wrote in Hebrew.
Sabbath for Non-Jews? (Q&A)
Q: Very good comment on Isa 56 about Jesus as Salvation [see our Q&A on Isaiah 56]. But what about the context: Israel
A: Thank you for bringing up the issue of Sabbath with regard to Isa. 56. As you correctly point out, this is a key element in the chapter. I'm not sure exactly what you mean by Sabbath-keeping being a “sign of the new covenant” for Israel, since Sabbath-keeping is usually considered a sign of the old covenant as it specifically says in Exo. 31:13; Eze. 20:12. But if you simply mean that it continues as part of the practice of Jewish believers in Jesus, this is certainly true.
With regard to Isa. 56:8 ("The Lord GOD, who gathers the banished ones of Israel, declares, 'Yet others I will gather to him, to those already gathered.'"), the phrase "yet others will I gather to him" is a reference back to Israel in the same verse, and as a result, is often translated for clarity “to them.” This is how Jesus understood it when he alluded to this verse in John 10:16, speaking of the "other sheep" that were to be added to the Jewish people who had already believed in him.
Was Early Christianity a Mystery Religion? (Q&A)
Q: I heard that early
Christianity was a mystery religion in Rome . Is this true and does anyone know any of the
characteristics of mystery religions? (I know that they were a secret but has
anything come out about them?) Was it a
popular one, like were there many Romans who joined it? Also did mystery religions have supernatural
events that happened, as I read that in some mystery religions, people would
enter the spirit world or supernatural realm.
Anyway, I hope that made sense, and thanks for any help.
Anyway, I hope that made sense, and thanks for any help.
A: The main focus of the most important rituals of the ancient mystery religions, as far as we know, was the revelation of some secret act or ritual object with deep symbolic meaning for those trained in the belief system of the religion. This took place toward the end of a lengthy and elaborate ritual. This revelation was often intended to produce a specific spiritual or emotional effect on the initiates that were experiencing it for the first time. They were then sworn to keep this ritual a secret, and in most cases they did, as we are still ignorant of most of the core mysteries today.
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