Shabbat

 

Because of the stories about Jesus and having conflict with religious leaders over how to do the Sabbath, there has been an unfortunate reflex, unintended I think by the gospel authors, that cast a negative atmosphere over the Sabbath and the guidelines for observing it as being legalistic or rule-oriented instead of God-oriented. And that's totally wrong. In Biblical history, it's so beautiful what the Sabbath means. YAHWEH’s instructions about the Sabbath are worthy of being followed just like parents establish guidelines for how we work as a family in our house should be followed: we don't yell at each other, we say "please", we share things. Those are rules, and it would be totally missing the point to call those rules legalistic?". So, to call YAHWEH’s instructions of how we should do family with Him “legalistic” misses the point.

 

YAHWEH says the Sabbath day is His Day. Six days I live (pretend I am) as master of my fate, in control of my own time. One day a week YAHWEH says I am to do that day the way He says do it. But it’s not for His good, in the end its for my good.

 

There's something beautiful when I stop the hustle and bustle, I stop acting like I’m the center of the universe or that my work is the center of the universe, or that my striving and work is keeping everything glued together and I simply dwell with my family and God.

 

Sabbath in the Hebrew Scriptures means a lot of things, but at its most basic is that “I stop”. The word Sabbath (“Shabbat”) means "stop". In Hebrew there are other words for rest. Like in English we think of laying down and relaxing and being rejuvenated. To do those things you have to Shabbat. But the word Shabbat, its basic meaning is to cease from, to stop.

 

The Sabbath command is repeated twice. The Bible gives different reasons for why I Shabbat, stop. They're not contradictory, but they're different. The Bible doesn't try to be an exact handbook on how to observe Shabbat. It's more interested in teaching me the meaning of Shabbat. Which is why the meaning of Shabbat is introduced on page 1 of the Bible. And in true meditation literature style, it doesn't come right out and tell me the meaning of Shabbat. It keeps developing. Its not until I am 70 chapters into the Torah, that I get a command about the Shabbat, by then If I have been reading and paying attention I already know a lot about what that seventh- day rest means. I have been very educated by Exodus 20. The Scriptures does tell me about the development of the Shabbat practice within the storyline of the Old Testament, but the practice of Shabbat is just one way to think about it, there's something way bigger going on, which is about this design of time all culminating in a seventh day, which is bigger than just what I do on Friday night. What I do on Friday nights is one of many symbolic narrative pointers to a larger theological idea.

 

The practice of the Friday sundown to the Seventh day sundown (Sabbath) as its described in the Scriptures is just one of the  ways that the Sabbath idea is explored and talked about and developed.  A little confusing is that Sabbath (Shabbat) word is also used to describe all Holy days. There are many Sabbaths (Lev 23) and there are many ways and words that the “all culminating seventh-day” concept gets developed. First, what do I mean by the “all culminating seventh day” concept. Well, that concept starts with the first Sabbath in the Bible, the one in Genesis 1.  There is so much going on in Genesis 1. In many ways Genesis 1 tells the whole story or outlines the whole story of the gospel. But that is such a large topic I am going to save that for another blog.

 

At the moment I am looking at only the Sabbath day in the creation story. In the creation story, every day is defined by “there was evening and there was morning” except for the seventh day is not defined that way. There is not a stated "evening and morning" for the seventh day.  It’s as if the seventh day never ends. Right at the beginning, the concept of eternally being with God is tied in with being the seventh day. Of course, humans blow it and we lose the chance for that to continue and everything else in the course of the Bible is to bring us back to the garden of Eden to dwell with God for eternity. I am given several different reminders of this and several ways to experientially practice this anticipated restoring of what we lost. The seventh day as the culmination of history. A theme unifying the whole storyline of the Bible. And the weekly seventh day Shabbat points to it, but so does the Year of Release and so does the Jubilee as do all the Feasts.

 

Another interesting thing is the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments (actually “Ten Words”) but it’s the one commandment that Christianity explicitly overlooks. Western Christianity repeatedly affirms the other nine but the one about the Sabbath gets completely ignored or in some Christian traditions replaced by another day (Decree of Constantine in 321AD, 336Ad according to Catholic Catechisms)¹  or reinterpreted as simply an allegory. When Christianity does that, it loses the deep meditation and theological revelations that the Bible brings through the Sabbath.

 

The 10 Commandments (Words) appear twice in the Bible, Exodus 20 and Deut 5. Both say "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy." (set apart with honor). How do I remember it? I keep it. And as I keep it, I am remembering it. But there's a little difference. In Exodus 20:11, it says do to it because YAHWEH did it, then in Deut. 5 it says "do it and remember that I was in slavery and also so that my male servant and my female servant may rest along with me." Paul talks about being slaves to sin. That whole identity of slavery is super crucial from Exodus narrative on. As the Sabbath concept develops through the story of the Bible, I discover in different stories that there are different ways and angles and facets that reveal so many important principles and tie together the whole Bible. One of the main facets is the fabric of creation as leading towards a great goal, where humans imitate God and join Him in ceasing from work and labor. But there's going to be another facet that's all about being enslaved to our labor and slaves to something. So, the seventh day is the time to celebrate our liberation from slavery so that we can rest with God. There is also themes of learning and demonstrating trust. Throughout the Bible, God sends little tests to His people to see if they will trust Him. Gather manna six days a week but even though you are in the desert with no water and no food do not gather on the 7^th day. This is before the Sabbath instructions have been given but the rhythm of 7 that started in Genesis is given to the newly rescued Israel. A test, will I inconvenience myself and cease from my labor and thinking I am the center and cause of all and instead practice recognizing one day a week that YAHWEH is my true provider and practice and demonstrate I can trust Him.

The Sabbath (Shabbat) is a beautiful and big theme. The Sabbath Rest is the idea that all of history will culminate in a time where humans and God will rule together on earth and rest in peace. The weekly Sabbath, the weekly celebration to recognize that this reality is coming and it’s the heartbeat behind all of the festivals in the Biblical Calendar.  Jesus started his ministry on the Sabbath day reading from the scroll of Isaiah  saying the ultimate Sabbath, the ultimate Jubilee would come through Him, and slaves will be set free and debts forgiven. In Mathew 12 Jesus calls Himself the Lord of the Sabbath. He is claiming that He is the one who brings us back into fellowship with God and the ultimate rest and will lead God's people to the ultimate Jubilee., the Sabbath day that will last forever. 

 

Is the weekly Sabbath inconvenient? Yes, but as Bible scholar Dr. Tim Mackie says, it’s the most basic building block for understanding time and space and the rhythm of YAHWEH’s universe. And at some point, the Sabbath’s, all of them, become a source of joy and reflection and meditation and revelation. It’s a physical practice that develops my spiritual muscle of trust and dependence.

 

There is so much more to explore about YAHWEH’s Sabbath’s, but I hope these initial thoughts will give you reason to reconsider YAHWEH’s Sabbath and help you find why He commanded it.

 

Shalom.

 

NOTES

1. About 100 years before Christianity, Egyptian Mithraists introduced the festival of Sunday, dedicated to worshiping the sun, into the Roman Empire. Later, as Christianity grew, church leaders wished to increase the numbers of the church. In order to make the gospel more attractive to non-Christians, pagan customs were incorporated into the church's ceremonies. The custom of Sunday worship was welcomed by Christians who desired to differentiate themselves from the Jews, whom they hated because of the Jews' rejection of the Savior. The first day of the week began to be recognized as both a religious and civil holiday. By the end of the second century, Christians considered it sinful to work on Sunday.

The Roman emperor Constantine, a former sun-worshiper, professed conversion to Christianity. Constantine named himself Bishop of the Catholic Church and enacted  the first civil law regarding Sunday observance in A.D. 321.

“On the venerable day of the sun let the magistrate and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country however, persons engaged in agricultural work may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain growing or for vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.” - Schaff's History of the Christian Church, vol. III, chap. 75.

Four years later, in A.D. 325, Pope Sylvester officially named Sunday "the Lord's Day," and in A.D. 338, Eusebius, the court bishop of Constantine, wrote, "All things whatsoever that it was the duty to do on the Sabbath (the seventh day of the week) we (Constantine, Eusebius, and other bishops) have transferred to the Lord's Day (the first day of the week) as more appropriately belonging to it."

In the Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, 

Q. Which is the Sabbath day?
A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.

Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea, (AD 336) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday....

Q. Why did the Catholic Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday, because Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday, and the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles on a Sunday.

Q. By what authority did the Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed upon her!
- Rev. Peter Geiermann, C.SS.R., (1946), p. 50.

In Catholic Christian Instructed,

Q. Has the Church power to make any alterations in the commandments of God?
A. ...Instead of the seventh day, and other festivals appointed by the old law, the church has prescribed the Sundays and holy days to be set apart for God's worship; and these we are now obliged to keep in consequence of God's commandment, instead of the ancient Sabbath.

- The Catholic Christian Instructed in the Sacraments, Sacrifices, Ceremonies, and Observances of the Church By Way of Question and Answer, RT Rev. Dr. Challoner, p. 204.

In An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine,

Q. How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
A. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.

Q. How prove you that?
A. Because by keeping Sunday, they acknowledge the Church's power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin; and by not keeping the rest of the feasts by her commanded, they again deny, in fact, the same power.
- Rev. Henry Tuberville, D.D. (R.C.), (1833), page 58.

In A Doctrinal Catechism,

Q. Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?
A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her. She could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.
- Rev. Stephen Keenan, (1851), p. 174.

In the Catechism of the Council of Trent,

The Church of God has thought it well to transfer the celebration and observance of the Sabbath to Sunday.
- p 402, second revised edition (English), 1937. (First published in 1566)

In the Augsburg Confession,

They allege the Sabbath changed into Sunday, the Lord's day, contrary to the decalogue, as it appears; neither is there any example more boasted of than the changing of the Sabbath day. Great, they say, is the power and authority of the church, since it dispensed with one of the ten commandments.
- Art. 28.

"For centuries millions of Christians have gathered to worship God on the first day of the week. Graciously He has accepted this worship. He has poured out His blessings upon Christian people as they have sought to serve Him. However, as one searches the Scriptures, he is forced to recognize that Sunday is not a day of God's appointment... It has no foundation in Scripture, but has arisen entirely as a result of custom," Frank H. Yost, Ph.D. in The Early Christian Sabbath.

 God, "with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning"
James 1:17

For I YAHWEH do no not change
Malachi 3:6 

 "My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips"
Psalm 89:34.

 "I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it"
Ecclesiastes 3:14.

 "The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. They are steadfast for ever and ever, done in faithfulness and uprightness"

Psalm 111:7-8.

 
The gospel writers record Jesus and the apostles going to the synagogue on Sabbath as their practice (Luke 4:16 ). Jesus said, "I have kept My Father's commandments" (John 15:10). The women who went to anoint His body after his death "rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment" (Luke 23:56).

 'And he will speak against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law;
Dan 7:25

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Acts 10 Food For Thought - Part 1

I am very interested in trying to understand this question that keeps burning in my heart and mind. "What is the place of YAHWEH's Torah/instructions in my life today?" Christianity starting emphatically teaching in the second century that the Torah is no longer relevant to the Christian life. I have no conclusion yet but I have started to go back and look at passages very closely and intentionally with no prior assumptions to what they mean. Today I want to look at a part of that large question. "What does the Bible teach concerning YAHWEH's dietary instructions." 

I am going to examine Acts 10 and 11. Those passages illustrate what I think happens with a lot of scriptures - I have assumptions before I come to a passage and I make the scriptures fit my assumptions rather than just reading the passage. I use to think that Peter's vision meant that YAHWEH's dietary instructions have been done away with. I now hear Jesus' voice in my head when He was speaking to the Pharisee's
 
Mark 7:9,13
 And Jesus said, "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!
Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."
 
I remind myself that at the time of Acts 10 there was no New Testament, only what I call the Old Testament Scriptures. So I would think a massive change to God’s word would not be a slight adjustment that would be assumed in the background without even addressing it. But a quick look at this biblical passage shows that the issue of "eating unclean food" or the issue of "a massive change has happened to the OT scriptures" is not actually part of the story.
 
Peter has a vision but he himself does not know what it means,
Acts 10:17
Now while Peter was greatly perplexed in mind as to what the vision which he had seen might be...
 
Very directly the bible gives the interpretation of this vision.
 
Acts 10:28 … But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.
 
Peter did not know the meaning and waits on God to show him but Christianity assumes a different interpretation than God gives to Peter. Food is never actually mentioned as a part of the interpretation of what God was showing him. There are lots of visions in the Bible, they have all kinds of metaphors and analogies. We only know what they mean when God tells us what they mean. Peter has still not eaten any of these unclean animals since Jesus. If the vision included the cleansing of unclean animals for food Peter never mentions it. In fact twice it is recorded that he does not eat unclean food?
 
Acts 10:14
“"Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean
 
Acts 11:8
“But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
 
In the interpretation, not one thing is mentioned about unclean animals now being food - not one. We are given the interpretation of this vision by the scriptures, not once, but twice. Why would I inject my own interpretation of the vision and ignore the interpretation given to me? Twice. Not only this, the implication through it all is that Peter and the disciples continued in the dietary instructions from YAHWEH.

It would have been huge news to the Jews to hear that unclean animals were now considered "food." So, why is it not made mention of? Because that wasn't the purpose of the vision. The whole purpose of the vision was to get the Jews out from under the influence of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Oral law. This is what Peter said when he arrived at the house of Cornelius.
 
Acts 10:28
He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.
 
Nowhere in the OT is this rule found. This was not part of YAHWEH's instruction. It was man's law. This was an Oral Law passed down from the Pharisees, also known today as the Talmud.
 
In the Talmud, it says
  
Abhodah Zarah, 22b
“Why are the Goyim/Gentiles unclean? Because they were not present at Mount Sinai. For when the serpent entered into Eve, he infused her with uncleanliness. But the Jews were cleansed from this when they stood on Mount Sinai; the Goyim, however, who were not on Mount Sinai, were not cleansed.”
 
Schabbath, (145b)
Why are the Gentiles unclean? Because they eat abominable things and animals that crawl on their belly.
 
It was the Pharisees Oral law that commanded the Gentiles were to be considered unclean, not YAHWEH’s Law.
 
And so, our Father brought this vision to bring His people back to the true meaning of who Israel is to be, as stated in the book of Numbers.
 
Numbers 15:15-16
The community is to have the same rules for you and for the alien living among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the alien shall be the same before  YAHWEH The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and the alien living among you.
 
Peter’s understanding of this vision corrects this false Oral Law deception about Gentiles being unclean. If I want to know the true interpretation of the vision of Acts 10, I should allow Scripture to directly tell me. Peter and the other disciples had to be corrected of the error of the Oral Law teaching about Gentiles. This is very similar to times it is recorded that Jesus also corrected Oral law teachings.
 
 To make sure I get it, the Bible repeats the correct interpretation of Acts 10 again in Acts chapter 11.
 
Acts 11:18
When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”
 
I am told the correct interpretation. Not just once, but twice. Despite that, many today teach that the interpretation of Peter’s vision is about food. The reality is that the Father was simply teaching Peter that it’s okay to associate with Gentiles and they can be saved despite what the Pharisees might think and teach.
 
I must be careful with visions, only God can give the interpretation. It reminds me of Nebuchadnezzar , he was given a vision and then Daniel clearly told him what it meant but Nebuchadnezzar changed its clearly revealed interpretation to suit his own desires.
 
I still find it strange that even though God says He never does anything without revealing it to His prophets Amos 3:7, there is not one single prophecy that YAHWEH’s instruction will be done away with after the Messiah comes. Nor is there a single mention of that in any Gospel which were written decades after Paul’s writings. This has me scouring the Bible because it is not what I have been taught my entire life. 

YAHWEH's dietary instructions do not give me reasons why God said some things are food and some things are not but I think the Creator probably knows what's best for His creation to eat. There may or may not be health reasons, the Bible does not tell me. In Hebrew the word for appetite is also related to all forms of longing , joy, love and also negative longings -  greed, lust, revenge. Since appetite is so closely related to our emotions these instructions could be for me to learn self restraint. One of the criticism the Psalmist lays against the Israelites in the desert is that they rebelled at what YAHWEH gave them to eat and instead  they demanded food they craved Psa 78:19 

Also, could simply be that God did not design dogs, cats, horses pigs etc. to be eaten. 

I know pig is a big one for people. I was surprised to learn that Pigs are able to outperform three-year-old human children on cognition tests. This age was determined based upon the shared abilities of pigs and children of the age. At three years old a child is all about learning and exploring, enjoys playing, and shows self-awareness. This is also the case for pigs which demonstrate distinct likes and dislikes, enjoy playing creatively, and display a range of emotions similar to those of a child. 

There are many interesting behaviors and preferences of pigs that highlight the species’ high intelligence. Below is just a sampling of facts that might surprise you about pigs.

better at video games than chimpanzees. 

Piglets will play fight with one another. 

Pigs are empathetic. 

With training, piglets can learn their names at just two weeks old. 

 are capable swimmers and will choose it over wallowing in mud. 

raised in a barren environment, as is the case in factory farms, suffer from impaired long-term memory. 

Pigs are likely able to assume what other pigs can and can’t see and will avoid spots with hidden food if they think another pig may be watching. 

can use mirrors to find hidden objects. 

brains are large and share many similarities with human brains. 

Pigs are dedicated mothers and will sleep snout to snout with their young. 

Pigs wag their tails when they’re happy and content. 

When studying pigs, many researchers use chocolate to train them, as pigs love it. 

Pigs have distinct personalities.

Pigs enjoy the friendship of other pigs. 

Mother pigs will sing to their babies. 

Pigs likely dream. 

They can sense and feel terror when danger is close by and produce an actual scream.

Maybe because God made them so intelligent that He does not want us to eat them? What are your thoughts? I look forward to any input you have on this passage. 

There are other NT passages about food and I will be looking at them in Part 2

God Bless you and may our Father give you completeness, soundness, welfare, peace, safety, health, prosperity, tranquility, contentment and friendship in the fellowship of Y'shua Messiah in this life and in the world to come. (The complete meaning of the Hebrew word "Shalom") 

I finished writing this on Saturday as the sun was setting and the Sabbath was ending and the first day of the week after Passover is beginning. It is the Feast of First Fruits! 

2000 years ago sometime between now and before sunrise our Savior conquered death and rose from the grave! 

 The miracle of Passover in Exodus 4000 years ago pointing to the ultimate miracle of the real Passover Lamb 2000 years ago. - So important, so much to know and realize and understand. 

"May we all come to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth ,and to know the love of our Savior which surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled to all the fullness of God." Eph 3:18-19

 Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread/Celebration of First Fruits and Easter

It all starts with choosing the Lamb and slaying the Lamb and a Passover meal eaten at twilight on the 14th day of the first Hebrew month.¹ It commemorates the night of the fifteenth that YAHWEH’s destroyer passed over any home that put the blood of the Lamb on their doorposts and He rescued His people out of Egypt.

Pharaoh is a cruel, insecure and scared tyrant. He plots against the Israelites and slanders them and oppresses and enslaves the Israelites, Pharaoh then commands midwives to kill Hebrew boys at birth, when that fails, he commands all Hebrew baby boys be thrown into the Nile River. It’s a terrible oppression and then great sadness as babies are stolen from families and drowned. 

YAHWEH has been more than patient and now it’s time for judgement against Egypt’s cruel ruler and citizens who show no mercy towards the Israelites. YAHWEH turns nature over against the Egyptians, it is a visible manifestation of YAHWEH’s sovereignty over the gods of Egypt, and therefore, over Egypt itself. And the final plague is judgement for all the killing of the firstborn and the terrible oppression of Israel that Egypt has done.²

Select the Lamb of God

"Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth of this month they are, each one, to take a lamb for themselves, according to the fathers' households, a lamb for each household. Exo 12:3 

Jesus rides into town on the 10th and the crowds selects Him ((John 12:1,2; Zech 9:9, Math 21)³

The Lamb is inspected

'Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 'You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it at twilight. Exo12:5-6

Between the 10th day and the 14th Jesus clears the temple of blemishes and has several run ins with the religious leaders as they “inspect” question Him, but they can find no fault in Him. 

Tuesday night, (the beginning of the 14th day, the day of preparation) He has a meal with His Disciples. He sends Judas away. The Disciples think Judas is going to buy things. *(see Note and Chart)

Afterwards they go to the garden of Gethsemane to pray. 

Later in the night soldiers come to arrest Jesus.

The Lamb is Slaughtered

Jesus’ overnight and early morning trial is over and he is crucified on Wed the 14th and He dies during twilight (in between the evenings) at the same time the lambs are being slaughtered for the Passover meal. 

You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it during twilight. Exo 12:6 

Sometime after 3pm on Tuesday he dies (John 19:31) and is buried as the Passover starts, the beginning of the 15th day, the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins, a Sabbath, and the Passover meal is eaten.⁴

The Lamb becomes the Conqueror 

In Exodus all the lambs had been slaughtered on the 14th day and their blood put on their doorposts and at Sunset and the 15th day started as YAHWEH went through the land to destroy evil. 

'For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and fatally strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the human firstborn to animals; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments--I am YAHWEH. Exo 12:12 

And [Jesus] having despoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Col 2:15 

Jesus is in the tomb from Wednesday night , all day Thursday and Thursday night, All day Friday and Friday night, All day Saturday and rises as the 18th day which starts at sunset Saturday night and the first day of the week begins.  - 3 nights and 3 days

Passover, as describe in Deuteronomy was memorialized by each family sacrificing a lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month, and then eating that lamb as part of a meal. 

Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to YAHWEH your God, for in the month of Abib the YAHWEH your God brought you out of Egypt by night. And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to YAHWEH your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place that YAHWEH will choose, to make his name dwell there. Deuteronomy 16:1-2

Two very important things about this Deuteronomy passage: 

One, I no longer need to offer sacrifices for purification or forgiveness because The Lamb of God, that all of these things pointed to, was slaughtered at the place and time YAHWEH chose. The Lamb, the Son of God, Yahshua (YAHWEH Saves), Jesus, was the final sacrifice that once and for all purified and cleanses me from all unrighteousness.⁵ Therefore, there is no need for me to keep offering animal or plant sacrifices for purification or forgiveness. I can now go directly into the Holy of Holies.⁶   I still offer spiritual sacrifices: of obedience; of praise; of thanksgiving; my body as a living sacrifice, “which is my spiritual worship”.

Two, the place that YAHWEH chooses for  “His Name to dwell” is a very interesting phrase because there has not been only one place that He has done that. Scriptures tell me that He chose for His Name to “Dwell’: in the Garden; Mt Sania; in Shiloh; at the Tent of Meeting; at Jerusalem, at the Temple; . Then Jesus tells us He is the Temple. (John 2:19-21).⁷Then amazingly Jesus says YAHWEH will choose for His Presence/Name to  “dwell” in us.

"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and dwell with him. John 14:23

And  when 2 or 3 of us gather together we become the Temple (Mat 18:20, Eph 2:19-21)⁸

So, If I do not need to offer sacrifices, do I celebrate the Passover. I know that Paul and the Apostles did. They kept the Sabbath and all the appointed feasts.¹²

This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to YAHWEH; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. Exodus 12:14

How do I hold a memorial? The Scriptures don’t really say. They just say to have a memorial. Many people have a memorial by getting together for a meal in which there is teaching and discussion of the events of the Exodus. A popular way of doing this is a Jewish tradition called a Passover Seder. Seder means “order,” and the Seder is a meal that is eaten in a particular order. The elements of the meal are designed to remind people of the first Passover. The Seder is a way, though certainly not the only way, to memorialize the Passover. The only thing the Scriptures say is to have a memorial. I personally enjoy following the Exodus menu of Lamb , bitter herbs and unleavened bread and then add a few sides, like charoset. 

Feast of Unleavened Bread

Passover memorial commemorates  when God passed over the houses that were covered by the blood of the lamb. The seven days that start at Passover are called the Festival or Feast of Unleavened Bread, in which no leaven is to be eaten.¹¹

While Passover commemorates God’s judgment passing over Israel, the Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorates the departure of Israel from Egypt. Unleavened bread eaten during this because that’s what the Israelites ate when they left Egypt:

“Leaven” is an additive that causes dough to puff up and expand. At the time of the Exodus their leavening agent was yeast. In order to make bread that would rise, a sourdough starter containing yeast had to be added to their bread dough, and the dough had to be kneaded, and allowed to sit for several hours, to give the yeast a chance to grow. This growth of the yeast would cause the dough to rise, and once that dough was baked, it would produce a familiar puffed-up loaf of bread. When the Israelites hurried out of Egypt, they did not have enough time to knead their dough and let it rise. As a result, the bread they made was not light and fluffy, it was unleavened; it was dense and flat. During the week of this festival, unleavened bread is eaten to remind me of the bread that the Israelites ate when they were freed from Egypt.

The symbology of Unleavened Bread.

Once I’ve been saved by Christ’s blood, which is symbolized in the Passover, I am then free from slavery to sin and death, just like the Israelites were freed from their slavery to the Egyptians. Paul speaks about this in Romans 6: 4-11⁹

Now that I have gone through this spiritual Passover and have been freed from sin and death, I strive to keep myself unstained by the world (James 1:27)¹⁰, to consider myself “dead to sin.” Paul also refers to this as symbolically being “unleavened” in 1 Corinthians:

Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1 Corinthians 5:7-8

Once I’ve been redeemed from my old ways, of malice and evil and sin, I don’t want to return to those ways. I want to stay pure and true, “unleavened” like Paul says. I want to walk in obedience to God, not in disobedience as I did before I was saved. When I eat unleavened bread during this festival, it’s a yearly reminder for me to stay free from sin, and not enslave myself to the ways of the world again.

Passover and Unleavened Bread are not just celebrations of God’s salvation of Israel during the Exodus, they also symbolize the salvation and life I have in Christ/The Messiah.

The Scriptures have seven basic instructions regarding the Festival of Unleavened Bread.¹¹

1) Keep it for seven days, starting on the fifteenth day of the first month (Leviticus 23:6).

2) Eat unleavened bread during those seven days (Exodus 13:6).

3) Avoid eating leavened bread during those seven days.

4) Remove the leavening agent used to make bread from your house when the festival begins. (few people today keep a leavening agent for bread in their house)

The first four can all be found in this one verse:  Exodus 12:15

5) Rest from your work on the first day and the seventh day (Leviticus 23:7-8).

6) Teach your children the reason you are celebrating this festival: (Exodus 13:8)

7) Do this where YAHWEH has placed His name to Dwell: (Deut. 6:1-2) (2 or 3 gathered in his Name)   

          

Jesus is the First Fruit

The celebration of the First Fruit is observed the day after the weekly Sabbath (which is the first day of the week)  that occurs during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So, it will always be my Saturday evening to the following Sunday evening. It just so happened in Jesus’ time the days worked out that First Fruits occurred 3 nights and 3 days after he was buried,  as prophesied.*(see Chart) 

Jesus rises from the grave after the Sabbath is over (some time between Saturday night before Sunday sunrise), the first day of the week, having conquered sin and death and the satanic powers of this world. He is the First Fruit. 

But the fact is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 1Corinthians 15:20 

Mary goes to the tomb on early on the first day of the week before the sun is up and the rock is already rolled away and she discovers the tomb is empty. 

Recap 

• God gave His people mo’edim—appointed times—for me to keep as a reminder of His great works.

• Passover is an appointed time during which I remember God saving the Israelites from the plague of death in Egypt, when death passed over every house that was covered with the lamb’s blood.

• I can keep Passover today by memorializing the Exodus from Egypt on the beginning /evening of the 15th day of the first month.

• Passover is also a memorial of the salvation I have in Y’shua, because that’s the day on which He was crucified. Jesus blood saves me from death, just like the lamb’s blood did during the Exodus.

• Unleavened Bread is a seven-day festival which memorializes Israel going free from their slavery.

• The first and seventh days of Unleavened Bread are days of rest (Sabbaths). There are 3 Sabbaths during the Feast: The First Day of the Feast, the 15th day of the month; The weekly seventh Day Sabbath, Friday night to Saturday sunset; The last day of the Feast, the 21st day of the month. The whole week is a time to avoid leavened bread and eat unleavened bread. The unleavened bread reminds me of the bread the Israelites ate when they went free.

• Unleavened Bread also reminds me of the freedom from sin that I have in Christ. The leavening of malice and evil has been removed from me, and now I can be “unleavened,” full of sincerity and truth.

*(Note – the best I can understand the “Last Supper” did not happen at Passover and was not a Passover Meal. Mat 26:7 English versions say on the first day of the Feast but Greek word for “first” also means “before”. Better translated “before the First Day” because the Last supper was not a Passover meal i.e. no lamb, no unleavened bread and no bitter herbs.  Greek word for unleavened bread not used to describe bread and the Apostles thought Judas was sent out to buy something, Jhn 13:29, which would not be done on a Sabbath and Passover is always a Sabbath. Passover has always pointed to Jesus, He is the Lamb of God and was sacrificed at the appointed time. It seems to me that Jesus followed the exact timeline God laid out thousands of years before for the sacrificial lamb. The Apostle John confirms that Jesus was buried on Passover a special Sabbath John 9:14⁴)

*Chart of the Passover Week during Jesus Time.

Keeping up with what day it is confuses me sometimes because I am not use to the way the Bible counts days. The new day always starts at sunset not at midnight. For instance the weekly Sabbath, the 7th day of week, starts at Sunset on Friday and ends at Sunset on Sunday

 Exodus 12 says to kill the lamb on the 14th and at Twilight and as the 4th is ending and the 15th is beginning eat the Passover meal. John says that 6 days before the Passover Jesus was in Bethany , that would be the 9th day of the month. John also says that on the next day, the 10th, Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem. The 10th is the day Exodus says to choose the lamb. The attached calendar starts on that tenth day

Exodus 12:6-8, Leviticus 23:5, Numbers 9:3

John 12:1  - Therefore, six days before the Passover, (Passover is the 15 day {evening} of the first month) Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

 (Passover Lamb is killed on 14th and Passover starts on the evening, the beginning of the 15th. )

John 12:12 - On the next day (the 10th Day of the Month, also the Sabbath ) when the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and [began] shouting, "Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, indeed, the King of Israel!" Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: "DO NOT FEAR, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY'S COLT."

Its very hard to prove that the 10th fell on the Sabbath the year Jesus was crucified but there is a lot of evidence for it. Scholars debate what year He was crucified but the majority leans towards AD 30. Our modern calendars are very confusing when you go back that far because they have changed so much. It so happens that the Jews have been keeping a calendar for thousands of  years and its much easier to get an idea of when the Feast of Unleavened Bread using their calendar. The Jewish calendar in AD 30 says that the 10th of Nisan fell on a Sabbath. Also, the only way for the the events of Biblical narrative and for Jesus to be in  the grave for 3 nights and 3 days and rise on the 1st day of the week works out, is for the 10th to have fallen on a Sabbath

(The proposition that Jesus died at Passover in the early spring of AD 30. While this dating is widely accepted, there is a minority who suggest other dates. However, the ratio of New Testament scholars who prefer AD 30 over AD 33 as the year of Jesus’s execution is more than two to one, and that ratio is higher still for AD 30 when compared to any other year. among twentieth-century Protestant experts none is more respected and influential than F. F. Bruce, who produced several highly regarded histories and commentaries on the New Testament. Based on historical factors, Bruce dates the crucifixion to AD 30 in all of his works, including his widely used New Testament History,20 his well-respected commentary The Gospel of John,21 and his landmark study The New Testament Documents.22

Raymond Brown is perhaps the most respected and preeminent among twentieth-century Catholic scholars of the New Testament. In his exhaustive, two-volume commentary entitled The Death of the Messiah, he explores the views of virtually all of his contemporaries (of all denominations) on issues related to the narratives of Jesus’s final days and death. With regard to dating, Brown cites the 1969 study of German scholar Josef Blinzler,23 in which 53 of 100 noted scholars maintain that AD 30 must be the date of Jesus’s death. Brown summarized those scholars’ views: “Between one and three respectively have opted for the years 26, 27, 28, 31, 32, and 36. Thirteen opted for AD 29, fifty-three for 30, and twenty-four for 33.”24 In this observation, it is clear that an absolute majority of the scholars surveyed support AD 30, and there is a more than two-to-one preference for AD 30 over AD 33, as noted earlier. The preference rises to four to one for AD 30 over AD 29. Brown notes Pierre Benoit (a fellow Catholic scholar), Bruce Metzger (a prominent American Presbyterian scholar), Joachim Jeremias (the famous German Lutheran scholar), and David Flusser (the preeminent Jewish scholar on early Christianity) as “among the more famous or knowledgeable authorities who have opted for AD 30.”25 To Blinzler’s list must be added scholars whose works appeared after his study was published and who favored AD 30, such as Catholic scholars Jerome Murphy O’Connor,26 Joseph Fitzmyer, and Bargil Pixner,27 as well as the prolific but idiosyncratic Bart Ehrman,28 who is of no current religious affiliation.29)

20. F. F. Bruce, New Testament History (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980), 188.

21. F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1983), 252.

22. F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? 6th ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1981), 6.

23. Josef Blinzler, Der Prozess Jesu (Regensburg, Ger.: Verlag Friedrich Pustet, 1969), 101–2.

24. Raymond E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah, 2 vols. (New York: Doubleday, 1994), 2:1375.

25. Brown, Death of the Messiah, 2:1375 n. 50.

26. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, The Holy Land, 4th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 3.

27. Bargil Pixner, With Jesus in Jerusalem: His First and Last Days in Judea (Rosh Pina, Israel: Corazin Publishing, 1996), 181.

28. Bart D. Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, 5th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), xxxiv.

29. Bart Ehrman is identified as an agnostic and no longer a Christian in his own Wikipedia article, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_D._Ehrman.

This brings up another interesting question for me.  - Christians honor the 1st day of the week, Sunday,  because that was the day Jesus rose from the grave, which was also The Feast of First Fruits. However from year to year the Feast of First Fruits changes just as the day Passover falls on changes. Also, there is no command in the Bible, in Old or New, to honor the weekly Sunday, just the weekly Sabbath. Choosing to honor Sunday instead of the Sabbath does not seem to fit any Biblical pattern. Jesus rising from the grave is a symbol of First Fruit not a symbol of the 1st day of the week. In Jesus we find our eternal rest, our eternal Sabbath. Jesus "is the First Fruit of those who are asleep who will also be at His coming." What does not make since is to say "Jesus in the 1st day of the week to me, He is my Sunday". I cannot make Biblical sense of honoring Sunday instead of the Sabbath. 

Scriptures Referenced 

1. YAHWEH said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,  “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Ex. 12:1-2

2. And YAHWEH said, "I have certainly seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their outcry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. Exo 3:7 

"And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. Exo 3:9

3. Therefore, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. John 12:1 

Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is righteous and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zec 9:9 

Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. Now the crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF YAHWEH; Hosanna in the highest!" Mat 21:8-9 

A stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of YAHWEH; We have blessed you from the house of YAHWEH. Psa. 118:22,26 

4. 'In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. For seven days there shall be no dough with yeast found in your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land.  You shall not eat anything with yeast; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood, which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. For YAHWEH will pass through to strike the Egyptians; but when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, YAHWEH will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike  you.

And you shall keep this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. When you enter the land which YAHWEH will give you, as He has promised, you shall keep this rite. And when your children say to you, 'What does this rite mean to you?' then you shall say, 'It is a Passover sacrifice to YAHWEH because He passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians but spared our homes.'" And the people bowed low and worshiped. Exo 12:18-27 

Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about [six am]. And he said to the Jews, "Look, your King!  John 19:14

"Now then, since it was the day of preparation, to prevent the bodies from remaining on the cross on the Sabbath for that Sabbath was a high day{"Passover" NLT}, the Jews requested of Pilate that their legs be broken, and the bodies be taken away. Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred litras weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. John 19:,31,39-40

5. This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1John 1:5-9

6. Therefore, let's approach the Mercy Seat with confidence, so that we may receive steadfast lovingkindness and find grace for help at the time of our need. Heb 4:16 

7. Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

The Jews then said, "It took forty-six years to build this temple, and yet You will raise it up in three days?" But He was speaking about the temple of His body. John 2:19-21

8. "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst." Mat 18:20 

So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. Eph 2:19-22 

9. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus [Messiah Y’shua]. Romans 6:4-11 

10. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of [our] God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:27 

11. 'Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to YAHWEH; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. Lev 23:6 

"For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to YAHWEH. Exo 13:6 

'Now this day shall be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to YAHWEH; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. 'For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove dough with yeast from your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 'And on the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another]holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except for what must be eaten by every person--that alone may be prepared by you. 'You shall also keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your multitudes out of the land of Egypt; therefore, you shall keep this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. Exo 12:14-17 

'In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is YAHWEH’s Passover. 'Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to YAHWEH; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 'On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. Lev 23:5-7

 "For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to YAHWEH. "Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and nothing with yeast shall be seen among you, nor shall any dough with yeast be seen among you in all your borders. "And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, 'It is because of what YAHWEH did for me when I came out of Egypt.' "And it shall serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead, that the law of YAHWEH may be in your mouth; for with a powerful hand YAHWEH brought you out of Egypt. "Therefore, you shall keep this ordinance at its appointed time from year to year. Exo 13:6-10

"Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to YAHWEH your God, for in the month of Abib YAHWEH your God brought you out of Egypt by night. "You shall sacrifice the Passover to YAHWEH your God from the flock and the herd, in the place where YAHWEH chooses to make His name dwell. Deut. 16:1-2 

12. Appointed Times

In addition to the seventh Day to be a Sabbath and Holy Assembly – (Every weekly Sabbath Day there is to be a Holy Assembly Lev 23:3) -  I have found  7 more Appointed Times

Holy Assembly/Convocation H4744(mikra) –

1. First Day of Unleavened Bread (the 15th) Passover there is to be a Holy Assembly Lev 23:7

2. The Day of First Fruit, (resurrection day)  is always the first day of a week, day after the weekly Sabbath in the week of Unleavened Bread. The Priest was to wave a sheath and the Priest was to sacrifice a lamb. Is a Sabbath and A Holy Assembly. First fruits of new growth Lev 23:11 and Numb 28:5-26

3. The Seventh Day of Unleavened bread (the 21st of first month) is to be a Sabbath and a Holy Assembly Lev 23:8

4. Shavuot/Pentecost 50 days from end of Feast of Unleavened Bread, is a Sabbath and a Holy Assembly. The Priest shall make offerings of Harvest Lev 23:15-22

5. Day of Trumpets (Yom Teruah in the 7th month) is a Sabbath and a Holy Assembly Lev 23:24

6. Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur in the 7 month) is a Sabbath and a Holy Assembly Lev 23:27-28

7. Festival of Tabernacles (Sukkot in the 7 month) is a Sabbath and a Holy Assembly  Lev 23:33-43

Thoughts on Easter Celebrations

There are lots of people who argue for or against Easter celebrations and where it originated. There are many scholars who now say that the word derives from the Christian designation of Easter week as in albis, a Latin phrase that was understood as the plural of alba (“dawn”) and became eostarum in Old High German, the precursor of the modern German and English term meaning dawn. 

However even if old cultural symbols are reinvented, there is a deep power that comes from taking a piece of an older idea and using it in a new one. It gives the new idea ‘cultural standing.’ It makes it seem both exciting but also familiar. In some ways it’s just easier to get people to act mostly in the same way under a new label. In time, with enough practice, their original beliefs fall away. 

There are people who with a sincere heart and no reference in their mind or heart to anything pagan that celebrate the death burial and resurrection of Jesus on Easter and have assigned Christian non pagan values to naturally occurring things like flowers, eggs even bunnies as a sign of Gods goodness and provision. “The earth is YAHWEH’s and everything in it” and “Praise YAHWEH all wild animals and all livestock and all small creatures and all flying birds”  Psalm 148:10

One person values one day over another, another values every day the same. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and the one who eats, does so with regard to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and the one who does not eat, it is for the Lord that he does not eat, and he gives thanks to God. Rom 14:6 (while this passage is addressing Jewish traditional Fast days I think it  applies)

In the Old Testament YAHWEH took pagan traditions like circumcision, animal sacrifice and reintroduced and used them in totally different ways and values.

Traditions of men are wrong when they replace or nullify God's Word. But shared traditions, that are not prohibited by God and that promote good values strengthen a community

Easter is wrong if you let it replace the Passover. I believe it’s not wrong if you celebrate the Passover and want to celebrate Easter also. 

Christmas and Thanksgiving and Birthdays are not wrong as long as they do not replace or nullify God's instructions. Whatever we do in word or deed, we do in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Col 3:17 

How Should We Then Live?

Many have asked the question "How should we then live?"  Famously in modern times, Francis A. Schaeffer and Wayne Muller wrote great books with that title. *Ezekiel and *Paul  also asked "How should we then live"  I too, really want to know the answer to that question. Should I live trying to obey YAHWEH's Torah? If so, what does that mean and what does that look like? Should I live obeying only parts of His Torah, which parts? The Big Ten? Or only what some call "The moral laws" ? If so, who defines which ones are the "moral", did Jesus and the Apostles only follow "moral laws"? Or should I just forget about trying to live by YAHWEH's Torah because it has been fulfilled and done away with?
For most of my years I did not question what place or function YAHWEH's Torah had in my life. I have been very content with the assumptions I inherited from my Church, my modern culture and the myopia of "western" Church culture and history. I had the impression that YAHWEH's Torah was like a wonderful but very ancient antique artifact, that was to be viewed and appreciated but not actually used today. But over time some realizations moved me towards cognitive dissonance. The realization that when the New Testament writers referenced "the scriptures" they always meant the Old Testament because there was no New Testament then; that New Testament Christians who made sure everything they were taught did not contradict the Old Testament were called noble; that the Gospels were some of the last books written in the Bible. If there had been a revelation that "God's Law" had been done away with or significantly changed these later written accounts completely ignored it and actually made a point of emphasizing the opposite. 
As I pondered this, I realized that there is one person in the Bible that mostly gives rise to all of these questions. It is the writings of Paul. If I take out the writings of Paul there is much less contradiction and more consistency. But God Himself singled out Paul and declared that Paul is a  "chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My Name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel"
In order for me to understand or reconcile what seem to be contradictions I will have to know more about Paul's letters and put a little more effort into understanding the contexts in these letters. 
The New Testament contains 27 literary works, and more than half are letters. In my English translations these letters seem easy to read and understand, and 14 letters attributed to Paul are given lots of attention and make up a large share of most teaching and preaching today.
It’s important for me to remember that the New Testament letters are just that—letters.  I keep in mind that the letters are not theological essays on Christian topics but letters to specific people that arose from specific cultural and relational context and addressed the issues of their day. The letters all contain background information that is not explicitly mentioned. For instance, 1 and 2 Corinthians are actually the second and fourth letters from Paul to this Church. I only have a partial look at Paul's relationship with the Corinthians, and he often mentions details that have a backstory I simply cannot know. 
Since the Gospels and Acts were written after Paul's death, the Gospel writers had full knowledge and hindsight of Paul's life and teachings, therefore it would make no sense to expect or assume there would be contradictions between doctrinal perspectives in the Gospels versus what Paul taught. Before writing the Gospels the authors had already experienced Jesus crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, Pentecost and the salvation of Gentiles and the establishment of Gentile churches. The Gospels were written for an audience where all of those events were in the past. For instance, if I think that Paul is contradicting something Mathew wrote, the perspective is really that Mathew wrote something that looks to me like a contradiction to what Paul previously wrote. Maybe we should organize our New Testament so that Paul's letters come first and the Gospels come after them. Because that is the way it really happened. In some sense, the Gospel authors had the last word. My question is why would there even be contradictions, furthermore, why do I believe there is a contradiction? Obviously seeming contradictions call for more study. 
Because the New Testament letters are only offering me one side of a 2-sided conversation, they force me to recognize and consider context. The primary context of the letters is for me to understand how they fit into the expansion of the Church in Acts and how it all fits into the broader Biblical story.  Also, reading the entirety of a letter and understanding its literary form helps me to understand the situational context and themes and resist the urge to pull a lone sentence out of a letter to support some doctrine the theme of the letter is not addressing. 
Tim Mackie of the Bible Project says that there are at least four layers of context he finds helpful for understanding New Testament letters: biblical context, cultural context, situational context, and literary context. - Where do these letters fit in the broader storyline of the Bible? What is the original Jewish, Greek, or Roman cultural context? What is the situational context that prompted this letter? What is the unified message of the letter as a whole?
Bible scholar Nijay Gupta says five questions will also help me read the letters wisely.
1. What kind of statement is being made? Is this a question, answer, assertion, denial, command, or  prohibition?
2. What is the tone of these statements?  Does Paul see it as a mild problem or as a major issue? Reading multiple translations can help me get a better sense of tone.
3. What is the frequency of these statements? Does this issue come up just once or multiple times? Mackie says that 1 Timothy is a good example because the issue of Genesis and genealogies keep coming up.
4. How consistent is Paul about this problem? Is there a common thread that unites Paul’s letter? The Corinthian letters cover a wide variety of issues. However, 1 Thessalonians seems to be about one main problem, and the whole letter is oriented around this problem.
5. Does this issue come up elsewhere in the New Testament or in early Church history? Does the issue in question come up in other historical documents or is it an isolated incident?
Also, when reading Paul, he seems to regularly quote his audience (i.e. 1Cor 7) , but because quotation marks don’t exist in Biblical Greek I have to do my best to infer when Paul is quoting or asserting his own thoughts. Paul’s argument changes based on whether he’s quoting his audience or asserting his own thoughts. Reading several different English translations shows me how different scholars place those quotation marks in different places and some not at all. 
Lastly, I want to understand how what is being written fits into context of the Old Testament. All of the New Testament writers (except Luke) are Jews and their brains have Hebrew thoughts, trained since youth by their upbringing in YAHWEH's Torah, Hebrew thoughts that are preserved in Greek words now translated into English words.
All of the above teaches me to not take Paul’s words as if he were writing to a 21st century English speaking culture. It's going to take some work to really understand his letters and parts of them I may never completely understand. 
In my next post, I am going to try and unravel one of those apparent contradictions. 


*"Son of man, say to the Israelites, 'This is what you are saying: "Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. "How then should we live?"  Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they repent from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!.. But, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice. Eze 33:10,11,32
*...Now that God's wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So how should we live, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?" Rom 5:21-6:2