November 18, 2022
Does the Bible, specifically the New Testament, prove that Jesus changed the practices in Second Temple Judaism? Did Jesus do away with the old law, the TORAH, and start a new Sabbath on Sunday? It seems that if you study the New Testament in ENGLISH and separate it from the historical and ancient cultural context, the answer would be yes. However, the Bible was clearly meant for those first disciples like John and Mark and Matthew and Paul and Mary. God gave them His word so they understood it and passed it down to us. So, one might say they are the first audience. But, they are all Jewish, even Luke. There is a strong argument that Luke was Jewish. It isn't conclusive but very strong. Check it out at this link - https://www.levitt.com/essays/luke
Thus, these Jewish believers lived in a Jewish culture 2000 years ago and they perhaps saw things and understood things a lot differently than us. For on thing we have proof that the early church, those first believers, met for the Sabbath on Friday evening to Saturday evening.
(Paul F. Bradshaw and Lawrence A. Hoffman, The Making of Jewish and Christian Worship (Notre Dame, 1991). And,
In Video 3 we will again put the Bible in its historical context. Once again we will study His word taking in account the ancient Jewish culture of those first disciples, the first Messianic believers. When we do and study the GREEK and not the English, we find there is a compelling alternative understanding to verses that supposedly suggest Jesus changed everything. The three verses we will study are shown below take from the NASB version.
Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem;
(1Co 16:1-3)
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, "Do not be troubled, for his life is in him." When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted. (Act 20:7-12)
I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, "Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." (Rev 1:9-11)
This is only a short introduction. It is a deep and expansive subject that can not be completely addressed in a 40 to 60 minutes video. Thus, to continue your study on the Sabbath I strongly recommend the following books and resources ...
Kiesz, John. "A History of the Sabbath and Sunday." The Bible Sabbath Association (January 1, 1983). Free download at this link -
http://www.truthontheweb.org/KieszHistory.htm
Nichols, J. T. “The Origin of the Hebrew Sabbath.” The Old and New Testament Student, vol. 12, no. 1, 1891, pp. 36–42. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3157542
Hay, Malcolm. "THE ROOTS OF CHRISTIAN ANTI SEMITISM." Available at Amazon.
Dr. Shumel Safrai, “The Jewish People in the First Century: Historical Geography, Political History, Social, Cultural and Religious...Vols. 1 and 2.”
Bacchiocchi, Samule. "From Sabbath to Sunday. (1977)." Rome, Italy. Pontifical Gregorial University Press. Free download at this link - http://www.anym.org/pdf/from_Sabbath_to_Sunday_samuele_bacchiocchi.pdf
Encyclopedia Judaica. 1972. Keter Publishing. Jerusalem:Israel.
"Feasts and the Holidays, the Mo’edim." https://hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/holidays.html
Flusser, David. "Judaism and the Origins of Christianity." 1988. Magness Press. Jerusalem.
Hayyim, Schauss. "The Jewish Festivals." © 1938
"The Jewish Encyclopedia." www.jewishencyclopedia.com
Levine, Lee. 2005. "The Ancient Synagogue: the First Thousand Years." 2nd Edition. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Stern, David. Jewish New Testament Commentary. 1996. Jewish New Testament Publications. Clarksfield:Maryland.
Stern, David. The Complete Jewish Bible. 1998. Jewish New Testament
Wilson, Marvin. Our Father Abraham. 1989. W.B. Eerdman’s. Grand Rapids:MI. Contours of Hebrew Thought.
Finally, here's a link to a chapter of one of my books I did for my classes. The content is based upon the sources above. Link -
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qdycam9yad7ekax/e%20Lesson5..signbetweenus..2019..137..188.pdf?dl=0
A second link is related to Paul meeting in Troas on the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK. Here's the link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/rmkqxbq18k3cmeq/SABBATH%20IN%20TROAS%20AND%20REVELATION.pdf?dl=0
Rev. Ferret - who is this guy? What's his background? Why should I listen to him? Check his background at this link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0
