Isn't it amazing how many tiny little quotes in the Bible are used to form entire doctrines? Let's take the word "Christian". How many times does this appear in the Bible? The word is used 3 times in the entire text of scripture. Here are those times:
Acts 11:26
and having found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came about that for a whole year they assembled with the church and instructed many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
Acts 26:28
And Agrippa said to Paul, "In a short time, you are persuading me to become a Christian!”
1 Peter 4:16
but if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be put to shame, but let him glorify God in this matter.
For 3 quotations, the entire Sunday church goes off and uses this title for themselves. I would also note that no believer in the 1st century used this word to describe themselves. As I stated in my previous post, they described themselves as bond servants almost exclusively, and sometimes as "followers of the Way" or even Jews. They never self described as Christians.
Here's another word that the Sunday Christians take and form an entire doctrine over: Easter.
That word is only once used, and it is a mistranslation where it is used (Acts 12:4), yet the entire springtime in the church is consumed with the festival. I'd like to know what eggs and a bunny have to do with the resurrection of the Jewish Messiah from the dead.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
עבד
What is a bond slave? You may think that this concept comes from the writings of the Jewish Apostles, commonly referred to as the "New" Testament, but you would be wrong. The verse commonly quoted to be the origination of this concept is Romans 1:1:
1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, separated to the gospel of God
Or perhaps you were thinking 2 Peter 1:1
1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
It is actually the most common reference the apostles use to describe themselves:
James 1:1
1 James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered among the nations: Greetings.
Phillipians 1:1
1 Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, together with the overseers and ministers:
Jude 1:1
1 Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, having been sanctified by God the Father, and having been kept in Jesus Christ:
Where does this concept come from originally? I will tell you quite pointedly that it does not originate in the writings of the Jewish Apostles. As King Solomon has eloquently been quoted as saying:
Ecclesiastes 1:9
9 What has been is what shall be, what has been done is what shall be done, and there is no new matter under the sun.
Given that we know that Ecclesiastes is inspired scripture, and we know he is saying there is nothing new under the sun, we must seek to find where it originates. It is my belief that everything originates in the Torah, and so does this concept. We find it in the book of Exodus:
Exodus 21: 1-6
1 “These are the right-rulings which you are to set before them:
2 “When you buy a Heḇrew servant, he serves six years, and in the seventh he goes out free, for naught.
3 “If he comes in by himself, he goes out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.
4 “If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children are her master’s, and he goes out by himself.
5 “And if the servant truly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children, let me not go out free,’
6 then his master shall bring him before Elohim, and shall bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl. And he shall serve him forever.
This is repeated in Deuteronomy 15:12-18
12 “When your brother is sold to you, a Heḇrew man or a Heḇrew woman, and shall serve you six years, then let him go free from you in the seventh year.
13 “And when you send him away free from you, let him not go away empty-handed.
14 “You shall richly supply him from your flock, and from your threshing-floor, and from your winepress. With that which יהוה has blessed you with, give to him.
15 “And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Mitsrayim, and יהוה your Elohim redeemed you. Therefore I am commanding you this word today.
16 “And it shall be, when he says to you, ‘I do not go away from you,’ because he loves you and your house, because it is good for him with you,
17 then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Do the same to your female servant.
18 “Let it not be hard in your eyes when you send him away free from you, for he has been worth a double hired servant in serving you six years. And יהוה your Elohim shall bless you in all that you do.
We also have an example of the nation of Israel disobeying the clear command in Jeremiah 34:12-16:
12 Therefore the word of יהוה came to Yirmeyahu from יהוה, saying,
13 “Thus said יהוה the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘I Myself made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Mitsrayim, out of the house of bondage, saying,
14 “At the end of seven years each one should set free his Heḇrew brother, who has been sold to him. And when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you.” But your fathers did not obey Me nor incline their ear.
15 ‘And you recently turned and did what was right in My eyes, each man proclaiming release to his neighbor. And you made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My Name.
16 ‘But you turned back and profaned My Name, and each one of you took back his male and female slaves, whom he had set free, at their pleasure, and brought them into subjection, to be your male and female slaves.’
The verses that follow tells us what happens when we disobeyed the commandment.
1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, separated to the gospel of God
Or perhaps you were thinking 2 Peter 1:1
1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
It is actually the most common reference the apostles use to describe themselves:
James 1:1
1 James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered among the nations: Greetings.
Phillipians 1:1
1 Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, together with the overseers and ministers:
Jude 1:1
1 Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, having been sanctified by God the Father, and having been kept in Jesus Christ:
Where does this concept come from originally? I will tell you quite pointedly that it does not originate in the writings of the Jewish Apostles. As King Solomon has eloquently been quoted as saying:
Ecclesiastes 1:9
9 What has been is what shall be, what has been done is what shall be done, and there is no new matter under the sun.
Given that we know that Ecclesiastes is inspired scripture, and we know he is saying there is nothing new under the sun, we must seek to find where it originates. It is my belief that everything originates in the Torah, and so does this concept. We find it in the book of Exodus:
Exodus 21: 1-6
1 “These are the right-rulings which you are to set before them:
2 “When you buy a Heḇrew servant, he serves six years, and in the seventh he goes out free, for naught.
3 “If he comes in by himself, he goes out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.
4 “If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children are her master’s, and he goes out by himself.
5 “And if the servant truly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children, let me not go out free,’
6 then his master shall bring him before Elohim, and shall bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl. And he shall serve him forever.
This is repeated in Deuteronomy 15:12-18
12 “When your brother is sold to you, a Heḇrew man or a Heḇrew woman, and shall serve you six years, then let him go free from you in the seventh year.
13 “And when you send him away free from you, let him not go away empty-handed.
14 “You shall richly supply him from your flock, and from your threshing-floor, and from your winepress. With that which יהוה has blessed you with, give to him.
15 “And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Mitsrayim, and יהוה your Elohim redeemed you. Therefore I am commanding you this word today.
16 “And it shall be, when he says to you, ‘I do not go away from you,’ because he loves you and your house, because it is good for him with you,
17 then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Do the same to your female servant.
18 “Let it not be hard in your eyes when you send him away free from you, for he has been worth a double hired servant in serving you six years. And יהוה your Elohim shall bless you in all that you do.
We also have an example of the nation of Israel disobeying the clear command in Jeremiah 34:12-16:
12 Therefore the word of יהוה came to Yirmeyahu from יהוה, saying,
13 “Thus said יהוה the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘I Myself made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Mitsrayim, out of the house of bondage, saying,
14 “At the end of seven years each one should set free his Heḇrew brother, who has been sold to him. And when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you.” But your fathers did not obey Me nor incline their ear.
15 ‘And you recently turned and did what was right in My eyes, each man proclaiming release to his neighbor. And you made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My Name.
16 ‘But you turned back and profaned My Name, and each one of you took back his male and female slaves, whom he had set free, at their pleasure, and brought them into subjection, to be your male and female slaves.’
The verses that follow tells us what happens when we disobeyed the commandment.
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