The High-Priestly Sacrifice

The accused must stay in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest; only after the death of the high priest may he return to his own property. Numbers 35:28

God established cities of refuge for his children to flee to in case they committed crimes they could not atone for, nor be cleared of.  They were real events that led to such a desperate flight, yet our Lord knew we would sometimes require a place to hide, heal, and await mercy.

In His omniscience, he prefigured a system whereby only a high priest’s death could atone for and remit the crimes we are helpless to “undo.”  Who is the one to do this for us today?  To whom was God pointing in this passage of the Torah when he established the cities of refuge?  What high priest’s death has freed us from sins we have no means, nor hope of dispensing on our own?

Only Jesus.  Simply Jesus.  The Torah always points to Jesus.  Nothing wrong with that.

Copyright © 2013 Andy Madonio – Patriarchs, Philosophers, & Phlip Phlops

God’s House – Our Plan to Follow

In my post on Measuring Up, we learned that the prophet Ezekiel was showing us Adonai’s house plans for a significant reason.  We are to live our lives by following his plans for us, which always dovetail perfectly with the plans for his house.  The New Testament teaches us the reason:

As you come to him, the living stone, rejected by people but chosen by God and precious to him, you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be cohanim [priests] set apart for God to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to him through Yeshua the Messiah.  2 Peter 2:4-5

The Hebrew word for house is bayith, and can have several meanings.  It can be a physical house; it can mean one’s family or one’s relatives in general.  It can also be the home, as in the structure, the family, and the relationships all combined.  Bayith is made up of the Hebrew letters: bet (house or tent = family, home, into) + yud (closed right hand, arm = to work, make, a deed) + tau or tav (a sign, a cross = a covenant or sign).  The root of the word bayith is banah, which means to build.  Banah is also the root of the word for stone, hence, the Hebraic relationship Peter draws upon when he calls us “living stones built into a spiritual house” in his letter.  God’s house is made up of specific plans (Ezekiel 40-43) and we are the building blocks – the stones – that create it.  We need to know his construction plans so the house is strong, stable, made according to the pattern he showed us.  A house built to specification works as it was designed.  A house built willy-nilly doesn’t.  It is unstable, it leaks, has drafts, is uneven and unappealing.  It has no “curb appeal” that is inviting to outsiders and attracts them to it.

In essence, the word for house in Hebrew, bayith, can mean a home and family working together to reveal the sign of Elohim’s covenant.  Ezekiel 40-43 started my heart along this path, but the foundation was laid in God’s word long before.  In Exodus 25, Elohim gave Moses the plan as well, and in Isaiah 28:16 he describes the laying of the foundation stone in Zion – Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah.

Build your life aright, for we have to measure up to become the living stones of Elohim’s home, disciples of the Living Torah Yeshua.

Copyright © 2012 Andy Madonio – Patriarchs, Philosophers, & Phlip Phlops

Torah of the Heart

I want to look at another aspect of the law, Torah, and how it has been, as I call it, “upgraded” (not done away with) to a newer version for Christians today.  In two previous posts, I wrote of the high level of authority, admiration, and respect both Paul and Jesus had for the law, their Torah, when they spoke of God’s word.  How can believers in Messiah Jesus understand the law as it applies today?  Let’s look.

In Paul, Jesus, Faith, and the Law, I attempted to explain that Jesus came, not to undermine scripture by misinterpreting it, but to make it stand more firmly by properly teaching its meaning.  Then, in The End of the Law?, we learned that Jesus is not the termination of the law, as some have interpreted it, but he is the goal at which the law, Torah, has been aiming from its inception.

Scripture tells us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever, yet our Creator has been constantly trying different things to reach and touch us, his children, from the very beginning.  He gave Moses the law in a miraculous way on mount Sinai, but he constantly worked with Moses and the stiff-necked Israelites to help them work it into their lives.  Parents with children can see this clearly.  Toddlers need special guidance, and require the learning of different things than teenagers.  What is important to a 4-year old probably has no value to a 17-year old.  God, I believe, has done a similar thing over time nurturing his children with respect to the law.  Let’s look quickly at a couple of examples.

In Numbers 15:32-36, we see a man violating the Sabbath.  Now, Torah was clear on the penalty for such action; Exodus 31:14-15 spelled out the penalty, yet Moses goes to God and asks his opinion.  In this instance, God tells Moses to do exactly what Torah said.  Torah lovers cheer at this answer.

In Numbers 9:1-12, God tells Moses how and when to celebrate the Passover – Torah is clear – celebrate it in the first month of the Jewish year (Nisan), on the 14^th day of the month.  But in this passage, there are some men who are ceremonially unclean and therefore unable to celebrate it on Nisan 14.  So they ask Moses what can be done, and Moses . . . recites Torah to them and says ‘too bad?’  No, he asks the Lord what he should do, and God allows an exception.  He lets them, in violation of Torah, celebrate Passover on the second month (Iyar) on the 14^th day.  Problem solved.  Torah flexible.  All is well.  Torah lovers jeer, boo, and hiss.

2 Corinthians 3:6 tells us:  He has even made us competent to be workers serving a New Covenant, the essence of which is not a written text but the Spirit. For the written text brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

Here is the dilemma we face as Christians believers in Messiah Jesus.  What do we do with the law today, and how can we covenant in this new way of the Spirit?  We know from my two previous posts (see above) that the law was holy and good and precious to Jesus and Paul.  But Paul speaks here of a New Covenant.  As a Jew, he knew his beloved Torah was not this covenant, the one given initially to Moses directly from God at mount Sinai.  Yet we know that Jesus and Paul both strove to teach Torah properly, establishing it as a foundation for life, and that ultimately it was the tutor to point the way to Jesus.  So now what?  What do we do?  We have the Spirit, but what do we do with the law?  Jesus didn’t terminate it; he was its goal.

The good news is, we don’t have to wonder, because God has a plan to keep Torah alive and make it apply to his children today.  Just as a parent-child relationship evolves over time, so too does our relationship with Jesus.  He has prepared us for the “Torah upgrade,” but God had this in mind a long time ago.

Jeremiah 31:31-33  Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

God’s “upgrade” entails the law – its still around – but it has been relocated.  Let’s editorialize 2 Corinthians 3:6 with this in mind, so that it reads like this:

He has even made us competent to be workers serving a [New Torah], the essence of which is not a [written Torah] but the [Torah of the Spirit]. For the [written Torah] brings death, but the [Torah of the Spirit] gives life.

God really wanted this from the beginning (read Deut 6:4-6), but it took time for our relationship with him to reach the appointed moment.  When it did, he moved like a loving father to bring us our “upgrade” in the person of the Messiah Jesus.

2 Cor 3:3 CJB  You make it clear that you are a letter from the Messiah placed in our care, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on human hearts.

What is more, Jesus took the opportunity during this “Torah-upgrade” process to make our dependence on his presence even greater.  In Matthew 5:27-28, for example, he “upgrades” the Torah command against adultery first given in Exodus 20:14; and repeated in Deuteronomy 5:18.  In this example, the “upgrade” decisively moves the boundary line from the actual act of adultery to mere lustful thoughts.  The fence defining sin has been moved from outside where our actions are visible to the inside of our soul, surrounding our heart, where only God can see and judge.

The new covenant Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 3 and elsewhere is also described by the writer of Hebrews in chapter 8, verse 6. David Stern, in his Complete Jewish Bible translation says it this way:

Hebrews 8:6 CJB But now the work Yeshua has been given to do is far superior to theirs (the former high priests of the temple), just as the covenant he mediates is better. For this covenant has been given as Torah on the basis of better promises.

The new covenant has been made the Torah.  The “upgrade” is still the living word of God, and it still points to the Messiah Jesus.  In fact it comes complete with the Spirit of the Living God included.  Do we live by the 613 written tenets of the original Torah?  While many of those tenets are still wonderful guides to living life, many are not (those that tell us to kill others for cursing, blaspheming, or sleeping with their in-laws for example).

God is somewhat fluid in how he deals with us, as this lesson has tried to show; we would be toast if he were not.  He is also very personal, always utilizing his grace on our behalf, or again, we would be toast.  We can never rely on merely adhering to any law, however good and righteous it is, because our flesh is too weak – read Romans 8:3.  We always needed a Messiah.  Torah, the law, in some form, is now written on our hearts, and our tutor, the Holy Spirit, is now in session with it, guiding us, showing us how to live, and still pointing to Jesus.

True Torah lovers cheer!

Copyright © 2012 Andy Madonio – Patriarchs, Philosophers, & Phlip Phlops

The End of the Law?

Do believers in Messiah today have good reason to feel schizophrenic about faith and the law?  To read modern bible translations, Paul appears to speak almost defiantly that our faith in Christ Jesus is the end of the law.  Is that true?  What’s a believer to believe?

Romans 10:4 ESV  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

In my last post, I discussed how both Jesus and Paul strongly affirmed the law – what they knew as Torah.  In a paraphrase of Matthew 5:17 from David Biven’s, New Light on the Difficult Words of Jesus (pg 95-96), we learned how valuable torah was to the first century believers in Jesus, as our messiah effectively said:

“Do not suppose I have any intention of undermining scripture by misinterpreting it.  My purpose is to establish and maintain the knowledge and observance of God’s Word, not undermine it.”

One modern translation, the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB), seems to mimic Jesus’ sentiment as it aligns with Biven’s analysis:

Matthew 5:17 CJB  “Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete.”

What, then, does Paul mean in Romans 10:4 about belief in Jesus pointing to the end of the law for those who profess it?  Probably not what you have been taught.

The NASB presents a revealing footnote for the word “end,” offering “goal” as a substitute – “For Christ is the goal of the law . . .”  Similarly, the CJB gives us, “For the goal at which the Torah aims is the Messiah . . .”  Now “goal” certainly sounds different than what many of us have been taught, that Jesus means the “end” of the law.

The Greek word used in the New Testament for end is telos.  The root word of telos is tello, which means to set out for a definite point or goal.  Think of it this way: if you’ve reached the end of your journey, then you have arrived at your destination, your goal, the place you intended to reach when you started and the place you continually aimed for all along the way.

In Matthew 24:13-14, Jesus’ disciples ask him about the end (telos) of the age when the new heavens and new earth will begin, and Jesus will reign as King.  He tells them, “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”  The end (telos) in these passages speaks of the end of this present age, the time when Jesus’ Kingdom reigns.  That is a lofty goal, the culmination of our journey, our final destination.

Making Christ the goal of the “law,” (Torah) might make you think differently about what Torah actually means.  Jesus thought highly of the “law” (Torah), as this passage in Matthew 5:17-19 reveals:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law [Torah] or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill [complete] them.  For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law [Torah] until all is accomplished.  Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments [The law – Torah] and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Since neither heaven nor the earth has yet passed away, and since the end of this age remains in the future, one has to ask if there is still value to the “law” and the prophets?  They certainly speak to us; they instruct us; most importantly, they continue to show us how to live life.  Can I answer if all their cultural implications apply today?  No.  Might 21^st Century man simply not require all 613 tenets of the “law” to be adhered to now?  Possibly not.  But, rather than blowing off the “law” as unnecessary and antiquated, as western Christianity and modern bible translations seems to indicate, we need to seek the Lord about this topic.  We need to ask Jesus what to do with His “law.”

Copyright © 2012 Andy Madonio – Patriarchs, Philosophers, & Phlip Phlops

Paul, Jesus, Faith, and the Law

Believers in Messiah today have good reason to feel schizophrenic about faith and the law.  Paul speaks confidently that our faith in Christ upholds the law in one passage, then seems to indicate Jesus is the end of the law in another.  Sheesh!  What’s a believer to believe?

Romans 3:31 ESV  Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

Romans 10:4 ESV  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Even Jesus seems to add to the confusion in modern translations by claiming he didn’t abolish the law, but he fulfilled it.  What exactly does that mean?

Matthew 5:17 ESV  Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Background: A disciple must commit to reading the bible with the following Hebraic hermeneutical practices, then, with careful study, the passages above become enlightening rather than confusing.  Basic Hebrew hermeneutics follow the four principles of:

1) Pashat – Plain meaning; simple reading; begin here first.

2) Remez – Hint or allusion to something in the past, or is some other principle in play?  (Cultural, historical, etc.)

3) Drosh – Life application; “Who am I?” in the story.  Never study scripture without applying it to your own life.

4) Sod (pronounced, “sued”) – Mystery; what is the Holy Spirit revealing?

In general, these questions are important to consider when reading any literature:

A) Who wrote it?

B) Who was it written to?

C) How would they have received it?

D) Are there any euphemisms or cultural idioms present in the writing?

E) Consider the imagery.

Using these practices is a specialty of Brad H. Young, whose work from the book, Paul the Jewish Theologian, and David Biven, New Light on the Difficult Words of Jesus, I utilized for this post.  Also, the basics of Hebrew hermeneutics I learned from Shane Willard in his on-line mentoring sessions.

So what is Jesus really saying in Matthew 5:17 about the law (torah)?  What did he mean by the words abolish and fulfill?  Was there something missing in the law (torah) that Jesus had to complete and fulfill?  And why did Paul use similar words in Romans 3:31? Words like overthrow and uphold?  His choice of words parallels those of his Messiah.

Since both Jesus and Paul were Hebrew to the core, they would have spoken and/or thought about their words like a Jew of the first century, regardless of the language we eventually receive those words.  When Jesus said, “I have not come to abolish (KJV destroy) torah . . .” one possible Hebrew term for the word we read as abolish or destroy is levatel, which means to cancel.  Levatel was a technical term of Jesus day used to describe a violation of torah.  If teacher of the law in Jesus’ day felt another was incorrectly interpreting a passage of scripture, they would accuse him of cancelling torah.  “Your interpretation is so filled with error that you are cancelling the law, you are misrepresenting torah!”  At the other end of the sentence, Jesus tells us he came to fulfill torah.  The probable Hebrew equivalent to fulfill is lekayem, an antonym of levatel meaning to preserve or sustain by proper interpretation.  Therefore, David Biven paraphrases (pgs 95-96) what Jesus was essentially saying in Matthew 5:17:

“Do not suppose I have any intention of undermining scripture by misinterpreting it.  My purpose is to establish and maintain the knowledge and observance of God’s Word, not undermine it.”

Similarly, Paul asks if we wantonly overthrow the law (torah) by having faith in Jesus.  He, too, was a Hebraic scholar of the first century.  His word overthrow or make void is very similar to Jesus’ abolish or destroy.  Paul is asking, rhetorically, if we misinterpret scripture (for him, torah and the prophets) by having faith in Jesus.  He emphatically answers his own rhetoric with, “By no means!”  On contrary, Paul affirms Jesus’ teaching by stating that we confidently place torah on a firmer footing, interpreting it rightly, when we live as torah tells us; when our lives reflect the words we profess to believe.

Today, we would say that we “walk the talk,” of our faith, which is a good place to end this post.  Does the drosh of our lives, the way we live out and personally apply the instructive words of scripture, reveal us as disciples or posers?

Copyright © 2012 Andy Madonio – Patriarchs, Philosophers, & Phlip Phlops