What Does the Bible Actually Say Part 2
Sometimes we get lost in the traditions and teachings of men and we forget that God gives us the answers to read and study for ourselves. Last month, we started this journey by looking at what does the Bible actually say about certain topics. Even this article should be researched and only used as a tool for you to further your studies. If you haven’t read Part 1 from June, that is okay, it won’t hinder the concepts in this article, but we do recommend that you go back and check it out. In this article, we will address several more common misunderstandings that could potentially totally change a person’s perception of the stories in the Bible.
Abraham was not Jewish
The common modern Christian perspective is that the world is divided into two main groups: Jews and Gentiles. Some Christian theologians and scholars have recognized that the Law wasn’t just for the Jews and the New Testament just for the Christians (a group within Gentiles); it is still commonly taught in most churches, however, that there is a distinction between the Jews belonging to Israel (the group who doesn’t believe in Jesus), and that Gentiles (Christians) belonging to the Church (the group who believes in Jesus and that the Church was started after His resurrection).
It is hard to unlearn things that we have been taught but learning that the word “Gentiles” means Nations, and that they have been around even in the Old Testament, can be a surprise to new believers. Additionally, realizing that the Jews were actually only from two of the twelve tribes that camped in the wilderness before the Promised Land can be another surprise. So, the first believers in the Old Testament weren’t labeled as Jews but Hebrews. Jews didn’t come until later.
The Bible says that Abraham believed in Messiah. He was not a Jew, he was a Hebrew. Then came Isaac and Jacob. They also weren’t Jews but Hebrews. Then Jacob had sons and one of them was named Judah. Judah wasn’t Jewish either. When the tribe of Judah traveled to the Promised land with the other eleven and entered into that Promised Land, they still weren’t given the title of Jews. They were all still called Hebrews. When they crossed over the Jordan River, they became known as Israelites, based on the name God gave Jacob. It wasn’t until much later that the Israelite tribes divided into Northern and Southern Kingdoms. The southern Kingdom under the House of David was in the land of Judea. It was then that it became more common that the people of Judea were referred to as Jews.
As time went on, it became very easy for everything in the Old Testament to be perceived as Jewish and only for those who rejected Yeshua as Messiah. Yet, if you spend time reading your Bible, you see very quickly that this simple approach to logic is neither Biblical nor is it historically accurate. Abraham wasn’t a Jew, he wasn’t Jewish, and yet he was the father of the Israelites and he believed in Messiah.
When you see this for the first time, it makes the passage in Genesis chapter 22 really make sense. It was Abraham who promised the lamb of God to Isaac and to his offspring. This was the gospel according to Abraham.
And Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” Genesis 22:8
It was then in Exodus that the blood of the lamb protected and covered the Israelites from the inscriptions of other gods on their doorposts from the Angel of Death.
We see that John the Baptist first introduced us to Yeshua as the promised Messiah. In John chapter 1 he even referred to Him as the promise of Abraham—the Lamb of God.
The next day he [John the Baptist] saw Yeshua coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29
For a long time, Christianity has taught that if you believe that Jesus is the Messiah, then your identity is not with Israel but with the Church. If the Church isn’t a part of Israel, then they aren’t a part of the Kingdom of God. You must be a part of the Kingdom that the King is coming to rule over. This is why we commonly talk about the nations (Gentiles) being grafted into the commonwealth of Israel by the blood of Messiah. There is and there will be only one kingdom that Messiah will reign over, and it will be the Kingdom of Israel. This is why it is so important to understand what the promise of being the seed of Abraham actually means. For example, Ishmael was born of Abraham, but he wasn’t the son of promise. Isaac was the son of promise, but then one of his sons, Esau, wasn’t the line of promise. Jacob was the seed of Abraham that led to the Messiah. Then Jacob was re-named Israel. Therefore, beginning with Abraham the believers of the promised Son of God are descendants of Israel. This is what Paul was referring to in the book of Romans.
But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all Israel who are descended from Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but: “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. Romans 9:6-8
The identity politics that have waged war against the Church and Israel have created a false dichotomy. All those who place their faith in the God of Abraham become the true descendants of Abraham by their faith. This isn’t a Jewish thing at all. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not Jewish; they were Hebrews, but most importantly they believed in God. Those of us who trust in the Messiah believe in the same God that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob believed in and served, and that is what make us heirs according to God’s promise. God never breaks His promises.
What Do We Do About Paul?
In most churches, more is typically taught from the Apostle Paul’s words than from Messiah Himself. After all, it was common to hear that Paul was the primary author of the New Testament and the foremost expert in understanding what it meant to be a follower of Messiah. Some pastors have an unhealthy preference for the writings of Paul even when they are compared to the words spoken by God Himself.
It is shocking to see that some Sabbath keeping, Messiah loving, Feast memorializing brothers and sisters have now gone so far as to call Paul a false prophet and want to enact cancel culture on his writings because they misunderstand his words. There isn’t enough room in this article to combat those erroneous conclusions, but perhaps they will be addressed in a future article.
In defending himself against false accusers, Paul referenced his life-long training as a Pharisee. He exclaimed in the Council, “Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” Acts 23:6b
They have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I [Paul] have lived as a Pharisee. Acts 26:5
[Paul was] circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; Philippians 3:5
It has been commonly taught in the Church that Paul had a transformation in his life and that he renounced being a Pharisee, which means he left the Law, the customs, and the traditions of Moses. Pharisees in the first century didn’t follow the Law as written by Moses. Instead, they followed their own customs, additions, and traditions.
Paul did have a spiritual transformation. He had an epiphany that the Pharisees were not following the commandments of Moses but instead, they followed their own set of rules. He had an epiphany that Yeshua is the Messiah. He then became famous for challenging his former Pharisaic brothers. This is part of the argument taking place in Acts 15 when the Pharisees who believed in Messiah argued that the new Gentile believers had to keep the Law in accordance with Pharisaic tradition in order to gain salvation. This is also why Paul’s life was threatened by some of the Pharisees who took vows to kill him. Paul was never anti-Law of Moses. He was anti-ceremonial law (rabbinical traditions) as was taught by the Pharisees.
Yet when you study the historical beliefs and practices of the first century Pharisees and how it differs from the words in the Old and New Testament, you clearly understand why Yeshua took issue with them. Paul spent a lot of time addressing these common misinterpretations and misapplications that he himself used to be very much a part of. He was witty and brilliant in how he countered those arguments throughout his writings. Yet, if you don’t understand his history, and what the Pharisees believed, it would be very easy for one to completely misunderstand his writings and arrive at the conclusion that Paul was anti-Law of Moses. Maybe this is why Peter chose to address this issue.
And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him [his understanding of the Pharisees], as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures [the Torah]. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 2 Peter 3:15-17
By looking at the entirety of the context of Paul’s writings, we can clearly see that both ‘the Paul is false prophet’ and ‘Paul teaches against Torah’ camps clearly lack sustainable evidence.
The New Testament writers kept Sabbath, worshiped at the Temple, and kept the Feasts
It is commonly taught, regardless of Christian denomination, that upon the resurrection and ascension of Messiah to Heaven that the disciples then went out to start churches and disciple others to become deacons, pastors, teachers, and prophets. The hymnals and bibles were then created to make sure the church was on the same page when they met on Sundays. It was all but implied that the way our current Sunday morning structure looks like is what the Apostles started and how they would have structured it in their day. We’re quite sure that the Apostles didn’t organize their gatherings and church structure like we do today.
Overall ignorance of the history of how the church was formed, why we do what we do, and what influences got us to where we are today pervades Christian denominations. We have little knowledge of what issues the first believers in Messiah faced, what their cultural context was, or why they might have said and done the things they did. Most Christians have no idea that early believers kept Saturday Sabbath and went to the Temple as well as their home fellowships, not only on Sabbath, but on every day of the week throughout the week. It was all in the Bible, but many have never taken the time to truly understand it. That pesky page that separated the Old and New Testament served as a page to end one era and start another one.
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own; but they had everything in common. Acts 4:32
James, Yeshua’s brother, became a pastor in Jerusalem until his death. Peter and John traveled throughout Israel preaching and teaching. In Israel they proclaimed Yeshua’s Messiahship while also doing many public miracles in their spiritual office.
When the Messiah’s disciples started to face persecution, they began to spread out into other communities. They didn’t create new churches; instead, they joined with local synagogues. Side bar here: modern churches and synagogues don’t have the same definition. Synagogues are commonly known as the weekly gathering place for Judaism and churches are commonly known as the weekly gathering places for believers in Messiah. Not many have different ways of defining those two terms, but these are the most commonly held definitions. The early believers in the Messiah weren’t called Jews or Christians, they were known as the Way. This distinction wasn’t attributed to them until later though.
But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, Acts 24:14
Christianity (as it is defined today) was started by Hebrews from the lineage of the twelve tribes of Israel. They weren’t just from the Southern Kingdom of Judea. Christianity in that time hadn’t been spread to Gentiles in the other nations in any great numbers. It wasn’t until Acts 8, where Philip led an Ethiopian eunuch to Messiah. Then in Acts 10, Peter led a Roman centurion named Cornelius and his household to Messiah. Peter was an evangelist. Then by Acts 11, we see that the testimony of Gentiles accepting the faith came back to Judea and the apostles. However, those believers from Judea were still primarily sharing with others from Judea who now lived in the lands of Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). It was then that Gentiles (other nations) began hearing and sharing with other Gentile nations.
Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Yeshua. Acts 11:19-20
The book of Acts tells us that these Gentile believers kept the commandments of God and observed the appointed times of the Lord with the celebrating of the weekly Sabbath and annual Feasts. When Paul became more prominent, he found himself to be a fan favorite among the Gentiles having been born in Tarsus and was a Roman citizen. He had the ability to bridge the understanding gap between Jew and Gentile.
As Paul traveled to various countries, he kept the Sabbath, taught in their weekly Sabbath gatherings, and returned to Jerusalem to worship in the Temple. In fact, in Acts chapters 21-22, Paul was arrested while in the Temple helping other Messianic believers complete their Nazarite vow. At this time, the rumor had been spread that Paul was teaching against the law of Moses. His arrival at the Temple was to help disprove the rumor. Paul was never anti-Law of Moses. So, how did we get to where the Church’s understanding is today?
A couple hundred years after the death of the Messiah, the disciples and those who had learned from the disciples had been scattered into the nations. The leaders of the Messiah-based faith (modernly known as Christianity) in the Gentile nations didn’t want to look Jewish. Why this became the case is a heavily debated topic. Some point to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, while others point to growing fear of anti-Semitic restrictions from the superpowers in the nations. There are several contributing factors.
The Emperor Constantine has been credited with numerous changes in customs and what is now considered Church law. Yet, we do see that there is pre-Constantine history that points to an observance of Christmas by Messianic believers even before Constantine in Europe and Africa. There is also some historical documentation of the movement from Passover to Easter even before Constantine. This is really no different than what Judaism has done. Passover has been changed to an eight-day festival that follows the Talmud and Mishnah more than the words of Moses or the Messiah. Church law and Jewish law have both strayed away from the Bible!
The early church fathers were responsible for the doctrines, customs, and base theology formed through church law. Another factor to consider is that literacy in those times was extremely low. Most people could not read. That fact, coupled with the fact that the church hoarded most of the literary writings, and you have the perfect recipe for changing a Biblical narrative into a man-based narrative with very few Biblical insights.
Let us make sure that we are on the same page. We haven’t found anywhere in the Bible where God gives anyone: early church Fathers, Pharisees, Sadducees or any other group of people, the authority to change His commandments. No early New Covenant believer believed that Messiah replaced the teachings of Moses. The only thing nailed to the cross was the sin and death we deserved.
Saturday Sabbath vs. Sunday Church
On March 7, 321, Emperor Constantine decreed that the ‘day of rest’ would be Sunday. All judges and city people and the craftsmen were instructed to rest upon the venerable day of the sun in his civil decree.
This decree has been the basis for the majority of Christians to worship on Sundays. The Catholic church has been well documented in their belief that their leadership represents God’s ambassadors on earth today and have the authority to uphold or amend Biblical commandments. This self-professed authority has put a constant strain between one of Christianity’s oldest denominations and Judaism.
Catholicism was one of the first organized denominations and is responsible for the thousands of offshoots that now make up modern Christianity. Most people are aware of the Protestant reformation, but there have been many reformations and revolts against the organization and theological structure of Catholicism. In fact, most of the largest growing churches in the United States are now considered non-denominational. They aren’t a part of the Southern Baptist organization or structure, the Presbyterian structure, or any of the other larger bodies of doctrinal bodies and organizations that oversee the thousands of churches that fall under that structure. Most of these churches do not consider Sunday to be the Sabbath. In fact, most of the people who attend a church today don’t profess that Sunday is the Sabbath, nor do they adhere to restful elements on Sunday.
When we read the Scriptures, it becomes evident, even from as far back as Genesis, that the traditional (commonly considered Jewish) Sabbath is on the seventh day from creation. For us today that falls on Saturday, just as it has in Judaism for thousands of years. Even throughout the Gospel accounts, the Temple system and the weekly Synagogue gatherings are still in practice. Nowhere do we see that they changed nor do we see where God instructed them to do so. In many conversations with Sunday-attending Christians, they always point back to Luke and to Paul for the reason why the Church gathers on Sunday and the Jews gather on Saturday. This also allows us to understand why they believe Christ’s resurrection started a new church and replaced the Jewish Saturday Sabbath.
When we look at Luke’s passage in Acts chapter 20, it is evident that the disciples gathered together on the first day of the week. There is no debate about that. Yet they never called it a Sabbath. They never stated it was replacing what Christianity calls the Jewish Sabbath. It was a gathering to hear Paul speak. Paul himself also never states it is a Sabbath gathering, nor does he state that he has no longer decided to observe a Saturday Sabbath. He wouldn’t have because the Greek phrase listed in Luke’s passage doesn’t explicitly mean Sunday.
…where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,.. Acts 17:1-2
And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as was His custom, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. Luke 4:16
It would be illogical for the disciples to ask Messiah when and where did He want to observe Passover if they had done away with or changed the weekly Sabbath. Why change one without the other? (We will get into that more in the next section.) When the disciples kept the Saturday Sabbath, we can assume they would not be allowed to teach Messiah in the local synagogues, so they listened to the words of Moses. Then they would gather on the first day of the week, and most likely many other days of the week to hear Messiah’s words, the apostles’ words, and perform miracles.
The disciples didn’t see church as a once-a-week gathering. As believers, they believed every day was to be spent engaged in ministry. Yet, on the Sabbath, they would cease and observe a day of rest. There is nothing in the Scripture to imply otherwise.
This ministry has no issue with churches gathering on Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, or any other day of the week. We actually find it sad that more Messianic believers don’t gather together more often than on just the Sabbath. Yet the problem comes when we subscribe to the decree of Constantine that the day of rest is on Sunday. That implies that Sunday has somehow replaced Saturday as the Sabbath. The Sabbath hasn’t and won’t change. If you attend church on a Sunday, there is nothing in Scripture that says gathering and worshipping the Lord on that day is bad. If you treat the Sabbath as a regular day and forsake one of the commandments to gather on the Sabbath and then go to service on Sunday, the error isn’t that you attended church on Sunday, the error is that you have forsaken the Sabbath.
God knows us even better than we do ourselves. He knows we need to rest, to take a break, and to gather. He knows that if we didn’t have that weekly reminder, we would find it easier to compromise our faith in other areas of our lives. He gave us the day of rest so that we could refocus on His promises.
It is time we stop painting all of Christianity into a box by stating they replaced the Sabbath with Sunday church. Many in modern Christianity take no Sabbath. They don’t rest. They don’t even know the beauty of it or why the commandment is there. Most churches don’t address it. They don’t tackle that topic at all. It has become habitual to gather on Sunday. Yet it is clear the Scriptures never show that the Sabbath day was changed.
Christmas and Easter Have Replaced the Feasts
To accurately give you an exhaustive study on this topic alone we will be dedicating a future article to this issue. There have been many claims made about Christmas and Easter that don’t align with historical facts. Here we will attempt to give a broader overview of what the Bible actually says.
Christmas is a foundational holiday for almost all Christians. Over the last couple of years there is a growing number of Christians who have adjusted how they celebrate Christmas, which is encouraging, yet they still mark this day as the birth of Jesus.
Christmas isn’t referenced in the Bible. Neither the elements of current celebration of this holiday, including the date of December 25th, nor the attempts to tie the Biblical accounts of the birth of Messiah (which use extremely loose and creative adaptations of the Bible) are conclusions we are comfortable with. Easter, however, has generated confusion over the King James version of the Bible inserting the word “Easter” to replace the word “Passover” in Acts 12:4. That being said, translating the Greek word to Easter is just poor scholarship. This was a clear reference to Passover.
So, just at face value, neither Christmas nor Easter are Biblical holidays. There are tremendous debates on when Messiah was born. Some believe He was born in spring near Passover. Others believe He was born during the season of Hanukkah. Still others believe He was born during the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot.). Yet there is no Biblical admonition to celebrate, memorialize, or observe the Messiah’s birth. This is a common cultural difference between Judaism and Christianity. Historically, Judaism as a whole has put very little emphasis on recognizing birthdays. The United States has been influenced more by the Roman and Greek practices that celebrates birthdays with large gatherings, lots of gifts, and parties. As a result, it has become customary for believers in the church to want to make a big deal out of the birth of Messiah.
The Old Testament clearly commands us when, where, and how to celebrate the annual Feasts. Each Feast has a purpose, an instruction, and an identity. We see in the Gospel accounts of Messiah’s life there is ample evidence that Yeshua and His disciples celebrated or at least acknowledged the Biblical Feasts. Even in the book of Acts, we see that they gathered on the day of Shavuot (Pentecost) after the death of Messiah. They were in the Temple when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit fell. Why would they be there on that day, after the death and resurrection of Messiah if the Feasts had been abolished or replaced? In Acts 1 we see that Messiah instructed them to stay in Jerusalem and wait, but He never instructs them they have to engage in the Temple services. By them continuing to do so, we can clearly understand that those previous commandments were not replaced or abolished. They were traveling, teaching, and preaching. So logically we can conclude that they were celebrating Shavuot according to Old Testament instructions. Was it purely cultural? It would be a hard argument to make that the Feasts had become purely cultural and that they were simply celebrating it because they were Jews.
The Feasts were given to all the Israelites, not just to the ones who became known as Jews. All of Israel was commanded to observe the Feast days. Nowhere is there any commandment for Christmas or Easter. There isn’t a single commandment to celebrate the birth of Messiah or His resurrection. So, at face value one set of customs cannot biblically replace another and be considered biblically accurate. We will dive into more detail in a future article to lay out and answer the many historical markers and questions that this topic really deserves.
So what does this all mean?
In the end, when we audit the theologies and systems of Judaism and Christianity, we find that they have many similarities. Neither of them is what God had originally intended. Both pivoted from the commandments and instructions of God and instead turned toward the instructions and customs of men. Judaism follows the traditions and customs added to Moses’ writings by rabbis who came after Moses. Christianity follows the traditions and customs started by believers who wanted to distance their religious identity from that of the Jews.
When it comes to Messianic Christians, how do we make sense of all this? How do we avoid getting trapped by the same cyclical pattern we have watched Judaism and Christianity get caught up in. We should do our best to let the Bible speak for itself in our lives and how we practice our faith. This means listening to the voice of God as it has been expressed in His word.
It is what Noah did, it is what Abraham did, it is what David did. We should simply do what God instructed us to do. Have faith that if we obey the words of the Lord, He will continue His covenant with us forever. We should be wary of any teaching, any book, any midrash, if it doesn’t align with the word of the Lord. The books written by Godly men are beneficial, but they aren’t Scripture, and they aren’t to be used as such. This is the trap that both Judaism and Christianity have fallen into. Are we also headed towards those same traps? The goal for every believer is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. There is no shortcut to infuse that from other believers. Study God’s word and pray for discernment. Philippians 2:12b fits nicely here: “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” yet with confidence that He provides whatever you need to know Him.
