Category Archives: Weekly Scripture Readings

When Did Easter Replace Passover?

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Matthew 28:1, When did the early Christians first celebrate a day commemorating the resurrection of Yeshua?

Although the resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah is a biblical and historical fact, it’s celebration (known as Easter), is neither commanded in the Scriptures, nor was it celebrated by the original disciples of Yeshua. It is purely an invention of the church, which eventually replaced Passover! Here are the facts:

In A History of Christianity (vol. 1), Kenneth Scott Latourette states that notice of Easter as a festival occurs in the middle of the second century, but that festivals commemorating the resurrection of Messiah were presumably observed by at least some Christians from much earlier times (p. 137). Church historian, Philip Schaff, also attributes the beginning of the Easter festival to the middle of the second century (History of the Christian Church, vol. 2, p. 207). He states that the Christian Passover naturally grew out of the Jewish Passover, as the Lord’s Day (Sunday) grew out of the Sabbath. “It is based on the view that Christ crucified and risen is the centre of faith. The Jewish Christians would very naturally from the beginning continue to celebrate the legal Passover, but in the light of its fulfillment by the sacrifice of Christ, and would dwell chiefly on the aspect of the crucifixion. The Gentile Christians, for whom the Jewish Passover had no meaning except through reflection on the cross, would chiefly celebrate the Lord’s resurrection as they did on every Sunday of the week.” He notes that the early Christians commemorated the entire period between the death and resurrection of Yeshua with vigils, fasting, special devotions, meetings culminating in a resurrection feast celebrating the whole work of redemption. The feast of the resurrection gradually became the most prominent aspect of the Christian Passover (Easter celebration), but the crucifixion continued to be celebrated on Good Friday” (ibid., pp. 207–208).

Christians universally kept the Passover on the biblical date of Abib (also known as Nisan) 14/15, irrespective of the day of the week until A.D. 135 according to leading Sabbath scholar Prof. Samuele Bacchiocchi quoting the fourth century Christian historian Ephiphanius (From Sabbath to Sunday, p. 81). “This conclusion,” continues Bacchiocchi, “is supported indirectly by the two earliest documents mentioning the Passover celebration, since both emphasize the commemoration of the death rather than the resurrection of Christ. The Ethiopic version of the apocryphal Epistle of the Apostles [or Didache] says, ‘and you therefore celebrate the remembrance of my death, i.e., the Passover’ (ch. 15). In the Coptic version the passage is basically the same, ‘And you remember my death. If now the Passover takes place …’ (chap. 15)’ (ibid., p. 82).

The second document that attests to the early church’s emphasis on the death rather than the resurrection of Yeshua is the Sermon on the Passover, by Melito, Bishop of Sardis (died ca. A.D. 190). According to Bacchiocchi, Melito provides a most extensive theological interpretations of the meaning of the Passover for early Christians. “Though Melito makes a few passing references to the resurrection, it is clear from the context that these function as the epilogue of the passion drama of the Passover. The emphasis is indeed on the suffering and death of Jesus which constitute the recurring theme of the sermon and of the celebration” (ibid., p. 83).

“The resurrection,” Bacchiocchi admits, “however, did emerge in time as the dominant reason for the celebration not only of the annual Easter-Sunday, but also of the weekly Sunday. The two festivities, in fact,… came to be regarded as one basic feast commemorating at different times the same event of the resurrection.” Bacchiocchi concludes,

It would seem therefore that though the resurrection is frequently mentioned both in the New Testament and in the early patristic literature, no suggestion is given that primitive Christians commemorated the event by a weekly or yearly Sunday service. The very fact that Passover, which later become the annual commemoration of the resurrection held on Easter-Sunday, initially celebrated primarily Christ’s passion [death] and was observed on the fixed date of Nisan [Abib] 15 rather than on Sunday, makes it untenable to claim that Christ’s resurrection determined the origin of Sunday worship during the lifetime of the Apostles. (ibid. p. 84)

 

Genesis 28:10–32:3 Parashat Vayeitzei (A Gospel Oriented Torah Study)

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This Torah study is subdivided in sections by topic in a magazine format thus making it easy to watch at several sittings.

May you be blessed as you watch this video.

For a free, printable adult and youth Torah study guide on this Torah portion (parashah), please go to http://www.hoshanarabbah.org/parshiot.html

 

Blog Scripture Readings for 11-19 Through 11-25-17

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THIS WEEK’S SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION:

Parashat Vayetzei — Genesis 28:10 – 32:3(2)*
Haftarah — Hosea 12:13(12) – 14:10(9)*
Prophets — Judges 18:1 – 21:25; 1 Samuel 1:1 – 3:21
Writings — Psalms 48:1 – 55:23
Testimony — Matthew 28; Mark 1:1 – 4:19

Our annual Scripture Reading Schedule for 2017-2018 is available to download and print.

Most of this week’s blog discussion points will be on these passages. If you have general comments or questions on the weekly Scripture readings not addressed in a blog post, here’s a place for you to post those. Just use the “leave a reply” link below.

The full “Read Through The Scriptures In A Year” schedule, broken down by each day, can be found on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links.” There are 4 sections of scripture to read each day: one each from the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and from the Testimony of Yeshua. Each week, the Torah and haftarah readings will follow the traditional one-year reading cycle.

* Verse numbers in parenthesis refer to the verse number in Christian English Bibles when they differ from Hebrew Bibles or the Tanakh.

Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 11/19/17 through 11/25/17.

 

New Covenant or Renewed Covenant? What Are Its Terms and Conditions?

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Matthew 26:28, New testament.

Did you ever wonder where the terms New Testament or New Covenant came from? Yes, you will find these phrases used in the Testimony of Yeshua portion of your English Bible in exactly nine places (Matt 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25; 2 Cor 3:6; Heb 8:8, 13; 9:15; 12:24), but does the English translation do justice to the Hebrew and Greek words behind them and to the biblical concept of the “New Covenant” as it is commonly called?

Let’s begin to answer this question by first asking a  question. When you think of the word new, what comes to your mind? A brand new car? A new house? A new pair of shoes?

You see, in English there is one common word for new, while Greek and Hebrew have more than one word for new. While English speakers are limited to one word, they nuance the meaning of new by adding qualifiers to the word new (e.g. brand new as opposed to used but it’s new to me) to differentiate between brand new versus new to me, or refurbished or repaired new. 

In the Testimony of Yeshua, there are two Greek words for new: neos and kainos, and each one has a different connotation. Neos more often means “brand new or numerically new,” while kainos means “renewed, refreshed or repaired or qualitatively new.” When you see the term New Covenant or New Testament used, in eight of nine time the authors use kainos. Only in Hebrews 12:24 is neos used in reference to the new covenant.

The Testimony of Yeshua’s preference over using the Greek word for renewed over the Continue reading →

 

Will the Real Judas Please Stand Up?

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Matthew 26:14–15, Then Judas. When Yeshua plainly stated that he’d be crucified soon, Judas evidently became disillusioned, since he was expecting a Conquering King Messiah, not a Suffering Servant Messiah. With Yeshua as a conquering king, Judas could have expected a prominent position in Yeshua’s government.

The lust for money and power were likely the motives behind Judas’ following Yeshua (after all, Judas carried the money bag for Yeshua’s ministry). When Yeshua predicted his crucifixion, Judas’ incentives for following him suddenly vanished. Judas figured he’d salvage what he could of his unfulfilled expectations and enrich himself, even if it meant betraying Yeshua for money. Judas had come to the conclusion that Yeshua was a false Messiah faker and that he had wasted several years of his life following him, so, in his mind, giving Yeshua over to the Jewish authorities wasn’t an act of betrayal at all, but was an act of civil service to expose Yeshua as a trouble-making fraud.

To Judas, the Jewish leaders had been right after all to reject Yeshua as the Messiah. To them, he was merely a pretender, a deceiver, an agitator and a troubler, and Judas had come to the same conclusion. When Judas came to this realization, he now found it advantageous to his personal well-being to cast his lot in with the Jewish religious establishment and to make some money from it as well.

 

Don’t give away the store when helping others!

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Matthew 25:9, No, lest there. Those who are spiritually wise and have been prudent to prepare for the Messiah’s return must not allow those are not wise and have not prepared to leach off of them spiritually, so that the prudent end up like being weak and ineffective spiritually like the foolish. In other words, Yeshua teaches that self-interest for the purpose self-preservation is actually wisdom and prudence. The wise must not allow themselves to become so “kind-hearted” that in the process of helping others they end up exhausting themselves spiritually to the point of burn-out so as to become all but useless for helping to expand Elohim’s kingdom on earth.

 

Abraham Spiritual Journey from Initial Faith Onward—A Model for Us to Follow

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Genesis 26:5, Because. Based on Paul’s teaching in Romans 4, we see that the Abrahamic Covenant is the model for salvation, which is salvation by grace through faith leading to or resulting in good works or righteousness (Eph 2:8–10).

From this verse, it might appear the Abrahamic Covenant wasn’t a faith-based covenant at all, but a works based on. In other words, Abraham had to do something to be counted righteous or to come into good standing with Elohim—a concept which is commonly referred to as “earning salvation.”

The fact is that in the Abrahamic Covenant, Abraham only had to have faith and believe in YHVH to be justified or to be considered righteous by Elohim (Gen 15:6). It was on this basis that YHVH granted him “salvation.”

But this initial step of faith on Abraham’s part and the righteousness Elohim attributed to him was but the first step in Abraham’s faith walk. From that point, he had to walk out his faith and continue trusting YHVH (see also Gen 19:5). The apostolic writers present the idea that one’s spiritual journey is a walk, not a one time event that occurs at the beginning of that walk.

Our faith walk is more than just mental assent with a few emotions thrown in for good measure. It’s more than just following the golden rule about loving our neighbor in some nebulous sort of way. It’s faithfulness to YHVH’s instructions. James clearly states in his epistle that this is how one demonstrates the legitimacy of one’s faith when he declares that faith without works is dead (Jas 2:18, 20, 26).

Abraham demonstrated his faithfulness by his obedience to YHVH’s Torah or YHVH’s Word or voice. Furthermore, as a result of this obedience, YHVH promised to bless him beyond simply being granted initial salvation or righteousness.

This two-step approach or model still holds true in the Testimony of Yeshua. One is saved or delivered from the wages of their past sin (Rom 3:25), (Rom 6:23) which is death, by their faith (initial salvation), and then one ceases from that sin by continuing in the good works of Torah obedience (Eph 2:8–10).

Yeshua and the apostolic writers in numerous instances reveal that future rewards (both temporal and eternal rewards) come as a result of one’s good works (e.g. Matt 5:19). The ultimate reward is being granted eternal life and inclusion in the family of Elohim.

Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept [also: observe, preserve, guard; shamar, my charge [mishmereth], my commandments [mitzvah] my statutes [chuqqah], and my laws [toroti]. There are those who teach that the Torah-law does not predate Moses. Not only does this verse disprove that, but it also shows that Abraham kept the Torah-law of Elohim. In a Hebrew lexicon or word dictionary, look up each of these words and study their meanings and how they are used contextually in the Scriptures.

My voice. This verse equates the voice of Elohim with his Torah commands. To obey the voice of Elohim is to obey his Torah instructions. The voice and Torah of Elohim are two ways of saying the same thing. YHVH’s servants were obeying his voice, the Torah, long before it was written down by Moses.

My laws [Torah]. The word Torah here is in the plural. The Jewish sages teach that this is speaking of both the written and oral Torahs (the latter being Jewish oral tradition). Since Yeshua questioned the validity of the Jews’ oral Torah (what became known much later as the Talmud) or the tradition of the elders as he refers to it in Matt 15:2; Mark 7:3, 5), so should we. Instead of being a prophetic reference to the Talmud (which contains many Jewish fables and traditions that, in reality, violate the Written Torah [see Matt 15:6; Mark 7:7–13]), it is more likely that Moses (the author of Genesis), when using the plural form of the word Torah, was referring to the various subdivisions of the overall Torah contained in the first five books of the Bible. These subdivisions or aspects (like facets of a diamond) could include historical narrative, prophecy, the universal principles or commandments of the Torah that are applicable to all men for all time, specific commandments that applied to Israel before the cross (e.g. the Levitical and sacrificial systems) and to the Torah that was given to Moses and was written down into a codified form (like a constitution) for the governing of the nation of Israel and was referred to in the Gospels as “the law of Moses.”

The primary meaning of the word Torah, according to the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT) is “teaching” (and not “law”). Strong’s Concordance lists the meaning of Torah in this order: “a precept, a statute.” The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon defines Torah as “direction, instruction, law” (in that order). According to Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible,

Torah primarily signifies “direction, teaching, instruction” (Prov 13:14). It is derived from the verb yarah [meaning] ‘to project, point out’ and hence to point out or teach. The law of [Elohim] is that which points out or indicates His will to man … Seen against its background of the verb yarah, it becomes clear that Torah is much more than law or a set of rules. Torah is not restriction or hindrance, but instead the means whereby one can reach a goal or ideal.

The TWOT similarly states,

The word Torah basically means “teaching” whether it is the wise man instructing his son or [Elohim] instructing Israel. The wise give insight into all aspects of life so that the young may know how to conduct themselves and to live a long blessed life (Prov 3:1f). So too [Elohim], motivated by love, reveals to man basic insights into how to live with each other and how to approach [Elohim]. Through the law [Elohim] shows his interest in all aspects of man’s life which is to be lived under his direction and care. Law of [Elohim] stands parallel to [the] word of [YHVH] to signify that law is the revelation of [Elohim’s] will (e.g. Isa 1:10).

As already noted, the word Torah originates from the root word yarah, which means “to flow as water, to lay or throw as in shooting an arrow; to point out as if aiming the finger to make a point, to teach.” Another cognate (related word) of the word Torah is the Hebrew word moreh which means “teacher or archer (as in one who shoots at a target).” Moreh derives from the same Hebrew root word, yarah, as does Torah. Therefore, when one is walking according to the Torah of YHVH Elohim, one is walking in the light of YHVH’s truth, which is hitting the mark of righteousness. Likewise, YHVH’s teachings or instructions are a river of life flowing from his throne aimed at hitting the mark of truth and righteousness. By contrast, the Hebrew word for sin is chata which means “to miss the mark,” i.e. transgressing the Torah as 1 John 3:4 states, “Sin is the transgression of the Torah.”