Tag Archives: New Testament

Did the Catholic Church Canonize the New Testament? NO!

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Who canonized the New Testament?

Who canonized the New Testament?

2 Peter 2:12– 21, Near the end of Peter’s life (in the mid sixties of the first century) Peter was concerned with preserving the true and precious Gospel message for posterity. The principal subject of Peter’s Second Epistle was “the precious and exceeding great promises” of Messiah (2 Pet. 1:12) (Martin, p. 285). Second Peter 1:12-21 records Peter’s thoughts on this subject. In this passage, Martin calls our attention to several key phrases that express Peter’s intentions in this regard. Please note them.

12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to remind you of these things [the Gospel message], though ye know them, and be firmly fixed in the present truth. 13 Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; 14 knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Master Yeshua Messiah hath showed me. 15 Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. [or, But I will give diligence that at each time you may be able after my death to recall these things to remembrance.] 16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Master Yeshua Messiah, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received from Elohim the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount [the Mount of Transfiguration]. 19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy [as opposed to those who propagate fables]; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed [to what we are saying, as opposed to those who propagate heretical fables] as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but set-apart men of Elohim spoke as they were moved by the Set-apart Spirit. (emphasis added)

What Peter is saying here is that believers would always have the truth with them. According to Ernest Martin, the only way this could rationally be accomplished is for Peter to leave some authorized written record. He alludes to this when he says, “But I will give diligence that at each time you may be able after my death to recall these things to remembrance … The phrase “at each time” means that the reader could return again and Continue reading →

 

New Video: Are Hebrew Roots Teachers Preaching “Another Gospel”?

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As numerous people worldwide are exploring the Hebraic roots of the Christian faith including an emphasis on Torah-obedience, the question is being asked, “Are Hebrew roots teachers preaching “another gospel”? Surprisingly, the answer is both yes and no. In this video, we’ll discuss what the apostles of Yeshua taught compared to what some Hebrew roots advocates are preaching and define what “another gospel” means.

 

Prophecies Concerning the Jews and Christians; the Formation of the NT

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Isaiah 8:14–16, In the following several verses we see an amazing prophecy concerning the two houses of Israel who, generically speaking, have become the modern church and the rabbinic Jews.

Here Isaiah prophesies about the canonization of the Bible into two subdivision—the Torah (or loosely speaking, the Old Testament) and the Testimony (the New Testament). He also predicts that each of these two religious groups (the Jew and he Christians) would spiritually stumble over or have a problem with the identity of the Messiah, who is the Stone of Stumbling and the Rock of Offense. In general, as we shall see, the Christians struggle with the pro-Torah message of the Old Testament (or Word of Elohim), and the Jews reject the message of the New Testament (or Testimony of Yeshua) about the Messiahship of Yeshua.

Isaiah 8:14, Stone of stumbling. Both houses of Israel (Ephraim and Judah; i.e., the Christian [see notes at Gen 48:14,16] 48: and the Jews) have stumbled over the stone of stumbling, who later on is identified as Yeshua, the Messiah (1 Pet 2:4–8; Rom 9:32–33; 1 Cor 1:23). The non-believing Jews stumbling over the Messiahship of Yeshua who is the Living Torah-Word of Elohim incarnate (John 1:1,14), while the Christians stumble over the Written Torah, which they claim was abolished and is minimally relevant to them.

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This stone of stumbling is an obvious reference to Yeshua who is a stone of stumbling to both houses of Israel (i.e., the non-believing Jews and the Christians.) The Christians stumble over or reject (at least, in part) Yeshua who is the Written Torah-Word of Elohim (John 1:1). The non-believing Jews, on the other hand, reject Yeshua, the Living Torah-Word of Elohim who came in flesh form (John 1:14).

Isaiah 8:16, 20 Bind up the testimony…my disciples. Heb. testimony means “confirmation, attestation.” This appears to be a prophecy concerning Yeshua’s disciples, whom he commissioned to “seal the Torah” (loosely speaking, the Old Testament or OT) and add to it the Testimony about him (the New Testament or NT).

Here Isaiah is prophesying the canonization of the NT by the disciples of Yeshua (who are mentioned in verse 13). Did you know that the NT’s name for the NT isn’t the NT, but the Testimony of Yeshua—a name that John who finalized the NT canon gave it when he was writing the Book of Revelation? There, he calls the OT or Tanakh the “Word of Elohim” and the NT “the Testimony of Yeshua” (see Rev 1:2, 9; 6:9; 12:17; 14:12; 20:4).

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What do the words bind and seal signify? The Hebrew for the word bind means “to close.” The word seal means practically the same: “to cap off, to enclose.” This is exactly what the apostles did with the message which Yeshua the Stone and Rock of Isaiah 8:14 gave them. They were to complete it. Bind it up. Close it shut. The authority to perform such an important job may have been reflected in Messiah’s teaching that the apostles had power to ‘bind on earth’ (Matthew 16:19). The word to bind has the significance of authorization or giving judgment, just as the word unbind means “not to receive or not accept. …” In a word, the apostles felt that they had authority, even from the Old Testament, to bind, seal, authorize and canonize the Law and Testimony of Messiah. This meant to put the teachings of Messiah in a book, just like the Old Testament was given to the early Jews (Restoring the Original Bible, by Ernest Martin, pp. 298–299). (For more on this subject, see notes at John 16:12–15; Rom 16:25–26 and Mark 3:16–17.)

 

The concept of grace rooted in the Torah, not the NT

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Exodus 33:12–13, Grace. (Heb. chen meaning “favor, grace, charm, acceptance”). The Hebrew word chen (found 69 times in the Tanakh), which is translated as grace, in this verse is equivalent to the Greek word charis, which is found 156 times in the Testimony of Yeshua and is translated as grace 130 times in the KJV.

The equivalency of these two words is confirmed by the translators of the Septuagint (the Greek Tanakh) who used charis in place of chen when translating the Hebrew Tanakh into Greek beginning in the third century B.C. According to the TWOT, in the vast majority of occurrences of chen in the Tanakh, the focus of attention is not on the giver, but on the recipient. The emphasis is on the relationship of the superior to an inferior (e.g., a king to his subjects). What this teaches us is that despite sin and rebellion against him, YHVH (the king) is gracious (to humans, his subjects).

Contrary to what many in the church have been led to believe, the grace of Elohim is a very prominent theme in the Tanakh. Examples of this include Noah who found grace in YHVH’s eyes (Gen 6:8), or the children of Israel although dead in their sins in Egypt and deserving of YHVH’s wrath, they were saved by the blood of the lamb. There are a number of other references to the grace of Elohim in the Tanakh as well (Gen 18:3; Exod 3:21; 33:16,17; 34:9; Ps 84:11; Zech 12:10).

 

What Is the New Covenant from a Hebraic Perspective?

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This video explains what the new covenant is from a Hebraic, pro-Torah perspective, how this fits in with the apostles’ decision in Acts 15, the marriage covenant, and what the New Testament is compared to the New or Everlasting Covenant.

 

Does the Epistle to the Hebrews  Belong in the New Testament Canon?

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I had to write this article a few years ago because a notable Hebrew roots teacher suddenly began promoting the idea that the Book of Hebrews was an invention of the Catholic Church and didn’t belong in the NT canon of Scripture. So far as I know, this teacher hasn’t recanted of his errant and heretical position to this day. Since then, other Hebrew roots teachers have come out advocating the additions of books to the canon of Scripture (the books of Enoch and Jahser).

This ministry dogmatically holds to the view that the books contained in the Bible as we currently have it is the inspired word of Elohim with no additions or subtractions.

I hope this article helps someone and will strengthen their faith in the Word of Elohim.

[The following is excerpted from a larger work by the same author entitled, “Can You Trust the New Testament Canon as YHVH’s Divine Word?” at http://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/nt_canon_full.pdf.]

The Uniqueness of the Bible

The Bible. There has never been any book like it. Its authors included kings and peasants and it was written over a span of 1500 years and 40 generations by 40 authors writing from palaces to jail cells. It was first translated into a foreign language circa 250 B.C. and has since, in whole or in part, been translated into several thousand languages or dialects. It has survived time. Though printed on perishable materials and recopied countless times over the past 2000 years by hand and by press, the main style and message of this book has never changed. The Bible has withstood vicious attacks of its enemies as no other book. Since Roman times, governmental and religious authorities have tried to ban it, burn it and outlaw it, but to no avail. It is still the most widely published and read book of all time (McDowell, pp. 13–24). Why?

Many have willingly given their lives to translate it, smuggle it, distribute it, preach its message or even simply possess a copy of it. Why? More than two billion people on earth today, about one-third of earth’s population claim to be followers of the Bible. Why? Nearly 50,000 people are currently martyred each year for refusing to budge from their faith in the Bible’s message. Why?

The answer is simple. Regardless of the language into which the Bible has been translated, regardless of the liberal or conservative biases of the translators, one thing is certain: The redemptive and salvation message of the Bible always comes through. It is a life-changing message of hope. Why? Because its pages contain words that have the power to change lives dramatically for good, for eternity. Why? Because these words are not the words of men, but of the Creator of men—of YHVH Elohim, the God of the Bible. As such, they carry the full force, power and anointing of divine origination. If not, how else can one explain the biblical phenomena? There is no human explanation for it other than the divine hand of YHVH Elohim has been on the Bible from its beginning until this very moment!

Can We Trust the Bible?

In spite of the impact the Bible has had on the lives of billions of souls over the past 2000 years, a question remains: Can you put your trust in every word contained therein? This is an important question, for if the Bible is correct, then whether you live again or not after your physical death will depend on how you orient your life with respect to the biblical message. So can we trust our lives with the words of Scripture—specifically, the message of Yeshua the Messiah as recorded in the Apostolic Scriptures (New Testament)? Are the 27 books which comprise the Apostolic Scriptures in our Bible the true and accurate accounts of the words of Yeshua and his directly commissioned apostles?

In this work we shall see that the 27 books of the Apostolic Scriptures would not have a been acknowledged as being “Canon” if they had not first been recognized by the apostles of Yeshua and the Body of Believers in the first and second centuries A.D. as having the same authority as the earlier Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). And the latter Christian church would not have accepted these books as canon, and subsequently affirmed their canonicity if they had not felt that these books carried the weight of apostolic authority. Period! Yet despite this profound and simple truth, many are beginning to question the authority of the New Testament Canon of Scripture.

A Problem: Some Are Questioning the Bible

The Apostolic Scriptures (New Testament) are under fire. Some Messianic/Hebrew roots teachers are currently questioning if the 27 books of the New Testament are all divinely inspired or not. Some are even taking it upon themselves to begin tossing out certain books, such as the Epistle to the Hebrews, from the New Testament canon claiming that it was not divinely inspired and was added later to the canon of Scripture by the proto-Catholic Church. Others claim that the early church fathers “messed” with the original Continue reading →

 

Can you trust Greek?

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I just received this question from one of this blog’s readers. Since I’ve never been asked this before, and found it to be an interesting one, I thought I’d answer it on the blog.

Shalom,

My husband has been questioning why you have been using Greek explanations when he thought we were doing everything Hebrew.

Or can you give him an explanation as to why sometimes you use the greek meanings to words in the NT and sometimes you also give a hebrew meaning to words in the NT?

First, I’d like to address a common misconception among some folks who are new to the Hebrew roots movement. Some thing there is something wrong or evil with the Greek language. If so, then why did YHVH allow the Testimony of Yeshua (New Testament) to come down to us in the Greek language? Obviously, he didn’t think it was evil.

Second, why do I use definitions to Greek words when teaching from the Testimony? Simply this, all we have is Greek. We don’t have the Testimony in Hebrew. I can’t give a definition in Hebrew when all we have is the Greek.

Some Bible teachers will go back into the Septuagint (LXX) translation of the Hebrew language Tanakh (Old Testament) translated into Greek more than a couple hundred before the birth of Yeshua to try to figure out what words in the Greek Testimony of Yeshua might be the same as the Greek words in the LXX, and then go from there back to Hebrew. The problem with this is that it’s usually a guess as to a Greek word’s potential meaning. The problem is that the LXX translators lived hundreds of years before the Testimony of Yeshua writers, and languages evolve and some word meanings change over the centuries, so one has to be careful when doing this. Colloquial expressions and figures of speech also change with time. Many times we don’t know what Hebrew word is behind the Greek word in the Testimony even with the LXX available to us.

For these reasons, I primarily stick with the Greek language and word definitions when teaching from the Testimony because that’s all I can do. I have no other choices.

I can go to the Aramaic language New Testament Peshitta, but most of us don’t know how to read Aramaic, and I’m not aware of any Aramaic lexicons or word dictionaries. So we’re still stuck with the Greek.

Having said all this, it is my belief that some if not much of the Testimony of Yeshua was written originally either in Hebrew or Aramaic. This, however, is hard to prove since we don’t have any autographs in Hebrew, and the there’s a debate raging alone scholars about the age and the origin of the Aramaic texts, so their reliability has been called into question. Nonetheless, the Testimony writers were probably all Jewish, knew Hebrew and/or Aramaic and thought and wrote using Hebraic thought patterns (as opposed to Greek) and Hebraic terms and idioms. Knowing this is essential when reading and trying to understand the Testimony.

In summary,we do our best to understand the Testimony of Yeshua from a Hebraic perspective, even though we only have the Greek language to work from. This isn’t always easy to do, and it’s sometimes easy to add two and two and get five. This is why we have to be so careful when handling the Word of Elohim, so that we don’t make it say something that it didn’t mean.

Thankfully, Yeshua sent us his Holy Spirit who he promised would guide us, convict us of sin and lead us into all truth (John 16:5–15). I believe that if a person is Spirit-filled and Spirit-led, and wants to serve and obey YHVH unconditionally, that the true meaning and intent of a scriptural passage will be revealed to the person regardless of the language it was written in.