Tag Archives: Paul

“Baptism for the Dead”—Are the Mormons Right or Wrong?

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Water Baptizim

1 Corinthians 15:29, Baptized for the dead. For certain, Paul is not talking about proxy baptism for dead people in hopes of saving them spiritually as one modern church incorrectly teaches. If so, this would fly in the face of everything else he taught about the purpose and significance of the baptism ritual. If the dead know nothing, as the Scriptures teach (Eccl 9:5), then how can a dead person consciously identify with the death, burial and resurrection of Yeshua, which is the purpose of baptism?

Verse 29 is an awkward verse, to be sure. When we have such an enigmatic verse, it’s illogical to pull it out of context and make a doctrine out of it as the Mormon church does in baptizing living  people for dead people. Instead, we must interpret this verse in the light of and against the contextual backdrop of other clear passages that relate to the same subject. In the context of 1 Cor 15, Paul is talking about a believer’s hope through Messiah, and how those who don’t have faith in Yeshua have no hope of eternal life. If we die with a faith in Yeshua, we have the hope of being resurrected from the dead as he was. If we die without that hope, then all we have is this physical life and then we die and that’s it. In verse 19 (in the context of the previous verses), Paul mentions the hope that we have in Messiah because of his bodily resurrection.

So now when we come to verse 29 and we read the phrase “baptized for the dead,” it should be a logical conceptual  progression to understand what Paul is talking about. He is saying that because baptism is a picture of death and resurrection, and if we go through that ritual and there is no hope of resurrection for the dead, then what’s the point of it all? Why get baptized if there is no hope and “if the dead do not rise at all” as he says in the latter part of the same verse? To clarify this verse, we could succinctly rewrite it as follows: “Otherwise, what will thy do who are baptized for [the hope of] the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the [hope of the] dead?” This verse has nothing whatsoever to do with getting baptized for your dead relatives. Such an interpretation of verse 29 is a sad twisting of this passage and has caused millions of people to waste a lot of time digging into their family genealogy and then getting “baptized” for all their dead relatives.

Let us recall what Peter said of the writings of Paul, “as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures” (1 Pet 3:16). First Corinthians 15: 29 is another example of the difficult writings of Paul.

 

Did Paul Eat Unclean Meat as an Invited Guest?

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Really????

Really????

1 Corinthians 10:23, All things are lawful. According to the context, Paul is saying that it’s lawful for him to eat meat sacrificed to idols, since there is no Torah law prohibiting him from doing so. However, it’s not helpful to do so if it will make a weak brother stumble. He then goes on to explain what he means in verses 25 to 30. With regard to our actions for which there is no Torah prohibition, we must ask ourselves the following questions: Does it edify my brother (v. 23), does it contribute to his well-being (v. 24), does it bring glory to Elohim (v. 31), or does it cause anyone offense (v. 32)? If it doesn’t, then we shouldn’t do it.

1 Corinthians 10:25, Eat whatever. The issue here isn’t clean versus unclean meats. Rather, it is meat sacrificed to idols or not. According to the Torah, some meat fits the biblical criteria for edibility and some doesn’t. Meat such as pork or shellfish is considered to be unclean, and is designated by the Hebrew word tamay meaning “unclean or impure” and isn’t considered edible. So when Paul uses the term meat, it must be understood in a biblical and Hebraic context. As such, this passage in no way condones the consumption of meat which the Bible deems as unclean or impure and thus inedible.

 

New Video: What Is the Higher and the Highest Torah?

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Perfect Torah-obedience is NOT man’s ultimate goal or destiny! The Torah, as wonderful as it may be, is merely a vehicle to bring us to something that is even better and which is at a higher level as this video explains.

 

Patiently Enduring the Storms of Adversity

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Stormy sky over flooded lighthouse

Romans 15:4, Patience and comfort of the Scriptures. Just before this passage, Paul enjoins the spiritually strong to follow the example of Yeshua to support those who are spiritually weak (Rom 15:1–3). This can be especially trying when they are of one’s own physical or spiritual household — they are always present and there is no escape from them. Patience or perseverance in such cases is required and is a spiritual test that those who are strong must pass. It may take years or decades to pass this test if one has, for example, a spiritually weak marriage partner or other family member with which one has constant interaction.

In this verse, Paul offers advice on how to cope with this situation.

First, those who would seek the higher ground of spiritual maturity must learn patience, which can become a great jewel in one’s spiritual crown. Patience or longsuffering is perhaps the chief attribute of love (1 Cor 13:4), which is a fruit of the Spirit—doesn’t come easily, but only through the fiery refinement process of hardships brought on by people constantly rubbing us the wrong way. In this passage (Rom 13:4), Paul appeals to the example of Yeshua who endured much and mastered patience as he was reproached for sinners’ (that’s you and me) sake. If we want to strive for the high mark of being like him, we should endeavor to follow his example.

Second, in dealing with weak people, Paul encourages us to find comfort in the Scriptures (Rom 15:4). By immersing ourselves in the Word of Elohim and letting it renew and transform our thinking through the work of the Set-Apart Spirit in our hearts, we can endure the reproaches of weak and difficult people. The Scriptures are a world of their own—a refuge and island of peace in the midst of the roiling seas of adversity, and a firm rock to stand on in the billowing waves of life’s troubles.

May the hope of becoming more like Yeshua and conforming ourselves to the wise instructions of the Scriptures and examples of righteous people found therein give us hope to persevere through our difficulties and come out the other side more conformed to the image of Yeshua who is the epitome of loving patience toward us.

 

What is evil? The Torah or man’s sin nature?

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Romans 7:4, You have been made dead with regard to the Torah. Are you free to break the law if you’re now dead to it? David Stern in his Jewish New Testament Commentary (p. 375) explains that it is not the Torah that has been made dead (or abrogated), nor is a believer made dead in the sense of no longer responding to its truth. Rather, he has been made dead not to all of the Torah, but to three aspects of it: (1) its capacity to stir sin in him (vv. 5–14), (2) its capacity to produce irremediable guilt feelings (vv. 15–24), and (3) its penalties, punishment and curses (8:1–4).

To fully understand Paul’s writings, one must have a complete understanding of the Torah and all of its aspects. Most individuals coming from the Christian theological perspective have a very limited and narrow understanding of the Torah (or as they term it, “the law”). For example, they fail to understand that how we react to the Torah—obedience versus disobedience—will determine how Torah “reacts” to us. For example, YHVH has embedded into the Torah a cause-and-effect spiritual mechanism: obey and be blessed, disobey and suffer the consequences, i.e., the curses of the Torah. Other laws in the universe with which we are familiar have the same cause-effect rewards-punishment systems built into them. How about the law of gravity? Try jumping off a tall building, for example. Paul in verse 13 asks whether we Continue reading →

 

Are You a Slave to Sin or Righteousness (i.e. Torah)?

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Romans 6:14–15 says,

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace.…What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? Elohim forbid!

What is Paul saying here? Paul is saying that sin (i.e., Torahlessness, 1 John 3:4) shall not have dominion over those who have faith in Yeshua and who have died to their old sinful nature as pictured by the baptism ritual (Rom 6:1–10). The Bible is clear: the wages or sting of sin is death (Rom 6:23; 1 Cor 15:56), for sin is the violation of the Torah (1 John 3:4), and those who are spiritually alive to Elohim through Yeshua (Rom 6:11) not only have had their sins forgiven, but they’re not continuing in habitual sin (1 John 3:4–9). They are walking under YHVH’s merciful grace, so that if they sin (i.e., violate the Torah), they can repent and receive his grace (1 John 1:9) instead of death. This is why Paul can say that the redeemed believer is no longer under the (penalty of) the Torah, but is under grace (Rom 6:14).

Because we are under grace and we have been spared by Elohim’s mercy from the penalty for sinning (i.e., violating the Torah), which is death, does this mean that we can continue in sin (i.e., continue violating the Torah, Rom 6:15)? Certainly not! Paul strongly affirms this in verse fifteen. Elohim’s grace doesn’t give us a license to sin (i.e., to violate the Torah, 1 John 3:4). If a saint sins, he must repent of his sin and not continue in his sin (1 John 1:9), so that the mercy and grace of Elohim will cover his transgression.

Paul then goes to say (Rom 6:16–23) that since we are no longer slaves to sin because of our relationship with Elohim through Yeshua, we now have become slaves to righteousness (i.e., Torah obedience, see Ps 119:172 where righteousness is defined as Torah-obedience). The Torah not only defines what sin is, but also shows us how not to sin. It is the grace of Elohim that not only gives us grace or unmerited pardon for violating the Torah (i.e., sin), but the same grace divinely enables us to live in obedience to the Torah, so that we will not come under the (penalty of) the Torah through sinfulness. This is why Paul can go on to declare that the Torah is holy, and the commandment holy, just and good (Rom 7:12). It reveals to us the path of righteousness and how not to sin by showing us how to love Elohim and our neighbor.

 

Did the Torah “enter” at Mount Sinai?

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Mt. Sinai 2-20474010

Romans 5:20, The law [Torah] entered. The Scriptures reveal that the Torah pre-existed Moses and Mount Sinai. So what is Paul talking about in this passage when he says that “the Torah entered”? Obviously, he is referring to the Torah in its legally codified form as given to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai. For the nation of Israel to function in a righteous, orderly and cohesive manner, it needed the Torah in written form (in a legal format), so that the leaders of Israel could refer to it even as lawyers and judges refer to a nation’s written legal code when practicing law or making legal judgments.

The offence might abound. Of course, with the Torah written down in black and white, so to speak, and with an established and recorded legal code in place to which legal judges could refer and to which all of Israel’s citizens were held accountable, the knowledge and awareness of what constituted sin (remember, Scripture defines sin as “the violation of the Torah” in 1 John 3:4) would increase. The result was that all became painfully aware of what human actions constituted sin, and that man would have a harder time getting away with sins now that Torah was the legal code of the land with fines and penalties for its violation, and a judicial system in place to enforce the Torah.

Sin abounded…grace did much more abound. As the sinner became painfully more aware of his sin or his violation of the Torah, he also became more aware of YHVH’s mercy and grace toward the sinner—when the sinner would repent and fulfill the requirements necessary to receive atonement for his sins.