This is a recent video from Toby Janicky of FFOZ. This is teaching #8 in a series called “Mishlei Musings.” (“Mishlei” is the Hebrew name for the book of Proverbs.) This episode is called “The Fruit of Humility.” It would have really helped me if I had watched this before we went into Passover, per my last post.
For as many as are of the works of the Torah are under a curse; for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE TORAH, TO PERFORM THEM.” Now that no one is justified by the Torah before God is evident; for, “THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.” However, the Torah is not of faith; on the contrary, “HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM.” Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Torah, having become a curse for us–for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”–in order that in Messiah Yeshua the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
(Galatians 3:10-14, NASB with my Messianicisms)
No other words of Scripture have been misinterpreted, misapplied, and utterly confusing more than Paul’s words to the believers in Galatia. While I don’t intend on trying to put forth all of the answers to understanding the mind of our beloved Apostle (because I simply do not have them all), I do wish to bring some illumination on this particular passage.
Unfortunately, since I don’t know Greek (yet), at present I have to rely on other tools in order to sift through our English interpretations of the Apostolic Writings, particularly Paul. Probably the greatest tool I have at my disposal is my understanding of the goodness of Torah, based on the perspectives of the Tanach, the prophets and the Master. With this reference point, I can have a starting place by which to orient myself to any course I must navigate within the writings of the Apostles.
Another tool is my (however limited) knowledge of rabbinic writings and their lines of thought. Knowing rabbinic writings helps me to not be ignorant of problematic texts and seeming contradictions within the Apostolic Writings that would shake my faith like it has for so many others beginning to navigate their way through the Apostolic Writings with a fresh knowledge of Torah.
These two tools allow me to examine passages and make connections to Rabbinic thoughts and arguments (at least to the ones with which I am familiar) and bring a balanced perspective to the problematic texts. This passage in Galatians is one such text. How can we reconcile Paul’s statements regarding Torah, especially in light of Deuteronomy 6:25, which states:
It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the LORD our God, just as He commanded us.
Looking at Paul’s words merely in our biased, English translations contradict this statement of Torah flat out. However, if we look at it from different perspectives, we can begin to make some sense out of it. One “clue” I have found is in Young’s Literal Translation, which translates verse 11 this way:
“And that in Torah no one is declared righteous with God, is evident, because `The righteous by faith shall live;’”(Galatians 3:11, YLT)
The difference is the preposition “in Torah” verses “by Torah”. We know that we can be justified “by” Torah, just as it clearly states in Deuteronomy. Our lives are put before the heavenly tribune and the book of the Torah is therefore opened to compare our deeds of faithfulness or deeds of infidelity to what is written. Our names are found in either the Book of Life or the Book of Death. This is attested to in the book of Revelation, which states that those who persevere are those who hold to (are faithful to) the “commandments of God” (the Torah) and maintain their faith in Yeshua (Revelation 14:12).
However, we cannot be justified “in” the Torah. We cannot be justified by our choice to become included in those of the Covenant. Our inclusion does not justify us. It only affords us the opportunity to be justified and brought near on covenantal terms. If we are “included” into Israel, yet we forsake the Torah or Yeshua, we have heaped judgement upon ourselves.
If we take this argument into account, we can see how the Torah is life to those who truly take hold of it (via faithfulness to the commandments), and death to those who espouse it, but are unwilling to submit to its requirements. The Talmud is in agreement with such thoughts:
Rav Chananel the son of Pappa said: What is the meaning of that which is written, “Listen! For I will speak princely things”? Why are the words of Torah compared to a prince? This serves to tell you: Just as this prince has the power to kill and to give life, so too the words of Torah have the power to kill and give life.
This is reflected by that which Rava said: To those who grasp it with their right hand [through submission], the Torah is a drug of life. To those who grasp it with their left hand [in defiance], it is a drug of death.
(b.Shabbat 88b).
Therefore, let us heed the words of James, brother of the Master, which state:
Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
(James 1:21-25)
For Torah is a “tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed.”
Although I don’t have any hard evidence, I do believe that I have no undue reason by which I cannot propose the following hypothesis in regard to Paul and his potential Yom Kippur sermon as recorded in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, based on a fairly reasonable timeline. I may have my chronology way off base (please let me know if I do), but here is what I am able to reconstruct, and by way of reconstruction assume a Yom Kippur sermon from Paul based on the time frame and context of dialog.
In Acts 20, after leaving Miletus, Paul sets sail for Jerusalem, in hopes to “reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost (Shavuot)” (Acts 20:16). Paul reaches Jerusalem (we assume) by Pentecost (first week of the month of Sivan), but has evidently been in contact with a corpse and thus must undergo the seven day purification ritual as prescribed by the Torah (see my Footnote), and in the process underwrites the concluding offerings for the Nazarite vows of four men in order to prove his faithfulness to Torah (and not for purposes of deception as some would have us think). This puts him in Jerusalem for at least a week or two at the minimum, bringing us up to the second or third week of Sivan.
During his time at the Temple, he is accused of bringing his “Gentile inclusion” theology too close to home when they assumed he had brought a non-Jew beyond the soreg of the Temple. This accusation causes him to be hauled off to the magistrates who hold him in custody until the next day when he appears before the Sanhedrin to plead his case. Paul didn’t fare well with the Sanhedrin and is taken back to the barracks to spare his life. He is held at least for a day, possibly two (depending on how you read the text) and from there is taken, during the night, towards Caesarea. They get as far as Antipatris, which is beyond the half-way point. When they have rested and daylight has come, Paul is taken by the cavalry the remainder of the distance to Caesarea.
Paul is kept under guard in Herod’s palace (23:35) until he is brought before Felix five days later (24:1). This brings us up to the last week of Sivan, possibly the first week of Tamuz. After hearing Paul, Felix adjourns him, wanting to wait for Lysias (presumably the Roman commander who had Paul sent to Felix initially) to come and give his report of the events which have brought Paul to this point.
Here is where it gets vague. “Several days later” Felix sends for Paul to hear him speak about faith in Messiah Yeshua (24:24). This is a very ambiguous chronological reference. Depending on what all was happening politically, Paul stayed in his confines anywhere from a week to months, while he waited on Lysias to shed his more pressing matters in Jerusalem and make the trek to Caesarea in order to testify about this “Jewish trouble-maker,” whom I am sure he was in no great hurry to redeem. So… I’m guessing that Paul’s appearance before Felix for this event could have happened anywhere from the middle of Tamuz to some time in Elul.
This is where I am making a small leap. Based on the themes of Paul’s sermon while speaking to Felix (besides it obviously being a message he could use to hear at any point), I am thinking it was closer to (if not actually within) the month of Elul, and Paul’s three-point sermon of righteousness, self-control and the impending judgment would have been a perfect lead in to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, calling Felix to re-assess his ways and do t’shuva before the books of Life were once more closed. Felix, starts sweating bullets and dismisses Paul and his convicting message. May we see his mistake and take heed ourselves, lest we enter the Court of the King of Kings unprepared in this season.
Better late than never… Here are my notes from the “To Whom Shall We Go?” seminar last month. I hope they come in handy for someone. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about trying to decipher them.
Right-click (pc) or Control-click (mac!) to download:
For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
1 Corinthians 7:14 (NIV)
While reading my Daily Dose yesterday I came a cross an interesting argument which may help us to understand Paul’s statements here in his epistle to the ekklesia at Corinth.
There is an argument in the Talmud in regard to the transference of terumah from an open cask of wine to a loaf of bread, which has been set on top of it (in regard to Mishnah Terumos 10:3). The conclusion is that since the bread (a hot loaf, verses a cold, hard loaf) is permeated by the aroma of the wine, it therefore contains enough of the essence of the consecrated wine for it to be considered terumah as well. It is the scientific process of diffusion which allows the minute particles of wine to infuse the bread in order to pass on some of the flavor of the wine. How much more so can it be said of an unbeliever living in the same family with a believer. If we are truly living our lives out loud, our sanctity should be “splashing” all over those around us.
