Repentance from Sin

In Sunday sermons, churchgoers in general don’t hear much about repentance.  It’s not a popular topic.  Yet the Bible (and Jesus) has much to say about it.  This is about repenting and repentance.

What does it mean to repent?  The Greek verb translated “repent” in the LXX Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT) is met-an-o-éh-o, Strongs g3340.  It occurs 33 times in the NT.  Repent means to change one’s mind (for the better), or to turn.  Webster’s Dictionary: Repent “To turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life; to feel regret or contrition, to change one’s mind.”

What is repentance?  The Greek noun translated “repentance” is met-án-oy-ah, g3341.  It occurs 24 times in the NT.  Repentance means a change of mind by one who repents; the action of sincere regret or remorse.  Webster’s Dictionary: Repentance “The process of repenting, especially for misdeeds or moral shortcomings.”  Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary “To turn from evil and turn to the good.”

To begin, here’s two passages about repent from the OT book of Jeremiah.  The Lord said of treacherous Judah in Je.8:6 LXX. “There is no man that repents [g3340] of his wickedness.”  Wickedness is to be repented of, but the Judah of Jeremiah’s day didn’t have a change of heart for it.  The Lord declared in Je.18:7-10 LXX, “If that nation turns from their evils, then I will repent [g3340] of the evil I thought to do to them….But if they do evil things before Me, and don’t hearken to My voice, then I will repent [g3340] of the good things which I spoke to do for them.”  If they turned from their wickedness, God would change His mind (repent) and relent from doing them bad…but also vice versa.

Man is to repent of…sin.  Some verses from the NT which show we’re to repent (g3340) of sin: Lk.15:10, 17:3-4; Ac.2:38, 3:19, 8:22; 2Co.12:21; Re.2:21, 9:20-21.

Some NT verses which show that repentance (g3341) is from sin: Mt.9:13; Mk.1:4, 2:17; Lk.3:3, 5:32, 15:7.  Also, 2Ti.2:25 shows that God gives us repentance (g3341) as the ability to change our mind in regards to acknowledging His truth.  He.6:1 & Re.2:22 indicate repentance (g3341) from dead works.

Quoting several of the above verses: Jesus said in Lk.17:3-4, “If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him”.  (Repentance is a prerequisite for forgiveness.)  Peter admonished Simon the Samaritan in Ac.8:22, “Repent of this your wickedness”.  In 2Co.12:21, Paul said he would “Mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented”.  Jesus spoke about the Thyatíran church in Re.2:21. “She does not want to repent of her immorality.”  Immorality is sin.  Re.9:21 “They did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their immorality, or their thefts.”  Those acts are all sins.  Mankind is to repent (g3340) of sins!

In Mk.1:4, John the Baptizer “Came into the wilderness proclaiming a baptism of repentance [g3341] for the forgiveness of sins”.  In Lk.3:3, Jesus “Came into the district around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance [g3341] for the forgiveness of sin”.  Jesus and John both preached repentance from sin.  Jesus said in Mt.9:13 KJV, “I Am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance”.  There’s no admonition for a repentance from righteousness.  Repentance (g3341) is from sin!

Again, repentance involves a change of mind or change of heart.  But 1Ki.11:1-9 shows King Solomon changed/turned for the worse.  Because he was so wise, maybe he thought he didn’t need to heed God?

2Ki.21:1-11 King Manasséh did worse than ungodly gentile nations!  But eventually he changed for the better.  And God responded favorably to even evil Manasseh’s sincere change of heart (2Ch.33:10-19)!

Jnh.3:3-10 the gentile Ninevites in Assyria repented at the preaching of Jonah (cf. Lk.11:32).  But their change for the better wasn’t lasting.  Approximately 100 years later they returned to wickedness.  (The book of Nahúm then foretells Nineveh’s coming ruin.  Nineveh fell to Babylon in 612 BC.)

How is “sin” defined?  In the Bible are found at least 5 definitions or descriptions of sin:

1) 1Jn.3:4 sin = lawlessness, or the transgression of the law (KJV).  The OT is said to contain 600 laws, and the NT 1,000 commands.  Which ones are still applicable in today’s world?  A basic rule of thumb is…all God’s written (moral) principles and precepts apply, unless He has rendered them obsolete over time.  In the words of Jesus, Mt.4:4, “It is written”.  Jesus was referring to the written OT.

2) Ja.4:17 sin = Knowing we should do a good act we’re capable of doing, but not following through and performing it.  “He that knows to do good, but does it not is sin.”  Sins of omission, that is.

3) 1Jn.5:17 sin = “All unrighteousness is sin.”  Not meeting God’s justness/justice (within the confines of one’s national laws) or moral standards.  Ps.119:172 “All Thy commandments are righteousness.”  Unrighteousness is disobedience to God’s right principles.

4) Ro.14:23b sin = “Whatever is not of faith is sin.”  The righteous or just live by faith (Ro.1:17).  Our conscience becomes educated as to what thoughts, words, actions constitute sin.  We shouldn’t defile our conscience!  (Avoiding the appearance of evil helps keep a pure conscience, 1Th.5:22.)

5) Pr.24:9 sin = The thought of foolishness/folly.  Our thoughts can be sin, before they become words or actions.  Jesus said in Mt.15:19, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts…”  Thoughts should be pure.

Those are 5 scriptural definitions, if you will, of “sin”.  To be repented of.

{Sidelight: I won’t delineate or discuss various categories of wrong: sin, trespass, transgression, crime, iniquity, wickedness, evil, etc.  John H. Walton The Lost World of Adam and Eve, p.154 “It is important to recognize that there are categories of evil, and not all of them are connected to sin (e.g. what is called ‘natural evil’). We should, for example, differentiate between experiential evil (discomfort resulting from non-order and/or disorder on all levels), personal evil (anti-social behavior that causes suffering in others), punitive consequence (discomfort resulting from actions by God or rulers designed to punish or discourage personal evil and/or the perpetuation of disorder), and sin (ritual/moral impropriety that damages relationship with deity). Most people use ‘sin’ or ‘evil’ interchangeably to refer to any or all of these….The problem of evil is a larger discussion than the problem of sin that people face.”  This topic won’t philosophically discuss the broad concept of evil, but simply refers to various wrongs as…sin.}

Sin can be any thoughts we dwell on, any words we speak, or anything we do that is contrary to God’s word/principles and His revealed will for our individual lives!  Any wrongs and anything outside of God’s will for us as individuals.

Our interpretation of laws can influence which thoughts/actions of ourselves or others we view as sin.  The Lord gave Levitical rituals and observances to ancient Israel for their culture.  Gentile peoples such as Abraham, Eskimos, Pygmies, Amazon River tribesmen, don’t know Levitical tállit fringe (Nu.15:38), or téfillin box customs (De.11:18, Mt.23:5), e.g.  Such unawareness isn’t sin.  The Levitical priesthood is obsolete.  Dress customs among peoples differ.  Most customs of dress don’t need repentance.

Churches or sects shouldn’t erect an oral law or man-made traditional fence around God’s written laws/precepts, and then pharisaically masquerade that God Himself said it.  That’s adding to His word.

{{Sidelight: In matters where your government isn’t adhering to God’s principles & justice, we aren’t to take His law/precepts into our own individual hands…no personal vengeance (Ps.94:1, Ro.12:19).  We don’t personally avenge govt neglect or ignorance.  see “Governmental Loyalty for Christians”.}}

Supposedly, the rabbis placed Jews into three moral categories: the righteous (his merits exceed his sins), the intermediates (half and half), the sinners (his sins exceed his merits).  ref Carl Schwartz The Scattered Nation and Jewish Christian Magazine, p.226.  Most Jews were considered intermediates?

Who has sinned?  Ro.3:9b, 23 “All have sinned.”  Both Jews and gentiles.  Sin separates one from God.  What is the result of sin?  Ro.6:23 “The payment of sin is death.”  Spiritual death.  (see “Life and Death – For Saints”.)  Animal lifeblood was a temporary covering for sin (ref Le.16, e.g.).

But the ultimate remedy for sin is forgiveness through Jesus’ shed blood (He only never sinned).  Ac.5:30-31 “He [Jesus] is the one God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”  Forgiveness is given by God to those whom He grants the ability to repent.  We can’t come to repentance of and by ourselves.  The Lord is so gracious!

Ro.2:4 “The goodness of God leads you to repentance.”  Even the desire to repent is initially from God, not of ourselves.  Mankind is unable to repent solely through our own initiative or human nature.

Also, confessing our sins is of prime importance.  1Jn.1:9-10 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins.”  Again, sin separates us from God.  Is.59:2 “Your iniquities have separated you from your God.”  We can’t hide our sins from the Lord.  God is greater than our hearts, and He knows our conscience (1Jn.3:20).  Unconfessed sin won’t remove this separation and obtain God’s blessings.  However, upon confession and repentance, Father God will wash away those sins forever on account of Jesus’ lifeblood.  As we’ve seen, God offers forgiveness after repentance.

One must change his/her mind and conduct in regards to sin, and think differently.  Actions begin with thoughts, and words.  We are to confess our misuse of the tongue (ref Ja.3:1-ff.)

In a word…repentance means ‘change’.  Change from a life of sin and unbelief.  It may involve a gradual process of a 180° turnaround!  Spiritually it’s the turning from darkness to light.  However, we may not immediately overcome old wrong habits that are deeply ingrained.

As we began to recognize God’s hand in our lives, He caused us to see the need to repent and be baptized.  Peter proclaimed in Ac.2:38, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”.  Repentance precedes baptism.

Lasting change from some sins may be difficult, but can be accomplished through the gift of God’s Holy Spirit (HS) indwelling us.  Peter proclaimed at Solomon’s porch of the temple in Ac.3:19, “Repent, and turn back [to God], that your sins may be wiped away; in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord”.  Repent, and come into God’s Presence!

Again, it involves a change of mind or heart.  The Lord God promised to provide believers with a new or exchanged heart.  Ezk.36:26-27 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh. I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”  The HS enables us to cease continuing to live disobediently with sinful habits as a way of life.  (see “Two Covenants – Heart of the Matter”.)

John the Baptizer admonished the Jewish leaders in Mt.3:5-8. “Bring forth fruit befitting of repentance.”  In other words, start living a changed life as evidence of repentance…talk can be cheap.  Jesus proclaimed to Galileans in His first (red-letter) words of the book of Mark, Mk.1:15. “The Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.”  Repentance and belief are prerequisites for salvation.

Jesus warned in Lk.13:2-5, “Repent [g3340] or you will all likewise perish”.  Jesus is serious about repentance!  Time and chance, to an extent, and God’s judgments happens to humans.  Yet the Lord gives protection and deliverance to His repentant saints (e.g. 2Th.3:3, Ps.91:7, 34:19, 1Co.10:13).

Repentance is offered to gentiles too!  Paul said in Ac.17:30, “All everywhere should repent”.  (cf. Ac.20:21.)  Ac.26:20 Paul declared to those in Damascus, Jerusalem, Judea, and to gentiles that “They should repent and turn to God, performing works appropriate for repentance”.  Prove it by good works.

Re.2:5, 16, 21, 3:3, 19 Jesus reprimanded five of the seven churches in Asia Minor to further repent (g3340)!  Repentance should be ongoing for a Christian, as we become aware of any sin in our life.

2Co.7:9-10 two kinds of sorrow are evident here.  First, sorrow we feel regarding our sin against God.  Second, sorrow we got caught.  Feeling regret over past wrong thoughts, words and conduct is part of it.  Yet we’re not always able to fully change habits immediately.  (cf. Ec.11:9 we change from wrong acts of youth.)

Ezk.18:1-20 shows that a son doesn’t bear responsibility for his father’s sin, and vice versa.  Everyone is responsible for their own actions.  v.21-32 God doesn’t take pleasure in the death of the wicked.  Yet…v.26-27 “A righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies because of it. When a wicked man turns away from his wickedness, and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life.”  Their lasting decision for habitual living determined their fate.

He.6:4-6 is a fearsome concept about those who were made partakers of the HS, but later fell away to become disqualified or castaways (cf. Ezk.18:24, 1Co.9:27).  One who returns to living a life of sin with an ‘I don’t care’ attitude!  The writer to the Hebrews indicates that such a person cannot repent.

Saul/Paul had been responsible for the death of others in his past…a past murderer, in a sense!  In our struggles, weaknesses, and failures, we can take heart from his experiences.  Paul struggled against sin, Ro.7:14-25.  The sin to which he refers wasn’t habitual crime.  It was occasional sins, coveting, wrong thoughts.  Perhaps most men wrongly covet or idolize something in this material world?  We shouldn’t dwell on wrong thoughts that occur.  2Co.10:5 “Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”  We’re to strive to govern our thoughts and be obedient.  (see “Coveting – Wrong and Right Desire”.)

We’re to root-out sin, coveting, and bad habits when the HS shows us our wrongs, in the light of God’s word.  Jesus said in Re.3:19, “Those whom I love I reprove and discipline”.  The Lord lovingly chastises us for our good so we’ll repent, though His affliction is unpleasant at the time (He.12:6, Ps.119:75).

However, sincere differences of opinion, or dogmatic or ‘oral law’ disagreements between believers may not actually constitute sin.  We’re all growing in understanding and in the knowledge of Christ.  Peter wrote, 2Pe.3:18 “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”.

Victorious faith can be ours! (cf. 2Ti.4:7-8).  Let’s continue to fight the good fight of faith to overcome an evil world of sin (e.g. Ro.12:21), obeying God’s righteous principles.  (see “Abraham Obeyed Which Commandments?” and “Genesis Principles Predate Moses ”.)  Also discerning and doing His will for us as individuals.  To not grow weary in well-doing (Ga.6:9).  Our diligence is necessary.

Concluding…Lk.15:11-24 is Jesus’ heartwarming parable about the prodigal son, whom his earthly father honored.  It reflects how our heavenly Father takes joy in His repentant children who change for the good!

God mercifully grants us awareness of our sins, so we can change…repent.  We examine our lives (2Co.13:5) and make any needed godly corrections.  And we are renewed (Col.3:9-10).  Jesus proclaimed in Lk.15:10, “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents”.  Heaven rejoices in the repentant individual who changes for the good!

 

 

 

Israelite Deportations by Assyria

The Lord God is to be obeyed.  Humanity’s first sin was an act of disobedience to God (Ge.3:1-ff).  The result…Adam & Eve were cast out, away from their garden home and God’s Presence (Ge.3:22-24).

Anciently, the nation of Israel was the people Christ loved above all other peoples.  Moses said of them rhetorically in De.4:5-8, “What great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord our God? What great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law?”  None other!  Christ was their God YHVH, their Rock, 1Co.10:4. (see the topic “Jesus Was The Old Testament God”.)  Christ their Passover (1Co.5:7) ‘passed over’ Egypt and freed the Israelites from bondage.  Years after the exodus, as Israel (then consisting of 13 tribes) was entering the Promised Land, the people were given God’s conditions which they must obey to remain in their new home-Land.

De.28:1-2 “If you will diligently obey the Lord your God, the Lord will set you above all the nations of the earth. Blessings will come upon you, if you obey the Lord.”  Blessings were promised to Israel for obedience.  v.15-16 “But if you will not obey the Lord your God, then all these curses shall come upon you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed in the country.”  Many curses for disobedience follow.  v.32-33 “Your sons and daughters shall be given to another people you do not know. And you shall be oppressed and crushed.”  Captivity!  v.36 “The Lord will bring you to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known.  Exile!  v.49 “The Lord will bring against you a nation from afar.”  Invasion!  v.63-64 “You shall be torn from the Land you are entering to possess. Moreover, the Lord will scatter you among all peoples.”  If Israel disobeyed Christ their God, they would be cast out of the Holy Land.

After the death of King Solomon, in the 900s BC Christ divided the united nation of Israel into two (1Ki.12).  The northern kingdom retained the name Israel, the southern kingdom was called Judah, the Jews.  (In 2Ki.16:5-6, the Jews/Judah were actually fighting against an alliance of Israel and Syria!)

The northern kingdom of Israel disobeyed Christ!  The prophet Hosea lived in Israel, and prophesied to them circa (c) 755–725 BC.  The northern kingdom was also known as Ephráim (son of the patriarch Joseph), and Samaria (the capital city, located in the area of Israel allotted to Ephraim’s descendants), and the Ten Tribes.  Ho.5:3, 9 “Ephraim has played the harlot. Israel has defiled itself. Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel I will declare what is sure.”  God would bring upon Israel the curses of De.28!  Ho.11:1-6 “When Israel was a youth I loved him, out of Egypt I have called My son. They kept sacrificing to Báal and burning incense to idols. Assyria will be their king. The sword will whirl against their cities, and consume them.”  When Hosea prophesied, their captivity to Assyria was imminent!  Ho.13:16 “Samaria will be held guilty, for she has rebelled against her God.”  Christ the Lord proceeded to cast out Israel from the Land.

Between c 734 and c 669 BC, in four periods of invasion the Assyrians removed the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel (and took many cities of Judah the southern kingdom).  Later c 610 BC, Christ told Jeremiah to write to Judah, Je.7:15b “I have cast out all your brothers of Ephraim.”  Most of the northern kingdom of Israel didn’t return to the Land!  (1^st century AD Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 11:5:2 “The ten tribes are beyond [east of] Euphrates until now, an immense multitude.”)

Is.7:8 is a significant prophecy. “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Within another 65 years Ephraim will be shattered.”  Isaiah prophesied the removal of Israel would be complete in 65 years.  It happened between c 734 and c 669 BC.  Targum of Isaiah 7:8 “At the end of 65 years, the kingdom of the house of Israel shall cease.”  Adam Clarke Commentary “It was 65 years to the total depopulation of the kingdom of Israel by Esarháddon, who carried away the remains of the ten tribes which had been left by Tíglath-Piléser and Shalmanéser.”  International Standard Bible Encyclopedia “It appears certain there were various episodes of deportation and repopulation connected to the Northern Kingdom.”

The Assyrian invasions and subsequent exile of most in the ten tribes took place during the time of Israel’s last four kings. Menahém, Pekahiáh (no invasion during his two-year reign, 2Ki.15:23-24), Pékah, Hoshéa.  Hoshea would be their final king.  The northern kingdom of Israel would cease being a nation.  Ho.1:4 “The Lord said, ‘I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.”

Following are the four main invasions and four deportations in the prophesied 65-year period:

Deportation #1: The first period of invasion and first deportation of Israelites occurred near the time of Isaiah’s prophecy.  The progressive captivity of Israel began with King Tiglath Pileser III (an assumed name) of Assyria, who ruled from c 745–727 BC.  He was a great military leader and conquered much of the known world.  His birth name was Pulu or Pul.  2Ki.15:19 “Pul, king of Assyria, came against the Land, and Menahem gave him 1,000 talents of silver.”  In Pul’s invasion, he exacted tribute from King Menahem of Israel.  Pekah (after Pekahiah) then succeeded Menahem as king in Israel.

Pul lessened the chances of revolts against Assyrian rule by forcing deportations of peoples across his empire.  He continued his attacks.  2Ki.15:29 “In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria came and took…Hazór, Gileád and Galilee, all the land of Naphtalí; and carried them captive to Assyria.”  1Ch.5:26 “The God of Israel incited Pul, king of Assyria, even Tiglath Pileser. He carried them away into exile; namely Reuben [v.6], Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasséh.”  Those 2 ½ Israelite tribes east of the Jordan River plus the tribe of Naphtali were deported initially, c 734 BC.  These weren’t reunited later with Judah.  (ref 2Ch.29:1-3, 30:1-12, 18 this later letter from King Hezekiah of Judah went to other tribes not taken by Tiglath Pileser III in the first deportation.)

Deportation #2: Progressive captivity continued during the reigns of the Assyrian kings Shalmaneser V (727–722 BC) and Sargón II (722–705 BC).  Hoshea was king in Israel (730–721 BC).  2Ki.17:1-7 “Shalmaneser king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, so the king of Assyria bound him in prison. He then invaded the whole Land and besieged Samaria 3 years. In the 9^th year of Hoshea he captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and settled them in Haláh and Habór on the River of Gozán, and in the cities of the Medes.”  v.23 “The Lord removed Israel from His sight, as He spoke through His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away into exile from their Land to Assyria until this day.”  This Assyrian invasion led to the second deportation.  The accepted date is 721 BC.

Josephus op. cit. 9:14:1 “Shalmaneser, king of Assyria besieged Samaria three years, quite demolished the government of the Israelites, and translated all the people into Média and Persia.”  Shalmaneser V began the attack, but died toward the end of the siege.  Most of the remaining tribes of Samaria were removed by Shalmaneser before he died.  His successor Sargon completed this in 721 BC.

Sargon II (Is.20:1) recorded his campaign on the palace walls at Dur-Shárrukin (Khorsabad). “In my first year of reign, the people of Samaria to the number of 27,290 I carried away. Fifty chariots for my royal equipment I selected. The city I rebuilt. I made it greater than it was before. People of the lands I had conquered I settled therein. My official I placed over them as governor.”  Sargon called his rebuilt city Samarina.  Assyrian records say they took captive the “House of Omrí”.  (Omri had been Israel’s king c 875 BC, ref 1Ki.16:23-24.)  The kingdom/government of Israel ceased to exist as such.

The 6 ½ tribes of Ephraim, Zebulún, Ashér, Issachár, Dan, Simeón, half of Manasseh (west of the Jordan), those not previously removed by Pul, were now also gone from the Land.  The Land of Samaria became an Assyrian province with an Assyrian governor.  2Ki.17:24 “The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cutháh, Avvá, Hamáth, Sepharváim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel. So they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.”  The Land area of the ten tribes of Israel was repopulated with non-Israelites.

Some Bible historians think Sargon II didn’t remove all remaining peasants from northern Israel.  Over the years, any remaining peasants from the northern tribes became assimilated into the foreign peoples Assyria conquered and resettled in Samaria.  The (new) inhabitants of northern Israel became known as Samaritans.  The remaining southern kingdom consisted of Judah (some from Simeon lived in Judah), Benjamin, Levi.

The foreigners Assyria placed in the Land were a mongrel people who held various pagan beliefs.  2Ki.17:25-34 Assyria returned a captive (apostate) Israelite “priest” to the Land of Samaria to teach the new residents about God.  The result was mongrel religion which mixed corrupt pagan practices and superstitions with God’s ways.  e.g. 2Ch.34:6-7 many of the imported foreigners continued in their idolatry.  Je.41:5 these residents even gashed their own bodies (forbidden in Le.19:28 & De.14:1).

2Ki.18:9-12 is a recap. “In the 4^th year of [Judah’s] King Hezekiah, which was the 7^th year of Hoshea king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria besieged Samaria. At the end of 3 years they captured it [721 BC]; in the 6^th year of Hezekiah and 9^th year of Hoshea, Samaria was captured. The king of Assyria carried Israel away into exile, because they did not obey the Lord their God.”  Some think Hezekiah was co-regent in Judah with his father Aház for 12 years…the exact regnal dates are hard to pinpoint.  The northern kingdom of Israel was cast out because they continued to disobey Christ the Lord.  Over all their years of existence, the southern kingdom of Judah had a few good kings, e.g. Hezekiah.  But the northern kingdom of Israel had no good kings…they were all bad!

Deportation #3: Assyria’s third period of invasion of the holy Land was by King Sennacheríb (705–681 BC), who succeeded his father Sargon II. (Sargon may have been a son of Tiglath-Pileser III.)  2Ki.18:13 “In the 14^th year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria seized all the fortified cities of Judah.”  This invasion of the southern Land is dated 702 BC.  1Ki.18:1-2 Hezekiah’s 29-year total regency was possibly c 727–698 BC.  If there’d been an initial joint reign of Hezekiah with his father Ahaz within that time, then the 14^th year of Hezekiah’s remaining sole reign is c 702 BC.

Assyrian (Akkádian) annals claim Sennacherib sacked 46 cities of Judah and captured 200,150 people!  Mic.1:8-13 lists some of the cities.  It may have been a dual campaign.  A number of Jews were carried away into Assyria.  2Ki.19:14-34 but when Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem, it was spared due to Hezekiah’s prayers.  v.35 “That night the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 soldiers in the Assyrian camp.”  v.36 “Sennacherib departed, and returned home to Nineveh.”  He made Nineveh the capital of the empire, and it became the largest city in the world for 50 years.  There is no known deportation of any cities of Samaria (in the north) during Sennacherib’s rule.

2Ki.19:37 “Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.”  This is several years later.  Esarhaddon succeeded his father Sennacherib, and ruled for 12 years from 681–669 BC.

Deportation #4: The fourth period of invasion and deportation was by King Esarhaddon, during the reign of Manasseh (c 698–643 BC) king of Judah.  2Ch.33:10-13 “The army of the king of Assyria captured Manasseh and took him to Babylon. And when he was in distress he entreated the Lord his God and humbled himself. He was moved by his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.”  Barnes Notes 2Ch.33:11 “Esarhaddon mentions Manasseh among his tributaries and from time to time, held his court at Babylon.”

In 680 BC, Esarhaddon rebuilt Babylon and resided there.  He conquered Judah.  King Manasseh of Judah (he wasn’t from the tribe of Manasseh) was Esarhaddon’s vassal and became one of his deportees.  Manasseh then repented to God and was restored as vassal king in Jerusalem.  Talmud scholar David Kimchí said Manasseh was carried to Babylon by the king of Assyria’s captains in the 22^nd year of his reign.  Circa 676 BC.

Around 140 years later, more than 40,000 Jews (Ezr.2:64) returned to the Land from exile.  Ezr.1:5 & 2:1 “Judah and Benjamin and the priests…The people who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city.”  Pulpit Commentary Ezr.2:1 “Jerusalem wasn’t the only site occupied by the people on their return. Many took up their abodes in the neighboring towns and villages, such as Jericho, Tekoah, Gibeon, Mizpah, etc.”  In 538 BC, these Jews came back to the prior tribal areas of Judah and Benjamin.

In the 530s BC, descendants of the foreigners that Assyria had moved into the Land opposed the returning Jews’ new work of rebuilding the temple.  Ezr.4:1-3 “The enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord God. They said to Zerubbabél, ‘We have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon who brought us here.”  The mixed foreign peoples now assimilated in the Land were suspicious of the Jews who just recently returned from Babylon.  These local adversaries alleged they too worshiped the God of Israel, and demanded they be included in the rebuilding…v.10 “The people whom the great and noble Asnappár deported and resettled in the cities of Samaria and the rest.”  Peoples previously imported into Samaria (Samaritans), Judah, and elsewhere.  Asnappar’s identity is uncertain; most think he was either Esarhaddon’s crown prince Ashurbánipul or chief officer.  Ashurbanipul may have finished the deporting done by his father.

Besides Israelites, Esarhaddon replaced others from “the rest” of the general area with easterners.  Ernest Martin People That History Forgot, p.121 “Eastern peoples were brought by the Assyrians in the 7^th century BC into the whole region we now call Syria, and not into Samaria alone.”  James Pritchard Ancient Near Eastern Texts, p.290…After completely destroying Sidon, Esarhaddon said of the Sidonian king, “I drove to Assyria his teeming people which could not be numbered.”

Charles Fensham The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah “We know from a cylinder of Esarhaddon that he conquered Sidon [c 677 BC?]…and it is most likely that northern Israel (Samaria) was also involved in the rebellion against the Assyrians.”  A rebellion in the Land that had been inhabited by the northern tribes of Israel.  Ezr.4:10 indicates further repopulation of Samaria…Ashurbanipul brought in more foreigners to become Samaritans.

Ashurbanipul (669–628 BC) succeeded Esarhaddon.  Jnh.3:5-10 God had sent the prophet Jonah from the northern kingdom of Israel to warn Nineveh c 770 BC (prior to Tiglath Pileser III).  The king and his people repented of wickedness.  But it wasn’t lasting.  After the death of Ashurbanipul, Nineveh was sacked in 612 BC…and never rebuilt (Nah.1:1, 9).  The Assyrian empire existed from 911–609 BC.

Again, the Is.7:8 prophecy said the northern kingdom of Israel would be destroyed in 65 years.  Gill Exposition “Israel entirely ceased to be a people when new colonies were introduced by Esarhaddon, the son of Sennacherib. This being exactly 65 years…Esarhaddon, after he had settled all his affairs in Syria, marched into Israel and there took captive all those who were the remains of the former captivity (excepting only some few), and carried them into Babylon and Assyria.”  From Lifeway Explore the Bible Quarterly notes, “The 65 years of Ephraim probably refers to 670 BC, when the Bible records the last of the Israelites were exiled by Assyrian ruler Esarhaddon and foreigners were put into Israel/Samaria”.  An amazing fulfillment!  God fulfills His prophecies.

JFB Commentary Ezr.4:2 “On a large cylinder in the British Museum is inscribed a long and perfect copy of the annals of Esarhaddon, in which details are given of a large deportation of Israelites from Palestine, and a subsequent settlement of Babylonian colonists in their place.”  The Esarhaddon Prism was mentioned by Colonel Rawlinson (1861 AD) the English explorer.

In Is.7:8, Isaiah prophesied to the southern kingdom of Judah about the shattering that would befall the northern kingdom of Israel in 65 years.  v.9 the Lord continues with a warning to Judah. “If you will not believe, you surely will not be established.”  Gill Exposition “If ye will not believe; the Targum adds, ‘the words of the prophet’, surely ye shall not be established, that is, in their own land.”  If the Jews don’t believe the prophecies, including the destruction of brother Israel, then the Jews too won’t remain as a kingdom!  v.17-25 Sennacherib subsequently invaded Judah and Deportation #3 occurred.

Then in 597 BC, King Nebuchadnézzar II began his exiling of Jews to Babylon.  In 587-586 BC, he destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.  The southern kingdom of Judah ceased as a nation (2Ch.36:20, 2Ki.24:14-15, e.g.).  God’s word through Isaiah was fulfilled!

Previously we read Je.7:15b, where Jeremiah wrote to Judah.  To now quote the entire Je.7:15. “I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brothers of Ephraim”.  Christ the Lord said He would cast out disobedient Judah, as He had disobedient Israel.  That happened, as He said.  (For events of the next period, see the topic “Temple of Zerubbabel”.)

And our belief that Christ loves us and died for our sins doesn’t give us Christians a get out of jail free card if we were to continue to disobey God and adamantly refuse to repent!  Jesus said in Lk.6:46, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, and do not the things that I say?”  Christ requires the obedience of those who are His.

We began with God’s conditions & warnings to His people in De.28.  Let’s conclude with De.30.  v.1-2 “When all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, and you return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart, then the Lord will restore you from captivity and have compassion on you.”

Yes, Christ is more than able to re-graft Israel (Ro.11:23), whom He loved!  De.30:6 “Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord with all your heart.”  v.9-11 “Then the Lord will prosper you in the work of your hand and rejoice over you; if you obey the Lord your God.”  Christ concluded in v.19, “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live.”  (also see the topics “Two Covenants – Heart of the Matter” and “Repentance from Sin”.)

We can learn from the sad lesson of ancient Israel’s history…and can choose a life of obedience to the Christ who died for us!  Let’s us be among the blessed saints at the end of the Book who “Keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Re.14:12).  We’ll be with Him forever!  Jesus is Lord!

Tree Symbolism in Scripture

This topic is about the spiritual symbolism of trees seen in the Bible.  Special focus is on two trees in the Garden of Eden…the Tree of Life (TL), and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (TKGE).  We’ll reflect on tree significance in Bible history, and also on two ‘Adams’ in two gardens.

The people of ancient Israel were familiar with the crops and vegetation of the Holy Land.  It was an agricultural society.  In scripture, God gave symbolic meaning to various crops, plants and trees indigenous to the Land.  Olives, figs, grapes are some of the produce which grows there (De.8:8).

Having a grape vine and a fig tree was symbolic of peace & safety and plenty in the Land.  1Ki.4:25 “Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and fig tree, all the days of Solomon.”  The Zec.3:10 prophecy, “In that day each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree’, declares the Lord”.  This was expanded in the prophecy of Mic.4:2, 4. “Many nations will go up to the mountain of the Lord. The law will go out from Zion. Each of them will sit under his vine and fig tree, and none shall make them afraid.”  Peace and plenty are a result of following God’s principles & ways.

In the 1^st century AD, a large golden vine (paid for from Judah’s tithes) hung over the Temple door in Jerusalem.  This vine was an emblem of Israel.  Ps.80:7-8 “O God, restore us. You did remove a vine from Egypt; You did drive out the nations and did plant it.”  After the exodus from Egypt, God drove out most Canaanítes and settled the Israelites in the Land.  Ho.10:1 “Israel is a luxuriant vine.”  But God later rebuked them in Je.2:21. “I planted you a choice vine; how did you turn against Me into a degenerate foreign vine?”  Israel turned to infidelity and apostasy from their God.

The nation of Israel was also portrayed as a fig tree.  Ho.9:10 the Lord said, “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree”.  Is.5:7 “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and Judah is His delightful plant [fig].”  The Lord said of the locust devastation in Joel.1:7, “It has made My vine a waste and My fig tree a stump”.  Je.8:12-13 was a prophecy upon ancient Judah. “They shall be brought down. There will be no grapes on the vine and no figs on the fig tree.”  No peace and plenty then. (cf. Mt.21:19 the fig tree Jesus cursed withered.)

But long before there was the nation(s) of ancient Israel, from the beginning God’s word gave symbolic meaning through trees.  Ge.2:8-9 “The Lord God planted a garden in Eden; and there He put the human. And the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing and good for food; the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil [Bad].”  These were the two most significant trees in that first Garden.  God commanded the first human/(adám) in Ge.2:16-17, “Of every tree you may freely eat; but from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat it you will surely die”.

Adam was free to eat from all trees, including the cosmic TL.  This TL symbolized God’s provision of immortality.  That would be the result of continued obedience to God.  By partaking of the TL, Adam & Eve would be following the lead of God’s voice/Word and the Holy Spirit (HS) of Wisdom.  Pr.3:18 “Wisdom is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. The Lord by wisdom founded the earth.”  Adam & Eve could have submitted to the Spirit of eternal life in God’s presence continually.

But one tree was not permitted them, the TKGE.  The consequence of disobedience to God, eating from that tree, is death.  That tree represented disregarding God’s voice/Word and the HS.  That tree wasn’t called just the Tree of the Knowledge of Evil.  It’s a mixture of Good and Evil.  Yet it’s not obedience to God.  The serpent tempted Eve in Ge.3:5. “In the day you eat from it [TKGE] your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  God is just, truly knowing what’s good and what’s evil/bad.  The TKGE would enable mankind to assume moral self-determination, to set their own standards of right and wrong, good and evil…as if they were God.  In a word…humanism.

Ge.3:6 “She [Eve] took from its fruit and ate, and gave to her husband, and he ate.”  It looked good!  They ate from the forbidden tree, in disobedience to God.  Sin!  And humanity has done so ever since.

We think we know good and evil, and by such knowledge have devised our own humanistic laws and justice/injustice systems.  Over the centuries, man has made some laws which in principle are based on God’s revealed laws from His HS & word.  But man has also enacted laws and sought religions apart from or contrary to God’s written laws/HS.  A mixture of good and evil.  Human misery has resulted.

{Sidelight: A government or ruler is ‘good’ to the extent their laws are based in principle upon God’s moral laws/standards.  e.g. the USA Constitution to an extent in past decades of its history.  Christians have been free in this nation.  But living as a Christian can be very difficult in dictatorships and underdeveloped nations where man’s laws are based on whatever keeps the present regime in power!}

Continuing with the first Adam & Eve in Ge.3:7, “Then their eyes were opened and they knew they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loin coverings”.  Nakedness can be both physical and spiritual, being unclothed or symbolic of sin & shame.  Re.16:15 “Blessed is the one who keeps his garments, lest he be naked and they see his shame.”  But prior to their sin…Ge.2:25 the two humans “were both naked and were not ashamed”.  Sin brought guilt and shame to their psyche.  (Note: This doesn’t mean that human bodyparts and normal sexual relations between husband & wife is sin.)

Adam & Eve themselves tried to cover their physical nakedness & sin with fig leaves…maybe from the same tree they’d eaten?!  Sewn fig leaves, or human devices, are inadequate to cover sin.  Ge.3:21 so “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.”  God Himself covered them with animal skins, perhaps leather garments of calfskin or kidskin.  In so doing, God showed that to cover the nakedness symbolic of sin, man must be ‘clothed’ by means of the death of another!  Those first skins from an animal sacrifice foreshadowed the temporary sacrificial system and ultimately Jesus the Lamb of God’s perfect final sacrifice to cover humanity’s sins!

Ge.3:22-23 “The Lord said, ‘The human has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he eat also from the Tree of Life and live forever’ – therefore the Lord drove him from the garden.”  Man was now in a fallen state of disobedience, having chosen to decide for himself what constitutes right and wrong, in rebellion against God.  For that time, God mercifully separated man from becoming immortal and living forever as humans in the misery of self-rule with a disobedient sinful heart & mind.

Moving far ahead in history to the nation of Judah in the 580s BC…in Je.24 the Jews were portrayed as good and evil figs.  v.1-3 “Two baskets of figs set before the Temple of the Lord. One basket had very good figs, the other basket had very evil [bad] figs.”  The people then were a type of the TKGE (eaten by those disobedient).  v.4-10 the Jews taken captive to Babylon in 597 BC were now characterized by good figs; those Jews remaining in the Land were as bad rotten figs.  A mixture of good and evil.

Separated from the TL & water of Life, most people in disobedient Israel and Judah hadn’t been given the HS.  Only a small minority (prophets, some priests and kings) had the HS.  Israel and Judah had instead the Mosaic sacrificial rituals.  But rituals (without the HS) proved inadequate for eternal salvation, not changing the heart or removing the sin nature.

When Christ came into the holy land in the 1^st century AD, He told the parable of the fig tree.  Lk.13:6-9 “For three years I have looked for fruit on this fig tree, without finding any. Cut it down. But let it alone for this year and I’ll fertilize it, and if it bears fruit, fine! But if not, cut it down.”  Jesus’ ministry in the Land was 3–4 years.  By His Person, He nourished, so to speak, the people/fig tree of the Land.

But by Mt.21:43-46, Jesus declared, “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruit of it. The chief priests and Pharisees understood He was speaking about them.”  Accordingly, the kingdom was taken from the physical nation of Judah in 70 AD; and given to a spiritual “nation” bearing fruit.  1Ch.28:5 the old Kingdom.  Ro.10:19 & 1Pe.2:9-10 the new “nation”.

Jesus said in Jn.15:1, 5, “I Am the true vine. He who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit.”  Unlike Israel, Jesus the true vine remained obedient.  By virtue of the sinless Jesus’ sacrifice, believers may now receive the HS.  The HS produces fruit that we in the “holy nation” are to bear (1Pe.2:9-10).

Mt.21:1 “Jesus approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphagé at the Mount of Olives.”  Bethphage meant ‘house of unripe figs’.  v.19-20 “Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He found nothing on it but leaves only. He said to it, ‘There shall be no fruit on you again.’ The fig tree withered.”  This fig tree, a type of the TKGE, was cursed four days before the cross.  The fig tree was an emblem of Judah.

Most of Judah rejected Jesus.  They set Him up to be crucified.  Jerusalem, the Temple, and Judea were destroyed in 70 AD. (see the topic “Babylon the Great’ in Revelation”.)  Their sacrificial rituals and oral traditions were insufficient.  Denying Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice, those Jews couldn’t completely cover their sins to receive eternal Life.  He.10:4 animal sacrifices cannot forever take away sins or the sin nature.  (That doesn’t mean the Jewish people won’t have salvation, e.g. Ro.11:23-26.)

God had placed the first created human/adam in a garden.  Immediately prior to Jesus’ crucifixion, the greatest drama in history, concerning God’s only begotten Son, began in a later garden!  Jn.18:1 “Jesus went to a garden, He and His disciples.”  Mk.14:32-33 “They came to Gethsemané. He became deeply distressed and troubled.”  The garden was at the foot of the Mt. of Olives.  Gethsemane meant ‘oil or wine press’.  That night Jesus prayed fervently.  In Luke’s account, Lk.22:44 “His sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground”.  (Hematidrósis is rare.)  Jesus even sweated blood in mental agony from the pressure He felt…at the place of the wine press.  Blood resembles red wine in color.

After day came, Christ was crucified, shedding His blood.  Peter later said to the high priest in Ac.5:30, “Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a tree”.  Jesus’ cross is symbolic of the Tree of Life.  Jesus hung on a type of the TL, near the Mt. of Olives…perhaps even within distant view of the fig tree He’d cursed, symbolizing the TKGE which represented disobedient Judah!

Christ had instructed Moses (in the Law).  De.21:22-23 “If a man is put to death and you hang him on a tree, he who is hanged is accursed by God.”  The Jewish apostle Paul wrote in Ga.3:13-14, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”.  (The curses for disobedience declared in Christ’s law were in De.27:15-26, De.28:15-ff, Le.26:14-ff, e.g.)  As the ultimate sacrifice for sin, Christ Himself became the curse for all humanity!  1Pe.2:24 “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, for by His wounds you were healed.”

Christ’s life was a living sacrifice according to His Father’s will, thereby enabling believers to receive the HS.  Our human nature & self-will has descended from the disobedient first human Adam, who ate from the TKGE.  Paul wrote in 1Co.15:45, “The first human, Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam [Jesus, symbolically] became a life-giving spirit.”  Paul refers to the obedient Jesus as the “last Adam”, through whom we inherit the spiritual nature and a future spiritual body in eternal life.  Ro.5:19 “Through one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, through the obedience of One many are made righteous.”  (see “Life and Death – for Saints” and “Universal Salvation in the Bible”.)

The dramas of two ‘Adams’ and two gardens play out unto eternal life for mankind!  Our salvation comes only by Jesus’ final sacrifice.  He.10:10 “By the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

Israel has twice received grace.  Jn.1:15-17 “For in His fullness we all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth through Jesus Christ.”  Christ was the Rock, the God of ancient Israel, according to Paul and John (ref De.32:3-4, 18, 1Co.10:4, 9, Is.6:1, 5, Jn.12:41-44).  The pre-existent Christ as the primordial Word of God had given His righteous Law to Moses & Israel.  No other ancient nation received such unmerited favor/grace as did Israel (e.g. De.4:8)!  (Moses’ face shined, Ex.34:30 & 2Co.3:7.)  Jesus is Lord!  Zec.4:6-7 LXX “By My Spirit’, saith the Lord Almighty. ‘I will bring out the Stone of the inheritance, its grace equaling My grace.”  By double grace – Christ’s law/Tabernacle/Temple, and Christ the CornerStone with HS amplitude become available to all.

In addition to the vine and the fig tree…there’s another very significant tree.  Continuing in Zec.4:11-14 LXX, “What are the two olive trees on the right and left side of the lampstand? These are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”  Unlike the fig tree, the olive tree symbolizes real Life; and is an emblem of peace.  Olive oil is a type of the HS, and was used in God’s ancient Tabernacle, foreshadowing the availability of the ‘oil’ of the HS for all humanity.  Theologian A.B. Simpson wrote of the olive tree. “The tree itself seems almost indestructible. It is usually crooked, gnarled, twisted, and almost torn to pieces. Some of the olive trees of Gethsemane must be at least 1,000 years old; indeed the olive seems as if it could scarcely die.”  Gethsemane, the second garden.

Perhaps the Tree of Life in the first garden was a type of olive tree?!  A 1,000-year-old olive tree will still produce fruit!  It’s an evergreen, continually renewing its leaves.  In the metaphorical Jdg. 9:8-13, “The trees went forth once to anoint a king over them. They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.”  The olive tree was the first choice as king of the trees.  (Second choice was the fig tree, third was the vine.)

Paul said, Ro.11:16-25 “If the root be holy, the branches are holy. You [gentiles] become partaker with them [Israel] of the rich root of the olive tree.”  The HS is the holy root of the (olive) tree of Life.  The church branches, with Jews re-grafted in, become holy via the indwelling HS, symbolized by oil from the olive.  (Christ is the root of Jesse, Is.11:10, the root and offspring of David, Re.22:16.)

Ep.2:7-9 “By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not the result of works, that no man should boast.”  It’s by God’s grace…not sewing fig leaves or our own humanistic works based upon the tree of man’s (supposed) knowledge of good & evil.  Instead….

He.8:10 “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel’, saith the Lord: ‘I will put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be My people.”  In the New Covenant, the HS puts God’s laws into our minds & hearts.  (see “Two Covenants – Heart of the Matter”.)  Gentiles are grafted-in, Ro.11:17.  Again, Mic.4:2 “The law will go out from Zion.”  Societal justice will be determined and governed by God’s completely just morality & principles…not man’s contrary laws based on human values from the TKGE.

Ps.1:1-3 “Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord. He will be like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season.”  Man is figuratively a tree bearing fruit from the living water of the HS; it won’t wither. (see “Living Water Produces Spiritual Fruit”.)  Concluding….

Re.22:1-3 “He showed me a river of life flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. On each side of the river was the Tree of Life; the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” (cf. Ezk.47)  In Paradise restored there’s no humanistic tree of the knowledge of good and evil by the river!  We’re obedient to God’s (better) ways.  Re.14:12 “Here is the steadfastness of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”  Re.2:7 Jesus says, “To him who overcomes I will give the right to eat of the TL which is in the Paradise of God”.  The Tree of Eternal Life…Halleluyah!

Healing Our Bodies

This topic is about healing.  Healing in the physical body is restoration to a healthy condition from disease or damage.

Almighty God is the ultimate Healer.  Eventually He will give us imperishable spiritual bodies, without the weakness or pain of our present natural bodies.  1Co.15:42-49 applies to us. “There is a natural body; there is also a spiritual body.”  1Co.15:50 our perishable flesh & blood bodies won’t inherit the Kingdom of God.

God provides good for our bodies of flesh.  Php.4:19 “My God shall provide all your need.”  Je.29:11-13 “I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘Plans for good and not evil, to give you a future and a hope. You will pray to Me, and I will hear you.”  John wrote in 3Jn.2, “I desire you to prosper and be in good health”.  But our earthly bodies will encounter sickness, and need healing.

The Lord is the real Physician.  It’s been said…all others are just ‘practicing’!  Yet they can often help.

{Sidelight: Jn.6:46, 5:37 Jesus said no human had ever seen or heard Father God (Jesus revealed Him, Jn.1:18).  Jn.1:1, 14 the Word/Jesus is also YHVH.  (cf. Ge.19:24 two YHVHs!)  Is.6:1, 5 & Jn.12:41-44 John said Isaiah saw the pre-incarnate Word/Jesus (not the Father).  It was Jesus Christ who was the visible Spokesman God of the Old Testament!  see the topic “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”.}

Ex.20:1-ff the Lord Jesus spoke His Decalogue to Moses!  Ex.15:26 “If you will obey the Lord your God, and hearken to His commandments and keep His statutes; I AM the Lord your Healer.”  God said in Ex.23:25-26, “I will fulfill the number of your days”.  Gill Exposition “The number of days which was fixed for each of them.”  Christ will remove sickness, and promises a person will live the number of days/years God intends for that one!  De.7:15 the Lord would put sickness on the heathen hateful.  De.28:58-61 those who disobey God’s laws will be diseased & destroyed!  Ps.55:23 “Bloody deceitful men shall not live half their days.”  The years of evil men may end early, in the prime of life.

God is Sovereign!  Jb.14:5 “Since a person’s days are determined, the number of his months are under Your [God’s] control, You have set his limit that he cannot pass.”  A man’s days are known and initially fixed by God.  1Sm.2:6 “The Lord brings death and gives life.”  The power of life and death is in God’s hands.  Since God is the Author of life, He has the right to take life.  It’s God’s prerogative.

Jesus’ basic dietary, cleanliness and sanitation laws are found in: Le.11 clean versus unclean, De.14:2-21 (similar to Le.11), Le.15, Le.17:10-16.  (also see “Unclean versus Clean Food”.)

Good health is more than luck.  Paul said in Ga.6:7, “Be not deceived, whatever one sows he will also reap”.  We reap what we sow.  It’s a basic principle of God.  Jesus is the God of cause and effect.  Action and reaction.  Obedience results in blessings, but disobedience can result in misery.  This principle is foundational to our health and healing!  De.30:10-20 “The Lord is your life and the length of your days.”  Here Christ makes the point that choosing to obey results in life and length of days (v.20)!

But what should we do when we encounter illness?

Healing is more than a removal of physical symptoms.  Mt.9:2-6 God’s healing includes forgiveness!  Jn.5:11-14 Jesus told the sick man He’d healed, “Don’t sin, so that nothing worse may befall you”.  Sin can result in sickness.  Yet 1Jn.1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is just to forgive our sins.”

We confess and repent!  Mk.6:12-13 we’re to repent of sin…many were anointed & healed via His disciples.  Ja.5:14-16 “Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will restore the sick. If he has committed sins, they will be forgiven. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous person avails much.”  Amen.

Olive oil was a common base oil in Old Testament (OT) Israel (and a point of contact).  Numerous essential oils of herbs/trees in God’s creation have properties which contribute to healing.  Moreover, Re.22:2 “The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”  Ex.30:22-38 God’s holy anointing oil mixture and holy incense mixture at His ancient tabernacle contained powerful antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal agents.  Those blends were made from spices and essential oils.  The Lord even stayed the plague when Aaron held up the holy incense mixture (Nu.16:46-48)!

Heartfelt believing prayers are effective!  Ps.34:15 “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears open to their cry.”  Ps.119:172 the righteous obey God’s commandments (ref Lk.1:6).  Lk.11:9-10, 18:1-7 we too can give God no rest in prayer!

It may be that God will wait to see how much we desire something, before He answers.  If we want healing, intervention or some blessing enough, we can supplicate on our knees/face until breakthrough.  God will hear!  When we get our breakthrough, we’ll know that we know in our knower…we’ll be healed!  Strong believing faith comes.

2Ki.20:1-11 God healed king Hezekiah from a terminal condition, using a poultice of figs.  The king had prayed earnestly and wept bitterly.  v.5 the Lord said, “I will heal you”.  In so doing, God used plant therapy to add 15 years to Hezekiah’s days.  And he didn’t have a personal breakthrough (v.8).

Je.8:22 “Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?”  Ancient Gilead was known for its balm (from the balsam tree), used for healing wounds.

1Ti.5:23 Paul prescribed wine therapy for Timothy’s frequent ailments.  Most often we have our part to do, in some form or another.

King Asa, however, became disobedient to God.  He trusted in allies and sought physicians, rather than seeking God first…and he died from a severe foot disease (2Ch.16:7-9, 12-13)!

Mk.5:25-29 this woman had endured much from physicians.  But then Jesus healed her miraculously!

Yet it’s not always lack of faith to seek medical aid too.  Mt.9:12 Jesus said it’s those who are sick who need a physician (He too is a Physician).  Col.4:14 “Luke, the beloved physician.”  Wisdom of Sírach 38:1-4 “Honor the physician with the honor due him, and according to your need of him. Healing comes from the Most High. The Lord created medicines from the earth, and the sensible man will not loathe them.”  It is thought that all 1^st century Judean towns had a doctor to treat symptoms, set fractures, dress wounds, ease pain.  Today’s practitioner of alternative medicine, naturopath, herbalist may compare.

God is omniscient…He knows the end from the beginning (Is.46:10).  Also God is love (1Jn.4:8), and wants to do us good during our days He’s given us in the flesh.  We reap what we sow, and God lovingly chastises us for disobedience along the way (He.12:5-7, Re.3:19).  But since Jesus took the rap to acquit us, God may heal before we’ve fully reaped what we’ve sown!  The Lord is our ultimate healing Physician…in this physical life, and/or in the future via an incorruptible spiritual body.

1Co.10:13 God doesn’t allow us to experience trials greater than we can bear!  David wrote in Ps.39:4, “Lord, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days”.  Some may desire to remain in the flesh past the “extent of our days”.  To accomplish more or desiring to be with loved ones here; to delay our going to be with Christ and other loved ones who’ve passed on.  (see “Life and Death – for Saints”.)  God loves us.  Perhaps He may honor our choice?  The Lord did add 15 years to Hezekiah’s life!

We can seek advanced medical treatment or have surgery(s) which possibly may add to our time in this natural body.  It may be that God won’t override one’s desire to do so.  God knows.  One way or the other…Ps.116:15 “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”

It’s risky to ignore a persistent strange pain or sickness in the body.  Mk.9:43-47 may also broadly apply to skin cancer from sun, or gangrene.  Remove tumors if need be.  A mixture of eggplant and oils or vinegar can be effective against basal cell and squamous skin cancers.

God basically heals through three means: miraculously, naturally, normal body rejuvenation over time.

There’s no individuals named in the gospel accounts to whom Jesus refused healing!  The Messiah even healed male Israelite lepers, Mt.8:1-4!  However, lack of faith in Nazareth limited even Jesus, Mk.6:5.

Lk.7:1-10 Jesus healed gentiles too.  Mk.7:24-30 He delivered the Syro-Phoenician’s daughter.  (Maybe those individuals there kept the dietary laws Christ had instructed Moses?)  At least 1/3 of Jesus’ healings were deliverance from spirits.  Trespassing spirits can cause disease.  Ac.28:3-10 God healed ignorant heathens on Malta…they’d believed God’s miracle with Paul and respected his shipwrecked group.  The Most High is kind to all (Lk.6:35b).

God is great at putting out fires…He’s the ultimate Fireman!  But God’s kindness and mercy may not repudiate His principle of sowing and reaping.

In 1Ti.5:22a, Paul said to be circumspect in laying-on hands.  I may not have expectant faith to lay-on hands for the healing of one who’s knowingly unrepentant.  But with faith and confidence in God’s promises, we can readily lay hands on the person whose heart is sincerely trying to obey the Lord!

1Co.12:8-10 some Christians are gifted as special agents of God’s healing & miracles.  Ac.5:14-16 God even healed through Peter’s shadow!  Ac.19:11-12 at Ephesus, Paul used anointed cloths in healing.

Often God heals through created bodily processes and rejuvenation over time.  Living in disobedience for years can weaken our system.  But if an unknown pain or illness is still present after giving the body reasonable time to be renewed…it’s our decision whether or when to seek medical aid and expose a weakened immune system to sicknesses prevalent in today’s hospitals & waiting rooms.

Prescription drugs?  Drugs have side effects.  But if one’s immune system has become too weak or we don’t know what will remedy our condition naturally or the belief isn’t there…antibiotics may be necessary.  Garlic (raw) is a potent natural antibiotic…its use even prevented soldiers in the 20th century world wars from getting gangrene!

2Ti.4:20 Tróphimus was sick.  But, tradition says he died later from beheading by Nero.  2Co.12:7-10 Paul’s thorn in the flesh…affliction from an adversarial spirit to keep Paul humble, or perhaps cataracts with age.  Or possibly Paul was reaping (2Co.11:24-25) what he’d sown as Saul, the trauma he’d caused Jewish Christian saints (e.g. Ac.9:1-4)?  God loved & forgave Saul/Paul…yet God is just.  (Paul himself even wrote to the saints in 2Th.1:6, “It is just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you”.)

Ps.119:84 “How many are the days of Thy servant?”  Most of us (non-terminally ill) don’t know the number of our days.  Is.57:1-2 sometimes, “The righteous is taken away from evil to come. They rest on their beds.”  2Ti.4:6-7 Paul knew his spirit was soon to depart his body.  2Pe.1:13-15 Peter knew his time to go was imminent. (Ja.2:26 the body without the spirit is dead.  cf. Ac.7:59 with Lk.8:55.)  And the day will come when God will no longer heal our physical shell surrounding our spirit…you and me.

God has blessed my son’s family so far in this life.  Yet he’s told me that he also looks forward to being with the Lord.  Php.1:23 “To depart and be with Christ is far better.”

Ps.103:1-5 “Praise the Lord and forget not all His benefits. He pardons all your iniquities and heals all your diseases.”  (Again, Mt.9:5 pardon & healing.)  Healing the obedient from illness is one of the many benefits Jesus promised.  It’s not magic…it’s mercy and grace.  God knows our hearts, knows whether or not we’re sincere in trying to overcome an issue.  Full repentance may take some time.

Besides obeying God’s laws & principles, our environment and diet affects our health.  We’re advised to: wash our hands, keep a clean house, get enough exercise; and avoid blood, smoking, nicotine, sugary soft drinks.  To neglect doing our part, or taking for granted our God-given bodies, can result in illness.

We may inadvertently catch a bug at school or at work in this ‘fallen’ world.  We’re affected and infected by the actions and sins of others.  Not all that we suffer is due to our personal sin (ref Lk.13:1-5).  Yet we may have a trial where we suffer some physically.

Pets can get parasites and make us sick.  Caring for pets is a good teaching tool for children, or keeping a yap-yap dog for protection.  But it’s our personal decision whether the pros outweigh the cons of keeping an unclean animal inside the home. (There’s no Bible record of unclean pets in OT Israel!)

What about healing through televangelists?  For example, I’ve heard that Benny Hinn eats clean and verbally gives God the glory for the healings.  A Christian I know described to me his own healing at a Benny Hinn crusade (a female co-worker of mine likewise).  Many pray and fast going into such crusades.  There’s usually a high faith level and expectancy at such events.

But a person may later lose their healing through disobedience.  The Lord mercifully puts out the fire and heals, but then with continued disobedience that person may again start reaping what they sow.  Railing on satan with the tongue while disobeying God’s commandments may not bring physical relief!  A level of faith is also necessary to believe and obey God’s written word.

My wife tries to obey Jesus’ dietary & sanitary laws.  She’s not used my health insurance or antibiotics in 35 years.  It’s cause and effect, in part.  Mt.9:28-30 Jesus said, “According to your faith be it done to you”.  I wear glasses.  Other than my eyes and having skin lesions removed (probably too many hours outside without sunscreen), I rarely go to a doctor.  I take herbal supplements & essential oils, but no meds.  I have dental checkups & cleanings twice-a-year.  When I catch a bug or get injured, usually the first thing I do is ask for anointing and for the Lord to heal me.  To God be the glory!

For sure, most of us don’t want to die an untimely death.  1Pe.2:24 “By His [Jesus’] wounds you were healed.”  Until we’ve reached the number of our days God is giving us…He provides our physical healing needs.  The Lord says in He.13:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”.

As we’ve seen, the concept of healing is multifaceted.  Healing accompanies forgiveness…and consummates in the Christian’s new life in eternity.

God is Sovereign.  He’s in charge.  God is for us, and will cause all things to work together for our good (Ro.8:28-32)!  Php.3:20-21 “Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we eagerly await the Lord Jesus; who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body.”  That’s our hope, our spiritual body!

For now…let’s continue to have faith in God and in His word, keeping our hearts focused on obeying and trusting Him.  It is possible to live in near divine health, as God promised.  Until we too fulfill the number of our natural days, according to God’s will…and go to be forever with the Lord!

Paul the Apostle (1) – Law and Works

There are many Bible readers who view the apostle Paul’s epistles as unclear or controversial.  Some Christians who believe in Jesus even think Paul was a false apostle!  Did Paul mean it is necessary to maintain good works and obey God’s commandments/laws…or it isn’t necessary?

As Christians, our belief in Jesus, in salvation, in the veracity of scripture, etc., is to a large extent based upon the testimony of (eye) witnesses.  For example, the four gospels testify of Jesus.  Books of the Bible were composed by God’s servants, inspired by the Holy Spirit (HS).  2Ti.3:16 Paul wrote “All scripture is inspired by God, and is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness”.  And according to Ps.119:172, “All Thy commandments are righteousness”.

Our Bibles, both Testaments, contain numerous righteous commandments/laws of God.  Ps.119:142 “Thy law is truth.”  Yet Christians today reading Paul come to varying opinions about the continuing validity of God’s laws & commandments seen in scripture.  The true moral laws & principles God gave to ancient Israel…are they applicable today?  Should they be obeyed by Christians, by mankind?

Let’s fabricate, make believe, a trial to simulate how a court would ‘rule’ on this issue.  We’ll use the holy scriptures or their writers as the witnesses.  We won’t use the historical Roman Catholic Church or other denominations, or opinions of church ‘fathers’, theologians or other people.  A court ‘verdict’ can be delivered only after the witnesses have been heard.  Let’s now call the Bible witnesses.

Ge.26:5 “Abraham obeyed Me, kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, My laws.”  All that!  That indicates Divine laws were known by gentiles well before God’s codified law was given to Moses & Israel.  (see “Abraham Obeyed Which Commandments?” and “Genesis Principles Predate Moses”.)

Moses wrote in De.11:1, “Love the Lord your God, and always keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments”.  Also De.4:8 “What great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole Law?”  Israel had such just laws, blessed beyond other peoples!

Joshua wrote of the Lord’s exhortation to him in Jsh.1:7-8. “Be careful to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. For then you will make your way prosperous and have good success.”  Obeying the laws God made known to ancient Israel would result in prosperity and success!

David was a man after God’s own heart (ref 1Ki.11:4, 34, 15:5; Ac.13:22).  David wrote in Ps.19:7-9, “The law of the Lord is perfect. His judgments are true, righteous altogether.”  That’s high acclaim!

The Preacher (Ec.12:9) taught in Ec.12:13, “The conclusion, when all has been heard: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind”.  After we’ve tried other things or other lifestyles, when all is said & done…obeying God’s commandments is the bottom line for right living!

Isaiah wrote in Is.8:20, “To the law and to the testimony! If they don’t speak according to this word, it is because they have no light.”  Anyone not speaking according to the Lord’s commandments/testimony is in some darkness, whether they realize it or not.

Josiah said in 2Ch.34:14-15, 19, 21, “Great is the wrath of the Lord because our fathers haven’t observed the word of the Lord, to do all that is written in this book”.  This king was grieved to find God’s book of the law had been disobeyed.  Josiah instituted reforms.

Jeremiah prophesied that eventually the Lord would even write His laws on peoples’ very hearts!  Je.31:31-33 “I will make a New Covenant. I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it.”  God’s living principles would thereby become internalized in man.

Ezekiel prophesied in Ezk.36:26-27, “I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes and observe My judgments”.  The day would come when the HS would enable people to live according to God’s statutes & justice.  (This passage resembles Je.31:33 above, regarding the New Covenant.)

Daniel lamented in Da.9:10-11, “All Israel has transgressed Thy law and turned aside, so the curse has been poured out on us”.  Wise Daniel understood that curses can result from violating God’s laws.

Malachi wrote the Lord’s warning in Mal.4:4-6. “Remember the law of Moses My servant, the statutes and judgments I commanded him. Lest I come and smite the Land with a ban of destruction.”  In the final verses of the Old Testament, future generations are exhorted & warned to remember God’s laws.

Jesus the Lord confirmed in Jn.14:21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me”.  God had promised Moses/Israel in Ex.20:6, “I, the Lord your God…showing mercy to thousands who love Me and keep My commandments.”  Jesus linked real love of God to obeying His commandments.  Jesus castigated those Pharisees & scribes who rejected His commandments in favor of Judaism’s oral law.  Mk.7:8-11 “You set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.”  Jesus attacked the rules & regulations of men, but never the written commandments of God, including those which He’d spoken to Moses/Israel.  Jesus wouldn’t contradict the Lord Himself!

Peter said in Ac.5:29, 32, “We must obey God rather than men…The Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”  Rather than fearing man, obedience to God is necessary and is a key to being Spirit-filled. (see “Governmental Loyalty for Christians”.)  God commanded in Le.11:44-47 e.g., “I am the Lord your God. Be holy for I am holy. This is the law to make a distinction between the clean and the unclean.”  Peter said in Ac.10:14, “I have never eaten anything common or unclean.”  Later as an old man, Peter still advocates holiness, which pertained to the Lord’s command (Le.11:45) regarding clean/unclean, “It is written, Be holy for I am holy” (1Pe.1:16).  also see “Unclean versus Clean Food”.

James wrote in Ja.4:12, “There is One Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy”.  Jesus’ relative recognized God as the one and only genuine Lawgiver.  God’s laws & standards are intrinsically right!

John reiterated Jesus’ words about loving Him (Jn.14:21) in 1Jn.5:3. “This is the love of God, that you keep His commandments.”  The elderly apostle defined real love as keeping God’s commandments!  John wrote in Re.12:17, “The dragon was enraged and went off to make war with those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus”.  Satan hates commandment-keepers!  And John also warned in 1Jn.2:3-4, “The one who says ‘I know Him’, and doesn’t keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him”.  Those opposed to Divine law may just pay lip-service to Jesus.

To inherit eternal life, in Lk.10:25-28 Jesus acknowledged a person should: (1) Love God…De.6:5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul [life], with all your might.”  (2) Love your neighbor…Le.19:18 “You shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.”  (see “Love – Godly Love”.)  The Lord had told these principles to Moses many centuries earlier.  They didn’t originate with Jesus in the 1^st century!  God’s laws all generally come within these two broad headings…love God and love your neighbor.  187 chapters of the Bible are attributed to Moses, many of them containing God’s commands & precepts.

Jesus again, at the very end of our Bible, Re.22:14 KJV “Blessed are they who do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life”.  Eternal life for both Jews and gentiles (e.g. the non-Jew Abraham in Ge.26:5) who do God’s commandments.

We’ve quoted and examined the Bible testimony/evidence of 15 witnesses.  Witnesses from Genesis to Revelation attest to the laws of God!  De.19:15 “A single witness shall not rise up…on the evidence of 2 or 3 witnesses a matter shall be confirmed.”  A minimum of two witnesses is necessary.  Jn.8:16-18 Jesus confirmed, “The testimony of two men is true”.  Jesus applied De.19:15 to disputes between church brothers in Mt.18:16. “By the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses.”  (It’s not limited to murder cases.)

1Ti.5:19 Paul instructed Timothy, “Don’t receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of 2 or 3 witnesses”.  He.10:28 “Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without pity on the testimony of 2 or 3 witnesses.”  Even God has His unique 2 witnesses!  Re.11:3 “I will grant authority to My 2 witnesses.”  So we see in both Testaments…at least 2 or 3 witnesses are necessary as evidence.

So again, we’ve read 15 witnesses who are in agreement about God’s laws, etc.  But, what if another single witness arises who disagrees or seems to disagree with the above 15 witnesses of scripture…whether he’s a Bible character, a church ‘father’, a modern ‘prophet’, whoever?  Or what if a single witness seems to agree with those 15 witnesses part of the time, and seems to disagree part of the time?

That’s how many Bible readers view the apostle Paul.  What many see in Paul’s writings is…he’s vacillating between obedience to God’s commandments/laws and indifference or laxity.

Let’s look at the question of whether or not good works (érgon Strongs g2041, Greek) are necessary for Christians.  Jesus said in Mt.5:16, “Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works [g2041]”.  Jesus says in Re.2:1-2, 18-19, 3:1, “I know your works [g2041]”.  Jesus rebuked and urged them to repent of dead works (also ref He.6:1).  James wrote in Ja.2:18, 26, “I’ll show you my faith by my works [g2041]….faith without works [g2041] is dead.”  Peter wrote in 1Pe.1:17, “The Father, who without respect of persons judges according to every man’s work [g2041]”.  Paul wrote in Ti.3:8, “Be thoughtful to be leading in good works [g2041]”.  Paul in Col.1:10, “That you might walk worthy of the Lord, being fruitful in every good work [g2041]”.  And Paul in Ro.2:5-6, “The righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his works [g2041]”.  Confirming the need to maintain good works, here we’ve read 4 ‘witnesses’…Jesus, James, Peter, and Paul himself.

But Paul in Ro.4:6 (seemingly conversely against Ro.2:5-6) wrote of “the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works [g2041]”.  Also Ep.2:8-9 “By grace you have been saved through faith, not as a result of works [g2041].”  What?!  Taking these two passages at face value, Paul contradicts not only himself…but Peter, James, and even Jesus too!  Our wayward human nature may favor the Paul of Ro.4:6 & Ep.2:8-9…and dismiss the Paul of Ti.3:8, Col.1:10 & Ro.2:5-6, and the above words of Peter, James and Jesus!  But Peter warned of lawless men who twist Paul’s writings.  2Pe.3:15-17 “Our beloved brother Paul, in all his letters are some things which are hard to understand; which the unstable distort as they do also the rest of the scriptures, carried away by the error of lawless men.”  Peter indicated the lawless dislike God’s laws/commandments, and use Paul’s epistles to excuse themselves.

The phrase “works of the law” appears 7 times in Paul’s writings.  e.g.: Ro.3:20 “By the works [ergon g2041] of the law [nómos g3551] no flesh shall be justified in His sight.”  Ro.3:28 “A man is justified by faith, apart from works of the law.”  Ga.2:16 “A man isn’t justified by the works of the law.”  Ga.3:5 “Does He who gives you the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the law or the hearing of faith?” (also Ro.9:32, Ga.3:2, 3:10.)  What was this “works of the law”?

The concept “works of the law”, which Paul was against, is found as Esséne rituals in the Dead Sea Scrolls 4QMMT.  This related to their sectarian solar calendar, purity regulations & cooking utensils & ceremony, the intermarriage of priests with commoners, etc.  (Essene law concepts weren’t continued in rabbinic Judaism.  Neither’s oral law applies to Christians…they aren’t God’s commands.)

Dr. John Bergsma Dead Sea Scrolls: Paul and Works of the Law “4QMMT is a letter from the Essenes to the Pharisees about ritual purity. In 4QMMT, it’s the only use of the phrase ‘works of the law’ in ancient literature outside of Paul. These aren’t issues of eternal, moral principles; these are all issues of cultic purity. Not a reference to good works in general.”  They were ritualistic works.

Martin Abegg 4QMMT, Paul, and Works of the Law “Works of the law’ in 4QMMT are extant precepts concerning acts which trespass the boundaries between the pure and the impure. Paul consciously reflected the term ‘works of the law’ which was used by the author of 4QMMT and, I would suggest, by Paul’s opponents in Galatians. MMT is couched in the exact language of what Paul was rebutting in his letter. It appears highly likely that Paul was reacting to the kind of theology espoused in 4QMMT, that a person was reckoned righteous by keeping ‘works of the law.”  Via purity regulations.

4QMMT C31 ending “It will be reckoned for you as righteousness, when you perform what is right and good [regulations herein] before Him, for your own good and for that of Israel.”  Ro.4:22 Paul wrote, “It was reckoned to him [Abraham] as righteousness”.  A likeness of expression to 4QMMT.

Barry F. Parker ‘Works of the Law’ and the Jewish Settlement in Asia Minor “It is not a case of Paul attacking the law in Galatians. Rather, he is attacking a particular understanding of the law. His assault is not on the law but on certain ‘works of the law’. There is no place whatsoever for a random selection of works of the law. 4QMMT’s ‘works of the law’ is the linguistic equivalent of Paul’s ‘erga nomou’ (e.g. Rom 3:20, 28; Gal 2:16; 3:2, 5, 10). Indeed, it seems to be the only extant equivalent. As such, it is crucial in the understanding of Paul’s use of the phrase ‘works of the law’. Rom.3:20-22, Paul makes the point that Christ adhered to the law in its entirety and not selectively. Paul’s opponents in Galatians have twisted the purpose of the law almost beyond recognition, and Paul has no tolerance for their view. Notably, he condemns their emphasis on ‘selective works of the law’ [MMT Miqsat Ma’ase ha-Toráh]. The more disparaging language concerning law in Galatians doesn’t refer to the Torah [written] per se, but to a perversion of it. The use of ‘works of the law’ there confirms both that Paul is in (indirect) dialogue with those familiar with Essene terminology and that selectivity is in view. Although he speaks to a different audience about a different problem regarding the law in Romans, when Paul uses the phrase ‘erga nomou’ in Romans 3, the immediate context is quite similar to what he addresses in Galatians.”  4QMMT promoted sectarian selected practices (non-scriptural).

‘Works of the law’ (ergon nomou) also related to temple sacrifices.  As per Le.6:1-7 – After confession, restitution, pay the fine, do animal sacrifice at the temple…for forgiveness, atonement, justification…only then did the offender become reconciled to God again.  This process for Old Covenant Israel was justification by works of the Torah.  And it was work!  Philo The Special Laws1, p.556 re Le.6:1-7: “Pardon shall be given to such a man, who shows the truth of his repentance, not by promises, but by works. Restoring the deposit he’d received, giving up what he’d stolen or found, paying in addition 1/5 of the value as an atonement for the evil he’d done. Also go to the temple and sacrifice a ram.”  The now obsolete system of ritually killing animals for expiation also was a “ministry of death” (2Co.3:7).

A closer look at the ‘inconsistent’ Paul of Ro.4:6 and Ep.2:8-9, Ferrar Fenton 1903 translation: Ro.4:6 “The man to whom God grants righteousness apart from rituals.”  Ep.2:8-9 “You are saved by a gift through faith, not from rituals.”  Paul here had in mind ritualistic works, not good deeds or morality.  Which makes sense, because Paul went on to say in v.10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works”.  Would Paul contradict himself in consecutive verses; that works aren’t done in v.9, and yet the same works should be done in v.10?  Rather, Christians needn’t do rituals, but should do good deeds and moral obedience.  Thus, Paul in these two passages doesn’t contradict the Paul of Ti.3:8, Col.1:10 or Ro.2:5-6…nor does Paul contradict Peter, James, or Jesus regarding works.

Sacrificial & ritualistic works were not the Decalogue/10 Commandments, nor were they God’s dietary laws for health.  Obviously it requires no work to: rest on the sabbath day, refrain from murder or theft, refrain from eating pigs, mice, bats, cats, dogs, or from drinking blood!  A person can refrain from violations of those written principles even by staying in bed…no ‘works’ are involved whatsoever!

How did Paul view the written moral laws/commandments of God?  Paul wrote in Ro.3:31, “Do we nullify the Law through faith? By no means! On the contrary, we establish the law.”  Then in Ro.7:12-14, “The Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. For we know the Law is spiritual.”  (The Holy Spirit had given the Law to Moses.)   Paul goes on to say in v.22-25, “I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man…I myself with my mind am serving the law of God.”  It seems God was writing His laws upon the heart/mind of Paul too.  As Jeremiah prophesied.  Paul told gentile converts in Ep.6:2, “Honor your father and mother”, quoting the very Law of Ex.20:12, De.5:16.

The above verses are examples of Paul’s testimony not contradicting what the HS inspired the other 15 witnesses.  That is the true Paul.  Again, 2Ti.3:16 Paul himself wrote, “All scripture is inspired by God”.  Paul even says in Ro.8:7, “The carnal mind is hostile toward God, for it doesn’t subject itself to the Law of God, it is unable to do so”.  Folks may sit in church on Sunday morning, yet are unable to subject themselves to God’s laws.  According to Paul, that’s indicative of a carnal mind, unable to really obey God’s spiritual law.  Some may call Jesus “Lord, Lord” (Lk.6:46), but not really obey the Lord.

We ‘called the witnesses’ in our simulated trial…Gentile, Israelites, Jews…Prophets, Priests, Kings.  From Genesis to the final chapter of Revelation!  Jesus had said in Jn.17:17, “Thy word is truth”.  Since our Bibles include 13 letters (87 chapters) bearing the name of Paul, we tend to overlook the fact that he is solely just one witness!  And although Paul’s epistles aren’t essential for us to inherit eternal life, Christians would prefer a clear, consistent understanding of Paul.

Would a sound-minded judge throw out the testimony of 15 separate witnesses to side with 1 whose testimony seems inconsistent?  Needless to say, a just judge would side with 15 righteous witnesses, and disregard any (supposed) contrary testimony of merely 1 witness!  And we saw where Paul too acknowledged the need for 2 or 3 witnesses; and read where he agreed with the 15 Bible witnesses.

Also we saw verses where Paul exhorted good works.  And Paul’s reference to “works of the law” related to Jewish sectarianism/Éssenism which Paul opposed, and to sacrifices.

Finally, the writer to the Hebrews quoted Jeremiah in He.8:8-10. “Behold, I make a new covenant. I will put My laws in their minds and will write them upon their hearts.”  Here a final ‘witness’ confirms that God writes His laws within New Covenant believers.  The moral principles & laws which the Lord gave ancient Israel, the people He loved (e.g. De.7:7-8), are being written on yielded hearts. (also see “Two Covenants – Heart of the Matter”.)

We’ve heard/read the ‘witnesses’ of scripture.  Ladies and gentlemen of the jury…how will you decide?  As for me, I believe the verdict is…God’s moral laws/commandments and good works are valid for Israel, gentiles, Christians, all mankind!  Praise God, our Lawgiver (Ja.4:12)!

This series about Paul is continued in “Paul the Apostle (2) – The Chameleon?”.