Recently I got asked about \u201ctheology\u201d, and it got me to thinking that whatever that means, it is NOT the same as studying YHVH and His Scripture. Why? Because ‘theology’ is derived from the Greek words ‘theos’, meaning \u201cgods\u201d and having to do with ‘study’, which does sound a bit different that just studying what He Wrote down for us. The Greek language assumes a lot of ’em, and no shortages of books about them, either.<\/p>\n
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It’s a bit like the realization there there are lots of \u201creligions\u201d but that the Bible has nothing good to say about the concept.
\nAnd that in turn got me to thinking about just HOW we might be able to explain similar differences to most Christians. What about \u201cSabbath\u201d, and what difference does it make? And the perennial favorite: If we’re \u201csaved by grace\u201d and by \u201cfaith in Jesus\u201d \u2013 what does that mean, what does it look like, and why, oh, why, would any of us care about all that nasty ole \u201cOld Testament\u201d stuff? Isn’t it all just \u201clegalism\u201d anyway?<\/p>\n
And perhaps the best way to address that set of issues is head-on. Just which \u201cJesus\u201d are we talking about, anyway?<\/p>\n
The one who \u201cdid away with The Law,\u201d and then \u201cnailed it to the cross,\u201d or the One Who was actually described in prophetic and legal detail in that same \u201cOld Testament\u201d? Put differently, \u201canother jesus\u201d, that the Apostle Paul, aka Shaul, in II Corinthians 11:4 warned us about, and said we might be fooled by, unless we learn to rightly divide the \u201cWord of Truth\u201d.<\/p>\n
Since Paul\/Shaul was advising people who, as he reminded them, already KNEW that the Messiah foretold by Moses would have to conform to the prophetic guidelines already laid OUT by Moses, it stands to reason that if such a person were to \u201cdo away\u201d with the very instruction given by God to identify the One He would send, we have a problem.<\/p>\n
So it’s instructive to note that in the very first \u201cpublic address\u201d that Messiah Yahushua ever gave, recorded in places like Matthew chapters 5 through 7, and often referred to as the ‘Sermon on the Mount’, He addressed those concerns up front:<\/p>\n
Think not<\/b><\/span><\/span> that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not<\/b> come to destroy, but to fulfill. <\/i><\/p>\n And He followed that up by saying that so long as \u201cheaven and earth<\/i>\u201d still existed, not the SMALLEST part of His \u201cTorah\u201d would pass away. (Matthew 5:17-19) So, no doubt about it, \u201call<\/i>\u201d is not yet fulfilled.<\/p>\n Check it out for yourself. They still exist. If we believe Him (as opposed to just \u201cbelieving IN Him\u201d) then when we hear that He \u201cdid away with the law\u201d \u2013 we know that SOMEONE is lying. Either that, or just maybe they’re talking about \u201canother jesus, whom we HAVE NOT PREACHED<\/i>.\u201d <\/p>\n No doubt this is why Paul also advises us to not only \u201c<\/span>study to show yourself approved<\/i><\/span>,\u201d but to be like the Bereans, who confirmed what they were being told daily \u2013 in the \u201cOld Testament\u201d, obviously! \u2013 to find out whether what they were being told was True or not. (II Timothy 2:15; Acts 17:11) <\/span><\/p>\n NOT ONE of the statutes, judgments, and commandments that He gave to us in His Word has been \u201cdone away with\u201d, from His Sabbaths (plural), to what He told us is \u201cfood\u201d, to His instruction about His Covenant, which we broke, and for which reason He came. <\/span><\/p>\n All of those we changed by men, by “<\/span>adding to<\/i><\/span>,” and “<\/span>subtracting from<\/i><\/span>“, in violation of His Word. (Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32, and the “last command in Scripture”, at the end of Revelation.) As several other commentators throughout Scripture have said, in more than one way, “are we to obey God, or men?”<\/span><\/p>\n And, \u201ctherein lies the rub\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n Yahushua says in John 14:15, \u201cIf you love Me, keep My commandments.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Why would He say something like that, if they had been \u201cdone away with\u201d anyway? (And for those who answer something about the ‘law of love’, the follow-up question is obvious: <\/span>\u201cIf the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?\u201d <\/i><\/span>Since the most common prophetic metaphor throughout the Bible has to do with whoring, and idolatry, and adultery, and how we, repeatedly throughout history, have been \u201cput away\u201d from Him for that very act…the question can be rephrased, even if perhaps a bit bluntly: does a whore really know what <\/span>love<\/b><\/i><\/span> is, anyway? ESPECIALLY if the \u201claw has been done away with.\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAs for me and my house,\u201d <\/i><\/span>said Joshua, <\/span>\u201cwe will serve YHVH.\u201d<\/i><\/span> I can’t help but agree. After all, I’ve never been very big on theology.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Recently I got asked about \u201ctheology\u201d, and it got me to thinking that whatever that means, it is NOT the same as studying YHVH and His Scripture. Why? Because ‘theology’ is derived from the Greek words ‘theos’, meaning \u201cgods\u201d and … Continue reading
\nFurthermore, ALL of those who come in the Name of YHVH, the Most High, including His Annoined Meshiach, the Torah Made Flesh, <\/span>must<\/b><\/span> speak His Truth consistently, or they are NOT of Him. (Deuteronomy chapter 13, and many others.) So it should be clear that Yahushua can thus be distinguished from \u201canother jesus,\u201d by that undeniable and unchanging criterion. He IS, in fact, \u201c<\/span>the same, yesterday, today, and forever<\/i><\/span>.\u201d (Hebrews 13:8, repeating Malachi 3:6. And check out the end of that Book, too!)<\/span><\/p>\n
\nAt this point the distinction between what I thus refer to as \u201cxtianity\u201d and what is Written in Scripture should be increasingly clear. <\/span>
\nIf ‘jesus’ had, in fact, \u201cdone away with\u201d the Torah of Moses, (the so-called \u201cLaw\u201d) then he, by his own admission, would not only have been a liar, but could NOT have been the \u201cprophet like unto Moses\u201d spoken of by the prophets, much less the ‘son of YHVH’. Yahushua, however, (to hammer home the important difference) went on to make a series of very important related distinctions in that same first speech. Over and over He said, \u201c<\/span>what you have heard it said<\/i><\/span>\u201d is NOT what is Written. And that He taught them, \u201c<\/span>as One having Authority<\/i><\/span>\u201d. (Matthew 7:29)<\/span>
\nIn many later teachings, from Mark chapter 7 to the 23<\/span>rd<\/span><\/sup> chapter of Matthew, and similarly, He made it clear that men’s TRADITIONS and rulings and ‘interpretations’ (\u201ctheology,\u201d perhaps) were not the same as \u201claw\u201d \u2013 even when \u201chypocrites\u201d said they were. \u201c<\/span>By …teaching as doctrines the commandments of men…<\/i><\/span>\u201d they had, \u201c<\/span>made the commandments of Yah of no effect.<\/i><\/span>\u201d (Mark 7:6-13)<\/span><\/p>\n
\nTheology can be about lots of gods. The Bible, as Written, is about only One. And He does not change.<\/span><\/p>\n