Christian Study

Similar to the clue in Romans 9:24-25, here is another clue in Romans 2.

Romans 2:14-15a “(for when Gentiles who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them”.

Here are some people called “Gentiles”, but they have the Law written on the heart. Based on Jeremiah 31:31-33 and Hebrews 8:8-10 those “Gentiles” must be Israelites of the dispersion, the ten tribes. Once one realizes the correct meanings for words like Jew and Gentile, many clues given to us in scripture are understood.

The word Gentile does not mean non-Jew. The Greek ethnos is nation/race. Ethnos is sometimes translated as Gentile. Gentile is the Latin word for nation/kin. Nation would have been the best translation for ethnos. However, nation has sort of lost it’s meaning today. A nation, by definition, is a group of people of the same kin or race. They are a related people. Once more than one race of people try to live in the same land, the word nation does not really apply.

When one sees the word Gentile in scripture it is necessary to discover who is being discussed. Context and a knowledge of the history of the peoples who are mentioned in the new testament is helpful.

Scripture is full of clues that can be fun to find. Here is one.

Romans 9:24-25 “us, whom he also called, not from the Judeans only, but also from the Gentiles? As he says also in Hosea, “I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people; and her ‘beloved,’ who was not beloved.”

So here Paul tells us that some “Gentiles” will be “my people” and “beloved”. He sends us back to Hosea to find out who are these Gentiles. Read chapter one of Hosea. These Gentiles are the ten northern tribes of Israel who were divorced by God and sent into exile. They were never to return to the land of Israel, but they would return to God. Notice the wording and the promises at the end of the chapter. The appointed head is Christ. History records that they did return to God upon hearing the Gospel. Our God does not break promises nor give them to “other people”.

Hosea 1:10-11 “Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can’t be measured or counted; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ The children of Judah and the children of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint themselves one head, and will go up from the land; for great will be the day of Jezreel.”

Here is another instance of poor translation.

Philippians 2:15 “that you may be blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation…”.

Based on the Greek “harmless” should be “unmixed”. How did they get harmless from unmixed? Also the word generation in the Greek has the root word “kin”. This is where we get the word genetics. A more accurate translation for the verse:

“that you may be blameless and unmixed, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse race, among whom you are seen as lights in society”.

This is not a one time mention of mixed people in the new testament. It is mentioned quite a bit in the old testament. It is a violation of Thou Shall not commit adultery. This is not politically correct. It is exactly as prophesied. The world views scripture as evil.

After Christ’s resurrection from the dead Acts 1:3 says,

“appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking about God’s Kingdom.”

In response to this teaching about the kingdom in verse 6 the disciples asked,

“Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

Some preachers teach that after 40 days teaching the disciples still didn’t understand, but that is not true. Christ did not rebuke their question. In verse 7 Christ

“said to them, “It isn’t for you to know…”

The kingdom will be restored to true Israel in the future.

We live in an upside down world. This was emphasized when we started seeing cartoon movies that made the bad guys into funny, cute or misunderstood characters.

Jeremiah 13:23 “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil.”

Many of the old tales were stories of Lost Israel being rescued by the Prince. Those who are wolves or witches wish to dominate Israel. In the stories they are destroyed by the Prince rescuing Christian Israel.

Whenever one encounters someone who doesn’t understand Jeremiah 13:23 it is a good idea to have them read Romans chapters 8 and 9.

Several people posted a picture to Facebook that declared a few things that do not match actual scripture. So I modified it a bit.

“We need teachers who preach that hell is the grave, heaven is the abode of God, that sin in scripture has never changed, some things churches teach as sin never were and some things churches teach as righteous are sin, that the whole Bible is God’s word, but the English translations do not always faithfully show it or its unity, and that Jesus is the only way of salvation even though many churches teach another path for some people. We need preachers who preach what the Bible actually teaches rather political correctness or church doctrine.”

It is not as nice and concise and clever, but it is more truthful than the original post.

So hell is not hot. We are not going to spend eternity in heaven, but rather on a new or renewed earth. Yes sin is still sin. Unfortunately the churches threw away God’s Law and added a few of their own laws. They did get it right with the Bible being God’s word and Jesus as the only way to salvation.

Ezekiel 34 is about shepherds (preachers) and is very valid today.

Many of today’s preachers are hirelings. They are paid professionals who’s job it is to get up and speak for a time Sunday, teach a class on Wednesday and visit a few of the elderly members. They are usually trained to start and grow a business, in this case a church. Their religious training is in church doctrine. Their training is rather minimal in scripture. Psychology is considered more helpful. For many, their main priority is to provide an income for their own family. So they feed themselves. I don’t have a problem with a man providing for his own as 1 Timothy 5:8 requires.

The problem is what they do to protect that income. Many times in order to protect the job they must deal with “problem members”. I have seen preachers encourage members to leave if the members were better equipped with scriptural knowledge. If the encouragement does not work they may get help from loyal members or even an eldership. Eventually the problem members either leave or are forced out. So they run the problem members off, they kill the fatlings.

One way to make sure members do not become a problem is to refuse to feed the sheep with the truth. Most lessons are very limited in scripture. Lessons will include plenty of fluff material, such as sports stories and references. Many preachers realize it is beneficial to make the members feel good about themselves and comfortable in their doctrine. The goal is to never feed the sheep. One such preacher told the congregation that Christian spiritual growth was optional unlike 2 Peter 3:18.

Of course the paid professional permanent employee preacher is never found in scripture. Members are happy to pay someone to do what members are supposed to do.

Ezekiel 34:2-3ff “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and tell them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, and you clothe yourself with the wool, you kill the fatlings; but you don’t feed the sheep.”

Have you ever wondered what was going on in Daniel 10:13 when the messenger came to Daniel in a vision and said,

“But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; but, behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me: and I remained there with the kings of Persia.”

It sounds like God’s messengers actively working to influence for God’s own purpose. I have to imagine that continues today. I have to say that this is very encouraging to me, to think that Yahweh God has his messengers actively protecting those who do good and fighting against the evil of today.

The politics of today are the part of it we see, but are secondary to the real struggle of good vs evil, the children of Jacob vs the children of Esau.

Scripture does not mince words.

People are called swine and vipers. Heathen, fools and dogs are used many times. Christ himself called a Canaanite woman’s child a little dog thus implying that she was a dog, which she accepted.

There is always a lesson to be learned from scripture. Being wise as a serpent while gentle as doves includes the ability to discriminate between your neighbor and an enemy. The misused phrase “All men are created equal” is in the Declaration of the Constitution, not scripture. Equality is found only under Christ. It is an impossible goal any where else.

Read Romans 9:1-23

Unfortunately even your neighbor can sometimes behave poorly.

Matthew 7:6 “Don’t give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls before the pigs, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Matthew 7:6 is not being taught for all that it means.