Romans 10: Paul Introduces Major Change in God's Administration

[Rebbe]

PAUL'S LETTER TO THE ROMAN CHRISTIANS [10]

Analytical Commentary on Romans

Paul Introduces a Major Change in God's Administrations

The Audio MP3 of this lecture is available via this link: http://www.bripodcasts.com/Romans/Lecture10.MP3

Copyright © BRI 2016 All Rights Reserved Worldwide by Les Aron Gosling,
Messianic Lecturer (BRI/IMCF)

CAUTION: BRI Yeshiva notes are not available to the general public. They are not for distribution. They are not for reproduction. The notes may also bear little or no resemblance to the actual audio or video recorded BRI Yeshiva lecture.


"The great Rabbi Gamaliel had among his disciples one who, according to a passage in the Talmud, gave his master a good deal of trouble, manifesting 'impudence in matters of learning.' But his name is not given; he is remembered simply as 'that pupil'" (F.F. Bruce, The Spreading Flame, 1958, 81. See also J. Klausner, From Jesus to Paul, 1944, 310f; Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 30b).

"The Torah which a man learns in this world [the Mosaic or Sinai Torah] is vanity, in comparison of the Torah of the Messiah" --  Midrash Kohelet (83.1).

"To him who does not work but who places his trust upon the One who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Romans 4.5)

L'Shana Tova brethren! The agricultural festivals of ancient Israel outline the intent, plan and purpose of God for the entirety of the human race, and indeed the universe. As I have stressed many times over the past 40 years or so, Leviticus 23 is the festivals chapter of the Bible, and yet , due to the fact that the Jewish people continue to experience a veil covering their eyes concerning God's reproductive cosmic designs and resolute determinations, so in that respect they join their Gentile counterparts in that same blindness ,  humankind remains in gross darkness and ignorance as to their import and significance. Paul told his editorial aid Timothy to "preach the word, in season, and out of season" (2 Tim 4.2) which was a direct command to orient or constellate his teaching engagements around the seasonal Jewish festival lectionary. I have remained faithful to this edict.

Because this particular weekend coincides with the festival of Yom Teruah or Rosh HaShanah I will introduce this lecture with an emphasis on the joyful meaning of this festival. And joyful it really is! When the sun sets this Sunday evening the "Fall festivals" begin with The Day of Joyful Shouting and Blasts to Yehovah. The "blasts" speak of the blowing of the shofar (Num 29.1) announcing a time of unparalleled crisis , a warning to the people of God to realign themselves closely to the really sweet living God who is about to send His Messiah to save humanity and the planet on which we locate ourselves. Yes, indeed, this period communicates God's JOYFUL NATURE being assigned and committed to us. We are to be participants in the Divine Nature and have NO EXCUSE not to be optimistic (2 Pet 1.4). For this reason we maintain the Jewish tradition of serving up apples dipped in honey (along with other sweet dishes) as a reminder of festival optimism.

Yom Teruah (day of trumpet blasts) or Rosh HaShanah (meaning the head or start of the year) pictures human beings coming face to face with God. Such an experience is exemplified by, and amplified with, loud wild shouts and the blasts of trumpets and ram's horns.

These trumpets, or clarions, were composed of pure silver (Hebrew, chatsotserah) and could produce a rich variety or frequency of musical notes reflecting the sounds of a newly created galaxy or universe (which scientists regularly monitor) and these are to remind us of the harmonics of God's creative power in continually accomplishing "new things."

The shofar, or ram's horn, was also blown on this day, and that frequently (Rosh HaShanah, Mishnah 26b). Jewish traditions tell us that this day also pictured the "Birthday of the World" and all Jews turned a year older on Yom Teruah; it is the day that celebrates the Lord Yeshua's human birth, which was sometime between 6.15pm and 9.30pm on 9/11 in the year 3/2 BCE. It is also the day that looks forward in anticipation for Mashiach's return to rule the planet with a shepherd's iron staff for a thousand years (notice the mention of the shofar blast in Mt 24.31 & 1 Cor 15.51,52).

In contrast to the silver trumpets which were anciently blown on this day, the shofar produced only a piercing blast. This piercing blast is often referred to in the Bible as a shout, or intolerable noise. The ram's horn certainly has no musical connotation. And, I might just add, it symbolised impending war: a wake-up call!

Make no mistake! We are rapidly heading for a period of intense ferocious warfare of an horrific, unspeakable nuclear nature. None of us will remain untouched by it. None of us will escape it.

I have mentioned that Yom Teruah was the day Our Lord Yeshua was birthed into this world as a human being (Rev 12.1,2). The Lord Yeshua came into the world, not to destroy sinners, but to save them (Lk 19.10). At the very least this was Paul's opinion! He wrote:

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Messiah Yeshua came into the world to save sinners , of whom I am the worst" (1 Tim 1.15).

In order to grant such a salvation that would accord with HisHer Salvific nature and will, God purposed a legal justification. That justification came upon the entirety of the world. "For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His Grace through the redemption that is in Messiah Yeshua" (Rom 3.24). Also John notes, "My little children, these things I am writing to you in order that you might not commit an act of sin. And if anyone commits an act of sin, One who pleads our cause we constantly have facing the Father, Yeshua the Messiah the righteous One. And he himself is an expiatory satisfaction for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the whole world" (1 Jn 2.2 See Wuest Expanded Greek). We shall consider that occasion when we arrive at the appropriate section of this Letter to the Roman Christians.

We are heading toward the Pauline doctrine of Justification by Faith, and its a wonderful and exciting truth indeed. The kind of truth that exhilarates and makes one want to SHOUT for JOY. Yom Teruah is a very special festival indeed.

Paul works toward his insight into Justification by Faith through the first three chapters of his Letter to the Roman Christians emphasising that the whole world is best described as guilty before God, and thus both Jews and Gentiles stand condemned before Heaven on the basis of creation and conscience. We shall cover Romans 2 & 3 anon. But before we proceed further, it is (I think) vitally imperative to take time out in reflection concerning that which I have commented on prior to this series of lectures in my essays on the various Covenants of God. Especially is this the case where I contrast the Sinai Covenant (or contract/marriage agreement) with the New Covenant which the Christ bequeathed to us.

You may be rightly wondering why I have chosen to do this at this juncture. There exist contentious issues which I have with certain Sinai regulations (edicts and expectations which the angels of God enforced upon the Chosen People in the days of Moses). Let me remind you of them again, so that our students will anticipate THE MAJOR CHANGE which Yeshua, through his channel Paul, brought to light in this Letter to the Roman Christians.

Modern religious Jews attempt to substantiate the Sinai Torah regulations in respect of inculcating certain antiquated rules into our modern technocratic world, and they exert plenty of effort trying to convince everyone of their conscientious behaviour in so doing. They ought really to be congratulated for their persistence although its incredulous that the rabbis have utterly failed to convince their congregations of the fact that God tore up the Sinai Marriage Covenant and it no longer exists! The reality is these same rabbinic authorities just simply sidestep the abrogation and rescission of the Marriage Contract with Israel and Judah and they keep their people totally in the dark concerning the ramifications of God's actions.

I do have objections to some of the inclusions of Sinai.

In Deut 23.2 we find the law prohibiting a mamzer , and his descendants , entering the precincts of the religious cultus of Israel: as if its his or her fault for being illegitimate. The mamzer under Mosaic statutes constantly bears the shame of his existence. To my 21st century mindscape this does not appear to be at all acceptable. Not only so in the case of someone born out of a marriage relationship , if you were a dwarf, or had a testicle that had not descended, or you were a eunuch the same DISCRIMINATION was applied. I fully realise and appreciate the holiness and perfection aspect of the Sinai economic strata of expectation concerning which God was intent on teaching ancient Israel. Still, having said this (and I do not know about you) I would have absolutely no objection to people with testicle problems, and I have personally known epicene or intersex people (they used to be called hermaphrodites) and I have found them to be altogether nice people. Sinai bred prejudice of a devastating sort.

Again, in Deut 25.11,12 a woman is forbidden to crush the genitals of an assailant who is involved in a life and death struggle with her husband. The would-be killer, after all, may not have any children and his future may therefore be quite dim if he loses the use of the crown jewels! If this poor woman used these proscribed tactics, in her attempt to aid her husband, it was she who would suffer the lasting indignity of having her hand removed by order of angelic brutality , "the (ad)ministration of death" as Paul rightly spoke of it. Of course, there are some sincere folk (and rabbis) who would argue that this was really never instituted and a mere payment monetarily as compensation was what Moses actually intended by his inordinately worded legislation. I won't buy it!

Progeny was everything back then. In contrast, I have taught my daughters to fight to the death if necessary if they are being raped or strangled by some drug-screwed maniac or serial killer , and to use any such force as they feel is necessary to get away from such an evil individual. If it means crushing his genitals (if the mongrel has any!) or tearing out his eyes , DO IT. No holds barred.

In Deut 21.1-6 we find a very unfair situation favouring an employer right down the line... women were owned like livestock and they had a production value, and therefore his children were also utilised for their breeding value. They needed slaves back then! The employer owned the man's wife, and the man's children. Put that into a 21st century perspective!

Question: Why did it occur to the Jewish religious authorities to wonder aloud if the Lord Yeshua would make aliyah to Jerusalem to observe an important upcoming festival (Jn 11.56). After all, attendance of males was required at festivals by the Torah of God three times a year. But for them to even wonder if he would attend reveals a great deal in itself. If Yeshua had always religiously attended the festivals the question would never have been put. Believers who are Torah observant oftentimes sidestep this ingredient that appears in the life of the Mashiach. Allow me to reiterate a great truth: Yeshua was sinless, not in what he did or did not DO, but in WHO , WHAT , he was!

Then we have the story of the "Good Samaritan" , a despised race in the eyes of the Jewish people in the Second Temple Period. Why was he good? Why would Yeshua use the example of a despised Samaritan? Could it be the case that it was because of the view of the Torah concerning despised Canaanites? The Sinai Covenant intended for them to be eradicated from the earth. The New Covenant, by way of contrast, did not differentiate on racial grounds at all (Gal 3.28). Whatever the case, Yeshua extolled the actions of the unloved and scorned Samaritan gentleman who went right out of his way to help his enemy , a brutalised Jew (Lk 10.25ff).

Now in this matter listen please! The highest religious authorities of the land, to whom the people looked for spiritual guidance, were the priests and the Levites. In the story Yeshua is sharing, both leaders of the Jewish people walked right around their injured brother, not necessarily because they wanted to naturally avoid him, but because they were commanded to do so under the terms and conditions of the Sinai marriage agreement. To come into contact with an injured brother Israelite would have caused them to be considered ceremonially "unclean" for a period of seven days which would have restricted them in their religious vocation of doing good for the majority of the people (See Num 19.11-16; cf Lev 15). The injunctions of the Torah are explicit concerning this , it was a commandment which could not in any way be avoided. So both the priest and the Levite went their way doing what God had commanded them. Here was a prime example of Yeshua's teaching in which HE CREATES AN ENTIRELY NEW THEOLOGY and a new Torah teaching eclipsing the original based profoundly upon His Father HaShem's authentic sentimental morality toward humankind rather than the mere observance of rules and regulations , which were brought into an existence by the angelic powers of God even at God's original covenantal command.

What of love? Actual and genuine outgoing, outflowing concern and koinonia for our fellow man? I am assured by a number of Messianic believers (both in Australia and overseas) that Sinai promoted, advocated, encouraged TRUE LOVE toward humankind. Oh... really?

Yes, Sinai did expect Israelites to love fellow Israelites. As a prime example of active obedience to the seventh commandment of the Decalogue, the Covenant expected Israelites not to commit adultery , but it did not prohibit Jewish men from copulating with other women, if they were non-Jews!

Yes, and moreover, Sinai did demand Israelites to love their fellow Jewish shadow. But it was expected that Israelites were to HATE non-Jews if that was required of them in situations and under circumstances that were not befitting the Chosen People. We can argue all we want to the contrary, but consider the following:

All rabbis , no matter which division of Judaism under discussion , know that the Torah only commanded us to love our own fleshly brethren. The Torah is understood by them to therefore allow us to hate our fellow man who has wronged us and who is not an Israelite (Lev 19.18). Check on Google. Ask Google: Do rabbis say Jews can hate their enemies? The answer is a resounding YES. If you wish to ask a rabbi directly, then go ahead and do so. This is backed by the Torah teachings. We can insist that this is a misunderstanding of rabbinic authorities about the principal idea of love versus hatred. But my answer is to check and see how David viewed hatred of enemies. Turn to Ps 139.21,22. It says plainly enough:

"Do not I HATE THEM, O HaShem, who hate you? And am I not grieved with those who rise up against you? I HATE THEM with perfect hatred. I count them my enemies."

David most certainly knew what the Torah taught. Yeshua countered this spirit in Mt 5.43-45. These NEW commandments reveal that the view of HaShem which Yeshua had (has) points to a much higher level of understanding and appreciation of God than the angels of God shared with humankind back there in the Sinai period.

Understand this fact about Yeshua , not merely because he was "that Prophet" spoken of by Moses in ancient times (Deut 18.15-19) and also because HE WAS GOD in human flesh , was considered by heaven as sinless (as I have already argued and I repeat for those of my students with deaf ears) not because of what he did or did not DO but because of WHO he was. Our Lord Yeshua typified LOVE for humanity more than seeing a need to carry out a ritualistic life regulated by rules and laws. What he was showing us is that sometimes, and more often than not, we can get bogged down in keeping regulations and the minutiae of the law to the point that we end up obeying laws of God and , at the same time , failing to obey GOD. The parable of the Good Samaritan establishes this fact to be the case. The showing of mercy and love toward humankind is a compelling HIGHER LAW that needs to be considered more often than we take the time to do.

FACT: Sinai spoke of slavery and regulated it , and this evil has been eclipsed.

FACT: Women under Sinai have very few rights in the Torah , that too has been eclipsed.

FACT: Prostitution is condemned outright in the Torah , yet by the time of Isaiah, the prophet noted that the hire of a particular prostitute was considered "holy to the Lord" because that "hire" was used to purchase food and durable clothing for HaShem's people (Isa 23.17,18). The prophet Hosea was commanded by God to marry a harlot (Hos 1.2) and Samson had a taste for ladies of the night (Judg 16.1) which predilection, like all his problems, "was of the LORD" (Judg 14.4). Jephthah was not only a great judge but he was the son of an obscure whore (Judg 11.1) and Judah's whorish daughter-in-law was looked upon as being more righteous than the father of the Jewish nation (Gen 38.26). The latter story is located in the first book of Torah, Genesis , a scroll which details God's accommodation to humankind.

FACT: The death penalty associated with certain sins is a stated fact in the Torah , but Rav Shaul notes in his letters, and this in the face of Judaisers , that such condemnation has passed. Well might well recall that had "our Father Abraham" lived in the days of Moses he would have been stoned to death for marrying his half-sister.

Those who cannot accept that God has been known to change His administrations need to be reminded that the Lord changed the Torah regulations concerning the 2nd commandment , we have provided appropriate literature on this very subject, as well as holding in contempt His own command and rule against marrying two sisters when he went ahead and married two sisters. God changed the Torah commandment about a divorced wife returning to her first husband and he did so because of His own immense love for Israel. He changed His curse concerning an "abomination" that "causes the land to sin" in an exchange of intended MERCY and blessing. His example is the one we all need to follow. Yeshua is HaShem who came in flesh as a human being and he himself had a great deal to say in Matthew 5-7 in his advance notifications about the New Covenant. In fact Mashiach, when he was here on earth, fulfilled what Isaiah prophesied about his coming ministry:

"HaShem is well pleased for his righteousness"™ sake; he will magnify the Torah, and make it honourable" (Isa 42.21).

You mean it wasn't all that "honourable" before Yeshua came? No, it wasn't. Otherwise there would be no reason in predicting that Mashiach would indeed make it so. I have established this as a fact in previous lectures I have given on the Sinai (Mosaic) Covenant.

To recap, we have found that God married two sisters (which His own Torah forbids) but equally that He confessed to a failed marriage , needing to divorce both of those wives for adultery.

"She will chase her lovers, but not overtake them; Yes, she will seek them, but not find them. Then she will say, I will go and return to my first husband, For then it was better for me than now. For she did not know that I gave her grain, new wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold , which they prepared for Ba'al. Therefore I will return and take away my grain in its time and my new wine in its season, and will take back my wool and my linen, given to cover her nakedness... Therefore, behold, I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak intimately with her... And it shall be, in that day, says HaShem, That you will call me 'My Husband,' [Ishi] AND NO LONGER CALL ME 'MY MASTER' [BA'ALI]" (Hos 2.7-9,14,16).

God Himself was admitting through a prophet that one of the principal reasons His marriages initially broke down was due to the fact that He expected His wives to speak to Him only as "Lord" , as MASTER, POSSESSING His wives as valuable property , and not as an intimate, loving, gentle and kind husband. Under the terms of the New Covenant Israel will call God Ishi , "my husband."

I might add that HaShem also failed miserably at child rearing , his kids contributed to a deeply dysfunctional family and this indeed is God's great lament through the pages of the prophet Isaiah.

Now these comments and this analysis are not some Gentile Christian postulations and we read nothing of this in NT teaching. I am simply admitting as a Jew what I read quite plainly in the Hebrew Scriptures and these same texts are available to all rabbis. But they keep very silent on this information and for very sound reasons (for them).

FACT: Israel was divorced in circa 721/718 BCE when the Assyrians finally defiled her body, and again in circa 587/586 BCE when Judah was divorced and she became the possession of the Babylonians. God participated in divorce.

Because of HaShem's intense love for Israel and Judah He sent His son Yeshua (HaShem in the flesh) to the Jewish nation to attempt to woo her back and that contrary to Torah expectations but she not only spurned His love, she murdered her husband.

Divorce should have ended the marriage, but if it failed to do so (because of God's pursuit of faithless wife Israel despite unrequited love) the death of the ex-Husband at Israel's hands certainly brought the Sinai Contract to an abrupt conclusion. The curses of Deut 28 were then invoked, and the persecution at the hands of Israel's enemies has been relentless.

FACT: Sinai is finished. It's over. It was a marriage contract which no longer has any existence. The marriage is negated. Anybody who has been divorced knows that a marriage (and the contract upon which it was based) is through, totaled, demolished, ruined, dynamited, torpedoed, spent, washed-up, done-for, OVER! It has CEASED to exist; it is CONCLUDED.

But somehow in the minds of many of my Messianic brothers and sisters who wish to be controlled by Jewish and pro-Israeli megalomaniacs it yet has a continued existence. I cannot get my head around the thinking of such people.

Do we follow HaShem as Yeshua revealed Him to us? Or do we follow angels who had the Name of God burning in their Being?

In the event, there is right now a New Covenant. It already exists. Paul spoke of it as an ever present reality. And his understanding accords with the late Second Temple expectations of the rabbis who duly recognised that a New Covenant demanded/required a New Torah. For, the Torah of Moses formed a bedrock of the Sinai Covenant.

It is written: "The Torah which a man learns in this world [the Mosaic or Sinai Torah] is vanity, in comparison of the Torah of the Messiah" --  Midrash Kohelet (83.1).

Paul refers to his recognition of the authority of this Midrash (which was in circulation in his day) in stating that his own rabbinic ministry was based squarely on Torah , but it was the Torah OF MESSIAH! Very few have noticed this admission. Notice it now, in two references: 

1 Cor 9.21 "With those who live outside the framework of Torah, I put myself in the position of someone outside the Torah in order to win those outside the Torah , although I myself am not outside the framework of God's Torah but within the framework of Torah as upheld by the Messiah!"

Gal 6.2 "Bear you one another's burdens, AND SO FULFIL THE TORAH OF MESSIAH."

Paul's various early ministerial letters to the Gentiles were commentary on the Sinai Torah , on precisely how spiritual, converted Gentiles were to observe the Torah principles as they applied to them. Paul then became suddenly aware that he was living during a transitional period in which the New Covenant and New Messianic Torah was being implemented. This explains why it is that his later letters are not in any way remarkably inclusive of Sinai or its representatives. The later epistles of Paul confront each of us with Paul's spiritual maturity and expansive mindscape.

What "Great News" (Gospel) is this! It could not be any plainer! The early Messianic believers in the Messianic Community of Faith adhered to the Torah as exemplified by the Living Torah, Yeshua haMashiach. Even the religious classes of the day , the Pharisees especially , could not fault the Jewish followers of Yeshua! True, there were persecutions against the disciples that occurred because of their association with the Messiah, but they were not indicted for their loyalty to, and obedience toward, an ENLARGED Torah. In no way.

But I am getting way ahead of myself. The foregoing facts about Sinai are important to remember because at this stage as Paul comes to grips with the implications of the NEW WORLD ORDER of Messiah he does (almost) the unthinkable as a rabbi. Paul in a sweeping argument demolishes God's previous administrative position concerning a legal justification.

In the Sinai Torah it is written: "If there be a dispute between men, and they enter into litigation, and the judges decide between them; then they shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked" (Deut 25.1).

This is virtually repeated in the Solomonic Proverbs. "He that justifies the wicked, and he that condemns the just, even they both are ABOMINATION to Yehoveh" (Prov 17.15).

Anochi I-Source reveals Himself, through Paul, to be a God who has altered HisHer administration in relation to that which was previously considered to be an "abomination" in the sight of heaven. For Anochi is a Creative Intelligence who now justifies the ungodly (Rom 4.5). Here is further evidence of God trampling all over Sinai! Recall the Marriage Contract was torpedoed! There can be no two ways about this fact. Indeed, I have previously spoken of God reversing administrative decisions relating to what were then considered (in Mosaic terms) "abominations" under the terms of the Mosaic or Sinai agreement (marriage contract) in specific terms that a man who divorces his wife can never again return to her. We ought to take time out to again rehearse the startling change of God's previous administration. Notice it now:

"When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man's wife, if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for THAT IS AN ABOMINATION BEFORE HASHEM, AND YOU SHALL NOT BRING SIN ON THE LAND which HaShem your God is giving you as an inheritance" (Deut 24.1-4).

Such a practice of disavowal of a bill of divorcement under these circumstances is termed an ABOMINATION. It is emphasised "YOU SHALL NOT CAUSE THE LAND TO SIN." So it's pretty heavy stuff when you consider the ramifications of this commandment. 

"This is what HaShem says: Where is the certificate of your mother's divorce, whom I have put away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? For your iniquities you have sold yourselves, And for your transgressions your mother has been put away" (Isa 50.1).

It appears to be an open and shut case.

Having said this, consider God's own loving attitude:

"They say, If a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man's, may he return to her again? Would not that land be greatly polluted? [here's the "abomination" of Deut 24.1-4 again under review] But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me, says HaShem" (Jer 3.1).

"Return, O backsliding children, says HaShem; for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you [again] to Zion" (Jer 3.14).

"You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband [behind my back]. And I will judge you as women who break wedlock or shed blood are judged; I will bring blood upon you in fury and jealousy" (Eze 16.32,38). But compare this with the ultimate outcome for Israel. "For this is what HaShem says: I will deal with you as you have done, who despised the oath by breaking the [marriage] covenant. Nevertheless I will remember my [previous] covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant [a New Contract] with you. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your older and your younger sisters; for I will give them to you for daughters, but not because of my covenant with you. And I will establish my covenant [the New Covenant] with you. Then you shall know that I am HaShem, that you may remember and be ashamed, and never open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I provide you an atonement for all you have done, says HaShem your God" (Eze 16.59-63).

"Behold, the days come, says HaShem, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah [the two sisters God married and later divorced]: not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt [the Sinai covenant]; which my covenant [marriage contract] they broke, although I was a husband to them, says HaShem: but this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, says HaShem, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know HaShem: for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says HaShem: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jer 31.31-34).

Here is an example of what is termed an "abomination" in the eyes of God (really, in the eyes of the angels of God) "causing the land to sin" and yet HaShem is shown to CHANGE THE LAW and the MARRIAGE CONTRACT to accommodate to His personal need for His previously divorced wife. One cannot help but ponder on some other things considered by believers to be "an abomination that causes the land to sin." If HaShem changes His mind on the matter of divorce, will He not also change His mind administratively in relation to other matters contained in the Sinai Covenant? I believe He not only will, but already has.

Paul himself knows that the angelic Sinai Covenant is no longer of any relevance to us and that it is HaShem who is our prime example to follow. We can see this in Paul's new found revelation , which turns the entirety of the world on its head , that God justifies the ungodly. Although we have gotten ahead of ourselves in this lecture, and we need to examine Romans 2 in our next address, this background understanding is vitally important in order for us to gain an appreciable insight into the workings of Paul's creatively unbound intellect and to further gain a grasp of both Paul's views and his vision of the biblical revelation.

In relation to previous Lecture 8, expand your education.
Recommended Reading.

Vern L. Bullough & Bonnie Bullough, Women and Prostitution: A Social History, 1987
Vern L. Bullough, Brenda Shelton, Sarah Slavin, The Subordinated Sex: A History of Attitudes Toward Women, 1988
Edgar Gregersen, Sexual Practices. The Story of Human Sexuality, 1982
A. Kosnik (Ed), Human Sexuality. New Directions in Catholic Thought, 1977
Ray Laurence, Roman Passions: A History of Pleasure in Imperial Rome, 2010
Marilyn B. Skinner, Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture, 2nd ed., 2014
Lenore E.A. Walker EdD, The Battered Woman Syndrome, 3rd ed., 2009

THIS CONCLUDES LECTURE TEN

Have you been spiritually edified with this lecture? Would you like to know more about the biblical revelation from such a unique perspective? Our private BRI/IMCF International Internet Yeshiva Members Forum has hundreds of in-depth lectures available for those who subscribe to the IMCF. Membership is entirely by donation and Messianic Enterprises has provided a PIN PAYMENT icon for your convenience which you can access on the front page of the public BRI/IMCF site at:

http://www.biblicalresearchinstitute.com.au/

Just depress the Pay Now icon and within days your request for International Messianic Community of Faith (IMCF) membership will be acknowledged.

Thank you for becoming supportive of this growing unique Work of God and for allowing us to serve you in this manner.