Author Topic: Romans 11: On Jewish Hypocrisy in the Second Temple Period.  (Read 1054 times)

Rebbe

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2542
Romans 11: On Jewish Hypocrisy in the Second Temple Period.
« on: March 24, 2017, 02:02:51 PM »
PAUL'S LETTER TO THE ROMAN CHRISTIANS [11]

Analytical Commentary on Romans

On Jewish Hypocrisy in the Second Temple Period

The Audio MP3 of this lecture is available via this link: http://www.bripodcasts.com/Romans/Lecture11.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).

Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler wrote: "When you have a true ambition for something, you will not give up hope. Giving up hope is a sign that you are lacking ambition to achieve that goal" (Michtav MaiEliyahu, vol. 1, 60; Gateway to Happiness, 375)



The quotation from R. Dessler sums up the character of the apostle Paul. There can be no doubt at all that Rav Shaul was afire with ambition with outreach in the Gospel. Hope , a real depth of burning within his human heart and anchored in a solid biblical hope , never diminished. His dying cry before his final adventure in "crossing over" was summed up in that which he penned to Timothy: "I have fought the good fight, completed my course, and I have kept the Faith like a soldier on constant alert with untiring vigilance" (2 Tim 4.7 Tentative BRI/IMCF Version).

Working as a ministerial deputationist for the world's largest international missionary radio organisation some years ago exposed me to the sad realisation that myriads of sincere Gentile Christians held to a variety of views as to what constituted the "New Covenant." Some suggested it was all about love in the heart, and others postulated that it had to do with Grace. Still others preambled the thought of the New Covenant as that which turned Gentiles into "spiritual Jews." They were all united in the belief that it in no way had anything to do with "law."

Yet in Messiah's enlarged Torah of the New Covenant we are confronted on every page with God's high expectations of each of us as His children. Made in God's IMAGE we all as parents have high expectations of our own children, and of ourselves. Of course, sometimes we tend to have unrealistically high expectations and this, of and by itself, can open the doors to monumental disappointments all round as our children flounder and struggle to become more mature as they reach adulthood.

Our enthusiasm in seeking to obey God the FatherMother, can occasionally give rise to the accusation from antinomians , fueled by the Dark Lord , that we are earning our salvation because we obey God and His enlarged Messianic Torah (Midrash Kohelet 83.1 cf 1 Cor 9.21; Gal 6.2; Mt 5,6,7).

THE TEXT
"Therefore you have no defense, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are practicing the very same things. "˜We know that God's judgment on those who do such things is impartial.' Do you thus reason, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? Or are you perhaps contemptuous of the wealth of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realise that God's patient kindness is meant to lead you to turn from your sins? But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up anger for yourself on the day of anger, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. For he will recompense according to each one's works: [Prov 24.12; Ps 62.13 (12)] to those who by perseverance do good seeking for glory and honour and immortality , eternal life; while for those who are self-seeking and who are not persuadable in respect of the truth [or, obey not the truth] but who pursue evil intentions [or, obey wickedness], there will be anger and fury. There will be anguish and distress for everyone who accomplishes evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honour and peace for everyone who accomplishes good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For the presence of God shows no partiality. All who have sinned outside the framework of Torah will also perish outside the framework of Torah, and all who have sinned within the framework or sphere of Torah will be judged by the Torah. For it is not merely those who are instructed in Torah who are righteous in God's sight, but the doers of the Torah who will be justified. When Gentiles, who do not possess the Torah, habitually do naturally what the Torah requires, these, though not having the Torah, are themselves Torah. They show that what the Torah requires is written on their hearts [cf Jer 31.33,34] to which their own conscience also bears joint-witness; and their conflicting thoughts and reasonings sometimes accusing or perhaps excusing one another on a day when, according to my gospel, God, through Yeshua the Messiah, will judge the secret thoughts of all. But if you call yourself a Jew and possess a blind and mechanical reliance on Torah and boast of your relation to God and have an experiential knowledge of his will and determine what is best because you are instructed in the Torah, and if you are personally persuaded that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the spiritually unaware, a teacher of the immature, having in the Torah the embodiment of knowledge and truth, you, then, that constantly teach others, will you not teach yourself? While you constantly preach against stealing, do you steal? You that constantly forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You that constantly abhor idols, do you commit idolatrous acts? You that take pride in the Torah, do you dishonour God by breaking the Torah? For, as it is written, "˜The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.' [Isa 52.5; Eze 36.20] Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the Torah; but if you break the Torah, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So, if those who are uncircumcised keep the requirements of the Torah, will not their uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the Torah will condemn you that have the written code and circumcision but yet violate the Torah. For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something only external and physical. Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart,it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God" (Romans 2).

AN EVER-PRESENT DANGER
Gentile Christians are not alone in their ignorance of the New Covenant. The great heresy of the present Messianic Movement is the unhealthy regard in emphasis on the Sinai Covenant and Sinai Torah (the two, as they stand, are inseparable). I have addressed the folly of this illicit teaching over the years because the Sinai Covenant itself is being looked upon in certain legalism circles as "New" in the sense of it being considered the "Renewed Covenant." There are some popular Messianic teachers who have spoken of the Renewed Covenant as being simply a renewing of Israel's original marriage vows.

Students , I said this teaching is illicit. It is more than this. It is illegitimate. It is highly inaccurate. Indeed, it is totally erroneous. The Sinai Marriage Contract is OVER. It is FINISHED. The original contract is not under some temporary marital tension. God divorced His wife (Israel) , actually His TWO WIVES (Eze 23; Jer 3.6-10) giving each a bill of divorcement , and if that was not enough to END the covenant (really, the marriage contract), Israel ended up murdering her ex-husband which most certainly did torpedo any hope of a "renewal of the original marriage vows"!

The formal ratification of the Sinai marriage agreement is recorded in Exodus 24.4-11. The wife (Israel) agreed to obey her husband (God) and as a consequence would be showered with diversified blessings as any wife should be (Ex 24.3; 19.5-6; 23.22-23, 25-31). If the contract was treated with disdain (and it certainly proved to be the case) then Israel would bring upon herself all the curses listed in Deut 28.

But now on the still and icy seas of the cold Theological Atlantic Ocean, those in the few surviving lifeboats are being urged to head back to the Sinai "Titanic" as if it were indeed unsinkable. How BLIND are the eyes that can see this vessel stern up in the water and yet believe we ought to re-board the doomed vessel not wanting to admit that its importance will ever pass from both visibility and applicability.

SPECIFIC AREAS OF DISAGREEMENT WITH TORAH IN RELATION TO OUR MODERN AGE
There are a number of areas in the Sinai Marriage Contract (and Torah laws) which are shown to be utterly barbaric in our modern understanding. Barbaric is not too strong a word to use here. For, one of these areas of disagreement includes the angelic policy of outright extermination of the Canaanites. Such a policy is reflective of the intense Nazi operation to exterminate the Jewish people in Europe in recent years. No matter which way we wish to "cut it" (covenant in Hebrew means to cut) this program was part and parcel of the Sinai marriage contract (Ex 23.23-33; Deut 20.17,18). But, in the days of Abraham, according to the contents of Genesis, the patriarch made treaties with his Canaanite neighbours (Gen 14.13). He never thought of a policy of extermination! And, we are confirmed in the biblical revelation to be authentic children of Abraham our Father! As such we all ought to become more appreciative of the qualities, rather than the demerits (real or imagined), of modern racial typecasts (Gal 3.28).

When Yeshua came and brought us "New Covenant" teaching, extermination of races was disallowed, and his emphasis was on showing HaShem's FatherMotherly love to all humankind (Mt 5.43-48). There will be protestations from some regarding this grasp of God's accommodation doctrine, but I stand by my assessment, that it is correct and appropriate for the Kingdom of God into which we are about to enter. I produce as proof of the efficacy of my stand Paul's description of love (1 Cor 13.4-13). Try to align this text in any manner to the Sinai Marriage Covenant. It can't be done.

We have witnessed in previous lecture series on the Covenants that God later changed two of the prime ten commandments. One of these changes involved generational curses (Ex 20.4-6). Pentecostal associations that incorporate this fallacious notion of generational curses need to become more familiar with the biblical revelation and rid themselves , exorcise themselves , of familiar spirits posing as the holy Spirit. It is they who need a "deliverance ministry" , for themselves.

God makes it candidly clear that He will "visit the iniquity  of the fathersupon the children of the third and fourth generation." However, only about a generation later (as it is recorded in the last scroll of the Torah) God made a qualifying stipulation concerning this commandment. "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin" (Deut 24.16).

(There is somewhat of a contradiction here, however, for the editor of the Scriptures , Ezra/Malachi , failed to "update" the specific Deuteronomic text which relates to "visiting the sins of the fathers" in Deut 5.9,10.)

Be this as it may, by the time of Jeremiah, HaShem had changed the latter application of the second commandment.

"In those days they shall say no more: The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge." Yes, my father and grandfather were Freemasons and I am now as a consequence suffering under a generational curse. Oh? Indeed? Who said so? Jeremiah predicts a change:

"But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. Behold, the days are coming, says HaShem, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah" (Jer 31.29-31).

Ezekiel agreed entirely with Jeremiah!

"Does not the son bear the iniquity of the father [as stated in the second commandment , and which applies to the idea of generational curses]? When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him" (Eze 18.19,20).

The view espoused by so many Messianics (and Christian Fundamentalists) that the Law of God cannot be changed or altered , that it is immutable , can be seen to be hardly the case! No, when we especially consider the Ten commandments of HaShem we find they possess a fluidity about them and are not necessarily set in concrete. Whatever the case in the days of Moses, and later in the period of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, by the time of the Second Temple period Rav Shaul had this understanding about the second commandment. (And please recall that the rigid keeping of the Torah in all its 613 stipulations was an integral factor in the observance of the Sinai Covenant or Marriage Contract.)

"And the woman who has a husband that believes not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: if this were not the case, your children would be unclean; but now are they holy" (1 Cor 7.13,14).

No generational curses here!

The second major alteration to the prime Ten Commandments came when Our Lord Yeshua changed completely the curse associated with the third commandment , the law against blasphemy. Yeshua made it plain that ALL MANNER OF BLASPHEMY would be forgiven to men (Mt 12.31) , except for the sin of blasphemy against the Ruach HaKodesh. That sin, as horrible as it was, would only be forgiven during the period of the Great White Throne Judgment. The total lack of forgiveness for this sin was limited to this age and the age to come , the Millennium (Mt 12.31,32).

How can anyone put a limit on God's GRACE?

Part Two of this current Lecture 11 will be continued at our following Yeshiva. The reason this written post is so short is due to the fact that the audio lecture, with my usual asides, went for the anticipated length of one and a half hours in duration in order to cover important aspects relative to the attendance of new students at our local assembly. The audio therefore contains much more information than is recorded here in written form.

Please continue on to Part TWO.

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.


PAUL'S LETTER TO THE ROMAN CHRISTIANS [11]

Analytical Commentary on Romans

On Jewish Hypocrisy in the Second Temple Period

The Audio MP3 of this lecture is available via this link: http://www.bripodcasts.com/Romans/Lecture11.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).

Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler wrote: "When you have a true ambition for something, you will not give up hope. Giving up hope is a sign that you are lacking ambition to achieve that goal" (Michtav MaiEliyahu, vol. 1, 60; Gateway to Happiness, 375)



The quotation from R. Dessler sums up the character of the apostle Paul. There can be no doubt at all that Rav Shaul was afire with ambition with outreach in the Gospel. Hope , a real depth of burning within his human heart and anchored in a solid biblical hope , never diminished. His dying cry before his final adventure in "crossing over" was summed up in that which he penned to Timothy: "I have fought the good fight, completed my course, and I have kept the Faith like a soldier on constant alert with untiring vigilance" (2 Tim 4.7 Tentative BRI/IMCF Version).

Working as a ministerial deputationist for the world's largest international missionary radio organisation some years ago exposed me to the sad realisation that myriads of sincere Gentile Christians held to a variety of views as to what constituted the "New Covenant." Some suggested it was all about love in the heart, and others postulated that it had to do with Grace. Still others preambled the thought of the New Covenant as that which turned Gentiles into "spiritual Jews." They were all united in the belief that it in no way had anything to do with "law."

Yet in Messiah's enlarged Torah of the New Covenant we are confronted on every page with God's high expectations of each of us as His children. Made in God's IMAGE we all as parents have high expectations of our own children, and of ourselves. Of course, sometimes we tend to have unrealistically high expectations and this, of and by itself, can open the doors to monumental disappointments all round as our children flounder and struggle to become more mature as they reach adulthood.

Our enthusiasm in seeking to obey God the FatherMother, can occasionally give rise to the accusation from antinomians , fueled by the Dark Lord , that we are earning our salvation because we obey God and His enlarged Messianic Torah (Midrash Kohelet 83.1 cf 1 Cor 9.21; Gal 6.2; Mt 5,6,7).

THE TEXT
"Therefore you have no defense, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are practicing the very same things. "˜We know that God's judgment on those who do such things is impartial.' Do you thus reason, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? Or are you perhaps contemptuous of the wealth of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realise that God's patient kindness is meant to lead you to turn from your sins? But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up anger for yourself on the day of anger, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. For he will recompense according to each one's works: [Prov 24.12; Ps 62.13 (12)] to those who by perseverance do good seeking for glory and honour and immortality , eternal life; while for those who are self-seeking and who are not persuadable in respect of the truth [or, obey not the truth] but who pursue evil intentions [or, obey wickedness], there will be anger and fury. There will be anguish and distress for everyone who accomplishes evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honour and peace for everyone who accomplishes good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For the presence of God shows no partiality. All who have sinned outside the framework of Torah will also perish outside the framework of Torah, and all who have sinned within the framework or sphere of Torah will be judged by the Torah. For it is not merely those who are instructed in Torah who are righteous in God's sight, but the doers of the Torah who will be justified. When Gentiles, who do not possess the Torah, habitually do naturally what the Torah requires, these, though not having the Torah, are themselves Torah. They show that what the Torah requires is written on their hearts [cf Jer 31.33,34] to which their own conscience also bears joint-witness; and their conflicting thoughts and reasonings sometimes accusing or perhaps excusing one another on a day when, according to my gospel, God, through Yeshua the Messiah, will judge the secret thoughts of all. But if you call yourself a Jew and possess a blind and mechanical reliance on Torah and boast of your relation to God and have an experiential knowledge of his will and determine what is best because you are instructed in the Torah, and if you are personally persuaded that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the spiritually unaware, a teacher of the immature, having in the Torah the embodiment of knowledge and truth, you, then, that constantly teach others, will you not teach yourself? While you constantly preach against stealing, do you steal? You that constantly forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You that constantly abhor idols, do you commit idolatrous acts? You that take pride in the Torah, do you dishonour God by breaking the Torah? For, as it is written, "˜The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.' [Isa 52.5; Eze 36.20] Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the Torah; but if you break the Torah, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So, if those who are uncircumcised keep the requirements of the Torah, will not their uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the Torah will condemn you that have the written code and circumcision but yet violate the Torah. For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something only external and physical. Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart,it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God" (Romans 2).

AN EVER-PRESENT DANGER
Gentile Christians are not alone in their ignorance of the New Covenant. The great heresy of the present Messianic Movement is the unhealthy regard in emphasis on the Sinai Covenant and Sinai Torah (the two, as they stand, are inseparable). I have addressed the folly of this illicit teaching over the years because the Sinai Covenant itself is being looked upon in certain legalism circles as "New" in the sense of it being considered the "Renewed Covenant." There are some popular Messianic teachers who have spoken of the Renewed Covenant as being simply a renewing of Israel's original marriage vows.

Students , I said this teaching is illicit. It is more than this. It is illegitimate. It is highly inaccurate. Indeed, it is totally erroneous. The Sinai Marriage Contract is OVER. It is FINISHED. The original contract is not under some temporary marital tension. God divorced His wife (Israel) , actually His TWO WIVES (Eze 23; Jer 3.6-10) giving each a bill of divorcement , and if that was not enough to END the covenant (really, the marriage contract), Israel ended up murdering her ex-husband which most certainly did torpedo any hope of a "renewal of the original marriage vows"!

The formal ratification of the Sinai marriage agreement is recorded in Exodus 24.4-11. The wife (Israel) agreed to obey her husband (God) and as a consequence would be showered with diversified blessings as any wife should be (Ex 24.3; 19.5-6; 23.22-23, 25-31). If the contract was treated with disdain (and it certainly proved to be the case) then Israel would bring upon herself all the curses listed in Deut 28.

But now on the still and icy seas of the cold Theological Atlantic Ocean, those in the few surviving lifeboats are being urged to head back to the Sinai "Titanic" as if it were indeed unsinkable. How BLIND are the eyes that can see this vessel stern up in the water and yet believe we ought to re-board the doomed vessel not wanting to admit that its importance will ever pass from both visibility and applicability.

SPECIFIC AREAS OF DISAGREEMENT WITH TORAH IN RELATION TO OUR MODERN AGE
There are a number of areas in the Sinai Marriage Contract (and Torah laws) which are shown to be utterly barbaric in our modern understanding. Barbaric is not too strong a word to use here. For, one of these areas of disagreement includes the angelic policy of outright extermination of the Canaanites. Such a policy is reflective of the intense Nazi operation to exterminate the Jewish people in Europe in recent years. No matter which way we wish to "cut it" (covenant in Hebrew means to cut) this program was part and parcel of the Sinai marriage contract (Ex 23.23-33; Deut 20.17,18). But, in the days of Abraham, according to the contents of Genesis, the patriarch made treaties with his Canaanite neighbours (Gen 14.13). He never thought of a policy of extermination! And, we are confirmed in the biblical revelation to be authentic children of Abraham our Father! As such we all ought to become more appreciative of the qualities, rather than the demerits (real or imagined), of modern racial typecasts (Gal 3.28).

When Yeshua came and brought us "New Covenant" teaching, extermination of races was disallowed, and his emphasis was on showing HaShem's FatherMotherly love to all humankind (Mt 5.43-48). There will be protestations from some regarding this grasp of God's accommodation doctrine, but I stand by my assessment, that it is correct and appropriate for the Kingdom of God into which we are about to enter. I produce as proof of the efficacy of my stand Paul's description of love (1 Cor 13.4-13). Try to align this text in any manner to the Sinai Marriage Covenant. It can't be done.

We have witnessed in previous lecture series on the Covenants that God later changed two of the prime ten commandments. One of these changes involved generational curses (Ex 20.4-6). Pentecostal associations that incorporate this fallacious notion of generational curses need to become more familiar with the biblical revelation and rid themselves , exorcise themselves , of familiar spirits posing as the holy Spirit. It is they who need a "deliverance ministry" , for themselves.

God makes it candidly clear that He will "visit the iniquity  of the fathersupon the children of the third and fourth generation." However, only about a generation later (as it is recorded in the last scroll of the Torah) God made a qualifying stipulation concerning this commandment. "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin" (Deut 24.16).

(There is somewhat of a contradiction here, however, for the editor of the Scriptures , Ezra/Malachi , failed to "update" the specific Deuteronomic text which relates to "visiting the sins of the fathers" in Deut 5.9,10.)

Be this as it may, by the time of Jeremiah, HaShem had changed the latter application of the second commandment.

"In those days they shall say no more: The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge." Yes, my father and grandfather were Freemasons and I am now as a consequence suffering under a generational curse. Oh? Indeed? Who said so? Jeremiah predicts a change:

"But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. Behold, the days are coming, says HaShem, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah" (Jer 31.29-31).

Ezekiel agreed entirely with Jeremiah!

"Does not the son bear the iniquity of the father [as stated in the second commandment , and which applies to the idea of generational curses]? When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him" (Eze 18.19,20).

The view espoused by so many Messianics (and Christian Fundamentalists) that the Law of God cannot be changed or altered , that it is immutable , can be seen to be hardly the case! No, when we especially consider the Ten commandments of HaShem we find they possess a fluidity about them and are not necessarily set in concrete. Whatever the case in the days of Moses, and later in the period of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, by the time of the Second Temple period Rav Shaul had this understanding about the second commandment. (And please recall that the rigid keeping of the Torah in all its 613 stipulations was an integral factor in the observance of the Sinai Covenant or Marriage Contract.)

"And the woman who has a husband that believes not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: if this were not the case, your children would be unclean; but now are they holy" (1 Cor 7.13,14).

No generational curses here!

The second major alteration to the prime Ten Commandments came when Our Lord Yeshua changed completely the curse associated with the third commandment , the law against blasphemy. Yeshua made it plain that ALL MANNER OF BLASPHEMY would be forgiven to men (Mt 12.31) , except for the sin of blasphemy against the Ruach HaKodesh. That sin, as horrible as it was, would only be forgiven during the period of the Great White Throne Judgment. The total lack of forgiveness for this sin was limited to this age and the age to come , the Millennium (Mt 12.31,32).

How can anyone put a limit on God's GRACE?

Part Two of this current Lecture 11 will be continued at our following Yeshiva. The reason this written post is so short is due to the fact that the audio lecture, with my usual asides, went for the anticipated length of one and a half hours in duration in order to cover important aspects relative to the attendance of new students at our local assembly. The audio therefore contains much more information than is recorded here in written form.

Please continue on to Part TWO.

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.