Tuesday, October 8, 2013
What relevance does knowing what a Jew is have to do with our lives today?
Jared brought up the subject of what a Jew is this morning. Thought we might explore our understanding of why that has relevance to our lives in Eagle, Idaho in the 21st century! The fact that I am writing this indicates that I think it does. Look forward to our discussion here. May the Lord use it to help us understand better what it means to love Him, worship Him, and serve Him as followers of Jesus - and to better understand each other.
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The word "Jew" is used in several ways in the Scriptures. We must always look at context when we use a word. The meaning of words depend on the context in which they are used. We an run into trouble if we select one definition of a word, and import that definition into a context where that meaning was not intended.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, if a man had one leg shorter than the other, and someone was writing about his visit to a podiatrist to be fitted with a shoe that would allow him to walk more steadily, we might hear something in a conversation that goes like this: "...he leans toward the right."
Now, if we were to assume that in all cases the phrase "leans to the right" in the English language means a person is politically conservative, we might end up with a translation that would tell people in the receptor language that the man visited the podiatrist because he was politically conservative! Then others may spend hours exploring the relationship between podiatry and political conservatism! Time is too precious for such wasted efforts. Studying the original languages, culture, and context would help us avoid mistranslations and empty pursuits.
Often in the book of John, the phrase "the Jews" refers to the religious leaders of Israel at the time of Jesus ministry who opposed Jesus and His teaching.
The clash was centered around the words and actions of Jesus as he said and did things that only Yahweh (the God of Israel) would have the authority to say and do. e.g. breaking the Sabbath (John 5:16), calling God his father (John 5:18), to name a few.
"The Jews" also refers to the people of God living throughout Palestine and who lived under the Law (of Moses). This is a widened sense of "Jew" than only referring to religious leaders. Nicodemus in John 3 is referred to as a ruler of "the Jews." As a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, he sat in a position of religious authority in Israel at the time of Jesus ministry. John 6:4 refers to the Passover as the feast of the Jews. This refers to all the people who kept the Passover - who made the trip from their town somewhere in Palestine to Jerusalem to celebrate and remember the great act of their God in delivering them from Egypt and from the death angel that smote the firstborn on that fateful night long ago.
Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:22 that "salvation is from the Jews" a theme which is developed in much detail by Paul in his letter to the Romans.
There is much more to explore about "the Jews" and their conflict with Jesus during his ministry recorded in the Gospels and their conflict with the church as recorded in Acts.
The center of the conflict is around the role of "the Law" now that Jesus, through his death and resurrection, has inaugurated the New Covenant and salvation by grace through faith (as opposed to the works of the Law) - essentially redefining the people of God around Himself.
It is this theme of Grace vs. Legalism that permeates nearly every book of the entire New Testament and directs us to the heart of The Message.
It is relevant today because religious people and teachers and leaders still try to make the amazing life we are offered through the Gospel - a relationship with the Father, through the Son, in the power of the Spirit - a matter of legalism and religious efforts to please God and gain His acceptance. These people entirely miss the grace of God and end up being enemies of the cross of Christ.
That's all for this lunch period!