Beliefs
about “salvation” are the biggest barriers to open discussions about the
differences between different Christian group and about Yeshua, the “Jesus of History.” This is completely understandable when so much is at stake in the minds
of “believers” – literally going to
Heaven or Hell!
The
findings below, published in World
Christian Trends AD 30 – AD 2200 by David B. Barrett & Todd M. Johnson
(© 2001 by David B. Barrett; William Carey Library, Pasadena, CA; p. 33),
surprise many Christians:
In 1970 global
Christianity had 18,630 denominations/paradenominations.
In 2000 global Christianity
had 33,820 denominations/paradenominations.
Estimates
in 2017 indicate there are now probably 40,000 or more. Most of these are Protestant (protest + ant) and that should give those engaged in political protesters a hint as to where "just protesting leads." Paradenominations are
groups with religious agendas that specialize in specific areas, i.e.,
families, abortion, etc. What this means is that when someone asks questions
about Christian belief, creeds, doctrines, etc., they usually get many conflicting answers.
One
of the skills we work on developing on The “Y” Team helps resolve situations
like this. We want to know what things like “salvation” meant to “the Y” – Yeshua. Once we know his answer, we can
compare it to all the other answers.
It
will become clear in our discussions that Yeshua was a “learned teacher of the Jewish Scriptures and traditions.” The
famous Jewish scholar Martin Buber once said, “If a man has the gift of listening, he can hear the voice of Jesus
himself speaking in the later accounts of the Gospels.” Another famous
Jewish scholar that has profoundly influenced by life and studies is David
Flusser. Pay close attention to what he said about the words of Yeshua:
“These are at
once simple and profound, naïve and full of paradox, tempestuous and yet calm.
Can anyone plumb their ultimate depths?”
The
point I want to make here is that when we read Yeshua’s words, even those that appear to
be short simple statements, are loaded with layers of other relevant
meanings. His answer to the question about salvation is a good example. This is
Yeshua’s answer (from an English translation):
“The righteous shall enter into eternal life.”
The
English language didn’t exist when he spoke the actual words. He spoke and taught in
Hebrew, and probably Aramaic too. He never taught in English. However, for our
purposes today, I will stick to the English translation. So, who will be saved, meaning "enter into eternal life"?
Yeshua’s answer is “the righteous.”
What does that mean?
It means “the people who did acts of
righteousness.”
Almost all of Yeshua teachings are linked to passages in the Jewish
Scriptures (Christian Old Testament - the New Testament had been written). We have to go to those passages to unlock the deeper meanings of
Yeshua’s words.
The key word in his answer about salvation is “righteous.” This
is where we have to switch to his language to find those passages. That’s one
of the benefits of being a member of The “Y” Team. Your coaching staff – Dr. Ike Tennison, Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor and
Jim Myers – have lots of experience working with Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic,
Latin and a few other languages.
The Hebrew word for righteous is transliterated “TZADIQ”. His first century Jewish audience most likely instantly thought of the first righteous man in the Jewish Scriptures – Noah. The verse is recorded
in Genesis 6:9. English translators often make it very difficult for “English
only” readers match the words of Yeshua to his Scriptures. Below are a couple of those translations of this verse that provide how different English translations are. I underlined
their translation of the Hebrew word TZADIQ:
● King James Version -- Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations.
● American Standard Version – Noah was a righteous man and perfect
in his generations.
● Bible in Basic English – Noah was an upright man and without sin in
his generation.
Above I pointed out that a righteous person is one that does acts of righteousness. So, what
acts of righteousness did Noah do?
The
first one Noah did was obey God’s commandment and build the ark. Why did God need an
ark? He was going to cause a great flood to occur and he wanted to save living creatures
from drowning, including Noah and his family. The bottom line is that Noah did acts
that saved people from a danger they were facing.
Now let’s take a look at the “saving
actions” the righteous did in Matthew 25:
(1) saved hungry people by giving them food
(2) saved thirsty people by giving them drink
(3) saved strangers by giving them a place to
stay
(4) saved people in need of clothing by giving
them clothes
(5) saved people who were sick by visiting them
(7) saved people in prison by going to them
The righteous
did righteous acts like Noah that saved people’s lives from dangers they faced. By doing those
acts they saved their own lives too. What danger did they face? God had announced that the Great Day
of Judgment was coming. Instead of God telling Yeshua to tell people to build an ark that
would save them – he told him to tell them to "do acts of
righteousness like those above!”
Now let’s tackle the elephants in the
room. How does what Yeshua taught about “entering
into eternal life” compare to what you believe about “going to Heaven”? If the two do not
match – we just exposed an elephant!
As Buber and Flusser indicated, the information above is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the insights
and links to other Scriptures in Yeshua’s words. We will be returning this
elephant many times in future discussions.
Shalom,
Jim
Myers
If The “Y” Team sound like something for you
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