Law and Beatitudes Part I

Also Lord He spoke, all these words to these saying: Exodus 20:1(JWET)
God speaks from the mountain.

And opening His mouth He was teaching them saying: Matthew 5:2(JWET)
Jesus speaks from the mountain.

There is a clear comparison between the Deity’s meeting with Moses and Aaron on Mount Sinai and Jesus' meeting with the Twelve Disciples on the Mount of the Beatitudes. In the first instance the Lord spoke the law of the Mosaic Covenant; in the second instance the Lord spoke a clarification so the Law could be fully observed.

Let us compare what God said in Exodus 20 with what He said in Matthew 5.
They will not be for you other gods except Me.Ex 20:3 JWET

God-Yahweh Himself codified monotheism-the belief that there is one supreme all-powerful deity through His message to the freed Hebrew slaves at Mount Sinai. The “Ten Words” that He spoke to the descendants of Israel begins with the injunction against polytheism and is the premiere of the “commands” that followed.

This was an idea that the Hebrews quickly agreed to observe but likewise quickly rejected. This back and forth backsliding and repentance went on for over 600 years until the Israelites returned from the Babylonian captivity. During the 70 years of exile in Babylon the monarchy lost its dominance allowing the priesthood to became the authority for all things Jewish.

One would believe that this tenacious monotheistic-Yahwehism would have meant a spiritual awakening and real relationship between Israel and their God, such as Abraham the "Friend of God” had enjoyed. Regrettably this was not the case. Instead a Priests-Scribes-Pharisees-Sadducees caste developed into the rigid self-righteous monotheistic cult that Jesus found and confronted.

Jesus spoke to those unrighteous “righteous” leaders who thought that the strict adherence to God’s laws would guarantee they satisfied God. Jesus Christ-Savior the Anointed One, taught the proper view of the law by clarifying or fulfilling the first commandment in teaching:
Worthy ones, those beggars having the Spirit, in that theirs is heavens' kingdom. Mt 5:3 JWET
• Those beggars having the Spirit, worthy ones in that theirs is heavens' kingdom.
This would have staggered His hearers on a couple of fronts:

1.Beggars having the Spirit.

Those of the elite class (Priests-Scribes-Pharisees-Sadducees) looked on beggars as rejected by God as evidenced by their obvious condition. Therefore, when Jesus said they could have the Spirit, He was making a non-sense statement. It was totally illogical to say that ungodly people were full of the Spirit!

Some who are reading this are thinking that “... poor in spirit…” is a better translation;
a. because of grammatical reasons I choose to translate ptokoi to pneumati (πτωχοὶ τῷ πνεύματι) “…beggars having the Spirit…” as a dative of possession.
b. some might suggest that because Jesus had not yet been crucified the Spirit had not been given. It is forgotten that the giving of the Spirit was related to the Day of Pentecost also called the Baptism of Jesus/Baptism with the Spirit and not the separate event of the Baptism of the Spirit/Salvation extended to every person of faith in God. Salvation-Yeshua’-Jesus always was, is and always will be.
2. Jesus followed up with an equally as shocking—the “Beggars having the Spirit also have heavens’ kingdom!” Heavens’ Kingdom is God’s Kingdom. The “teaching” of the Priests-Scribes-Pharisees-Sadducees was that the beggars/uneducated were effectively locked out of that Kingdom.

Monotheism, as necessary as it is, is not a guarantee of salvation and having the Spirit. Jesus’ intent in announcing the Beatitudes was to clarify His initial intent when issuing the Law as conditions of the covenant. “Do not consider that I have arrived to dissolve the law or the prophets, I have not come to overturn on the other hand to have them fully observed.” Matthew 5:17 JWET

From the Mountain

Exd 19:20 The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up
21 and the Lord said to him...

3.	Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4.	Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5.	Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6.	And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
7.	Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
8.	Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9.	Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10.	But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11.	For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
12.	Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
13.	Thou shalt not kill.
14.	Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15.	Thou shalt not steal.
16.	Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17.	Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. (KJV)

Mat 5:1. But having seen those crowds, He (Jesus) ascended the mountain and taking a seat His students-disciples came to Him.
2. And opening His mouth He was teaching them saying...

3. Worthy ones, those beggars having the Spirit, in that theirs is heavens' kingdom.
4. Worthy ones, those mourning, in that the same will repent.
5. Worthy ones, those gentle ones, in that the same will be entitled to the earth.
6. Worthy ones, those hungering and thirsting for justice, in that the same will eat their fill.
7. Worthy ones, those compassionate ones, in that the same will arouse compassion.
8. Worthy ones, those straightforward in purpose, in that the same towards God they will look.
9. Worthy ones, those diplomatic agents, in that the same will be named God's sons.
10. Worthy ones, those pursued as a consequence of following the law, in that of them exists heavens' kingdom.
11. Worthy ones you are, whenever they might upbraid you and pursue and speak everything grievous against you, cheating on account of me.
12. You must take pleasure and rejoice exceedingly in that your great recompense in the heavens, in this way the prophets were pursued before you.
13. You are the "salt-wisdom" of the earth, if but the "salt-wisdom" might have been made "tasteless-foolish," in something it will be gathered together, to naught will it be made strong still, if not, having been thrown outside to be trampled from under by the men.
14. You are the world's light; a city cannot be concealed from a mountaintop, being situated in place.
15. Also lamps are not lit and set in place under a measuring vessel, but upon the lamp stand and it is caused to shine for all those in the dwelling. In this way must shine your "light-glory" in front of men in such a manner that they might perceive your virtuous deeds and they might hold in honor your Father, the One in the heavens.

(JWET)

matthew 5 - GreekBible

matthew 5 - GreekBible

1. But having seen those crowds, He ascended the mountain and taking a seat His students-disciples came to Him.
2. And opening His mouth He was teaching them saying:

3. Blessed ones, those beggars having the Spirit, in that theirs is heavens' kingdom.
4. Blessed ones, those mourning, in that the same will repent.
5. Blessed ones; those gentle ones, in that the same will be entitled to the earth.
6. Blessed ones, those hungering and thirsting for justice, in that the same will eat their fill.
7. Blessed ones; those compassionate ones, in that the same will arouse compassion.
8. Blessed ones, those straightforward in purpose, in that the same towards God they will look.
9. Blessed ones, those diplomatic agents, in that the same will be named God's sons.
10. Blessed ones, those pursued as a consequence of following the law, in that of them exists heavens' kingdom.
11. Blessed ones you are, whenever they might upbraid you and pursue and speak everything grievous against you, cheating on account of me.
12. You must take pleasure and rejoice exceedingly in that your great recompense in the heavens, in this way the prophets were pursued before you.
13. You are the "salt-wisdom" of the earth, if but the "salt-wisdom" might have been made "tasteless-foolish," in something it will be gathered together, to naught will it be made strong still, if not, having been thrown outside to be trampled under by the men.
14. You are the world's light; a city cannot be concealed from a mountaintop, being situated in place.
Also lamps are not lit and set in place under a measuring vessel, but upon the lamp stand and it is caused to shine for all those in the dwelling.
15. In this way must shine your "light-glory" in front of men in such a manner that they might perceive your virtuous deeds and they might hold in honor your Father, the One in the heavens.

Does God Tempt? The Epistle of James a.k.a. Jacob

The Epistle of James deals with the problem of problems. Why do some bad things happen? Below is a rough translation that I did of the 1st chapter of James to investigate whether God tempts or not. Read through it and see. I will make comments through out.



1 Jacob a slave of God and of Lord Savior Anointed, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion
Greetings.

2 You must consider for yourselves my Brothers a complete delight, inasmuch as you might have been surrounded with trials of a varied kind. 3 You understand that the method of testing your faith itself is achieving endurance. 4 Yet, the endurance must hold a blameless work, so that you might be blameless and perfectly sound with nothing being uncompleted.

5 But if any of you is left behind of wisdom, he must ask for all things sincerely from the One
giving, from God, and not from casting in
one’s teeth, and it will be given to you. 6 But he must ask in
assurance/faithfulness, not one who is separated from others,
for the one separated from others was like a washing
of sea, being agitated and being tossed, 7 (for he, the man himself,
must not suppose that he himself will receive anything from the Lord?)
8 A double-minded unstable man in all of his ways.

9 But the lowly brother must speak up in his dignity, 10 but the
wealthy one in his loss of rank, for this way a grass' flower will
perish. 11 For the sun has risen with the heat and it has parched the
grass and its flower has fallen out and the gracefulness of its
appearance has been destroyed and the wealthy with their careers will
be extinguished.

12 A happy man that is enduring testing,
because he having become a tested one, he will receive the crown of
life which has been promised to them for loving Him. 13 No one while
being tried must say, (in that from God he is being tested)
“therefore the temptation proof God is evil, He is tempting, Himself by
no one!”

14 But everyone being tested, by the one's own
longing, being dragged out, even being baited, 15 next the longing
having been conceived gives birth to sin, but the sin having brought
forth young, bearing death. 16 You must not be caused to go astray, my
beloved brothers. 17 All good giving and all blameless gifts are from
above descending from the Father of fires from whom there is not a
fickleness neither from turning a shadow.

18 Having been willing He gave birth to you by a word of truth, the one to be
their entrance fee, anyone from the one of Himself from a created one.
19 You must be known brothers, my beloved, but he must be a whole man a
quick one to have heard, a slow one to have spoken, a slow one to
anger. 20 For anger of a man a righteousness of God is not itself
working.

21 For this reason having put them away (all sordidness and superabundance of
malignity) for a humble one you yourselves have received the implanted
word (itself being strong enough to have saved your soul). 22 But you
must yourselves become a performer of a word and not alone hearers
deluding yourselves. 23 Because if any one is a hearer of the word and
not one who performs, this one is like a man observing the aspect of
his nature in a mirror, 24 for he has observed well himself and having
understood and departs and immediately has neglected himself, what sort
is he being? 25 But the one having peered into a blameless law the one
of liberty and he having remained not a hearer from negligence, on the
other hand a performer of work this one a blessed one by his
performance himself is.

26 If anyone thinks a religious one to be, not bridling his language but on
the other hand cheating a heart of himself of this vain one the
religious one. 27 A religion, a clean one and undefiled one from the
God and Father, this one being itself to visit/relieve orphaned ones
and widowed ones in persecution themselves, itself a spotless one to
guard from the world.


Jacob--This gives us a clue on how to choose whether God tempts or not. Jacob is Hebrew. He is very well versed in God's activities in the Torah-Old Testament.

Exodus 15:25 Then he cried out to the
LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters,
and the waters became sweet. There He made for them a statute and
regulation, and there He tested them. (NASB)

This is only one example of God testing, trying, tempting someone. The question is-would James/Jacob have directly contradicted this portion of Holy Scripture?

No!
The translation of James 1:13 hinges on one tiny word--hoti--that, so that, for, because. Moule wrote "...the interpretation of a passage turns upon deciding with
which word the hoti is to be logically connected."

I choose to translate 1:13
" No one while being tried must say, (in that from of God he is being
tested) “therefore the temptation proof God is evil, He is tempting,
Himself by no one!”
It was a temptation to say that it was evil of God to tempt people when He in turn said that "You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah."

Why was it fair for God to tempt and He not to be tempted?

The quick response to that is God is always faithful but man fails
often. God's testing of man is to prove what is in doubt. The next
question that arises is, "did God make me sin when He tempted me? The
answer is no! See James 1:14.

Truth

Pilate asked Jesus--"What is truth?"

• Do you know what truth is?
• Is your truth only a subjective truth?
• Do you have an objective truth?
• Do you know the difference between objective and subjective?

The Apostle Peter was faced by just such a dilemma. He needed an objective measure of a truth.

No Gentile had been allowed into the fledgling church. He had had the audacity to go preach to a house full of Gentiles. And then he returns to the leaders of that Jewish church and tells them he had baptized those Gentiles in water.

The questions was, how did he know the truth of their repentance? The Italian and his family had not proven themselves as Jewish procelytes. How could he have included them in the church? They were "unclean" Gentiles, excluded from the community of faith!

Peter did not say, "I knew it in my heart. I sensed their sincerity. They were really happy!" He may have had these subjective proofs to share with the other Apostles. However, he did not use those as vindication of baptizing them in water.

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

An objective proof of their salvation.

Do you ever wish for an objective truth of your salvation? Seek the Baptism of Jesus with the initial physical evidence of SPEAKING IN TONGUES.

Receive the Holy Spirit

John 20:22 He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

What did Jesus mean when he said this to his disciples?
Did He mean that was the moment that they were saved?
Or, was there another implication?
Click here and see for yourself...