I Will not be Ashamed of Messiah’s words.

I recently came across a blog post that I read a long time ago. It was as good as I remember it!

Full of nuggets and Scriptural truth, I’d like to draw attention to one major point that Larry makes towards the end of the post. We cannot be ashamed of the words of our Messiah no matter how counter cultural and how uncomfortable it is to or for us.

Mark 8:38 NASB For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

Larry’s topic is about sexism in the Bible. I sent it to several like minded friends. Here are their replies:

“Good read I’d have to agree with most every thing he said .”
Ryan

“Article is an excellent read… I’ve read some of his stuff before, but after this one I’ve actually subscribed to the page now. Thanks for sharing. 💪 “

“Excellent article on BGR.”
Pete

I have copied and pasted the entire post as we will likely reference and interact with it in the near future. The original is here.

Why Christians Should Be Proud Sexists

DECEMBER 28, 2017 / BIBLICALGENDERROLES

This last Thanksgiving I was visiting with my in-laws. During that visit I made this statement to my sister-in-law “Yes mam, I am a proud sexist!” Why would I say such a thing? Isn’t being a sexist inconsistent with Christian values?

Some humor…

Covered = protected

Recently my bride and I were watching a video series about homesteading and farming. The farmer made a statement a couple times similar to “mother earth doesn’t like to be naked so we need to cover her up”. He proceeded to talk about the different types of covering that he uses on his homestead and how if he doesn’t actively cover the ground then unwanted coverings end up happening such as weeds or wild grass etc… My bride paused the video and said “you know I just realized that all covering is about protection”.

A lot of parallels can be drawn between the relationship of a man with his woman and the farmer and his field. I have touched on this subject in the past. Recall, the literal physical head covering that a woman wears is symbolic of her submission to her head (man) who is in a place of protection and authority over her. When she is properly covered by a righteous man she will not be vulnerable to “unsavory” coverings such as men (weeds) who would only attempt to use and or abuse her for selfish reasons. When she is properly covered she will bring forth fruit that is valuable to her man (farmer). In a corollary thought, uncovered land will erode and be destroyed, where well tended land that has a proper cover will thrive and actually become richer soil over time.

The significance of covering is evidenced in a very literal physical sense with children but also in a spiritual and emotional sense. A righteous man as covering will produce a righteous harvest, where unrighteous covering, like weed infested land, will produce unrighteous children and spiritual and emotional chaos.

Dear Son-in-law:

Recently a friend of mine (Zec) sent me and several other men a video and asked for feedback before it went public. It was absolutely stunning.

Men, this fits with the focus we have had over the last few months in our Restoring Kol Israel series. It’s a bold message with a lot of challenging truth packed into it that all men, especially fathers, need to hear. Here are a couple of the responses from that conversation:

Beyond incredible.
You have packed so many concepts into a short video.
I’ve listened to 2 hour sermons that haven’t had 1/4 the content.
Steve Turner

Wow Zec. Awesome. Rivetting, gold…What I just saw is the fruit of a hard won education and the heart of a warrior for the Kingdom. You are a man I want my boys around, one I am glad to call a brother and fellow sojourner. Have always had Hugh respect for you, but it grew this morning!
The world may not receive it well, but men who do will be better men.
Pete Rambo

I’m Rethinking the Apostle Paul…

“Paul is hard to understand.” Like me, you probably hear this all of the time. I finally had to start rethinking Paul. Whatever position I arrived at, I knew that it had to agree with the Apostle Peter.

Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. [15] And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, [16] as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. [17] You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. [18] But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
2 Peter 3:14-18

Peter clearly admits Paul is ‘hard to understand’, but also admits that his writings fit with ‘the other Scriptures.’ I decided that I must be missing something or not seeing Paul correctly. I had to rethink or re frame him.

Recently we had a comment here on the blog and a portion of that comment expresses exactly what has me concerned. And they are not alone in this difficulty.

“Since we know that Paul’s teachings/letters have done huge damage in getting people off track, as they are truly stumbling blocks, then why do so many messianic pastors try to ok his teaching against Torah and try to ok it? Yeshua warned us that the false tare words would remain till the end! And they sure have. Our Abba didn’t allow mixture then and He doesn’t allow it now. We had better be careful when we use Paul’s mixed teachings. I want nothing to do with stumbling blocks!.”

Part of my concern is that many in the Torah walk have minimized or even outright rejected Paul’s letters! This is a very dangerous thing to do! Supposedly, Paul upheld and taught the Torah. Is it possible we misunderstand Paul because we are looking through the wrong lens?

One thing that I think we often forget when we read Paul is one of the most basic rules of Bible study. CONTEXT IS KING. We often consider the surrounding context of Scripture, but we fail to understand the circumstantial or cultural context of his audience. So let’s consider the context of Paul and his writings.

Restoring Kol Israel: No more male or female?

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. [27] For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.
Galatians 3:26-29 NASB

As I have pointed out before, Paul upheld and taught the Torah. Many folks in this Torah walk want to minimize Paul. They will find many things in his letters that they have trouble finding in the Torah, therefore they say “Paul wasn’t a legit Apostle” or “Paul was writing based on cultural bias and we don’t need to worry about what he said, it’s not Torah.” One of my first thoughts when I hear someone say this is ‘how arrogant can you be?’ My personal belief is that the Apostle Paul likely understood the Torah better than any other human being who ever walked the earth save Moses and Yeshua. There is a reason why Peter labels Paul’s writings as scripture (2 Peter 3:16). I pray that I have demonstrated to you in recent posts, as I will in this one, that the Apostle Paul upheld and taught the Torah and it is at our own peril if we ignore his writings. If something he wrote appears to contradict the Torah then we are misunderstanding him. If we have trouble finding something he wrote in the Torah then we simply haven’t understood the Torah to the depth necessary. This, I venture to say, is a lifelong task.

So, has anyone ever wondered what Paul was talking about in Galatians 3:28? Where did he get this from? What does it even mean? Is this found in the Torah?

In this study I was specifically looking at direct commandments being delivered within the context of the Torah which is the standard we are called to live by. The remainder of scripture is practical application of Torah. To the degree that commands are given elsewhere they all have their basis in the Torah and they never conflict with the Torah.

What does bên mean in Hebrew? Strongs H1121

Restoring Kol Israel: Covering

As we continue our headship study we will continue with the writings of Paul. Previously, we looked at 1 Corinthians 11:3, 7-10. Here we will consider the verses in the middle, often ignored or minimized as simply being about a cloth head covering.

Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. [5] But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved. [6] For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head. [7] For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.
1 Corinthians 11:4-7 NASB

As pointed out in the opening post of this series Paul upheld and taught the Torah. I believe we do ourselves and this passage a disservice when we only focus on the literal cloth head covering debate and ignore the deeper truths that Paul is teaching us in this passage. Remember, foundationally, a woman was always to be under the headship/authority/covering of a man. From the beginning, when Eve stepped out from under her covering, we see that she becomes vulnerable. The headship/covering is articulated over and over in Torah through numerous examples demonstrating that a girl was to be under the covering of her father until he released her into the protection of a husband.

Restoring Kol Israel: Creation Order

As explained in the introduction to this series, the most basic building block for the restoration of all Israel is the family. To begin understanding how this basic building block is supposed to work, we need to begin to understand the creation order, and for that, we begin in the writings of Paul.

But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. [7] For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. [8] For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man; [9] for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake. [10] Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.
1 Corinthians 11:3,7-10 NASB

We know that Paul upheld Torah so have you ever wondered where Paul is getting this from? I think we do this passage and ourselves a disservice when we only focus on the literal head covering debate. Paul is using a physical example to teach some very important spiritual truths. He is clearly teaching headship and authority structure and he references creation so we should be able to pick up on what he is talking about if we go back to Genesis.