Demetrics and Pauline Roscoe

CULTURES

When the Bible student searches the books of the Bible, he or she must look through the historical lens of experiences, of a people shaped by their surroundings. Additional knowledge penetrates the soul of the student, giving them a better sense of the writer’s opinion of their world.

The variation of the form of a verb in an inflected language such as Latin, by which is identified by the voice, mood, tense, number, and person.

Understanding the Language of the Culture

In Chinese, the inflection at the end of a word drastically changes its meaning.

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The Names of GOD

Many may ask, why does the God of Israel have so many names throughout the Bible?

The best answer is the God of the Hebrew people is observed in distinct actions and those actions determine how he is perceived and acknowledged.

In Hebrew, the name of God is a conjunction or congruency of a noun and verb. “I AM who I AM,” “I” is the noun. “AM” is a form of the “to Exist” or “to BE” verb part of speech. I am what I do, or I am what I say; I am what exudes outward from me.   “ELOHIM ” is too complex to be placed in a human term, so we use Hebrew to get the best picture of HIS Divine Manifestations.

EL, ELOAH [el, el-oh-ah]: God “mighty, strong, prominent” (Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 139:19) – etymologically, El appears to mean “power” and “might” (Genesis 31:29). El is associated with other qualities, such as integrity (Numbers 23:19), jealousy (Deuteronomy 5:9), and compassion (Nehemiah 9:31), but the root idea of “might” remains.

 ELOHIM [el-oh-heem]: God “Creator, Mighty and Strong” (Genesis 17:7; Jeremiah 31:33) – the plural form of Eloah, which accommodates the doctrine of the Trinity. From the Bible’s first sentence, the superlative nature of God’s power is evident as God (Elohim) speaks the world into existence (Genesis 1:1).

 EL SHADDAI [el-shah-dahy]: “God Almighty,” “The Mighty One of Jacob” (Genesis 49:24; Psalm 132:2,5) – speaks to God’s ultimate power over all.

 ADONAI [ˌædɒˈnaɪ; ah-daw-nahy]: “Lord” (Genesis 15:2; Judges 6:15) – used in place of YHWH, which was thought by the Jews to be too sacred to be uttered by sinful men. In the Old Testament, YHWH is more often used in God’s dealings with His people, while Adonai is used more when He deals with the Gentiles.https://www.gotquestions.org/names-of-God.html

I read once that ADONAI is the name to whom we prayed; in fact, most Jewish prayers start with “Blessed are YOU ADONAI.

So, when the LORD introduces HIMSELF, saying, in Exodus 34:14; “My name is jealous,” how should we see the LORD’s position concerning Idolatry?

(Complete Jewish Bible)

14 because you are not to bow down to any other god; since ADONAI—whose very name is Jealous—is a jealous God.

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Some might say that the Book of Exodus is in the Old Testament, and we are no longer under its rules or Laws. This statement is a culture collision of the Western world’s view of the Jewish experience.

We say this because neither the “Old nor New Testament” even the phrase, “the Law,” are Jewish concepts. These Western expressions first appeared in the 1611 King James Version of the Bible, which are responsible for doctrines that are foreign to the Messiah’s Culture. By the grace of God, millions upon millions of believers have died and gone to heaven using the KJV. However, at that time, enormous err exists because teachers had little understanding or respect for the Hebraic religion.

One has to remember that Yeshua, our Lord Jesus Christ, did not teach from some of the  Old Testament. The only scriptures at that time were collections of a book entitled the Tanakh.

The sacred book of Judaism, comprising the Torah, are the Prophets, the Writings, Poems, Songs, and the Hebrew Scriptures.

Here is the Apostle Paul’s use of the ancient Tanakh (Jewish Writtings)

2 Corinthians 4:13-14

(Complete Jewish Bible)

13 The Tanakh says, “I trusted, therefore I spoke.” Since we have that same Spirit who enables us to trust, we also trust and therefore speak; 14 because we know that he who raised the Lord Yeshua will also raise us with Yeshua and bring us along with you into his presence.

Paul uses the Tanakh (Old Testament) to prove that the Messiah is the fulfillment of the Torah. The O/T was weak because it didn’t carry the power to enable us like the Holy Spirit, 

2 Corinthians 4:13-14; but it carries the Divine Promise of Adonai, which makes it sacred.  

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Living Bible (TLB)

¹⁹ Haven’t you yet learned that your body is the home of the Holy Spirit God gave you, and that he lives within you? Your own body does not belong to you. ²⁰ For God has bought you with a great price. So use every part of your body to give glory back to God because he owns it.

After Yeshua’s ascension on high, the apostles continued preaching from the “Old Testament because there were no other manuscripts but those of the Tanakh.

Here is Jude using the Tanakh,

Jude 1:1-4

(AMP SB Notes)

 ▶ THEME: Jude’s letter is hard-hitting, short, and right to the point. False teachers are on the loose in the church, and Jude wants to make sure his readers understand the destructive implications of their teaching. He urges Christians to resist these false teachers and to defend the faith and the body of truth received from the apostles that they have come to know and believe. He finishes by reminding them of the hope they have in knowing Christ is coming again.

 2 peace. This is the state of a person who rests in God completely for salvation and protection.

 3 common salvation. Jude intended to write a more general doctrinal letter, but the present crisis demanded this short, pointed attack on doctrinal error.

 4 distort the grace of our God into decadence and immoral freedom. The teaching of grace can be dangerous when perverted by false teachers or carnal people who believe that because they have been saved by grace, they may live as they please (Ro 6:1 – 2).

Jude 1:3-5

(Jewish New Testament Commentary)

 3a I was busily at work writing to you about the salvation we share. As with many books mentioned in the Tanakh that have not survived, our curiosity about Y’hudah’s soteriological treatise cannot be satisfied.

 Nov 18, 2019, · The phrase “born again” literally means “born from above.”. It is an act of God whereby eternal life is imparted to the person who believes—a spiritual transformation. Other than Christology, Soteriology is the area where Christianity is the most different from the cults and other world religions.

3b-4 Keep contending earnestly for the faith which was once and for all passed on to God’s people. This, along with v. 17 (“the words were spoken… by the emissaries of our Lord”), suggests that the letter was written in the latter part of the first century when “the faith” had begun to crystallize. This use of Greek Pistis (Grace) to mean a systematized body of doctrine is unusual (see Ac 3:16 N, Ga 2:16c N), but even here we should not limit “the faith” to its intellectual aspects; it includes and implies not the only doctrine to be believed, but the entire Messianic way of life to be observed and obeyed (Ro 1:5, “the obedience that comes from trusting”).

 This is clear from v. 4: what the ungodly people do is not merely pass on mistaken information, but pervert God’s grace into a license for debauchery and disown our only Master and Lord. They no longer recognize Yeshua’s right to command obedience but teach instead a perversion of Ro 3:28 and Ep 2:8-9, that a person is considered righteous by God on the ground of professing faith in Yeshua regardless of what sort of works he does. Such an attitude quickly results in debauchery, as well as other kinds of antinomianism, since it removes the ethical and moral component of faith/faithfulness/trusting. In Y’hudah’s time, various kinds of Gnostics taught in this way; our age too has its share of false teachers (see 2 Ti 4:3-4, 1 Yn 4:4-6 &N).

 Written about long ago. See vv. 14-15.

 5-7 Three examples warn that God does not tolerate those who “pervert God’s grace” (vv. 3b-4 &N). The Lord who once delivered the people… later destroyed them. Compare Ro 11:19-22, MJ 3:7-4:11 &NN. On v. 6 see 2 Ke 2:4 &N. On v. 7 see 2 Ke 2:5-9 N.

James 3:1-5

(New Living Testament)

 Controlling the Tongue

 1 Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.

3 We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. 4 And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. 5 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.

 But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire.

My Jewish Learning 

The Bible is by, about, and for the people of Israel from its origins as a single-family in Canaan through its partial return as a nation from exile in Babylonia. The Hebrew Bible is traditionally divided into three sections: תורה/Torah (Teaching), נביאים /Nevi’im (Prophets), and כתובים/ Ketuvim (Writings) from which is derived the name TaNaCh [also spelled Tanakh], an acronym denoting the three sections. The Bible, which contains a diversity of voices and messages and yet remains a single book, reflects the ideal of a people that speaks with a diversity of voices and yet is seen as one people engaging in an eternal conversation.

About the Bible

The Bible is a complex book comprised of 24 books written by different authors over a period of around 850 years. It includes narratives, law codes, short stories, etiological tales, prophecies, exhortations, poetry, and wisdom writing. Although scholars have different perspectives on how the Bible came to be, the centrality of the Bible in Jewish culture, in Torah study, and in Jewish worship, is undisputed.

Matthew 1:18

(Jewish New Testament Commentary)

Ruach HaKodesh, Hebrew for “Holy Spirit.” The term appears in the Tanakh (Isaiah 51:13(11), 63:10-11) and is equivalent to the “Spirit of God” (Ruach-Elohim), first seen in Genesis 1:2 as having “moved on the face of the waters” before God said, “Let there be light.” From this verse, Isaiah 48:16 and other places in the Bible it can be learned that the Holy Spirit is divine, not less or other than God. Under the terms of the New Covenant, Yeshua sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in any person who trusts God through the Messiah. The Holy Spirit gives such a person power for service, guidance into God’s truth, gifts to facilitate holy living, and fruits of righteous behavior. (The King James Version of the English Bible uses the term “holy ghost,” which has nothing to do with spooks but is seventeenth-century English for “Holy Spirit.”)

Exodus 34:10-18

(NLT Study Bible Text,)

The Lord Renews the Covenant

10 The Lord replied, “Listen, I am making a covenant with you in the presence of all your people. I will perform miracles that have never been performed anywhere in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people around you will see the power of the Lord—the awesome power I will display for you. 11 But listen carefully to everything I command you today. Then I will go ahead of you and drive out the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

12 “Be very careful never to make a treaty with the people who live in the land where you are going. If you do, you will follow their evil ways and be trapped. 13 Instead, you must break down their pagan altars, smash their sacred pillars, and cut down their Asherah poles. 14 You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you.

15 “You must not make a treaty of any kind with the people living in the land. They lust after their gods, offering sacrifices to them. They will invite you to join them in their sacrificial meals, and you will go with them. 16 Then you will accept their daughters, who sacrifice to other gods, as wives for your sons. And they will seduce your sons to commit adultery against me by worshiping other gods. 17 You must not make any gods of molten metal for yourselves.

18 “You must celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast, just as I commanded you. Celebrate this festival annually at the appointed time in early spring, in the month of Abib, for that is the anniversary of your departure from Egypt.

The God of Israel is smarter than we are and here are reasons why He keeps us separated from things the Pagans worship. Demon spirits do not discern between Pagan and Christian. Whenever demons recognize Pagan paraphernalia from an Occult society in one part of the world, then they are just as attracted to any other Pagan symbology, regardless of attentions.