The
Heresies of the Pharisaical
Jewish
Christian Ebionites
By
Harry A. Peyton
Table of Contents:
A Brief History of the Heresy
of the Ebionites (3)
The Ante Nicene Fathers History of the
Ebionites
The Biblical History of the Original Jewish
Christian Church (8)
The Ebionite’s False
Doctrine of the New Covenant Refuted (9)
The
New Covenant, Like All of God’s Covenants, Is Founded on
the Precious Sinless Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
The
Apostle Paul Revealed that the Old Mosaic Law Covenant Had to Be Abolished,
So Eternal Life and Justification from Sin Could Come Only Through
Christ’s Sacrifice
Modern-Day Ebionite’s Blasphemous Doctrine that
Jesus’ Blood Was Not Sinless Blood
and Therefore Could Not Atone
for the Sins of Lost Humanity
Modern-Day
Ebionite Heretical Belief of How God Remits Their Sins
Since
the Jewish Temple Was Destroyed in 70 AD
The Ebionite’s False Doctrine Against Jesus Being
Born of A Virgin Refuted (24)
The
Messiah Would Be Born of a Virgin and Would Be the God Incarnated into Flesh
Jesus, the Son of Mary, Was YHWH the One and Only God
Manifested in Flesh
The
Messiah, the One Who Became the Son of God at Bethlehem, Is Eternal
The Ebionite’s False Doctrine
that Since Joseph’s Geneaology Is Given in the Gospels,
and Not
Mary’s Geneaology, Jesus Is Joseph’s Son and Nothing More than A Man Refuted
The Ebionite’s False Doctrine Against the Deity
of Christ Refuted (35)
Comparison Between Old and New Testament
Scriptures
Proves Christ to Be the One and Only True God
The
Ebionite’s False Doctrine of the Length of Time of Jesus’ Ministry (49)
A Refutation of
the book “The History and Development of the Astronomically and
Agriculturally Corrected Biblical Hebrew Calendar” by Michael Rood (58)
The Inspiration of the New Testament (63)
A Brief History of the Jewish Karaites (Caraties) (71)
A Note from the Author: Since Ebionites deny the validity of most of the New Testament scriptures, and Christian translations of the Bible, the author will use in most scriptural quotes the English translation of Old Testament known as the JPS Tankah (TNK – 1985 ed. published by the Jewish Publication Society); he will also use the English JPS Holy Scriptures (JPS –1917 ed. published by the Jewish Publication Society); both of these English translations are based on the Hebrew Masoretic text (WTT). The author uses these translation, NOT because he feels they are good translations, that is, when it come to the prophesies concerning the Messiah or His Deity, but because Ebionites place a higher value on them, then on Christian translations of the Bible. Whenever these translations DEVIATE from the Masoretic Hebrew text, that is, lexical meanings and grammar, the author will draw his readers’ attention to it.
The author will also quote from the Greek
Septuagint translation of the Masoretic text, which was translated by 70
ancient Jewish scholars; this translation will be known in this book as LXX
Septuaginta (LXT),
which has been edited by Alfred Rahlfs. The English translation of the Septuagint
is by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton and will be known as (LXE). The Greek
Septuagint is by far a much older written Bible than any Masoretic text we have
today, for it was translated in the 7 year
of the reign of King Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt, which was around 278 BC.
The
standard printed Hebrew Bible that is used today is a reproduction of a Masoretic
text written in AD 1088. The manuscript, in codex or book form, is in the collection of
the Saint Petersburg Public Library. Another Masoretic manuscript, the Aleppo Codex is from the first half of the 10th century AD,
and is the basis for a new publication of the text in
preparation at Hebrew University in Israel. The author will also
use the Complete Jewish Bible when quoting Old and New Testament scriptures,
which is published by the Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., and is
distributed by Messianic Jewish Resources International. The history of the Bible with its
manuscripts and translations will be given at the end of this book.
Since Almighty
God, the Lord Jesus Christ, gives His Salvation and His Word to all freely (Rev
22:17, Mt 10:7-8), this book, and all other books, written by Harry A. Peyton
are given without charge, and can be accessed through the Internet at the
following address: http://www.DoctrinesOfChrist.com.
Therefore, fell free to copy it in digital or written form, and share it with
others. The author forbids any alteration of this book’s contents, and the
reproduction of it in any form for Marketing Purposes. This book may be placed
on anyone’s web page, as long as my website address is attached to it.
The author believes that the Word of God is infallible in
the ORIGINAL LANGUAGE it was written in, and all translations of the Bible
regardless of how good they may be are NOT. Since the author has implicit faith
in the infallibility of the Word of God, the author has formed his
beliefs firmly on the truth of the Bible. This author uses the ancient
ANTIOCHIAN LITERAL-HISTORICAL METHOD OF INTERPRETING THE BIBLE, which was used
by early Christian Prophets and Apostles of the Bible.
I definitely believe that the ancient Alexandrian Allegorical
Method of spiritualizing scripture, which was made popular by the ancient
Jewish philosopher Philo Judaeus (13 BC – 50 AD) and later used by the
Ante-Nicene Catholic Priests, especially Origen and his student Clement of
Alexandria (200 AD), is an abomination to our Lord. Therefore, all scriptures
will be interpreted in a literal exegetical fashion, unless the language used
and the context demands a spiritual interpretation.
All CAPITALIZATION and ITALICIZATION in QUOTES used in this book
is always MINE. All Biblical quotes used in this book will be in dark red, and from the New King James version of
the Bible, unless another version is stated as the reference. The vast majority
of all translations of the Bible, as well as Hebrew and Greek Lexical
definitions and grammar, will come from BibleWorks computer
software program version 7.0. The author in most
places will quote verses from the Bible instead of commenting on a verse and
giving a reference; for He believes that the written Word of God’s has greater
power to inspire and enlighten a heart to understand and act upon truth, than
the elegant oratory or writings of any man.
If this book has been a blessing to my beloved readers, and they would like to send an offering to the author, feel free to do so. If anyone wishes to send any biblical or historical materials to the author, my address is: 148 Little Creek Hills Rd.: Alto, NM 88312: Phone # 575-336-2800: Email address: DoctrineOfChrist@Hotmail.com.
A
Brief History of the Heresy of the Ebionites
This book is written against the heresies of the Jewish
Ebionites, who claim to be Christians and follow the original doctrines of
Jewish Christianity. The first century Jewish historian Josephus does not
mention the Christian Jewish sect of Ebonities in his history, but the
very noted nineteenth century Protestant Church Historian, Professor Philip Schaff, in his work History of the Christian Church definitely declared that the Ebionite Heresy,
which denied the virgin birth of Jesus and His Deity, began
sometime AFTER 70 AD.
History of the Christian Church:
Dr. Schaff stated: The Jewish Christianity, represented in the
apostolic church by Peter and James, combined with the Gentile Christianity of
Paul, to form a Christian church, in which ‘neither
circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature in
Christ’ [Ga 6:15]. I. A PORTION of the Jewish Christians,
however, adhered even AFTER the destruction of Jerusalem [i.e. in 70
AD], to the national customs of their fathers, and propagated themselves in
some churches of Syria down to the end of the fourth century,
under the name of Nazarenes; a name perhaps originally
given in contempt by the Jews to ALL Christians [i.e. Jew and Gentile
Christians] as followers of Jesus of Nazareth.
They [i.e. the Jewish Nazarenes of the original Jewish Christians]
united the observance of the Mosaic ritual law with their belief in the Messiahship
and DIVINITY of Jesus, used the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew, deeply
mourned the unbelief of their brethren [i.e. the rebellious unbelieving Jews],
and hoped for their future conversion in a body, and for a millennial
reign of Christ on the earth. But they indulged NO antipathy
[i.e. a deep-seated feeling of aversion] to the apostle Paul, and NEVER denounced
the Gentile Christians and heretics for NOT observing the law [i.e. the
governmental, ceremonial feasts, and sacrificial laws, not the Moral Law]. They
were, therefore, not heretics, but stunted separatist Christians….
II. From these Nazarenes
we must carefully distinguish the heretical Jewish Christians, or the ebionites…. According to Epiphanius, [a
Jewish heretical Christian] EBION spread his error FIRST in the
company of Christians, which fled to Pella AFTER the destruction of
Jerusalem [i.e. after 70 AD]; according to
Hegesippus in Eusebius, one Thebutis, after the death of the bishop Symeon of
Jerusalem, about 107 [AD], made schism among the Jewish Christians, and
led many of them to apostatize, because he himself was not elected
to the bishopric.
We find the sect of the
Ebionites in Palestine and the surrounding regions, on the island of Cyprus, in
Asia Minor, and even in Rome. Though it consisted mostly of Jews, Gentile
Christians also sometimes attached themselves to it. It continued into the fourth
century, but at the time of Theodoret was entirely EXTINCT. It used
a Hebrew Gospel, now lost, which was probably a corruption of the Gospel
of Matthew….
But, as there were different
sects in Judaism itself, we have also to distinguish at least two branches
of Ebionism, related to each other as Pharisaism and Essenism….
1. The common Ebionites, who were by far the more numerous, embodied the Pharisaic legalism….
Their doctrine may be reduced to the following propositions: (a) Jesus is,
indeed, the promised Messiah, the son of David, and the supreme
lawgiver, yet a MERE MAN, like Moses and David, sprung by natural
generation from Joseph and Mary. The sense of his Messianic calling first
arose in him at his baptism by John, when a higher spirit
joined itself to him. Hence, Origen [200 AD] compared this sect to the
blind man in the Gospel, who called to the Lord, without seeing him: ‘Thou son of David, have mercy on me.’
(b) [They also taught] Circumcision
and the observance of the WHOLE RITUAL LAW of Moses are necessary
to salvation for all men. (c) Paul is an apostate and heretic,
and all his epistles are to be DISCARDED [i.e. despite the fact that
YHWH the almighty God used Paul to start most of the Churches he wrote to; does
this belief make any logical sense]. The sect considered him a native heathen,
who came over to Judaism in later life from impure motives. (d) Christ is soon to
come again, to introduce the glorious millennial reign of the Messiah, with the
earthly Jerusalem for its seat.
2. The second class of
Ebionites, starting with Essenic notions, gave their Judaism a
speculative or theosophic stamp… They form the stepping-stone to Gnosticism.
Among these belong the Elkesaites. They arose, according to Epiphanius, in the reign of Trajan [98-117
AD], in the regions around the Dead Sea, where the Essenes lived. Their name is
derived from their supposed founder, Elxai or Elkasai, and
is interpreted: ‘hidden power,’ which (according to Gieseler’s suggestion)
signifies the Holy Spirit. This seems to have been
originally the title of a book, which pretended, like the book of
Mormon, to be revealed by an angel, and was held in the highest esteem by the
sect. This secret writing, according to the fragments in Origen, and in the ‘Philosophumena’ of Hippolytus, contains the
groundwork of the remarkable pseudo-Clementine system.
It is evidently of Jewish
origin, represents Jerusalem as the centre of the religious world, Christ
as a CREATURE and the Lord of angels and all other creatures, the Holy
Spirit as a female, enjoins circumcision as well as baptism, REJECT St.
Paul, and justifies the denial of faith in time of persecution. It claims to date
from the third year of Trajan (101[AD]). This and the requirement
of circumcision would make it considerably older than the Clementine Homilies.
A copy of that book was brought to Rome from Syria by a certain Alcibiades
about a.d. 222, and excited attention by announcing a new method of forgiveness
of sins….
114. The Pseudo-Clementine Ebionism…. The twenty Clementine Homilies bear the celebrated name of the Roman bishop Clement, mentioned in Phil. 4:3, as a helper of Paul, but evidently confounded in the pseudo-Clementine literature with Flavius Clement, kinsman of the Emperor Domitian…. In Caesarea he meets the apostle Peter, and being instructed and converted by him, accompanies him on his missionary journeys in Palestine, to Tyre, Tripolis, Laodicea, and Antioch. He attends upon the sermons of Peter and his long, repeated disputations with Simon Magus, and, at the request of the apostle, commits the substance of them to writing. Simon Peter is thus the proper hero of the romance, and appears throughout as the representative of pure, primitive Christianity, in opposition to Simon Magus, who is portrayed as a ‘man full of enmity,’ and a ‘deceiver,’ the author of all anti-Jewish heresies, especially of the Marcionite Gnosticism. The author was acquainted with the four canonical Gospels, and used them, Matthew most, John least; and with them another work of the same sort, probably of the Ebionitic stamp, but now unknown.
It has been ingeniously
conjectured by Baur (first in 1831), and adopted by his pupils, that the
pseudo-Clementine Peter combats, under the mask of the Magician, the
apostle Paul (nowhere named in the Homilies), as the first and chief
corrupter of Christianity. This
conjecture, which falls in easily with Baur’s view of the widespread and irreconcilable
antagonism of Petrinism and Paulinism in the primitive church, derives some
support from several malicious allusions to Paul, especially the collision
in Antioch. Simon Magus is charged with claiming that Christ appeared
to him in a vision, and called him to be an apostle, and yet teaching a
doctrine contrary to Christ, hating his apostles, and denouncing Peter, the
firm rock and foundation of the church, as ‘self-condemned….’
In the Recognitions the anti-Pauline tendency is moderated, yet Paul’s labors are ignored, and Peter is made the apostle of the Gentiles…. Adam, created in the image of God, is the true prophet; his wife, Eve, represents false prophecy…. As regards ecclesiastical organization, he fully embraces the monarchical Episcopal view. The bishop holds the place of Christ in the congregation, and has power to bind and loose. Under him stand the presbyters and deacons. But singularly, and again in true Ebionitic style, James, the brother of the Lord, bishop of Jerusalem, which is the centre of Christendom, is made the general vicar of Christ, the visible head of the whole church, the bishop of bishops (History of the Christian Church, Philip Schaff, chp 11, The Heresies of the Ante-Nicene Age, sec 112, Judaism and Heathenism within the Church).
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: This encyclopedia gives us some additional
information on the history and doctrines of this Gnostic group. It declared: General
Statement: The Ebionites were a sect of heretics frequently mentioned by the
early Fathers…. The characteristics of the Ebionites noted by them were, first,
the negative one that they did NOT, like the other Gnostics, distinguish
between the Supreme God and the Creator of the world….
The second characteristic, also negative, was that
they DENIED the supernatural birth of our Lord. He was the son of Joseph
and Mary in the ordinary sense of the word. The third was that they, along with
the Cerinthians and Carpocratians, affirmed that a Divine power came
down on Jesus at His baptism -- the reward of His perfect holiness.
According to one form of theory, the Holy Ghost was the eternal Son of God.
Another view was that the power, which descended upon Him was the Divine
wisdom, the Logos….
The Essenes in all their varieties seem to have
come over to Christianity on the fall of the Jewish state [70 AD] and the
retreat of the church to Pella. When they joined the believers in their exile
the PARSEE [i.e. Zoroastrian] elements began a ferment [trouble
or disorder] in the church and Ebionism was ONE of the
products. This probably is the meaning of the statement that Ebion began to
teach his doctrines at Pella.
If we may judge from the statements of Scripture
and from the earliest of the noncanonical apocalypses, the Ebionites were NOT
at first heretical in their Christology. Only they maintained the universal
obligation of the ceremonial law, holding that believers of Gentile descent
could be received into the church only if they were first circumcised. The keen
dialectic [i.e. a methods of reasoning and discussion in order to discover the
truth] of Paul forced them from this position. The abrogation of
the Law was closely connected in Paul’s reasoning with the Divinity of
our Lord; consequently some of them may have felt that they could maintain
their views more easily by denying His supreme Divinity and the reality of
the incarnation. The phenomena of His life rendered it impossible for
anyone to declare Him to be merely man. Hence, the complex notion of a Divine
influence--an eon, coming down upon Him. If, however, His birth were
miraculous, then the supreme greatness of Moses would be impugned; consequently
they were led to deny the virgin birth….
They use the Gospel of Matthew but without the
genealogies…. They use also other books; one which he [Epiphanius] especially
describes, The Journeying of Peter, appears to be in the main identical with
the Clementine Homilies. He connects the Ebionites, as does Hippolytus, with
Elkasai; from him they learned that the heavenly Christ was 96 miles high and
24 broad, and that the Holy Ghost had a female form of similar dimensions, only
invisible.
Although he connects the Ebionites with the
Essenes he mentions that, unlike the Essenes of Josephus and Philo, the
Ebionites not only permitted but enjoined matrimony on young men. Epiphanius
adds as an especial enormity that the Ebionites permit second, third and even
seventh marriages. Although they enjoin marriage they have a LOW OPINION of
WOMEN, crediting Eve with originating heathenism, in this agreeing with
the Essenian opinion of the sex. Mysteriously Epiphanius represents, the Ebionites
as not only REJECTING the PROPHETS in a body but deriding them. He also
mentions the REJECTION of PAUL by the Ebionites….
Though Justin Martyr does not name the Ebionites
in his dialogue with Trypho the Jew (47), he mentions TWO CLASSES of JEWISH
CHRISTIANS: (a) those who not only themselves observe the law but would compel
the Gentile believers also to be circumcised and keep the whole law, and will
hold no communion with those who refuse to become Jews; (b) those who,
observing the Mosaic law themselves, enter into communion with uncircumcised
Gentile believers. The former appear to be an early form of Ebionites.
It is to be noted that Justin does not ascribe to them any doctrinal divergence
from the orthodox views. In the following chapter he mentions some that
denied the divinity of our Lord, but these were Gentiles
(Grk: hemeterou genous) ‘of our race….’
The assertion of Epiphanius that the Ebionites
rejected the prophets is supported by a quotation from the Gospel according
to the Hebrews in Jerome (Adv. Pelag., iii.2): ‘In the PROPHETS, after they
were anointed by the Spirit, SIN was found….’ A singular verse, quoted
from this gospel both by Origen and Jerome, deserves special notice for several
reasons: ‘My mother, the Holy Ghost, took me by one of my hairs and bore
me to the great mountain Tabor." The designation of the Holy Ghost as ‘my
mother’ is unexampled….
The Clementine literature attributed by Epiphanius
to the Ebionites is a more important source of information for their opinions.
It has come down to us complete in three or four forms, the Homilies, the
Recognitions, and two Epitomes…. It is in the discourses of Peter that the
Ebionism appears. Its theology is fundamentally Jewish and Essenian. That it is
Judaizing is evidenced by the covert hostility to the apostle Paul.
There are elements that are not those of Orthodox Judaism. The Messiah
is coequal, or nearly so, with the devil; in other
words, the position is a modification of Parseeism (Hom., III, 5)…. The earlier
Ebionites, like the rest of the 1st - century believers, regarded
Christ as one person; only later do they reach the notion of a heavenly eon
separate from Jesus (under the heading of Ebionites).
The Ante Nicene Fathers History of the Ebionites
180 AD: Irenaeus writing in
France under the heading of “Doctrines of Cerinthus, the Ebionites, and
Nicolitanes” stated: 1. Cerinthus, again, a man
who was educated in the wisdom of the Egyptians, taught that the world was not
made by the primary God, but by a certain Power far separated from him,
and at a distance from that Principality who is supreme over the universe, and
ignorant of him who is above all. He represented Jesus as having NOT been born
of a virgin, but as being the son of Joseph and Mary according to the
ordinary course of human generation, while he nevertheless was more righteous,
prudent, and wise than other men. Moreover, after his baptism,
Christ descended upon him in the form of a dove from the Supreme Ruler,
and that then he proclaimed the unknown Father, and performed miracles. But at
last Christ departed from Jesus, and that then Jesus suffered and rose
again, while Christ remained impassible, inasmuch as he was a spiritual being.
2. Those who are called Ebionites agree that the world was made
by God; but their opinions with respect to the Lord are SIMILAR to those of
Cerinthus and Carpocrates. They use the Gospel according to Matthew
only, and REPUDIATE the Apostle Paul, maintaining that he was an apostate
from the law. As to the prophetical writings, they endeavor to expound them in
a somewhat singular manner: they practice circumcision, persevere in the
observance of those customs which are enjoined by the law, and are so Judaic in
their style of life, that they even adore Jerusalem as if it were the
house of God (Ante Nicene Fathers (ANF), vol 1, Irenaeus against
Heresies, bk 1, chp 26, sec 2, pp 724-725; also see bk 5, chp 1, sec 3, pp 1087-1088; all quotes from the
ANF and N&PNF will be from Sage Digital Library, SAGE
Software Albany, OR USA • Version 2.0 © 1996).
Irenaeus also declared: But again, we allege the
same against those who do not recognize Paul as an apostle: that
they should either reject the other words of the Gospel which we
have come to know through Luke alone, and not make use of them….
[They] do despise the election of God, and separate themselves from the
company of the apostles. For neither can they contend that Paul
was no apostle, when he was chosen for this purpose; nor can they prove
Luke guilty of falsehood…. They have thus, by means of questions, overthrown
the faith of many, and rendered them uncontradicting hearers of their own, they
describe to them in private the unspeakable mystery of their Pleroma (ANF vol
1, Irenaeus against Heresies, bk 3, chp 15, sec 1-2, pp 907-909).
200 AD: Origen
writing in Egypt reveals that in his day the Ebionites were split into two
different camps concerning the virgin birth and the deity of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He declared: Let it be admitted, moreover, that there are some [i.e. Jews] who
accept Jesus, and who boast on that account of being Christians…. These are the
twofold sect of Ebionites, who either acknowledge with us that Jesus was born
of a VIRGIN, or deny this, and maintain that He was begotten like other human
beings (ANF vol 4, Origen Against Celsus, bk 5, chp 61, pp 1175-1176).
350 AD: Eusebius,
a bishop in Caesarea in Palestine, in his Church History under the heading of
“The Heresy of the Ebionites” affirmed: The ancients quite properly called these [demon
inspired] men Ebionites, because they held poor and mean opinions concerning
Christ. For they considered him a plain and common man, who was
justified only because of his superior virtue, and who was the fruit of the
intercourse of a man with Mary. In their opinion the OBSERVANCE of the
CERMONIAL LAW was altogether necessary, on the ground that they could
NOT be SAVED by faith in Christ alone and by a corresponding life.
There were others, however, besides them, that were of the same
name, but avoided the strange and absurd beliefs of the former,
and did NOT deny that the Lord was born of a VIRGIN and of the Holy
Spirit. But nevertheless, inasmuch as they also refused to acknowledge
that He PRE-EXISTED, being GOD, Word, and Wisdom, they turned
aside into the impiety of the former, especially when they, like them,
endeavored to observe strictly the BODILY WORSHIP of the LAW [i.e. the
Ceremonial Law, which included Circumcision and Animal Sacrifices].
These men, moreover, thought that it was necessary to reject all the
epistles of the apostle, whom they called an apostate from the Law;
and they used only the so-called Gospel according to the Hebrews and made
small account of the rest [i.e. GOSPELS].
The Sabbath and the rest of the discipline of the Jews
they observed just like them, but at the same time, like us, they
celebrated the Lord’s days [i.e. Sunday] as a memorial of
the resurrection of the Savior. Wherefore, in consequence of such a
course they received the name of Ebionites, which signified the poverty
of their understanding. For this is the name by which a poor man is called
among the Hebrews (Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers (N&PNF), Series
2,vol 1, Eusebius, Church History, bk 3, chp 27, sec 7).
390 AD: Jerome, a bishop in Bethlehem, revealed that the great apostle
John wrote his gospel against heretics, especially against the NEWLY FORMED Heretics that became known as Ebionites. John
wrote his gospel around 95 AD. Jerome stated this truth this way: JOHN, the apostle whom Jesus most loved, [who was] the son of
Zebedee and brother of James, the apostle whom Herod after our Lord’s passion
beheaded; [John] most recently of all the evangelists wrote a GOSPEL, at
the REQUEST of
the bishops of Asia, against Cerinthus and other heretics and especially
AGAINST the then growing dogma of the EBIONITES, who assert that Christ
did not exist before Mary.
On this account he was compelled to maintain His DIVINE NATIVITY…. When
he [the apostle John] had read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he
APPROVED indeed the substance of the history and declared
that the things THEY said were TRUE…. He wrote also one Epistle, which
begins as follows ‘That which was FROM the BEGINNING….’ In the fourteenth
year [95 AD] then after Nero Domitian [81-96 AD] having raised a
second persecution, he was banished to the island of Patmos, and wrote
the Apocalypse (Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, Series 2,vol 3,
Jerome, chp 9, pp 737-738).
495 AD: Cassian,
who spent 15 years in Egypt as an ascetic and monk in France, under the heading
of “Description of the Different Heretical Monsters” declared the Ebionites
were the first heretics to arise in God’s Church. He wrote: FOR these shoots of an
unnatural seed are no new thing in the churches…. And of these the EARLIEST was
EBION, who while over-anxious about asserting our Lord’s humanity robbed
it of its union with Divinity (Nicene and Post Nicene
Fathers, Series 2, vol 11, the Seven Books of John Cassian, bk 1, chp 2).
The
Biblical History of the Original Jewish Christian Church
The APOSTLES, Bishops, the
original Jewish Christians, and the Pharisaical Christians in Jerusalem
definitely believed in the Deity of Jesus and His Virgin birth! The Pharisaical
Jewish Christians are the ones Paul wrote against in his epistles to the
Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians. Therefore, the Pharisaical Jewish Christian
Ebionites could have been a small REMANENT of the Pharisaical
Jewish Christians who became apostates! The Ebionites, according to the above
histories were apostates from original Jewish Christianity, which began with
the apostasy of EBION who hated the teachings of Paul so much that he denied
some of the essential teachings of the Infallible Word of God, such as Jesus’ Deity
and Virgin Birth.
According to the God
inspired Book of Acts by Dr. Luke, a very close companion of the apostle
Paul, the Apostles in Jerusalem found the small band of Pharisaical Christians
among them in ERROR, that is, in what they taught Gentiles Christians
about salvation through keeping the Law of Moses! The following Infallible
passage of Scriptures will reveal this TRUTH. Dr. Luke wrote: “Certain men [i.e. Christian
Pharisees] came down from Judea and taught the [Gentile] brethren, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to
the custom of Moses, you CANNOT be SAVED’. Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas
had no small dissension and dispute with them, they [i.e. the
Gentile Churches] determined that Paul and Barnabas
and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and
elders, about this question….
And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church
and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things
that God had done with them. But some of the SECT of the PHARISEES who BELIEVED
rose up, saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command
them to KEEP the Law
of Moses.’ Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this
matter. And when there had been much dispute” the APOSTLES and the entire
Jewish Church decided the apostle Paul was correct in his teaching concerning
salvation through Christ alone, and the Pharisee Christians were in heresy (Acts
15:1-7).
The apostles and Jewish
Church wrote to the Gentile Christian Churches, which was probably around 55-60 AD, and told them: “The APOSTLES, the elders, and the
brethren, to the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and
Cilicia: Greetings. Since we have heard that SOME who went out FROM US have
TROUBLED you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, ‘You must be circumcised
and keep the law’ to whom WE gave NO such commandment.
It seemed good to US,
being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our
BELOVED Barnabas and PAUL, men who have risked their lives for the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also
report the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed GOOD to the HOLY SPIRIT,
and to US, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that
you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled,
and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do
well. Farewell” (Acts 15:23-29).
Therefore, sometime AFTER
the apostles of Christ and the Jewish Church rebuked the Pharisaical Christians
among them for their heresy, probably somewhere between 70 and 95 AD, the Jewish
Pharisaical Christian EBION formed the heretical doctrines of Ebionism. Because
he and some of the other Pharisaical Jewish Christian hated the great apostle
Paul, they declared him to be an apostate from the Mosaic Covenant, and his
epistles as heresies, which definitely proclaimed Jesus to be God; they also
denounced the Gospels that proclaimed Jesus’ Virgin Birth. Because they
despised their Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and robbed Him of His Deity, they
went deeper and deeper into heresy until they became totally extinct in the
fourth century; and only a small group in the world today, who claim to
be Christians, have revived this heresy!
Ebionites ignorantly interpret the word NEW in the New
Covenant to mean that God will RENEW the Old Mosaic Covenant by write these
LAWS in the heart of man instead of on stones or scrolls. They misinterpret and
mistranslate the prophet Jeremiah prophecy, which stated: Jewish TNK Jeremiah 31:31-33: “See, a time is coming -- declares the LORD -- when I will
make a NEW [Heb
chadash; Gr kainh,n - kainos] Covenant with the
House of Israel and the House of Judah. It will NOT BE LIKE the Covenant I made
with their fathers, when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land
of Egypt…. But such is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel
after these days -- declares the LORD: I will put My Teaching into their inmost
being and inscribe it upon their hearts. Then I will be their God, and they
shall be My people.”
Septuagint
Greek LXT Jeremiah 31:31 “ivdou. h`me,rai e;rcontai fhsi.n ku,rioj
kai. diaqh,somai tw/| oi;kw| Israhl kai. tw/| oi;kw| Iouda diaqh,khn kainh,n [NEW” The Hebrew word “chadash” in its ADJECTIVE
FORM used in the above passage
of scripture is singular in number. The Septuagint translators translated
chadash with the Greek adjective kainos or NEW, which is in the accusative case (direct object)
and singular in number.
Strong’s definition of the ADJECTIVE FORM of chadash: from 2318; new:
KJV--fresh, NEW thing
(#2319). Chadash used as a
Hebrew adjective is used 53 times in the Masoretic Hebrew Scriptures, and it has been translated in the AV
as: new 48 times, and new
thing 4 times. An example of Chadash used in its ADJECTIVE
FORM: TNK Judges 16:11: Samson
told Delilah “If I were to be bound
with NEW [chadash;
Gr kainoi/j -
kainos] ropes that had never been used,
I would become as weak as an ordinary man.” Chadash is used in its ADJECTIVE
FORM is plural in number.
Septuagint LXT
Judges 16:11: “eva.n desmeu,ontej
dh,swsi,n me evn kalwdi,oij kainoi/j [NEW] oi-j ouvk evge,neto evn auvtoi/j e;rgon kai. avsqenh,sw kai. e;somai w`j
ei-j tw/n avnqrw,pwn.” This verse CANNOT be translated by any Ebionite as: “If you bind me with renewed or restored ropes.” The Greek word kainos
in the above verse is an adjective used in the dative case (indirect
object) and is plural in number. Other examples of chadash or kainos used in
its ADJECTIVE FORM are: Exo 1:8 and 2Ch 24:4.
Strong’s definition of the VERB FORM of chadash: a primitive root; to be [made]
new; causatively, to rebuild: KJV—renew (#2318). Chadash in its VERB
FORM is used 10 times in the Masoretic Hebrew Scriptures, and it has been translated in
the AV as: renew 7 times and
repair 3 times. An example of Chadash used in its VERB FORM: JPS Psalm 51:10: “Create me a clean heart, O God; and renew [Heb chadash; Grk evgka,toij - egkainizo] a stedfast
spirit within me.” The VERB
FORM of Chadash here is in the
imperfect tense, imperative mood, and singular in number. Septuagint LXT Psalm
50:12: “kardi,an kaqara.n kti,son evn evmoi, o` qeo,j kai. pneu/ma euvqe.j
evgkai,nison evn toi/j evgka,toij [renew] mou.” The Greek VERB egkainizo is in the aorist tense, active voice, imperative mood, and
singular in number.
Let’s
See How New Testament Writers Understood the Meaning of the Greek Adjective
Kainos or New Used in the New Covenant: The Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) John 19:41: “In the vicinity
of where He had been executed was a garden, and in the garden was a NEW [Gr kainos] tomb
in which no one had ever been buried” (the
Jewish New Testament Publication Society, Inc and distributed by Messianic
Jewish Resources International)!
The Greek ADJECTIVE “kainos” is used 44 times in the New Testament Greek and the King James Translators ALWAYS translated it as NEW. No Ebionite, no matter how much they deny or twist the Infallible Word of God can make our Lord’s Tomb a RENEWED Tomb, or a RESTORED Tomb, or an OLD tomb, which was renovated and made like new! God’s Holy Word definitely declared that this tomb was a NEW Tomb, which was NEVER USED before and did NOT EXIST before it was dug out.”
Jesus, our Lord and God, also revealed that the
Laws He would write on His NEW
Covenant Children’s hearts were much HIGHER LAWS than the Old Mosaic
Covenant Laws that only dealt with man’s actions, but God’s NEW Testament Laws
would deal with man’s heart, motives, and even his thought life, for example:
CJB Matthew 5:20-44: “For
I tell you that unless your righteousness is far greater than that of
the Torah-teachers [Scribes] and P'rushim
[Pharisees], you will certainly NOT enter
the Kingdom of Heaven! You have heard that our fathers were told, ‘Do not
murder,’ and that anyone who commits murder will be subject to judgment. But I
tell you that anyone who NURSES ANGER against his brother
will be subject to judgment….
You have heard that our fathers were
told, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that a man who EVEN LOOKS
at a woman with the purpose of LUSTING after her has
ALREADY committed adultery with her in his heart…. It was said, ‘Whoever
DIVORCES his wife must give her a get [Bill
of Divorcement].’ But I tell you that anyone
who DIVORCES his wife, EXCEPT on the ground of FORNICATION, makes her an
adulteress; and that anyone who marries a divorcee commits adultery….
You have heard that our fathers were told, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’
But I tell you NOT to stand up against someone who does you wrong. On the
contrary, if someone HITS you on the right cheek, let him HIT you on the left
cheek too…. You have heard that our fathers were told, ‘LOVE your neighbor-
and HATE your enemy.’ But I tell you, LOVE your enemies! PRAY for
those who persecute you! Then you will become children of your Father in
heaven.”
Any Ebionite, who does not believe in and practice
these higher Laws of God for personal holiness, doe not have a clue to what
holiness is and what God meant when He spoke of the New Covenant and said: “I will put My Teaching into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their
hearts. Then I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Since they have rejected the New Covenant, which
is based on the Precious Sinless Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that was shed
for their sins, they are either not in the New Covenant or have apostatized
from it; as a result YHWH, the Lord Jesus Christ, will judge them for their
sins and His angels will cast them into the Lake of Fire with all others who
have profaned His name and character!
The New
Covenant, Like All of God’s Covenants,
Is Founded on the Precious Sinless Blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ
Jesus interpreted the New Covenant this way: CJB Matthew 26:26-28: “While
they were eating, Yeshua [Jesus] took a piece
of matzah [bread], made the b’rakhah [blessed it], broke it, gave it to the talmidim [His apostles or disciples] and
said, ‘Take! Eat! This is My BODY!’ 27 Also He took a cup of wine, made the
b'rakhah [blessed it], and gave
it to them, saying, ‘All of you, drink from it! For this is my BLOOD,
which ratifies the NEW [Gr kainh/j - kainos] Covenant, My blood shed on behalf of many, so that they may have
their SINS FORGIVEN.”
Byzantine Greek Text (BYZ) Matthew 26:28: “tou/to ga,r evstin to. ai-ma, mou( to. th/j kainh/j [NEW] diaqh,khj( [Covenant] to. peri. pollw/n evkcuno,menon eivj
a;fesin a`martiw/n” (Drs. Maurice A. Robinson and William G. Pierpont Majority Greek Text). The Greek ADJECTIVE “kainos” is in the genitive (possessive) case and
singular in number. Since it is in the possessive case it should read: “this is My Blood OF the NEW Covenant.” In other words, one of the Laws that Jesus would
write on His NEW Covenant Children’s hearts was that His NEW Covenant would be founded on His BLOOD
SACRIFICE, and NOT on the Old Mosaic Covenant of Animal Blood
Sacrifice! With this great truth in
mind, let us begin our examination of God’s infinite wisdom in His loving plan
for the salvation of mankind!
For Ebionites to understand the importance
of the Precious, Sinless, Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for
the remission of the sins in the New Covenant, the Old Covenant, and all other
Covenants God made with mankind, it would behoove them to understand God Plan
of Salvation that He provided for lost humanity BEFORE time began. Who among
God’s people would knowingly rob God of His deity? Yet, this is what some do
when they rob God of His foreknowledge. One of God’s many attributes is that of
omniscience, which means He knows everything. God’s foreknowledge is not
predestination, for God’s never predestine Lucifer or Adam’s fall. This came
about from their freewill. The doctrine of predestination of individuals is a
lie from hell!
Because God has foreknowledge, He knew how the
world would begin before He ever created it, and He knows how it will end.
Nothing can happen in the world that will take God by surprise. Our God is
truly an omniscient God. In Acts 15:18 the Bible stated: “Known to God from eternity
are all His works.” The
prophet Isaiah also confirmed this truth when he wrote of God’s foreknowledge
saying, God declared: “The end from the
beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done” (Isa
46:10). The prophetic Word of God
explicitly called the Lord Jesus Christ, the “Lamb slain FROM the foundation of the world”
(Rev 13:8). The expression “The foundation of the world,” definitely refers to the creation of the world,
as can be seen in the following passages of scripture: Psa
18:15, 102:25, 104:5; Isa 48:13; Mt 13:35; Jn 17:24; Heb 1:10, 9:26.
The apostle Peter gave us some insights into
God’s predestined Lamb, when he boldly declared that we were redeemed, or
bought out of the slavery of sin, not by gold or silver but by: “The Precious Blood of Christ, as a Lamb without blemish
and without spot”(1Pe 1:19).
He then went on to say that Christ, as the sinless Lamb was “Foreordained BEFORE the foundation of the world”
(vs 20). Paul, like Peter and John,
spoke of God’s predestined Lamb, when he told the church that God: “Saved us…
according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus
BEFORE time began” (2Ti 1:9). Many of God’s Old Testament prophets prophesied about Calvary (Psa
22:1-18; Isa 53:1-12). God’s grace
and has always been and forever will be in the Lamb of God. When I meditate on
the meaning of the above scriptures, all I can say is that God is truly
awesome.
All of the above scriptures without dispute teach
that God had in the past, and has in the present, and will forever have in the
future, only one plan of salvation for mankind, and that is Calvary. God
ordained, before time began, that the shed blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ would be the only way sinful mankind could ever receive His grace,
mercy, and forgiveness. Therefore, the Precious Sinless Blood of God’s
heavenly Lamb was the ONLY WAY any man, in ANY
AGE, could ever have their SINS
REMITTED.
All the animal blood sacrifices of the past, from
the time God slew and skinned some animals in the Garden of Eden to clothed
Adam and Even naked bodies, which was a type of God making an Atonement for
their sins, to Abel’s animal sacrifices, to all the Patriarchs’ animal blood
sacrifices, such as Job who: “OFFERED BURNT-OFFERINGS” for his children every morning, “for Job said: ‘It may be that my sons have SINNED” (Job
1:1-5, JPS Holy Scriptures published by the Jewish Publication Society).
Yes all these Patriarchs KNEW that
animal blood sacrifices was the only thing God accepted as Atonement for their
sins. All of these sacrifices in the days of the Patriarch and during the time
of the Law of Moses pointed to Calvary, even though majority of God’s people
did not have this great revelation; or in other words, they did not fully
comprehend what those animal sacrifices really represented and how they pointed
to Calvary.
God in EVERY COVENANT He made with mankind included Calvary in it (Gen
8:20-9:9; 15:9-18). The apostle Paul
speaking of the Old and New Covenant boldly proclaimed: CJB Hebrews 8:7-10: “Indeed,
if the FIRST [Old Mosaic] Covenant had not
given ground for faultfinding, there would have been NO NEED for a SECOND ONE [i.e.
a NEW Covenant]. For God does find fault with the
people when He says, ‘See! The days are coming,’ says ADONAI, ‘when I
will establish over the house of Isra’el and over the house of Y’hudah [Judah] a NEW [Gr kainos – not
renewed] Covenant. It will NOT BE LIKE the Covenant
which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by their hand and
led them forth out of the land of Egypt.”
CJB Hebrews
9:15-26: “Because a DEATH has
occurred [i.e. Jesus’ Death] which
sets people FREE from the transgressions committed under the FIRST [Old
Mosaic] Covenant, those who have been called may
receive the promised Eternal Inheritance. For where there is a WILL [Covenant], there must necessarily be produced evidence of its
MAKER’S DEATH, since a WILL [Covenant] goes
into effect only upon DEATH; it NEVER has force while its MAKER
is still alive. 18 This is why the FIRST [Old Mosaic] Covenant too was inaugurated with blood.
After Moshe [Moses] had proclaimed every command of the Torah to all the people, he took the blood of the
calves with some water and used scarlet wool and hyssop to sprinkle both the
scroll itself and all the people; and he said, ‘This is the blood of the
covenant which God has ordained for you.’ Likewise, he sprinkled with the blood
both the Tent and all the things used in its ceremonies. In fact, according to
the Torah, almost everything is purified with blood;
indeed, without the shedding of blood there is NO FORGIVENESS…. He [Jesus
the Messiah] has appeared once at the end of the
ages in order to do away with sin through the sacrifice of
Himself.” Therefore, no
one in any age could be saved without encountering Calvary.
The Apostle
Paul Revealed that the Old Mosaic Law Covenant Had to Be Abolished,
So Eternal Life
and Justification from Sin Could Come Only Through Christ’s Sacrifice
To
understand why the these Pharisaical Christians attached salvation to keeping
the entire Law of Moses, and why the apostle Paul wrote against it, one must
realize that according to the Old Mosaic Law Covenant or Old Covenant, God
attached Eternal Life and Justification from Sin to keeping the
Laws of God, especially God’s Sacrificial Laws. Jesus, as the God of Moses,
revealed this Old Testament truth this way: CJB Matthew 19:16-17: “A man approached
Yeshua [Jesus] and said, ‘Rabbi, what good
thing should I do in order to have Eternal Life?’ He said to him ‘…if you want
to obtain Eternal Life, observe the mitzvoth [the Commandments]” (also
Mk 10:17-20).
CJB Luke 10:25-28: “An expert in Torah stood up to try and trap him by asking, ‘Rabbi, what should I do to obtain Eternal Life?’ But Yeshua [Jesus] said to him, ‘What is written in the Torah? How do you read it?’ He answered, ‘You are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your understanding; and your neighbor as yourself.’ ‘That’s the right answer,’ Yeshua said. ‘Do this, and you will have LIFE.”
God’s Old Testament Commandments for Eternal Life: God speaking to His Old Covenant Children, who
were Saved and had the Promise of Eternal Life said: TNK Ezekiel 18:5: “Thus, if a man is righteous and does what is just and
right: 6 If he has not eaten on the mountains or
raised his eyes to the fetishes of the House of Israel; if he has not defiled
another man’s wife or approached a menstruous woman; 7 if he has not wronged anyone; if he has
returned the debtor’s pledge to him and has taken nothing by robbery; if he has
given bread to the hungry and clothed the naked; 8 if he has not lent at advance interest or
exacted accrued interest; if he has abstained from wrongdoing and executed true
justice between man and man.
9 If he has followed My laws and kept My
rules and acted honestly -- he is RIGHTEOUS. Such a man shall LIVE [this
cannot refer to TEMPORAL LIFE but ETERNAL LIFE] --
declares the Lord GOD…. If he has committed any of these abominations,
he shall DIE [this cannot refer to TEMPORAL DEATH but ETERNAL DEATH]; he has forfeited his LIFE…. 20 The person who sins, he alone shall DIE [ETERNALLY]…. 21 Moreover, if the wicked one repents of all the sins that he committed and
keeps ALL My laws and does what is just and right, he shall LIVE [ETERNALLY]; he shall not DIE [ETERNALLY]. 22 None of the transgressions he committed shall be remembered
against him; because of the RIGHTEOUSNESS he has PRACTICED, he shall LIVE [ETERNALLY].
23 Is it my desire that a wicked person
shall DIE [ETERNALLY], -- says the Lord
GOD? It is rather that he shall turn back from his ways and LIVE [ETERNALLY]. 24 So, too, if a righteous person TURNS AWAY from his righteousness
and does wrong, PRACTICING the very abominations that the wicked
person practiced, shall he LIVE [ETERNALLY]? NONE of the righteous deeds that he did shall be
REMEMBERED; because of the treachery he has practiced and the sins he
has committed -- because of these, he shall DIE [ETERNALLY]. 25 Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is unfair.’ Listen, O House
of Israel: Is My way unfair? It is your ways that are unfair! 26 When a righteous person TURNS AWAY
from his righteousness and does wrong, he shall DIE [ETERNALLY] for it; he shall DIE for the wrong he has done.
27 And if a wicked person TURNS BACK from the wickedness
that he PRACTICED and does what is just and right, such a person shall
save his LIFE [ETERNALLY]. 28 Because he took heed and turned back
from ALL the transgressions that he committed, he shall LIVE [ETERNALLY]; he shall not DIE [ETERNALLY]. 29 Yet the House of Israel says, ‘The way of the LORD is unfair.’ Are
My ways unfair, O House of Israel? It is your ways that are unfair! 30 ‘Be assured, O House of Israel, I will
JUDGE each one of you according to his ways’ -- declares the Lord GOD.
Repent and turn back from your transgressions; let them not be a stumbling
block of guilt for you. 31 Cast away all the transgressions by which you have offended, and get
yourselves a NEW HEART and a NEW SPIRIT, that you may not DIE [ETERNALLY], O House of Israel. 32 For it is not My desire that anyone shall
DIE [ETERNALLY] -- declares the
Lord GOD. Repent, therefore, and LIVE [ETERNALLY]” (also Deu 30:6,
19-20).
Therefore
under the Old Mosaic Law Covenant men could receive Eternal Life only by keeping
the Laws of God PERFECTLY!
Our Lord’s brother James in his Epistle said it this way: CJB James 2:10: “For a person who keeps
the whole Torah, yet stumbles at one point, has become guilty of
breaking them all;” or as Paul declared: “For
everyone who depends on legalistic observance of Torah commands lives under a curse, since
it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does NOT keep on doing EVERYTHING
written in the Scroll of the Torah…. 13 The Messiah REDEEMED US from the curse
pronounced in the Torah by becoming cursed on our behalf; for the Tanakh says, ‘Everyone who hangs from a stake comes
under a curse’” (Galatians 3:10, 13, CJB).
Now since God knew that His honest hearted Old Covenant Children, who loved and practiced righteousness would break one or more of His Laws every so often, He showed His LOVE and GRACE to them by JUSTIFYING them and FORGIVING their SINS by means of Animal BLOOD Sacrifices, which had to be perfect, unspotted, and undefiled young Male Lambs that would be offered up for their sins on Passover and the Day of Atonement. Proof will be given in next section of this book.
Under the LAWS of the New Covenant, Jesus in His role as a MAN, that is God’s Sinless Lamb, fulfilled every Commandment of the Law perfectly throughout His entire Life, so RIGHTEOUSNESS, JUSTIFICATION, and ETERNAL LIFE could ONLY come through His Sinless, Undefiled Blood, which the Old Covenant Lambs were only a type of that pointed God’s Old Covenant Children to Christ as their ONLY hope for salvation.
Therefore God had to abolish the Old Covenant Law System, so Eternal Life could no longer be obtained through it, which He did in 70 AD when He destroyed His Own Temple in Jerusalem. By this intentional destructive act of God, God ended once and for all time the Old Mosaic Law Covenant, which meant that none of His Children could be forgiven of their sins any longer by animal blood sacrifices. Therefore if they committed just one sin, and were not under the Sinless Blood of Jesus, they were doomed to be lost and end up in the Lake of Fire!
Paul writing
around 60 AD declared: NIV Ephesians 2:14: “For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and
has DESTROYED the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by ABOLISHING in his flesh the LAW with
its commandments and regulations;” and “See! The days are coming,' says ADONAI, ‘when I will establish over
the house of Isra’el and over the house of Y’hudah [Judah] a NEW COVENANT. It will NOT be like the [Old
Mosaic] Covenant, which I made with their fathers on
the day when I took them by their hand and led them forth out of the land of
Egypt….’ By using the term, ‘NEW,’ he has made the FIRST COVENAT ‘old’;
and something being made old, something in the process of aging, is on
its way to VANISHING ALL TOGETHER” (Heb 8:9,
13, CJB).
The New International Version translated these
verses this way: “By calling this covenant ‘NEW,’ He [God] has made the FIRST one [i.e. the Old Mosaic
Covenant] OBSOLETE; and what is OBSOLETE and aging
will SOON DISAPPEAR.” Which Laws did our Savior
ABOLISHED in His flesh nailing them to His Cross? Paul said it was the Laws of
the Old Mosaic Covenant.
Therefore according to the Infallible Word of God,
the New Covenant is not the Old Mosaic Covenant, with its governmental,
ceremonial, and sacrificial Laws. In other words, the New Covenant is NOT the
OLD Mosaic Covenant renewed, for the NEW Covenant is a totally different Covenant
with New Laws, a New Priesthood, a New Temple which is our body, a better
SACRIFICE for the remission of sins which is the PRECIOUS SINLESS BLOOD the
Messiah Jesus Christ, a better way of being made righteous in the sight of God,
a better way of receiving Eternal Life, and all in all much better
promises.
It is a real tragedy that
Ebionites and other religious people did not understand what the apostle Paul
meant, when he said in
God’s: “sight
no one alive will be considered righteous on the ground of legalistic
observance of Torah commands [i.e.
circumcision, Sabbaths, animal sacrifices, Feast Days, etc], because what Torah really does is show people how
sinful they are. But now, quite apart from Torah, God’s way of making
people righteous in his sight has been made clear - although the Torah and
the Prophets give their witness to it as well - and it is a
righteousness that comes from God, through the faithfulness of Yeshua
[Jesus] the Messiah, to all who continue
trusting. For it makes no difference whether one is a Jew or a Gentile, since
all have sinned and come short of earning God’s praise” (Rom 3:20-23, CJB).
CJB Galatians 2:16: “Even so, we [Jews] have
come to realize that a person is NOT declared righteous by God on the
ground of his legalistic observance of Torah commands [i.e.
offering up animal sacrifices], but through the
Messiah Yeshua’s trusting faithfulness [i.e. Jesus’ Sacrifice at
Calvary]. Therefore, we too have put our trust in
Messiah Yeshua and become faithful to Him, in order that we might be declared righteous
on the ground of the Messiah’s trusting faithfulness and NOT on the ground of
our legalistic observance of Torah commands. For on the ground of legalistic
observance of Torah commands, NO ONE will be declared RIGHTEOUS.”
Evidently, according to the writing of Paul, some of
the Pharisaical Jewish Christians believed the sins they committed after their
New Birth into Christ could only be forgiven by animal sacrifices, which they
knew represented the blood of Jesus (God’s sinless Lamb). In other words, they
believed every time they offered up animal blood sacrifices on their feast
days, JESUS was DYING ANEW or being CRUCIFIED AGAIN for their sins.
Ignatius’ Catholic Eucharist doctrine sprang out of this Jewish belief! Paul stated this truth this way:
CJB Heb 6:4-6: “For when people have once
been ENLIGHTENED, tasted the heavenly gift, become sharers in the Ruach
HaKodesh [Holy Spirit], and tasted the goodness of God's Word and the powers of
the 'olam haba [age to come] - and
then have FALLEN AWAY - it is impossible to renew them so that they turn from
their sin, as long as for themselves they KEEP EXECUTING the Son of God
on the stake ALL OVER AGAIN and keep holding him up to public contempt.”
CJB Heb 7:27; 9:25-26: Christ “offered ONE sacrifice, ONCE [not over and over again]
and for all [i.e. everyone’s sins], by
offering up himself;” and “Further, He did not enter heaven to offer himself OVER and OVER AGAIN, like
the cohen hagadol [High
Priest] who enters the Holiest Place year
after year with blood that is not his own; for then He would have
had to suffer death many times - from the founding of the
universe on [i.e. the animal
blood sacrifices offered up by every Child of God beginning with Abel]. But as it is, He has appeared once at the end of
the ages in order to do away with sin through the sacrifice of himself.”
CJB Heb 10:1-31: “For the Torah has in it a SHADOW of the good things to
come, but not the actual manifestation of the originals. Therefore, it can
NEVER, by means of the same sacrifices REPEATED endlessly year after
year, bring to the goal [lasting forgiveness] those who approach the
Holy Place to offer them. 2 Otherwise, wouldn’t the offering of those sacrifices have ceased…?
4 For it is
IMPOSSIBLE that the blood of bulls and goats should take
away sins….
10 It is in connection… we have been separated for God and made holy,
ONCE and for ALL [time], through
the OFFERING of Yeshua [Jesus] the Messiah’s body.
11 Now
every cohen [Priest] stands every day doing his service, offering
over and over the same sacrifices, which can NEVER take away sins. 12 But this ONE [i.e.
Jesus], after He had offered for ALL TIME a
SINGLE SACRIFICE for sins…. 14 For by a SINGLE OFFERING He has brought to
the goal [lasting forgiveness]
for ALL TIME those who are being set apart for God and MADE HOLY.
15 And the Ruach HaKodesh [Holy
Spirit] too bears witness to us; for after
saying, 16 ‘This is the Covenant which I will make with them
after those days,’ says ADONAI: ‘I will put my Torah on
their hearts, and write it on their minds’ 17 He then adds,
‘And their sins and their wickednesses I will REMEMBER NO MORE’ 18
Now where there is FORGIVENESS for these [sins], an offering for sins is NO LONGER NEEDED….
26 For if we deliberately CONTINUE to sin [i.e.
continue to offer up blood sacrifices for sin] after
receiving the knowledge of the truth, there NO LONGER remains a sacrifice
for sins [i.e. for you] 27 but only the terrifying prospect of Judgment,
of raging fire that will consume the ENEMIES [of
God]. 28 Someone who disregards the Torah of Moshe [Moses] is put to death without mercy on the word of two
or three witnesses. 29 Think how much worse will be the punishment deserved by someone who
has TRAMPLED UNDERFOOT the Son of God; who has treated as something
COMMON the BLOOD of the Covenant which made him holy; and who has
INSULTED the Spirit, giver of God’s grace! 30 For the One we know is the One who said, ‘Vengeance
is my responsibility; I will repay,’ and then said, ‘ADONAI will judge his people.’ 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall
into the hands of the living God!”
Therefore, God’s children do not need animal
sacrifices or the Catholic Eucharist, which supposedly crucify Christ afresh
for our sins, for the precious blood of Jesus not only flows backwards and
covers all of the SINS of God’s children in the Old Testament (Heb 9:15), but also forward and covers all of
our future sins. This truth can be clearly seen in the words of the apostle
John: “My little children, I am writing
these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we
have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He
Himself is the propitiation for OUR SINS; and NOT for OURS only,
but also for those of the WHOLE
WORLD;” and “If we confess our sins [to Him], He is
faithful and righteous to FORGIVE US OUR SINS and to cleanse us from ALL
unrighteousness” (1Jn 2:1-2; 1:9, NAS).
Conclusion: Therefore no one can be saved or
receive Eternal Life under the Mosaic Law Covenant any longer. This is what
some of the Christian Pharisees, who later became Ebionites, did not
understand. All Ebionites who teach that Christian must keep the Law of Moses
to receive Eternal Life “through legalism [of the Law of Moses]
have SEVERED” or CUT themselves OFF “from the
Messiah!” They “have FALLEN AWAY from God’s
GRACE”
(Ga 5:4, CJB);
in other words, these Christian believers are lost and have lost Eternal Life (see my book Law vs
Grace or Works vs Faith for a complete teachings on this subject).
Therefore:
“Don’t
let anyone pass judgment on you in connection with eating and drinking, or in
regard to a Jewish Festival [Feast Days]
or Rosh-Hodesh [New Moon] or Shabbat.
These are a SHADOW of things that are coming, but the body is of the Messiah”
(Col 2:16-17, CJB).
Even though Old Mosaic Covenant Laws or New
Covenant Laws can NOT give anyone today Eternal Life, that is by keeping them
even perfectly, God’s New Testament Children today can be lost, if they do not
LOVE Jesus enough to live a HOLY LIFE. The great apostle taught this HOLINESS
truth this way: Galatians 5:19-24: “Now
the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, HATRED,
CONTENTIONS, JEALOUSIES, OUTBURSTS of WRATH, SELFISH AMBITIONS, DISSENSIONS,
heresies, 21 ENVY, murders, DRUNKENNESS, REVELRIES, and the like; of which I
tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such
things will NOT inherit the kingdom of God…. 24 And those who are Christ's have CRUCIFIED the FLESH with its passions
and desires.”
Paul also
stated the above truth in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will NOT INHERIT the
KINGDOM of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor COVETOUS, nor
DRUNKERS, nor REVILERS, nor EXTORTIONERS will INHERIT the KINGDOM
of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were Washed, but you were Sanctified,
but you were Justified in the NAME of the Lord
Jesus and by the SPIRIT of our God.”
Let my dear
reader take note to how God Washes Believers from their sins, Sanctifies or
makes them Holy, and Justifies or made them Righteous in His sight, HOW, by
them being Baptized or Immerged in Water in the precious and sin cleansing NAME of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and Receiving the Holy Spirit of Christ,
which made their body the Holy Temple of God; in other words, God gives
Believers in Christ Eternal Life through the NEW BIRTH, which is how a Believer
enters in or is made partakers of Jesus’ Death, Burial, and Resurrection.
Some of
scriptures that teach this great truth are: Water and Spirit Baptism for
Salvation: (Jn 3:5; Tit 3:5; 1Co 6:11; Mk 16:16; 1Pe 3:20-21); Baptized INTO Jesus’ Death, Burial, &
Resurrection: (Rom 6:3-5; Gal 3:27; Col 2:11-12); Baptism in the NAME
of the Lord Jesus Christ: (Acts 2:36-39; 8:18; 10:46-47;
19:5; 1Co 6:11); Being Born of
the SPIRIT or God’s Comforter or REST with the
initial evidence of Speaking in Tongues: (Jn 3:8; Acts 2:4,
7-14; 10:45-46; 19:6-7; Isa 28:9-12 cp with 1Co 14:21-22, 2, 14-15); for a complete teaching of the New Birth see my
free book: Preacher, What Must I Do to Inherit Eternal Life, which can
be found on my website: DoctrinesOfChrist.Com.
This Preacher
CHALLENGES man or devil to prove the above Message of the New Birth wrong! No
one can receive Eternal Life, become Saved, become God’s Child, or enter into
God’s New Covenant without being BORN AGAIN according to the WAY the Infallible
Word of God teaches, and NOT as some preacher or denomination teaches! Friend
your salvation, the salvation of yours loves one, depends on having a correct
understanding of God’s New Birth message and acting upon it!! Friend if a
Preacher truly loves you, he will tell you the truth!!! Therefore, this is the
greatest love message you will ever read, so please find a One God, Jesus Name,
Apostolic, Pentecostal, Holiness Preacher and plead with him to Baptize you in
the holy, sin cleansing Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then pray for you to
receive the Holy Ghost, that is, if you have not already received it!!!!
Modern-Day
Ebionite’s Blasphemous Doctrine that Jesus’ Blood Was Not Sinless Blood
and
Therefore Could Not Atone for the Sins of Lost Humanity
God’s Law Required the Humanity of the
Messiah to Be Sinless, So He Could Be God’s Passover Lamb: TNK Exodus 12:5, 12: “Your Lamb shall be WITHOUT BLEMISH, a yearling MALE; you
may take it from the sheep or from the goats…. It is a Passover offering to the
LORD” (also see Num 6:14; Lev 4:3, 23; 9:2-3). TNK Leviticus 22:21: “And when a man offers, from the herd or the flock, a
sacrifice of well-being to the LORD for an explicit vow or as a freewill
offering, it MUST, to be acceptable, be WITHOUT BLEMISH; there MUST be
NO DEFECT in it.”
NKJ Deuteronomy
17:1: “You shall not sacrifice to
the LORD your God a bull or sheep which has any BLEMISH or DEFECT, for
that is an ABOMINATION to the LORD your God.” In other word, God’s Passover Lamb could not be
just the best Lamb someone had as some Ebionites declare, but it had to be a
perfect, spotless, unblemished Lamb without any defects; and if one did not
have this kind of Lamb in there sheepfold, they had to go and buy one! God
would reject anything less than a Perfect Young Male Passover Lamb for a sin offering.
This was God
way of saying that His Passover Lamb had to be sinless, that is, without
blemish or defect, or God would NOT forgive the sins of mankind! According to
the Word of God: “our Pesach [Passover] Lamb, the MESSIAH, has been sacrificed” (1Co 5:7, CJB). 1 Peter
1:18-20: “Knowing that you were not
redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ,
as of a Lamb WITHOUT BLEMISH and WITHOUT SPOT [i.e.
DEFECT]. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the
foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”
The Complete
Jewish Bible (CJB) Hebrews
9:1: “Now the FIRST [OLD] Covenant had both regulations for worship and a Holy
Place here on earth…. 11: But when the Messiah appeared as cohen
gadol [our High Priest] of the good
things that are happening already, then, through the greater and more
perfect Tent which is not man-made (that is, it is not of this created
world), 12 He entered the Holiest Place ONCE and for all [time]. And He entered [i.e. the Holiest of Holy] not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by
means of HIS OWN BLOOD, thus setting people free forever. 13 For if sprinkling ceremonially unclean
persons with the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer restores
their outward purity; 14 then how much more the BLOOD of the Messiah, who, through the
eternal Spirit, offered Himself to God as a sacrifice WITHOUT BLEMISH [Gr
amomos], will purify our conscience from works that
lead to death, so that we can serve the living God! 15 It is because of this death that He is
MEDIATOR of a NEW Covenant [or will].”
Dr. Joseph
Thayer of Harvard University in his Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament defined the Greek adjective “amomos”
or “without blemish” used in Hebrews 9:14 as:
without blemish, free
from faultiness, as a victim without spot or blemish: 1 Pet. 1:19 (Lev.
22:21); Heb. 9:14; in both places allusion is made to the SINLESS LIFE of Christ.
Ethically, without blemish, faultless, unblamable: Eph. 1:4; 5:27; Col.
1:22; Phil. 2:15; Jude 1:24; Rev. 14:5. (Often in the Septuagint; (Hesiod,
Simonides, Jamblichus), Herodotus 2, 177; Aeschylus Pers. 185; Theocritus, 18,
25) (#315).
CJB Hebrews
4:15: “For we do not have a cohen
gadol [High Priest] unable to empathize
with our weaknesses; since in every respect he was TEMPTED [i.e.
to sin] just as we are, the only difference being
that he did NOT SIN,” in other word, Jesus was sinless! The
NIV translated this verse this way: “For
we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but we have ONE [i.e. Jesus] who has been
TEMPTED [i.e. to sin] in every way,
just as we are-- yet was WITHOUT SIN.” CJB 2 Corinthians 5:21: “God made this SINLESS man [i.e. Jesus to] be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union
with him we might fully share in God’s righteousness.” The NIV
translated this verse like this: “God
made Him [i.e. Jesus] who had NO SIN to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become
the righteousness of God.”
Who can read the above scriptures and the
following scriptures and declare that our Savior was a sinner or even committed
one sin. How can any Ebionite read the following prophecy of the prophet
Isaiah, which was written 700 years before Jesus was born, and declared that
the Messiah did not die for their sins or the sins of the world as God’s
Sinless Passover Lamb: The 1917 JPS Holy Scriptures (Jewish Publication Society
) Isaiah 53:2-7:
“For He shot up right
forth as a sapling, and as a root out of a DRY ground; He had no
form nor comeliness, that we should look upon Him, nor beauty that
we should delight in Him. 3 He was DESPISED, and forsaken of men, a MAN of pains [mak’ob
i.e. physical pains], and acquainted with disease
[Heb choliy i.e. probably a deforming disease our Lord had in His
Childhood], and as one from whom men hide their
face: He was DESPISED, and we esteemed Him not. 4 Surely our diseases [or
sicknesses – Heb choliy] He did bear, and our
pains [mak’ob i.e. physical pains] He
carried; whereas we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was
wounded [chalal - SLAIN] because
of OUR TRANSGRESSIONS [pesha` SINS], He was crushed [daka' - BEATEN] because of OUR INIQUITIES [`avon]: the chastisement of our welfare was upon
Him, and with His STRIPES we were healed [rapha' – physically
healed or cured]. 6 All we like sheep did go astray [i.e.
into sin], we turned every one to his own way; and
the LORD hath made to light on Him the INIQUITY [`avon] of US all.
7 He was oppressed,
though He humbled Himself and opened not his mouth; as a LAMB that is led to
the slaughter, and as a sheep that before her shearers is dumb;
yea, He opened not His mouth” (JPS).
NKJ Isaiah 53:8: “He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will
declare His generation?” JPS
Isaiah 53:8: “By oppression and judgment He was taken away [i.e.
to His Death], and with His generation who did
reason? For He was CUT OFF out of the land of the living, FOR the
TRANSGRESSIONS [pesha`] of MY people to whom the stroke was due. 9 And they made His grave with the
wicked, and with the rich His tomb; although He had done NO VIOLENCE [chamac
i.e. LAWLESSNESS or INJUSTICE], neither was
any deceit in His mouth” (The Jewish Publication Society,
1917 ed.).
The Jewish Tanakh 1985 edition
translated verses 5-9 this way: “5 But He was wounded [chalal - SLAIN] because of OUR SINS [pesha`], Crushed [daka' - BEATEN] because of OUR INIQUITIES [`avon]. He bore the chastisement that made us whole, And by His
bruises we were healed. 6 We all went astray like sheep, each going his own way; And the LORD
visited upon Him the guilt [`avon - INIQUITY] of all of US. 7 He was maltreated, yet he was submissive,
He did not open HIS mouth; Like a sheep being led to slaughter, Like a ewe,
dumb before those who shear her, He did not open His mouth. 8 ….For He was CUT OFF from the land of the
LIVING through [i.e. FOR] the SIN of
MY people, who deserved the punishment…. Though He had done
NO INJUSTICE [chamac i.e. LAWLESSNESS] and
had spoken NO falsehood.”
The English Bible in Basic English verse 9
this way: “Though He had done NO
WRONG, and NO deceit was in His mouth;” and The Douay-Rheims: “Because He hath done NO INIQUITY, NEITHER was there deceit
in His mouth.”
TNK Isaiah 53:10; “But the LORD chose to crush Him by disease [i.e.
probably in His Childhood]…. 11 My righteous [sinless] servant makes the many righteous, It is their punishment
[`avon - INIQUITIES] that He bears…. For
He exposed [`arah – POURED OUT] HIMSELF
[nephesh - His SOUL] to DEATH and was
numbered among the sinners, Whereas He bore [i.e.
carried] the
guilt [chet' - SIN] of the many and made intercession for sinners.”
How can any hardhearted Ebionite, Jew,
or anyone else read this heart wrenching passage of scripture and declared that
Jesus, as God’s Sinless Passover Lamb, did not die for their sins! All I can
say is the Lake of Fire is reserved for people like this. Any real Christian
would fall on their face in worship to their God, and cry out with tears, thank
God for Jesus my Sinless Lamb of God who died for MY sins.
Thank God that
Our LORD and God, as a MAN, became disease as a Child, and even whipped with a
Roman cat-of-nine-tails with 351 STRIPES (39 x 9 = 351) on His Body, so He
could carry OUR diseases and sickness in His Own Body, whereby WE
could be supernaturally healed in OUR bodies! The apostle Matthew
interpreted Isaiah’s prophecy this way: “16 HE cast out the spirits with a word, and HEALED ALL WHO
WERE ILL 17 in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be
fulfilled, saying, ‘He Himself took OUR INFIRMITIES, and carried away OUR
DISEASES” (Mt 8:16-17, NAS). The apostle Peter also quoting Isaiah’s prophecy declared: Jesus “who Himself bore OUR SINS in HIS Own Body on the tree,
that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness; by [also] whose stripes you were healed [iaomai
– i.e. CURED]” (1Pe 2:24, NKJ).
The great
apostle Paul stated this truth this way: “For we have not a High Priest [i.e. Jesus] that cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities [astheneia i.e. feebleness of health or sickness]; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we
are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15, ASV). Brother and Sister believe this preacher, when I
say that Divine Healing for our bodies is one of the great blessings that Jesus
has purchased or bought and paid for in the New Covenant, that is, through His
Childhood Disease but also at the Whipping Post!!
The English Translation of the Septuagint
Version of the Old Testament by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton translated the verses in Isaiah that definitely
declared that Jesus, as our Messiah and Sinless Lamb, died for OUR SINS this
way: “4 He bears OUR SINS [a`marti,aj - hamartia], and is pained [SUFFERED] for US…. 5 But He was wounded [slain]
on account of OUR SINS [avnomi,aj - anomia], and was bruised
[beaten] because of OUR INIQUITIES [a`marti,aj - hamartia]: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him…. 6 The Lord gave Him up for OUR SINS [a`marti,aij - hamartia]… 8 because of the iniquities [lawlesness] of My people He was led to DEATH… 11 and He shall bear THEIR SINS [a`marti,aj - hamartia]. 12 Therefore… His Soul was delivered to DEATH: and He was numbered among the
transgressors; and He bore the SINS [a`marti,aj - hamartia] of many, and was delivered because of THEIR
INIQUITIES [a`marti,aj - hamartia]” (Isa 53:4-12, LXE).
The Analytical Greek New Testament by Drs. Timothy and Barbara Friberg defined
the Greek noun “hamartia {ham-ar-tee’-ah}” as: sin;
(1) of an act, a departure from doing what is right… sin, wrongdoing (1J
5.17); (2) as the moral consequence of having done something wrong
sin, guilt (AC 3.19; 1J 1.7); (3) as the nature of wrongdoing viewed
as the rejection of God by self-assertive human beings sin, evil (RO
5.12, 13; cf. 1.21); (4) especially in Johannine usage as a moral
condition of human beings in revolt against God sin, being evil,
sinfulness (JN 9.34; 15.24); (5) especially in Pauline usage as an abstract
moral principle or force personified as evil in character sin,
evil (RO 6.12); (6) especially in Hebrews as a deceiving power personified
as leading human beings to guilt and destruction (HE 3.13; 12.1)” (#1288). They also defined the Greek noun anomia as: “as what
is contrary to law; (1) as a general state of wrong lawlessness,
wickedness, iniquity (1J 3.4); (2) as an individual violation of law sin,
wrong (doing), (practice of) lawlessness (MT 7.23)
(#2200).
Modern-Day
Ebionite Heretical Belief of How God Remits Their Sins
Since
the Jewish Temple Was Destroyed in 70 AD
Since modern-day Ebionites and Jews reject God’s Sinless Lamb, the LORD
Jesus Christ, as their Blood Atonement for their many sins, they have no hope
of Eternal Life and God’s Wrath rest upon them and their love ones who blindly
follow their teachings (Jn 3:15-18, 36). So with this in mind, how do these sinners, who
rejects their Messiah’s Atonement for them, believe God forgives their
sins?
TNK Deuteronomy
12:1 “These are the LAWS and rules
that you must carefully observe in the LAND that the LORD, God of your fathers,
is giving you to possess, as long as you live on earth…. 13 Take care not to sacrifice your burnt
offerings in any place you like, 14 but only in the place that the LORD will choose in one of your tribal
territories. There you shall sacrifice your burnt offerings and there you shall
observe all that I enjoin upon you” (also Exo 12:20-25). Therefore, they declare that since they do not
have a temple in Jerusalem, and they are no longer in the LAND of Israel, they
do not need to keep God’s Sacrificial Laws and offer up blood sacrifices for
their sins.
But what they
willfully ignore or disregard is the fact that God gives Moses over a hundred
other LAWS that deal with every area of their lives, such as, LAWS concerning
family relationships, marriage, virgins, widows, orphans, disputes between two
or more parties, usury, slaves, foods to eat and not to eat, crops, animals,
war, and much more. These LAWS can be found in the 12th – 34th
chapters of Deuteronomy. Are these Ebionites so naive to believe that they do
NOT have to OBEY these LAWS also because they are no long in the LAND of
Israel?
If the
Ebionites are going to misinterpret the LAWS concerning God’s Blood Animal
Sacrifices for the forgiveness of sin, then let them become LAWLESS and
misinterpret all of God’s other holy LAWS also! If they do not want to do this,
then they must admit that either the LAWS of the Passover and Day of Atonement
were FULFILLED by Jesus on Calvary’s Cross, or they must admit that God
no longer will forgive their sins, since they do not have Animal Blood
Sacrifices any longer or a temple to offer them up!! In other words, let them
either fall in love with the Lord Jesus Christ and enter into His New Covenant
and become saved, or admit that they are sinners without any hope of receiving
Eternal Life and God’s WRATH awaits them at the Resurrection of the Dead!!! It
is very distressing to see moral people so blinded by Lucifer in their and his
hatred for Christ.
Conclusion: Therefore Jesus NOT only DID NOT do
anything contrary to the Law, NO wrong, NO lawlessness, NO wickedness, NO
iniquity, did NOT violate the Law in any way, did NOT sin, or did NOT practice
any type of lawlessness, but He DIED for YOUR, MINE, and the SINS of the ENTIRE
WORLD; that is, He DIED for the SINS of every man from Adam to all men born in
the future!!!
If anyone does
not believe that Jesus Christ was God SINLESS LAMB, then His precious blood
cannot cleans them from their sins, and they are lost and without any hope of
receiving Eternal Life; and John the Baptist definitely did not include
their sins in his prophetic statement of Christ, when he proclaimed: “Look, the LAMB of God, who takes away the sin of the world”
(Jn 1:29, NIV)! Anyone who
claims to be a Christian, and teaches that Jesus committed sin or His blood was
not sinless blood, has fallen from Grace and has become an enemy of God (Heb
10:29-31; Ga 5:4)! Therefore,
you better repent before it is to late, if you do not want God to turn you over
to a reprobate mind!
I must confess
that those who was deny this great truth provoke my righteous indignation;
especially those blind, hardhearted religious sinners who accuse my Savior and
God of committing sin, and His New Testament Word of being heresy, and some of
His apostles as heretics. You can say anything about me you want, and some of
it may even be true, I promise you I will not be offended; but when you speak a
word against my God and Savior, whom I love with all of my heart, mind, soul,
and spirit, and against His Holy Infallible Word, all I can say is they have
pronounced their own judgment and doom upon themselves, for my sinless Lord
said: “Those who reject me and don’t
accept what I SAY have a JUDGE - the WORD which I have SPOKEN will JUDGE them
on the Last Day” (Jn 12:48, CJB).
This also
means, all who reject ALL the WORDS Jesus has SPOKEN through His Holy Spirit in
His APOSTLES, will also have the SAME Words they speak JUDGE them in the Day of
Judgment: “I have given THEM [My
Apostles] Your WORD, and the world hated them….
17 Set THEM
apart for HOLINESS by means of the TRUTH - Your WORD is TRUTH. 18 Just as you sent Me into the world, I
have sent THEM into the world. 19 On their behalf I am setting Myself apart
for Holiness, so that they too may be set apart for Holiness by means of the
TRUTH. 20 I pray not
only for THESE, but also for those who will trust in Me BECAUSE of
THEIR WORD” (Jn 17:14-20, CJB).
Jesus told His
Apostles: “Pay attention! I am sending
You out like sheep among wolves, so be as prudent as snakes and as harmless as
doves. 17 Be on guard, for there will be people who will hand you over to the local Sanhedrins
and flog you in their synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before
governors and kings as a testimony to them and to the Goyim [i.e.
Gentiles]. 19 But when they bring you to trial, do not
worry about what to say or how to say it; when the time comes, you will be
given what you should say. 20 For it will NOT be just you speaking, but the SPIRIT of your
heavenly Father speaking THROUGH you” (Mt
10:16-20, CJB). Jesus told the
great apostle Paul the very same thing in a vision He gave him (Acts
9:10-16; 26:1-32). Woe to all
Ebionite sinners, who reject the infallible Word of God that God has spoken
through His apostles, and call it heresy.
The Ebionite’s False Doctrine Against Jesus Being Born of A Virgin Refuted
The Messiah Would Be Born of a Virgin and Would Be the God Incarnated into
Flesh: “Assuredly, my Lord will give
you a sign of His own accord! Look, the young woman [hm'ªl.[;h' -
`almah] is with child and about to give birth to a
son. Let her name him Immanuel” (TNK Isaiah 7:14; also see JPS). The Jewish translators of the 1985 edition of
the JPS Tanakh and the 1917 edition of
the JPS Holy Scriptures, like the
Ebionites, in their attempt to deny the virgin birth and deity of the Messiah
translated the Hebrew noun almah as “young
woman” in this passage
of scripture, but both translate this same noun as “VIRGIN” in the following scripture: “The
maiden [Rebecca] was very beautiful, a VIRGIN
[hm'ªl.[;h' -
`almah] whom no man had known” (TNK Genesis 24:16; also see JPS).
Not only do Hebrew Lexicons declare that word “`almah”
could mean VIRGIN, but the very CONTEXT of
the passage in Isaiah demands that it must mean VIRGIN!
The prophet Isaiah said it this way: “Then the LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying, Ask a SIGN ['owth] for yourself from the LORD your God; make it deep as Sheol
or high as heaven.’ But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask, nor will I test the
LORD…!’ ‘Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a SIGN ['owth]: Behold, a VIRGIN will be with child and bear a son, and
she will call His name Immanuel. He [i.e. the Son of the Virgin] will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil
and choose good. For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil
and choose good, the LAND whose two kings you dread [i.e. fear] will be
FORSAKEN” (Isa 7:10-16).
The
Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament by Drs. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr.,
Bruce K. Waltke defined the Hebrew noun “'owth
{oth}” as: sign, mark, token, ensign, standard, MIRACLE, MIRACULOUS
SIGN, proof, warning…. Most of the eighty occurrences of °ôt refer to ‘MIRACULOUS SIGNS.’
All the plagues on the Egyptians are called ‘signs….’ This word °ôt is used in Isaiah's famous
prophecy to Ahaz (Isa 7:11, 14).
The shadow's advance [i.e. the sun to go backward 10 degrees in
time] on the palace steps was a ‘sign’ for the ailing king Hezekiah (2Kings
20:9; Isa 38:7). Likewise God showed Gideon a ‘sign’ by igniting the
offered food (Jud 6:17) (#41 a).
Now I ask any Ebionite or Jew to please tell me what kind of miracle would
it be for a young woman to conceive and bear a son BY a man? This is
been going on since the days of Adam. But who can deny for a VIRGIN, who has never had
sexual relations with a man, to conceive and bear a Son would definitely be
considered a MIRACLE by everyone, that is, except by a hardhearted
unbelieving Jew or an Ebionite. I might also add, if King Hezekiah fulfilled
this prophecy, as Jews and Ebionites proclaim, then how was his birth
miraculous, and where in authentic history can they show that the LAND of the
King of Syria, who capitol was Damascus, and the King of Assyria, who capitol
was Nineveh in Iraq, ever became FORSAKEN in the reign of King Hezekiah. It did
NOT happen!
Neither King Ahaz of Judah, whose reign began around 735 BC, nor King Hezekiah, who
reign began around 729 BC, lived during the fall of the Assyrian Empire.
According to history: in 734
the Assyrians advanced and laid siege to Damascus, which fell in 732. Rezin was
executed, his kingdom was overthrown, and the city suffered the fate which a
few years later befell Samaria (whoes people were
removed out of their LAND) (International Bible
Encyclopedia, under the heading of Damascus). The same encyclopedia
under the heading of Assyria stated: Sin-sar-iskun, the last
king of Assyria, fell fighting against the Scythians (606 BC). Nineveh was
utterly destroyed, NEVER AGAIN to be INHABITED, and northern Babylonia passed
into the hands of Nabopolassar, the viceroy of Babylon. Well so much for the fairytales
of the Jews and Ebionites!
Now the English Translation of The
Septuagint Version of the Old Testament by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton correctly translated
the Greek noun “parthenos” or Hebrew “`almah” as: “VIRGIN” in Isaiah’s prophecy.
It stated: “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a SIGN [i.e.
a Miraculous Sign]; behold, a VIRGIN [parqe,noj – parthenos] shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel” (Isa 7:14, LXE). LXX Septuaginta (LXT) Isaiah
7:14: “dia. tou/to dw,sei ku,rioj auvto.j u`mi/n
shmei/on ivdou. h` parqe,noj [parthenos - VIRGIN] evn gastri. e[xei
kai. te,xetai ui`o,n kai. kale,seij to. o;noma auvtou/ Emmanouhl.”
The Analytical Lexicon to the Greek New
Testament by Drs. Timothy and Barbara Friberg defined the Greek noun parthenos as: (1) as an unmarried young woman VIRGIN, maiden, girl (MT
25.1; perhaps 1C 7.36-38); figuratively, of the church as the
BRIDE pledged to Christ (2C 11.2); (2) in relation to the father in a household
VIRGIN daughter (probably 1C 7.36-38); (3) an adult male who has
NOT had sexual intercourse with a woman VIRGIN; perhaps metaphorically in RV
14.4 for members of a redeemed community
maintaining moral purity chaste men, pure persons (#21004).
The Jewish
apostle Matthew, who wrote his gospel in Hebrew to Jews defined the Hebrew noun
“`almah” or the Greek noun “parthenos” as “VIRGIN,” when he clearly stated that the Holy Spirit
impregnated Mary. The Complete
Jewish Bible translated
Matthew’s recording of this blessed event this way: “Here is how the birth of Yeshua [Jesus] the Messiah took place. When his mother Miryam [Mary] was engaged to Yosef [Joseph], before they were married, she was found to be pregnant
from the Ruach HaKodesh [Holy
Spirit]. Her husband-to-be, Yosef, was a man who did what was right; so he
made plans to break the engagement quietly, rather than put her to
public shame.
But while he was thinking about this,
an ANGEL of Adonai appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Yosef, son of
David, do not be afraid to take Miryam home with you as your wife; for what has
been conceived in her is from the Ruach HaKodesh [HOLY
SPIRIT]. She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Yeshua, (which
means 'ADONI [YHWH] saves,’) because he will save His people from their sins.’
All this happened in order to FULFILL what Adoni had said through the
prophet, ‘The VIRGIN [parqe,noj – parthenos] will conceive and
bear a son, and they will call him Immanu El.’ (The name means, ‘[THE] God is with us’) (Mt 1:18-23, CJB, published by
Messianic Jews).
In the Greek
the last part of this verse reads this way: “with us THE God” or “Meq h`mw/n o` qeo,j”, which
can only mean that the only and only God was with them IN the person of the
Messiah; for whenever the Greek article ho is used in connection with the Greek
noun Theos, it always refers the one and only true God! Just like it is used in
Thomas’ confession of the Supreme Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ when he cried
out: “My Lord and my GOD”
(Jn 20:28), or “~O ku,rio,j mou kai. o` qeo,j mouÅ” A literal translation of this verse would read
this way: “the LORD [YHWH] of me and the GOD of me.” Since the apostle Thomas was a devout Jew, he only knew ONE GOD and ONE
LORD who was YHWH!
The apostle John also defined the Greek noun “parthenos” or Hebrew noun “`almah” as “VIRGIN”, when he wrote of the 144,000 Jews in the
tribulation period: “These are the ones who
have NOT defiled themselves with women, for they are VIRGINS [parthenos]; they follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (Rev 14:4, CJB). Therefore, anyone who say that Greek noun “parthenos” or Hebrew noun “`almah” cannot be translated “VIRGIN” in reference to Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, is a liar and
the truth is not in him or her!
Ante Nicene Fathers Definitely Interpreted and Translated the Isaiah’s
Prophecy as VIRGIN: It is
very evident that the Greek Septuagint of the 70 Jewish Elders in 278 BC, which
contained Isaiah’s prophecy, and the Greek New Testament of the 2nd
Century, which contained Matthew and Luke Gospels, all translated the Greek
noun “parqe,noj – parthenos” in different languages as “VIRGIN,”
because Ignatius a bishop in Antioch Syria from 57-107 AD, Justin Martyr a teacher in Rome in 150 AD,
Irenaeus a Bishop in France in 180 AD, Tertullian a bishop in North Africa, and
Origen a teacher in Egypt 200 AD, all translated it as such! In other
words, all of these men declare that Mary was a VIRGIN, and the Holy Spirit was the
Father of Jesus! The following is what they wrote:
107
AD: Ignatius wrote to the
Ephesian Church declared: For our God, Jesus Christ,
was according to the appointment of God, conceived in the womb by
Mary, of the seed of David, but BY the Holy Ghost…. For
says [the Scripture], ‘Behold, a VIRGIN shall be with
child, and shall bring forth a son, and He shall be called Immanuel’
(ANF, vol 1, Ignatius, Epistle to the Ephesians, chp 18, pg 120). Evidently he knew both the Old and New Testament recording of this verse,
and understood both spoke of Mary as a VIRGIN!
Ignatius wrote
to the Trallian Church against Gnostic teachings stated: And God the Word was
truly born of the VIRGIN, having clothed
Himself with a body of like passions with our own. He who forms all men in the
womb, was Himself really in the womb, and made for Himself a body of the seed
of the VIRGIN, but
WITHOUT any intercourse of man. He was carried in the womb, even as we
are, for the usual period of time; and was really born, as we also are;
and was in reality nourished with milk, and partook of common meat and drink,
even as we do. And when He had lived among men for THIRTY YEARS, He was
baptized by John, really and not in appearance; and when He had preached
the Gospel THREE YEARS [not one], and done signs and wonders (ANF,
vol 1, Ignatius, Epistle to the Trallians, chp 10, pg 146).
150
AD: In Justin Martyr’s
dialogue with Trypho the Jew, he quotes from the Gospel and says: And
Joseph, the spouse of Mary, who wished at first to put away his betrothed Mary,
supposing her to be pregnant by intercourse with a man, i.e., from
fornication, was commanded in a vision NOT to put away his wife; and the ANGEL
who appeared to him told him that what is in her womb is OF the Holy Ghost (ANF,
vol 1, Dialogue of Justin with Trypho the Jew, chp 78, pg
476-477).
Justin rebuked the Jews for altering the
scriptures that pertain to the Deity and First Coming of the Messiah as the
Suffering Servant. He declared: But I am far from
putting reliance in your [i.e. Trypho’s] teachers, who REFUSE to
admit that the interpretation [i.e. translation] made by the seventy elders
who were with Ptolemy [king] of the Egyptians is a correct one; and they
attempt to frame another. And I wish you to observe, that they [the JEWS in
his day] have altogether TAKEN AWAY many Scriptures from the translations
effected by those seventy elders who were with Ptolemy, and by which this very
man [i.e. Jesus] who was crucified is PROVED to have been set forth
expressly as GOD, and man, and as being crucified…. You contradict the
statement, ‘Behold, the VIRGIN shall conceive,’
and say it ought to be read, ‘Behold, the young woman
shall conceive.’ And I promised to prove that the prophecy referred,
not, as you were taught, to Hezekiah, but to this Christ of mine
(Dialogue of Justin with Trypho the Jew, chp 71, pg 469).
This passage
deserves a comment! Let my beloved readers meditate on what the Jews in
Justin’s day are saying about the Septuagint. When one realizes that our Lord,
His apostles, and the Jews IN and BEFORE His day all used and believed in the
Septuagint translation of the Hebrew text that was done by 70 Jewish Elders,
the very denunciation by these Jews of this Jewish Bible translation is nothing
short of idiocy. You mean to tell me the Jews in Egypt, Palestine, and other
countries who used the Septuagint translation of the Bible for over 400 years
did not believe in or was deceived by this translation!! As I stated above,
this is idiotic, ridiculous, preposterous, and totally absurd. The only reason
why these heretically Jews denounced their own Septuagint Bible was because
Greek speaking Jewish and Gentiles Christians, for over a 150 years, were using
it to PROVE that Jesus was their Messiah and God!!!
180
AD: Irenaeus made his
declaration of faith in our Savior’s Virgin Birth, His Deity, His Death and
Resurrection this way: Christ Jesus,
the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy
Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the
advents, and the birth from a VIRGIN, and the passion, and the
resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh (vol 1,
Irenaeus Against Heresies, bk 1, chp 10, pg 680).
Irenaeus writing against the heresies of the
Ebionites and other sects under the heading of “A Vindication of the Prophecy
in Isaiah 7:14 Against the Misterpretations of Theodotion, Aquila, the
Ebionites, and the Jews, Arguments in Proof that Christ Was Born of a VIRGIN” declared: God, then, was made man,
and the Lord did Himself save us, giving us the token of the VIRGIN. But NOT as
some allege, among those now presuming to expound the Scripture, [thus:]
‘Behold, a young woman shall conceive, and bring forth
a son,’ as Theodotion the Ephesian has interpreted, and Aquila of
Pontus, both Jewish proselytes. The Ebionites, following these,
assert that He was begotten by Joseph….
But it [i.e. this verse and the entire OT] was interpreted into Greek
[i.e. the Septuagint] by the Jews themselves, much before the period of our
Lord’s advent, that there might remain no suspicion that perchance the
Jews, complying with our humor, did put this interpretation upon these words
[meaning VIRGIN]…. For before the Romans
possessed their kingdom, while as yet the Macedonians held Asia, Ptolemy the
son of Lagus, being anxious to adorn the library which he had founded in
Alexandria, with a collection of the writings of all men, which were [works] of
merit, made request to the people of Jerusalem, that they should have their
Scriptures translated into the Greek language. And they — for at that time they
were still subject to the Macedonians — sent to Ptolemy SEVENTY of their
elders, who were thoroughly skilled in the Scriptures and in both the
languages, to carry out what he had desired.
But he, wishing to test them individually, and fearing lest they might
perchance, by taking counsel together, conceal the truth in the Scriptures, by
their interpretation, separated them from each other, and commanded them all
to write the same translation. He did this with respect to all the books.
But when they came together in the same place before Ptolemy, and each of
them compared his own interpretation with that of every other, God was
indeed glorified, and the Scriptures were acknowledged as truly divine.
For all of them read out the common translation [which they had prepared] in
the very same words and the very same names, from beginning to end,
so that even the Gentiles present perceived that the Scriptures had been
interpreted by the inspiration of God….
Since, therefore, the Scriptures have been interpreted with such
fidelity, and by the grace of God, and since from these God has
prepared and formed again our faith towards His Son, and has preserved to us
the unadulterated Scriptures in Egypt…. For the APOSTLES, since they are
of more ancient date than all these [heretics], AGREED with this aforesaid translation;
and the translation harmonizes with the tradition of the apostles.
For Peter, and John, and Matthew, and Paul, and the rest successively, as well
as their followers, did set forth all prophetical [announce-merits], just as
the interpretation of the elders contains them…. Carefully, then, has the Holy Ghost pointed out, by what has been said, His birth
from a VIRIGN, and His essence, that He
is GOD (for the name Emmanuel indicates this)
(Ante Nicene Fathers (ANF) vol 1, Irenaeus against Heresies, bk
3, chp 21, sec 1-3, pp 931-936).
190 AD:: Tertullian proclaimed: Matthew, that
most faithful chronicler of the Gospel… show us clearly the fleshly original of
Christ, he thus begins his Gospel: ‘The book of the
generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham….’ What else have
we here described than the very flesh of Abraham and of David conveying itself
down, step after step, to the very VIRGIN, and at last
introducing Christ, — nay, producing Christ Himself of the VIRGIN (ANF, vol 3, Tertullian, Part
2, On the Flesh of Christ, chp 22).
200
AD: Origin the man who prepared the Hexapla, an arrangement of six parallel columns of
the Hebrew text and the Hebrew text transliterated into Greek, evidently
understood Isaiah’s prophecy to referred to a VIRGIN. He wrote: Jesus was born of Mary the VIRGIN, according to the declaration (in Scripture),
‘The HOLY GHOST will come upon thee…
wherefore that which shall be born of thee shall be called holy’ (ANF,
vol 4, Origen De Principis, bk 4, Sec 30, pg 768).
Now Ebionites, who are so-called Christians,
defiantly denounce the validity the inspired and infallible Word of God, not
only by calling the great apostle Paul a heretic, but with satanic venom
denounce the Infallible Word of God that he wrote in his Epistles to the
gentile Churches as heresy; they also denounce Luke and Mark’s Gospels as
heresy. They also denounce portions of Matthew and John’s gospels, which reveal
the DEITY of
Christ and His VIRGIN birth as heresy. These Jews and Ebionites also denounce most of the
other apostles of the Lamb as heretics.
Please do not let Satan deceive you the way he deceived Eve when he told
her: “Did God really say” (Gen
3:1, JPS Tanakh)? The very moment you begin to question the validity of
the Word of God, that is, the Hebrew text, the Greek Septuagint, and the Greek
New Testament, you make yourself god or the infallible one who sits in judgment
of what God has really spoken in the Bible! I say, even though God used human
instruments for His Holy Spirit to speak in and through, the Words that came
out of their mouth was not from their finite mind!
God speaking about His Infallible Word declared: “EVERY WORD of God is PURE [Heb. tArïhoñj. Sept. a`gna,], a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do NOT
ADD to His WORDS, lest He indict you and you be proved a liar”;” and “The WORD of the
LORD are PURE [Heb. tArïhoñj. Sept. a`gna,] WORDS, silver purged
in an earthen crucible, refined sevenfold. You, O LORD, will KEEP THEM,
guarding EACH from this age EVERMORE” (Pro 30:5-6; Psa
12:7-8, JPS
TANAKH, is a new translation into contemporary English of the traditional
Hebrew Masoretic text published. by The Jewish Publication Society.).
The great apostle Paul stated the above truth this way: “All Scripture is GOD-BREATHED [theopneustos] and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in
righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good
work” (2Ti 3:16-17, NIV). Drs.
Timothy and Barbara Friberg in their Analytical Lexicon to the Greek New Testament defined the Greek adjective “theopneustos
{theh-op’-nyoo-stos}” as: of the Scriptures as communication that has been ordained
by God’s authority and PRODUCE BY the enabling of His SPIRIT; strictly
GOD-BREATHED… (2T 3.16) (#13550).
The Holy Spirit confirmed this truth when he
declared through the apostle Peter: “Above
all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the
prophet's OWN [ivdi,a -
idios] interpretation [evpilu,sewj -
epilusis]. For prophecy never had its origin in the
will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy
Spirit” (2Pe 1:20-21, NIV). German Professor Walter Bauer in his Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and
Other Early Christian Literature, revised and edited by Frederick William Danker, defined
the Greek adjective “idios {id'-ee-os}” as: pertaing
to belonging or being related to ONESELF… belonging to/peculiar
to an individual… ivdi,a evpi,lusij 2 Pt 1:20 one’s OWN
private interpretation (#3654); and the Greek noun “epilusis {ep-il'-oo-sis}” as: the act
or process of explaining, explanation, interpretation (so
Sext. Emp., Pyrrh. 2, 246; Vett. Val. 221, 9; 330, 10; Heliod. 1, 18, 2….
Callisth. 2, 1, 5 Stasagoras complains about the unfavorable interpretation of
an omen by a prophet in these words: su. seauth/|
evpe,lusaj to. shmei/on = you
gave the omen your OWN interpretation (#2985).
Therefore, since EVERY
WORD was GOD-BREATHED, God places a curse on everyone who adds to His Words or
takes from His Word, and does not keep His Word. God said it this way: “You shall NOT ADD to the WORD which I command you, NOR TAKE FROM, that you
may KEEP the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you;” and “So you shall not turn aside from any of the WORDS which I command you this
day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them. But
it shall come to pass, if you do not OBEY the VOICE of the LORD your God, to observe
carefully ALL His commandments and His statutes which I command
you today, that all these CURSES will come upon you” (Deu
4:2; 28:14-15).
Jesus speaking about His Prophetic Word declared: “If anyone takes anything away from the words in the
book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the TREE of
LIFE and the holy city, as described in this book” (Rev 22:19, CJB; also
see Deu 13:1). God’s Humanity
in His High Priestly prayed stated the following great truth: “Just as you sent Me into the world, I have sent them
[i.e. the apostles] into the world. On their
behalf I am setting myself apart for holiness, so that they too may be
set apart for holiness by means of the truth. ‘I pray not only for these,
but also for those who will trust in me because of THEIR [the
apostles’] WORD’” (Jn 17:18-20, CJB). With this infallible statement, our Savior not
only placed His approval on the WRITINGS of the Apostles, but He placed the salvation of
mankind on believing the WORDS they wrote!!!
Now I ask you, how can anyone expect to receive
Eternal Life, who declares that most of the New Testament Scriptures are not
from God but the Devil? I would not want to be in their shoes when they stand
before YHWH (the Lord Jesus Christ) at the White Throne Judgment, and He
accuses them of denying and destroying His Infallible Word! Surely God created
the Lake of Fire for demons like this, who try to destroy His Word! Therefore,
unless Jews and Ebionites repent of their denunciation of God’s Holy Word,
Gehenna Fire or the Lake of Fire awaits them, their family, their friends, and
whoever else who follow their heretical teachings.
Jesus, the Son of Mary, Was YHWH the
One and Only God Manifested in Flesh: “For a Child will be born to
us, a SON will be given to us; And the government will rest on HIS shoulders;
And HIS [i.e.
the Son’s] NAME
will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father,
Prince of Peace” (Isa
9:6, NAS). The Messianic Complete Jewish Bible stated: “dominion will rest on HIS shoulders, and HE [i.e. the Son] will be given the NAME Pele - Yo'etz El Gibbor
Avi-'Ad Sar-Shalom (Wonder of a Counselor, Mighty God, Father
of Eternity, Prince of Peace).”
The Jewish 1917
JPS Holy Scriptures translated this verse this way: “the government is upon HIS shoulder; and HIS [i.e. the Son’s] NAME is called Pele – joez - el-gibbor - Abi-ad
- sar-shalom;” and the 1985 edition of the
Jewish JPS Tanakh of the
Holy Scriptures translated
it this way: “For a Child has been born to us, A SON has been given us. And authority has
settled on HIS shoulders. HE [i.e.
the Son] has been NAMED the Mighty God
is planning grace [not in the Hebrew Masoretic Text below]; The Eternal Father [d[;Þybia]], a peaceable ruler”
(Isa 9:5, TNK).
a“r"q.YIw: Am=k.vi-l[; hr"ßf.Mih; yhiîT.w: Wnl'ê-!T;nI
!Be… Wnl'ª-dL;yU dl,y<å-yKi WTT Isaiah
9:5
`~Al)v'-rf; [Eternal Father] d[;Þybia] [Mighty God] rABêGI
laeä ‘[Counselor] #[eAy [Miracle Worker] al,P,û [name] Amøv.
Hebrew Lexical Word Definitions and
Grammar of Isa 9:6: Amøv.
name – a common NOUN, masculine gender, singular
number, 3rd person absolute. This means the word “name” is
not part of a verb but is a noun that refers back to Son, and the “name” he
will be called! Therefore, even the Jewish translators from the Jewish
Publication Society in both of their translation acknowledge that the SON will be called by these TITLES of ALMIGHTY GOD, that is, YHWH. It is a pity that Ebionites use the corrupt
Stone’s translation of this great prophecy of Isaiah! When one want to deny the
Supreme Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, they will always find some corrupt
translation of the Bible to base their Luciferian belief on!!
al,P,û pele' {peh'-leh}
Miraculous or Miracle or Miracle Worker - common noun, masculine gender,
singular number, and 3rd person absolute. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old
Testament defined
pele’ as: Something unusual, miracle…. b. divine miracle al,P, Ps 7712 8813 896. One
of the royal titles (throne names) of the Messiah #[eAy al,P, the One
who plans a Miracle, the Miracle Worker) (#7562
Drs. Ludwig
Koehler And Walter Baumgartner). The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament: al,P, (pele’) wonder….
The basic meaning of the verb is ‘to be wonderful’ and in the Hiphil ‘to
cause a wonderful thing to happen….’ Pele’.
Wonder. Always in a context of God's acts or words (#1768a Drs. R. Laird Harris, Gleason
L. Archer Jr., Bruce K. Waltke). Therefore the title “Miracle Worker” is definitely a fitting
“name” for the “Son”.
Example of
usage of “pele’” in the Bible in reference to the “working of miracles”: TNK Exodus 15:11: “Who is like You, O LORD, among the celestials; Who is like
You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in splendor, working wonders [al,p]!” TNK Psalm 77:15: “You are the God who works wonders [al,p,(].” TNK
Psalm 78:12: “He performed
marvels [al,p,(] in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt” (also
Exo 9:14). This passage of
Scripture refers to the 10 MIRACULOUS PLAGUES God sent on Egypt.
‘#[eAy ya`ats {yaw-ats'} Counselor – a verb participle, qal (active voice),
masculine gender, singular number absolute. Every Christian, who has ever had
any serious problems in life or has made in decisions concerning his or her
life, can definitely declare that Jesus is their Counselor.
La 'el {ale} God – a common noun, masculine gender, singular
number, and 3rd person absolute. It is use 245 times and is
translated by the King James translators God 213 times and god 16 times.
rABêGI gibbowr {ghib-bore'} mighty – an adjective, masculine gender, singular
number, and 3rd person absolute. This is not a noun or verb
but an adjective, which describes Son as “the Mighty God.” No wonder why God’s holy angel could call the Son,
who was born of a Virgin: “the
God with us” (Mt 1:23 cp with Isa 7:14), and the apostle John could say: “the Word [i.e. the Messiah]
was God”; and the
apostle Paul could say: “God was manifested in
the flesh” (1Ti 3:16).
d[;Þybia Eternal Father - proper noun, no gender, no number, no state. d[; `ad {ad} Everlasting, Eternal or Perpetually; and ba' ‘ab {awb} Father as in God speaking of Himself (Psa
89:26; Jer 3:19; 31:9; Mal 2:10). Therefore the title “Eternal
Father” is another “name” of the “Son.”
rf; Ruler or Prince – common noun, masculine gender, and singular number.
`~Al)v' Peace –
common noun, masculine gender, and singular number absolute. The title “Prince of Peace” is also another “name” for the “Son”. Every
Christian who knows their God (the Lord Jesus Christ) has claimed His wonderful
promise: “My PEACE I give to you; not
as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither
let it be afraid” (Jn 14:27). The peace that comes from Jesus is: “the PEACE of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Phi 4:7). To a Christian, there can be no doubt the “Son” is the “Prince of Peace”.
The New King
James translated Isaiah 9:6 this way: “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a SON is given; And the government
will be upon HIS shoulder. And HIS [i.e. the Son’s] NAME will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace.” Therefore the Son that was born in Bethlehem was
YHWH’s visible Self or Humanity or His Human Nature; this is why God’s Humanity
(i.e. the Son) was called the Miracle Worker, the Mighty God, the Eternal
Father, and the Prince of Peace!
The Messiah, the One Who Became the
Son of God at Bethlehem, Is Eternal: TNK Micah 5:1: “And you, O Bethlehem
of Ephrath, Least among the clans of Judah, From you one shall come forth to
RULE Israel for Me – ONE [i.e. the Messiah]
whose ORIGIN is from of old, From ANCIENT TIMES [~l'(A[ `owlam {o-lawm'}].” The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament defined this Hebrew Noun as: ~l'A[ (`owlam) forever,
ever, everlasting, evermore, perpetual, old, ancient (#1631a).
Both the Jewish
Tanakh and the JPS has translated ~l'(A[ `owlam numerous times as Everlasting, Eternal, and
Forever such as: TNK
Genesis 21:33: “Abraham planted
a tamarisk at Beer-sheba, and invoked there the name of the LORD, the
EVERLASTING [~l'(A[ `owlam] God.” TNK Daniel 12:2: “Many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth will
awake, some to ETERNAL [~l'(A[ `owlam] life, others to reproaches, to EVERLASTING [~l'(A[ `owlam]
abhorrence.” TNK Micah 4:7: “And I will turn the lame into a remnant And the expelled
into a populous nation. And the LORD will reign over them on Mount Zion
Now and FOR EVERMORE [~l'(A[ `owlam].”
The
English Translation of the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament (LXE) by Sir Lancelot Brenton (1844 AD)
translated Micah 5:2 from the Massoretic text this way: “And thou, Bethlehem,
house of Ephratha, art few in number to be reckoned
among the thousands of Judah; yet out
of thee shall ONE [i.e. Christ Jesus] come
forth to me, to be a RULER of Israel; and his goings forth were from the
beginning, even from ETERNITY [aivw/noj aionios {ahee-o'-nee-os}
LXX
Septuaginta (LXT)].”
The New
American Standard Bible
(NAS) translated Micah 5:2 as: “But
as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One [i.e. Christ Jesus] will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His
goings forth are from long ago, from the DAYS of ETERNITY.”
Jesus Is the Fulfillment of Micah’s
Prophecy: NIV Matthew 2:3-6: “When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all
Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s
chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the CHRIST was to be
born. ‘In Bethlehem in Judea,’ they replied, for this is what the prophet
has written: ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means
least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a RULER who will be
the shepherd of my people Israel.’” No one can deny that Christ, who became the Son of God in the New
Testament, and was known in the Old Testament as YHWH the Anointed One or Holy
One, fulfilled this prophecy.
The Ebionite’s False Doctrine that
Since Joseph’s Geneaology Is Given in the Gospels, and Not Mary’s Geneaology,
Jesus Is Joseph’s Son and Nothing More than A Man Refuted: The Lord Jesus Christ according to the
Infallible Word of God was a descendant of King David: “In keeping with his promise, God has brought to Isra'el
from this man’s [David’s] DESCENDANTS a
deliverer, Yeshua [Jesus]” (Acts 13:23, CJB); and “Doesn’t
the Tanakh say that the Messiah is from the SEED of David and comes from
Beit-Lechem [Bethlehem], the
village where David lived” (Jn 7:42, CJB; also Rom 1:3-4; 2Ti 2:8-10). Therefore Christ had to come from the loins of
David.
The apostle
Matthew and Doctor Luke both gave JOSEPH’S genealogy when giving the ancestry
of Christ from David? Matthew gave Jesus’ genealogy this way: “and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon
by her who had been the wife of Uriah…. And Jacob begot JOSEPH the husband
of Mary, of whom [Mary] was born
Jesus who is called Christ”
(Mt 1:6, 16, NKJ); and Dr. Luke gave
it thus: “Now Jesus Himself began His
ministry at about thirty years of age, being as was SUPPOSED [nomizo] the son of JOSEPH, the son of Heli… the son of Melea, the
son of Menan, the son of Mattathah, the son of Nathan, the son of David,
the son of Jesse, the son of Obed” (Lk 3:23, 31-32).
The enemies of
Christ deceivable use the above Scriptures to rob Jesus of His deity by
declaring that Joseph was His father. These False Prophets willfully neglect
the CONTEXT of these Scriptures, in which both the apostle Matthew and Doctor
Luke emphatically declared that Joseph was NOT the Father of Jesus, but the
HOLY SPIRIT of YHWH was our Lord’s Father!
Matthew, one
the apostles of the Lamb, stated this truth this way: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His
mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, BEFORE they came together, she was
found with child of the HOLY SPIRIT. Then Joseph her husband, being a
just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to
put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an
ANGEL of the LORD appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do
not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived
in her is of the HOLY SPIRIT. And she will bring forth a Son, and you
shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins”
(Mt 1:18-21).
Doctor Luke
revealed this great truth like this: “Now
in the sixth month the ANGEL Gabriel was sent by God to a city of
Galilee named Nazareth, to a VIRGIN betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph,
of the house of David. The VIRGIN’S name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘…Do
not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will
conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name
JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the
Lord God will give Him the throne of His FATHER DAVID….’ Then Mary
said to the ANGEL, ‘How can this be, since I do not know a man [i.e. I
have had NO sexual relationship with any man]?’ And
the ANGEL answered and said to her, ‘The HOLY SPIRIT will come upon you, and the
POWER of the HIGHEST will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy
One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (Lk
1:26-28, 30-32, 34-35).
Since the
Infallible Word of God indisputably declared that the Holy Spirit of YHWH was
the FATHER of Jesus through the VIRGIN Mary, I ask my readers, why did both the
apostle Matthew and Doctor Luke give Joseph’s ancestry? Evidently these men of
God knew that the Word of God NEVER gives a woman’s genealogy,
but ONLY men’s genealogy (Gen 5:1-32; 10:1-32; 11:10-27;
Num 26:7-49; etc)! So with
this great truth in mind, did the apostle Matthew and Doctor Luke give Mary’s
genealogy when they gave Joseph’s genealogy? The answer is an emphatic YES, as
the following statements and Scriptures will explain!
Joseph and Mary Had
the Very Same Genealogy, Therefore When Matthew and Luke Gave Joseph’s Family
History They Were Also Giving Mary’s Genealogy: The 1985 JPS TANAKH Holy Scriptures,
published by the Jewish Publication Society stated this truth this way: Numbers
36:6-9: “This is what the LORD [YHWH] has COMMANDED concerning the daughters of Zelophehad:
They may marry anyone they wish, provided they MARRY into a CLAN [hx'P'v.mi mishpachah FAMILY] of their Father’s Tribe. No inheritance of the
Israelites may pass over from one tribe to another, but the Israelites
must remain bound each to the ancestral portion of his Tribe.
EVERY DAUGHTER among the
Israelite tribes who inherits a share MUST Marry SOMEONE from a CLAN
[hx'P'v.mi mishpachah
FAMILY or FATHER’S REALTIVES] of their Father’s
Tribe, in order that every Israelite may keep his ancestral share.
Thus no inheritance shall pass over from one tribe to another, but the
Israelite tribes shall remain bound each to its portion.”
The 1917 JPS
Holy Scriptures, also published by the Jewish Publication Society, stated
the great truth of Joseph and the Virgin Mother of our Lord having the very same
Family Ancestry like this: “This
is the thing which the LORD hath COMMANDED concerning the daughters of
Zelophehad, saying: Let them be married to whom they think best; only into the
FAMILY [hx'P'v.mi mishpachah] of the Tribe of their Father shall they be
MARRIED. So shall no inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to
tribe; for the children of Israel shall cleave every one to the inheritance of
the Tribe of his Fathers.
And EVERY DAUGHTER, that possesseth
an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be WIFE unto ONE
of the FAMILY [hx'P'v.mi mishpachah] of the Tribe of HER Father, that the
children of Israel may possess every man the inheritance of his fathers. So
shall no inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; for the tribes of
the children of Israel shall cleave each one to its own inheritance.'”
The
Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament by Doctors Ludwig Koehler and Walter
Baumgartner defined the Hebrew
noun mishpachah as: “Extended FAMILY, clan (group in which the sense of BLOOD
RELATIONSHIP is still felt…: Dt 2917 Jos 623 714;
Ju 1819 2124 1S 921, Nu 1110; Jos 215 Nu 366; 1S 1818… Lv 2549 Nu 2711; as the avenger of blood 2S 147” (#5844). The Hebrew noun mishpachah (Family) is NOT the
Hebrew noun hJ,m; (matteh
or Tribe), and it is a well-known fact that a Hebrew Tribe was composed of many
different Families.
Therefore when
the apostle Matthew and Doctor Luke gave the Biblical and Jewish Family
Ancestry of the MAN Joseph, they KNEW they were also giving Mary’s Genealogy as
well! In fact, Matthew gave Mary’s genealogy from David’s KINGLY sons through Solomon’s children (Mt
1:6), and Luke gave it from
David’s son Nathan (Lk 3:31); evidently one of Mary’s ancestors, whether it was a man or woman, from
Solomon’s line married someone from Nathan’s line, whereby Mary’s genealogy
could be traced from both sons of David! This is my answer to the Ebionites who
claim that Matthew and Luke’s genealogy is not inspired by God, that is, the
Infallible Word of God!
Ante Nicene Fathers Comments on Matthew’s and Luke’s Genealogy: 350 AD: Eusebius, a bishop in Caesarea in Palestine,
in his Church History quotes Julius Africanus (232 AD), who explained the
different genealogies of Matthew and Luke this way. In the section entitled,
The Alleged Discrepancy in the Gospels in Regard to the Genealogy of Christ,
Eusebius stated: MATTHEW and Luke in their gospels
have given us the genealogy of Christ Differently….In the account of the matter
which has come down to us, and which is given by Africanus, who was mentioned
by us just above, in his epistle to Aristides, where he discusses the harmony
of the gospel genealogies….
‘For whereas the names of the generations were
reckoned in Israel either according to nature or according to law; — according
to nature by the succession of legitimate offspring, and according to law
whenever another raised up a child to the name of a brother dying
childless…. Whereas then some of those
who are inserted in this genealogical table succeeded by natural descent, the
son to the father, while others, though born of one father, were ascribed by
name to another, mention was made of both of those who were progenitors in fact
and of those who were so only in name. Thus neither of the gospels is in error,
for one reckons by nature, the other by law.
For the line of descent from Solomon and that from
Nathan were so involved, the one with the other, by the raising up of children
to the childless and by second marriages, that the same persons are justly
considered to belong at one time to one, at another time to another; that is,
at one time to the reputed fathers, at another to the actual fathers. So that
both these accounts are strictly true and come down to Joseph with considerable
intricacy indeed, yet quite accurately….
Matthan, who was descended from Solomon, begat Jacob. And when Matthan
was dead, Melchi, who was descended from Nathan begat Eli by the same
woman. Eli and Jacob were thus uterine brothers. Eli having died childless,
Jacob raised up seed to him, begetting Joseph, his own son by nature, but by
law the son of Eli. Thus Joseph was the son of both.’ Thus far Africanus. And
the lineage of Joseph being thus traced, Mary also is virtually shown to be of
the same tribe with him, since, according to the Law of Moses,
inter-marriages between different tribes were not permitted. For the
command is to marry one of the SAME FAMILY and LINEAGE, so that the inheritance
may not pass from tribe to tribe (N& PNF, Series 2, vol 1, Eusebius Church
History, bk 1, chp 7, pp 170-173; also see ANF, vol 6, Julius Africanus The
Extant Writings, The Epistle to Aristides, sec 1-6, pp 267-271).
The Bible explains the Law of raising up children
to a man’s dead brother this way. TNK Deuteronomy 25:5-6: “When brothers dwell
together and one of them dies and leaves no son, the wife of the deceased shall
not be married to a stranger, outside the family. Her husband's brother shall
unite with her: he shall take her as his wife and perform the levir’s [husband’s
brother] duty. The first son that she bears shall be
accounted to the dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out in Israel.”
The Ebionite’s False Doctrine Against the Deity of Christ Refuted
Early Jewish History of the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ
Since
Ebionites claim to be Christians, and yet deny three of the most essential
doctrines of Christianity, that is, the Deity of Christ, the Virgin Birth, and
the inspiration of most of the New Testament as the infallible Word of God,
especially the Epistles of the great apostle Paul, it would behoove us to
examine these doctrines. Therefore, lets us begin by first examining the
historical and biblical evidence for the Deity of Christ, His Virgin Birth, and
the abolishment of the Old Covenant that was fulfilled in Christ, which the
great apostle Paul spoke so much of in His God Inspired Epistles to the
Churches; we will also examine the inspiration of the New Testament scriptures.
95 AD:
Josephus, in his ancient history of the Jews, spoke of the Deity of the Lord
Jesus Christ this way: Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it
be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a
teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew
over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. HE WAS [the]
CHRIST. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had
condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake
him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; (10) as
the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful
things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians [not Ebionites], so named
from him, are not extinct at this day (Antiquities of the Jews,
bk 18, chp 3, sec 3; also see Antiquities of the Jews, bk 20, chp 9, sec
1).
In “An Extract Out of Josephus’ Discourse to
the Greeks Concerning Hades” we can read: For all men, the just as well as the unjust,
shall be brought before GOD the WORD: for to HIM hath the Father committed all
judgment: and HE, in order to fulfill the will of his Father, shall come as
Judge, whom WE call CHRIST. For Minos and Rhadamanthus are not the judges, as
you Greeks do suppose, but HE whom God and the Father hath glorified:
concerning WHOM we have elsewhere given a more particular account, for the sake
of those who seek after TRUTH (sec 6).
Some ancient
Rabbis taught the Deity of the Messiah
this way: Should
one ask: Is it not written, ‘Ye saw no manner of similitude?’
The answer would be: Truly we did behold Him under a certain similitude,
for is it not written, ‘and the similitude of
the LORD should he [Moses] behold’
[Num 12:18].... Even that ‘similitude’ was a likeness of the HOLY
ONE, blessed be He.... For in the beginning... when He created the
FORM of SUPERNAL MAN… to be known according to the style
‘YHWH’ in order that He might be known by His attributes and perceived
in each attributes separately” (The Zohar, vol. 3, 42a, or
pg 130; even though the majority of the
Jewish Zohar is allegorical trash, and the Babylonian Talmud also, every now
and then you can find some truth)!
This
humanity being God the Father had in its essence a Soul and Glorified Spiritual
Body, which was God’s the Father’s Visible Self, Form (Phi 2:6), or Image (Heb 1:3; Col 1:15).
YHWH is an Invisible Spirit Being (Jn 4:24), who in His Spirit essence as God
has never has been seen in eternity past, at the present time, and in future (Jn 1:18; 1Ti 6:14-16; 1Jn
4:12). This great God being Omniscient knew before creation began that
men whom He would create and loved would fall into sin and need redemption,
therefore He CLOTHED Himself with a Spiritual Humanity (His Visible, Tangible
Self that sat on the One Throne in Heaven), which at Bethlehem took on flesh,
blood, and bones and became known as the Son of God, who became God’s PRECIOUS
SINLESS: “LAMB slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev
13:8; also 1Pe 1:18-20).
According to
Justin Martyr, the orthodox JEWS of his day, that is 150 AD, believed and taught that God the Father had a
Divine Human Nature in the Old Testament. In the Dialogue of Justin with Trypho
the Jew, Justin mocks Trypho by saying: Just as YOUR TEACHERS suppose, fancying that
the FATHER of all, the UNBEGOTTEN GOD, has HANDS and FEET, and FINGERS, and a SOUL,
like a composite being; and they for this reason teach that it was the Father
Himself who appeared to Abraham and to Jacob” (ANF, vol. 1, Dialogue of
Justin with Trypho a Jew, chp 114, pg 520).
There are
over thirty scriptures in the OT that speak of God the Father’s Soul in the present
verb tense, which is NOT prophetic in nature, see my book The Mysteries
of the Godhead Revealed; for a complete teaching of ancient One God, Jesus
Name Preachers, as well as the two-god teachings of the Ante Nicene Priests,
see my book A History of Oneness Throughout the Centuries, which are
both given away on my website: DoctrinesOfChrist.com.
Justin
mocked these Jews, just as all Ante Nicene Priests have done, because they all
believed that the Son appeared to Abraham, that is, as a separate being,
person, or God from the Father. There is NOT one scripture in the OT
that uses the term or title “Son” or “Son of God” in reference to the existence
of Christ, that is, the Logos, but there are at lease three scriptures that
speak of God’s Son in prophecy, as one who will be born one day in time (Psa 2:6-12; Isa 7:14; 9:6).
Why can we not find one scripture that reveals the term Son of God was
used by the Anointed One (YHWH) in the OT? Because according to God’s prophetic
Word, God reserved this title to refer to the Physical Humanity that God
the Father would take through the Virgin Mary at Bethlehem one day.
Jesus (God’s
earthly name) is God because He is the physical Humanity or Body of the Father!
The title Son of God does not refer to Jesus’ deity but His Humanity, and this
title simply refers to someone who is filled with the Spirit of God (Lk 1:35; Rom 1:4);
God’s angels, Adam, Saints in the New Covenant, and all the Prophets and Judges
of Israel were called sons of God, that is, because God Spirit was in them (Job 1:6, 38:4-7; Lk 3:38;
20:34-36; Rom 8:14, 19; Psa 82:1-6; Jn 10:34-36). As one examines the
Bible, he or she will NOT find the eternal
Sonship doctrine or that the Holy Spirit is a separate person from the Logos
(Word, YHWH) in any place in the Bible?
Early Oneness Christian History of the Supreme Deity of the Lord Jesus
Christ
Praxeas Modalist
Monarchian Pentecostal Godhead Doctrine of the
Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ: Tertullian, a North African preacher, who became
a Montanist around 200 AD, wrote against the godhead doctrine of Praxeas, who
was a one God, Jesus Name Preacher. Praxeas evident lived in the city of Rome
during the time of Eleutherus in 175 AD and
during the time of Catholic Bishop Victor I in 189-199
AD. Tertullian wrote: Praxeas introduced a [so-called] heresy, which Victorinus was careful
to corroborate [i.e. to confirm and support]. He asserts that Jesus
Christ is God the Father Almighty. Him he contends to have
been crucified, suffered, and died (ANF, vol 3, Tertullian, pt 2: Appendix, chp
8, pp 1228-1229).
The
translator’s note to Tertullian’s Praxeas book declared: I
am glad for many reasons that Dr. Holmes appends the following from Bishop
Kaye’s Account of the Writings of Tertullian…. (The Bishop of Rome,
cap. i.). Probably VICTOR (A.D. 190), who is elsewhere called Victorinus, as Oehler
conjectures, by a blunderer who tacked the inus to his name, because he was
thinking of Zephyrinus, his immediate successor (ANF, vol e, Tertullian, pt 2,
Elucidations, sec 1 pg 1180, & sec 2, pg 1183).
According to Protestant professor Adolph Harnack, a noted German Church Historian,
Eusebius claimed Praxeas was in Rome when Eleutherus was the Catholic Bishop of
Rome (175-189 AD).
Catholic Bishops of Rome later became known as Popes. Harnack says: If this Bishop was Eleutherus,
and that is probable from Eusebius H.E. V. 4, then we have four Roman Bishops in succession who
declared themselves in favor of the Modalistic Christology, viz., Eleutherus,
Victor, Zephyrinus, and Callistus (History of Dogma, Harnack,
vol 3, pg 60). Praxeas was probably
the One God preacher God used to convert Catholic Bishops Eleutherus and Victor
to the truth concerning the supreme deity in Christ Jesus.
Tertullian continued his denunciation of
Praxeas’s and Catholic Bishop Victor I (Pope of Rome 189-199 AD) Godhead Doctrine: In the course of time, then,
the Father forsooth [i.e. indeed] was born, and the Father suffered, God
Himself, the Lord Almighty, whom in their preaching they
declare to be Jesus Christ…. The OLDER [so-called] heretics, MUCH MORE BEFORE Praxeas,
…which supposes itself to possess the pure truth, in thinking
that one cannot believe in One Only God in any other way than by saying that
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are the very
SELFSAME Person…. The simple [i.e. the One God Christians] indeed, I
will NOT call them unwise and unlearned, who ALWAYS constitute the
MAJORITY of BELIEVERS, are startled at the
Dispensation [supposedly of two or three gods in One], on the ground that their very rule
of faith WITHDRAWS them from the world’s PLURALITY of
gods to the ONE only true God….
They are CONSTANTLY throwing out against us that we are
preachers of two gods and three gods, while they take to
themselves pre-eminently the credit of being worshippers of
the One God…. We, say they, maintain the Monarchy (or, sole government of
God). And so, as far as the sound goes, DO even LATINS…. Well, then
LATINS take pains to pronounce the monarci>a (or Monarchy), while
GREEKS actually REFUSE to understand the oijkonomi>a, or Dispensation (of Three in One)…. I am, moreover, obliged to say this, when ([the
Oneness Latin and Greek Christians throughout the Roman Empire are] extolling
the Monarchy at the expense of the Economy), THEY contend for the identity of the Father and Son and
Spirit (ANF, vol 3, Tertullian,
pt 2: Against Praxeas, chps 2 & 3, pp 1120-1122, chp 9, pg 1131).
Tertullian
continued: They
distinguish two [i.e. natures of God] Father and Son, understanding the SON to
be FLESH, that is MAN [i.e. the Father’s humanity], that is Jesus;
and the FATHER to be SPIRIT [i.e. Spirit/Soul of the Father], that is
GOD, that is Christ [i.e. YHWH of the OT]…. See, say they, it was
announced by the angel: ‘Therefore, that Holy
Thing which shall be born of thee SHALL BE CALLED [verb future tense
NOT past tense] the Son of God.’ Therefore, (they argue,) as it was the flesh
that was born, it must be the flesh that is the Son of
God (ANF, vol 3, Tertullian, pt 2: Against Praxeas, chp 27, pg 1169).
In other
words, these One God, Jesus Name Latin and Greek Christians declared that
Christ, as YHWH God the Father, was never known by the title of the Son of God
in the Old Testament; this title, the Son of God, was given to the humanity of
Christ when the Eternal Father took on flesh and blood at Bethlehem, as
the prophet Isaiah foretold (Isa 7:14 and 9:6); also Christ was never called by the name of
Jesus in the Old Testament, for this name was given to the humanity the God the
Father took from the Virgin at Bethlehem. The name Jesus means YHWH is our
Savior or Salvation!
Noetus Modalist
Monarchian Pentecostal Godhead Doctrine of the
Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ: Just as God used Praxeas to convert Catholic
Bishops Eleutherus and Victor to the truth concerning the supreme deity in
Christ Jesus, He used the One God, Jesus Name Preacher Cleomenes to convert
Catholic Bishops Zephyrinus and Callistus to the truth. Cleomenes was a
disciple of Epigonus, who was a disciple of Noetus.
Noetus was a One God, Jesus Name Preacher that
taught in Asia Minor or Turkey around 190 AD.
Catholic Bishop Hippolytus of Pontus, which was near Rome, passionately hated
Noetus and other Oneness Preachers; he wrote against them around 225 AD. He
declared: Noetus
affirms that the Son and Father are the same, no one is ignorant. But he
makes his statement thus: ‘When indeed, then, the Father had not
been born [of Mary at Bethlehem], He yet was justly styled Father; and
when it pleased Him to undergo generation, having been begotten, He
Himself became His own Son, not another’s.’ For in this manner he thinks to
establish the sovereignty of God, alleging that Father and Son, so
called, are one and the same (substance), not one individual produced
from a different one, but Himself from Himself; and that He is styled
by name Father and Son, according to vicissitude of times [i.e. at different time periods].
But that He is one who has
appeared (amongst us), both having submitted to generation from a
virgin, and as a man having held converse among men. And, on account
of the birth that had taken place, He confessed Himself to those
beholding Him a Son, no doubt; yet He made no secret to those who
could comprehend Him of His being a Father. That this person suffered
by being fastened to the tree, and that He commended His spirit unto Himself….
And He raised Himself up the third day, after having been interred in a
sepulcher, and wounded with a spear, and perforated with nails (ANF, vol 5, Hippolytus, The Refutation of all
Heresies, bk 9, chp 5, pp 263-264).
Cleomenes’
Modalist Monarchian Pentecostal Godhead Doctrine of the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ: Hippolytus informed us that Catholic Bishops of
Rome Zephyrinus and Callistus were disciples of Cleomenes, who was a disciple
of Epigonus, who was a disciple of Noetus. According to Harnack, Epigonus was
in Rome in the time Zephyrinus was Bishop (200 AD) (History of Dogma, Harnack,
vol 3, pg 57). Hippolytus says that
Cleomenes had a Theology School in Rome. He wrote: the school of these [so-called] heretics during the succession of such Bishops
continued to acquire strength and augmentation from the fact that Zephyrinus
and Callistus helped them to prevail” (ANF, vol
5, Hippolytus, The Refutation of all Heresies, bk 9, chp 2, pg
259).
With the
information I have at this moment, it is hard for me to determine how many of
the Bishops of Rome before the Council of Nicene really believed and preached
the truth. It is obvious from these statements that Zephyrinus and Callistus
must have had a One God, Jesus’ Name belief. Professor Harnack speaking of Cleomenes wrote: Cleomenes and his party maintain that ‘He who was
nailed to the cross, who committed His Spirit to Himself, who died and did not
die, who raised Himself on the third day and rested in the grave, who was
pierced with the lance and fastened with nails, was the God and Father of all (History of Dogma, Harnack, vol 3, pg 64).
Catholic
Bishop (Pope) Zephyrinus’ Modalist
Monarchian Godhead Doctrine of the Deity of
the Lord Jesus Christ: Zephyrinus was a Bishop of Rome (Catholic
Pope 199-217 AD). Hippolytus declared he
taught: I know
that there is one God, Jesus Christ; nor except Him do I know any other
that is begotten and amenable to suffering…. The Father did not die, but
the Son.’ Zephyrinus… called us [Hippolytus & his small band of followers]
worshippers of two gods (ANF, vol 5,
Hippolytus, The Refutation of all Heresies, bk 9, chp 6, pg 265).
Zephyrinus also boldly affirmed: For the Father, who is in the
Son, deified the flesh, after He had assumed it, and united it with Himself,
and established a unity of such a nature that now Father and Son are called one
God, and that henceforth it is impossible
that this single person can be
divided into two
(History of Dogma, Harnack, vol 3, pg 68).
And he adds,
that this is what has been declared by the Savior: Believest thou
not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?’ For that which is seen,
which is man, he considers to be the Son; whereas the Spirit,
which was contained in the Son, to be the Father.’ For, says
(Callistus), ‘I will not profess belief in two Gods, Father and Son, but
in one. For the Father, who subsisted in the Son Himself,
after He had taken unto Himself our flesh raised it to the nature of
Deity, by bringing it into union with Himself, and made it one; so that
Father and Son must be styled one God, and that this Person being one,
cannot be two.’ And in this way Callistus contends that the Father suffered
along with the Son; for he does not wish to assert that the Father suffered,
and is one Person…. all consented to his [Bishop Callistus’ so-called] hypocrisy — we, however, did not
do so — and called us worshippers of two gods (ANF, vol 5, Hippolytus, The Refutation of all
Heresies, bk 9, chp 7, pg 269).
Sabellius’
Modalist Monarchian Pentecostal Godhead Doctrine of the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ: Dr.
Harnack revealed that Cleomenes remained the head of the One God, Jesus Name
Theology School in Rome until c. 215, when Sabellius succeeded him. Even though all oneness preachers believed in
God’s form or body in the Old Testament, they held two different ideas
concerning the Logos’ incarnation. One group of oneness preachers believed that
God’s entire Spirit and bodily substance was incarnated at Bethlehem. The other
group preachers, such as the Sabellians, believed that the only the visible portion or the humanity of God the Father’s own
substance became incarnated. Harnack speaking about Sabellius’ godhead belief
says: The
one being was always called by Sabellius uiopatwr [son-father], an expression which was certainly chosen to
remove any misunderstanding, to make it impossible to suppose that two beings
were in question (History of Dogma, Harnack,
vol 3, pg 85).
Alexander (315 AD) declared that Sabellius taught that
the Logos had a corporeal pre-existence. Alexander believed that the Logos as
the Son of God was begotten before time began. Speaking of the Logos’
pre-existence, Alexander wrote, we believe: in
one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God; not begotten of things
which are not, but of Him who is the Father; not in a CORPOREAL MANNER [i.e. tangible body] by excision or division as Sabellius and Valentinus thought, but in a certain inexplicable and
unspeakable manner (Ante Nicene Fathers, vol 6, Epistle on Arian Heresy and Deposition of
Arius, chp 1, sec 12, pg 589).
Blunt speaking of
Sabellius says, according to Hilary: In
place of the Unity of Three distinct Persons we have the entire coalescence of
what are distinguished only in name, not in substance (Hilary de Trinity. vii.
5).... The only Divine Sonship allowed by Sabellius’
doctrine being then that which took place
in time at the Incarnation, there was
also at that time, a division of the
Union.... If Hilary be a competent witness, that Sabellius did assert a separation of the ‘Protensio,’ which
reaching ‘usque ad Virginem,’ took the name of Son. This last step was taken to
avoid the charge of Patripassianism... by asserting that only a portion of the Divine Nature became incarnate.... Epiphanius... adds that this
conception was likening the Father to the body,
the Son to the SOUL, the Holy Ghost
to the spirit (Dictionary of Sects,
Heresies, Ecclesiastical Parties, and Schools of Religious Though, Blunt, pp
512,513).
The Catholic Creed of Sirmium Anathemas on the Doctrine of the Deity of
the Lord Jesus Christ as Taught by the One God, Jesus Name Pentecostals: Socrates Scholasticus in his history spoke of
the Creed of Sirmium, which was published in 352 AD in the Presence of the Emperor Constantius. In it the Catholic Church described some of the
Godhead teaching of God’s Jesus’ Name People of that day by pronouncing a large
number of anathema on them.
The Creed stated: If any one shall
dare to assert that the Unbegotten, or a part of him, was born of
Mary, let him be anathema. If any one should say that the Son was of
Mary according to foreknowledge [i.e. existed in prophesy only as God
becoming a human being], and NOT that he was with God, begotten of the Father
before the ages… let him be anathema… If any man affirming him that was born of
Mary to be God and man, shall imply the unbegotten God himself, let him
be anathema…. If any one says that it was not the Son that was seen by Abraham,
but the unbegotten God, or a part of him, let him be anathema. If
any one says that it was NOT the Son that as man wrestled with Jacob,
but the unbegotten God, or a part of him, let him be anathema….
If any one should say that the Father, Son, and Holy? Spirit are one person,
let him be anathema. If any one, speaking of the Holy Spirit, the
Comforter, shall call him the unbegotten God, let him be anathema
(N&PNF, series 2, vol 2, Socrates, bk 1, chp 30, pp 155-156).
It is very obvious that
Catholicism was very unhappy with God’s people. The Catholic Encyclopedia
also stated: In the fourth century
the Arians and Semiarians professed to be much
afraid of it [Sabellianism], and
the alliance of Pope Julius and Athanasius... gave some color to accusations
against the Nicene formulas as opening the way to Sabellianism. This same encyclopedia
also gave us some insights into Sabellius beliefs. It says: Saint
Athanasius tells us that he said ‘the Father is the Son and the Son is the
Father, one in hypostasis but two in name (The Catholic Encyclopedia,
1911, vol 10, pp 450-451).
Commodian’s Modalist Monarchian Pentecostal Godhead Doctrine: Commodian was another great man of God. He was a Bishop in a church in
Africa around c. 250.
According to Harvard professor Harry A. Wolfson, in his work entitled The Philosophy of the Church Fathers, Commodian taught in verse 91 of his Carmen Apologeticum: the Father went into the Son, at Bethlehem. This revealed that the Father was
the God who was in the Lord Jesus Christ. He also added: Commodian speaking for himself,
says almost in the words quoted above [i.e. God is only one person] as representing the views of Praxeas and Noetus (The
Philosophy Of The Church Fathers, Wolfson, pp 583-584).
Professor Schaff speaking of Commodian wrote: Commodian was a Patripassian in
Christology and a Chiliast in eschatology. Schaff also gave a brief description of Commodian’s book. He says: It
discusses in
47 sections the doctrine of God, of man, and of the Redeemer (verses
89-275); the meaning of the names of the Son and Father in the economy
of salvation (276-573); the obstacles to the progress of Christianity
(574-611); it warns Jews and Gentiles to forsake their religion (612-783); and
gives a description of the last things (784-1053) (History
of the Christian Church, Schaff, vol 2, pp 854, 855.). It is a shame that no one has translated this great work into
English. I have a copy of it, which is written in Latin, in my library.
The writers of The Catholic Encyclopedia
classified Commodian’s godhead beliefs with that of Praxeas and Noetus. It
stated: In
the west they [the
Modalist Monarchians] were called Patripassians, whereas in the East they
are called Sabellians. It
went on to declare: Sabellius or at least his followers may have considerably amplified the
original Noetianism. There was still Sabellianism to be found in the fourth
century. Marcellus of Ancyra developed a Monarchianism of his own, which was
carried much further by his disciple [Photinus]. Priscillian was an extreme Monarchian and
so was Commodian (The Catholic Encyclopedia,
1911, vol 10, pg 449).
Professor Harnack confessed that God’s Apostolic
Pentecostal Churches were in the vast majority before the Nicene Council. He
blatantly admitted that during the second half of the second century through
the second half of the third century many of the Catholic Churches in the
Roman Empire were converted to the one God doctrine of God’s
Jesus Name Modalist Monarchian Churches. Dr. Harnack said it this way:
The
real dangerous opponent of the [Catholic] Logos Christology in the period between AD 180 and 300 was
NOT Adoptianism, but the doctrine which saw the Deity Himself
incarnate in Christ, and conceived Christ to be God in
a human body, the Father becoming flesh.... Modalism, as we now
know from the Philosophumena, was… the official theory in Rome...
The Modalistic doctrine which sought to exclude every other... was embraced by
the great majority of all Christians before the Nicene
Council (History of Dogma, Harnack,
vol 3, pp 51- 54).
English Catholic Cardinal John Henry
Newman, like Dr. Harnack, made the same confession, when he was scolding the
Protestants about Luther’s protest. He referred them to the protest that was
made by the one God Jesus’ Name Apostolic Christians, who taught in the first
through third centuries. Professor Newman in his work entitled Essays and
Sketches wrote: Praxeas, Noetus, and
Sabellius, in the [second through] third century protested against the
Catholic… doctrine of the Holy Trinity [actually the Catholic two unequal god
doctrine].... Noetus was in Asia Minor, Praxeas taught in Rome, Sabellius in
Africa…. We read... their doctrine PREVAILED among the common people,
THEN and at an EARLIER DATE [or century], to a very great extent, and
the true faith [meaning his Babylonian-Catholic faith] was hardly preached in
the churches (Essays and
Sketches, Newman, vol 1, pg 152).
The Catholic Encyclopedia gave a fair explanation of the origin and
differences of beliefs between God’s Modalist Monarchian Pentecostals and the
early Catholic Priests. It revealed that the One God, Jesus’ Name Preachers: made
the Son and the Holy Ghost merely aspects or modes of existence
of the Father, thus emphatically identifying Christ with [the Father] the one God.... They spoke of the Father as Spirit, and
the Son as flesh. This encyclopedia went on to reveal, that God’s
Apostolic Pentecostals were against the Catholic adoption of Plato and
Philo’s doctrine of two-unequal-gods; that is: the
learned philosophizing of the Christology of Catholicism.
It also declared that the Catholic godhead
doctrine: looked too much like a mythology or a Gnostic
emanationism.” God’s Apostolic: “Monarchians emphatically declared
that God is one, wholly and perfectly one, and that Jesus
Christ is God, wholly and perfectly God. This was right,
and even most necessary, and whilst it is easy to see why theologians like Tertullian
and Hippolytus opposed them [i.e. the Oneness Pentecostals]
for their protest was precisely against the Platonism, which
these theologians had inherited from [their Catholic
predecessors i.e.] Justin and the Apologists.
It went on to declare the Egyptian Catholic
allegorists, that is: The Alexandrians alone insisted rightly on the
generation of the Son from all eternity; but thus the Unity of God was
even less manifest. The writers who thus theologize may often expressly
teach the traditional Unity in Trinity, but it hardly squares with the Platonism
of their philosophy. The theologians were thus defending the
doctrine of the Logos at the expense of the two
fundamental doctrines of Christianity, the Unity of God,
and the Divinity of Christ. They seemed to make the
unity of the Godhead split into TWO or even three,
and to make Jesus Christ something less than the supreme God the
Father. This is eminently true of the chief opponents of the
Monarchians, Tertullian, Hippolytus, and Novatian (The Catholic
Encyclopedia, 1911, vol 10, pg 450).
200
AD: Origen speaking of
the Oneness belief of the Soul of God wrote: Some, indeed, would have the following language
of the apostle applied to the SOUL [of YHWH the Christ] itself, as soon as IT
had assumed flesh from Mary, viz., ‘Who, being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but divested Himself (of His
glory) taking upon Himself the form of a servant;’ since He undoubtedly re-
stored it to the form of God by means of better examples and training, and
recalled it to that fullness of which He had divested Himself (ANF, vol 4,
Origen De Principis, bk 4, Summary, sec 32, pg 759).
Comparison
Between Old and New Testament Scriptures, Proves Christ to Be the One and Only
True God
This section is taken from SOME of the passages of Scripture given in my book
entitled: The Mysteries of the Godhead Revealed.
Jesus Is YHWH the Great I AM that Moses and Abraham Saw and Spoke to: Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) John 8:24,
56-59: “Yeshua said to them, ‘You are
from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this
world. This is WHY I said to you that you will DIE in your SINS; for if you
do not trust that I AM (who I say I am) [this
is added and not in original], you will DIE in your
SINS….’ ‘Avraham [Abraham], your father, was glad
that he would see my day; then he SAW it and was overjoyed.’ ‘Why,
you’re not yet fifty years old,’ the Judeans replied, ‘and you have SEEN
Avraham?’ Yeshua said to them, ‘YES, indeed! BEFORE Avraham came into
being, I AM!’ At this, they picked up stones to throw at him; but Yeshua
was hidden and left the Temple grounds.”
Compare the above passage of scripture with the
following four passages. JPS Exodus 3:2-6, 13-14: “And the ANGEL [i.e. the Word] of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire
out of the midst of a bush… God called unto him out of the midst
of the bush…. Moreover He said: ‘I AM the God of thy father, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses hid his face; for
he was afraid to LOOK upon God…. And Moses said unto God: ‘Behold, when I come
unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them: The God of your fathers
hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me: What is His name? What shall I
say unto them?’ And God said unto Moses: ‘I AM that I AM’; and He said: ‘Thus
shalt thou say unto the children of Israel: I AM hath sent me unto you.”
TNK Exodus 6:2-3: “God spoke to Moses and said to him, ‘I AM the LORD. I
APPEARED to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself
known to them by My name YHWH.”
TNK Genesis 18:1-2, 14, 22; 19:1: “The LORD [YHWH] APPEARED
to him by the terebinths of Mamre; he was sitting at the entrance of the tent
as the day grew hot. Looking up, he saw three men standing near him….
The LORD said to Abraham, ‘…I will RETURN to you at the time next year, and
Sarah shall have a son….’ The men [2 angels]
went on from there to Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before
the LORD…. The TWO ANGELS arrived in Sodom in
the evening, as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom.”
TNK Isaiah 43:10-15: “My witnesses are you -- declares the LORD [YHWH] -- My servant, whom I have chosen. To the end that
you may take thought, And BELIEVE in ME, And understand that I AM He: Before Me
no god was formed, And after Me none shall exist…. So you are My witnesses -- declares the LORD [YHWH] -- And I AM God…. Thus said the LORD, Your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel…. I AM your Holy One, the LORD [YHWH], Your King, the Creator of Israel.”
There you have it, unless every believer BELIVES that the Lord Jesus Christ
is the visible humanity of YHWH, the One Abraham and Moses SAW and SPOKE to,
they “will indeed DIE in” THEIR “SINS.” Because the Jews knew that Jesus definitely
claimed to be the great I AM or YHWH their God, they tried to stone Him to
death, because they like so many Christians could not see past the veil of flesh,
that is, the Almighty God YHWH dwelling in that Humanity. They could not
comprehend the TWO REAL NATURES of Jesus that is His Deity and Humanity. Most of the time in the Gospels
Jesus speaks in His Human Nature about His Deity as God the Father, but there
are a few times He speaks in His Divine Nature.
Because Jesus is the visible body or humanity of the invisible God, who is
an invisible Spirit Being, ONLY He and NO ONE ELSE could say: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through ME [meaning the blood His Humanity would shed
at Calvary 1Ti 2:5; Heb 9:12-15]. If you really knew
Me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do KNOW
HIM and have SEEN HIM.’ Philip said, ‘Lord, SHOW US the Father [meaning
let us see God with I own eyes] and that will be
enough for us.’ Jesus answered: ‘Don’t you know Me [i.e. know who
I AM] Philip, even after I have been among you such
a long time?
Anyone who has See Me HAS SEEN the Father [not
one who looks like the Father, but has SEEN the Father].
How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am IN the
Father, and that the Father is IN Me? The words I [i.e. this
Humanity] say to you are not just My own. Rather, it
is the Father LIVING IN Me, who is doing His work. Believe Me when I say
that I am IN the Father and the Father is IN Me; or at least
believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves” (Jn 14:6-11, NIV).
The above is
the reason why the great apostle Paul could say about “the mystery of God, both of the Father
and of Christ…. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy
and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the
basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” What is this mystery of the Godhead that Satan
would want to deceive us on? “For
in Him [Christ Jesus] dwells ALL [not
some of] the FULLNESS of the GODHEAD BODILY”
(Col 2:2, 8-9, NKJ). The New
American Standard version translated verse 9 this way: “For in Him ALL the FULNESS of DEITY dwells in BODILY form.”
The LORD Jesus Christ is YHWH’s
visible SELF! Has any Trinitarian, Arian, or Ebionite preacher deceived you
about the Supreme Deity of the LORD Jesus Christ, your Savior? Do you believe
the One who dwells or lives in the humanity of Jesus is YHWH, the great I AM
whom Abraham, Moses, and the Prophets saw and spoke to? If you do not, I would
not want to be standing in your shoes at the Judgment, when you are accused of
denied the One and Only God, who became a MAN so He could redeem the human race
from their sins!
CJB Revelation 22:16: “I, Yeshua [Jesus], have sent My angel to give you
this testimony for the Messianic communities. I am the ROOT [rhiza] and Offspring
[genos] of David, the bright
Morning Star” (also Rev 5:5).
Dr. Strong defined rhiza
(hrid'’-zah) as: a
primary word; a ‘ROOT’ (literally or figuratively) (#4491). Since Jesus
is God, He is the Creator of David, that is, He is the Father of David or the
One who brought David into existence. Drs.
Friberg, Analytical Lexicon to
the Greek New Testament
defined genos (ghen'-os) as: of
common ancestry posterity, descendant, family (RV 22.16) (#5392).
CJB Matthew 22:42-46: “Tell me your view concerning the Messiah: whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘David’s.’ ‘Then how is it,’ He asked them, ‘that David, inspired by the Spirit, calls him ‘LORD,’ when he says, ‘ADONAI said to my Lord, Sit here at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet’? If David thus calls him 'LORD,' how is He his son?’ No one could think of anything to say in reply; and from that day on, no one dared put to him another sh'eilah [question].”
Douay-Rheims
American edition, Psalm 109:3 “With thee is the principality in the day of thy strength:
in the brightness of the saints: from the womb BEFORE the DAY STAR I begot
thee” (This is a literal
translation of the Latin Vulgate). LXE
Psalm 110:1, 3 “The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right
hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool… With thee is dominion in the day of thy
power, in the splendours of thy saints: I have begotten [gennao] thee from the womb [gastos] BEFORE the MORNING [eosphoros].” LXT Psalm 109:3: “meta. sou/ h` avrch. evn h`me,ra| th/j
duna,mew,j sou evn tai/j lampro,thsin tw/n a`gi,wn evk gastro.j [womb] pro. e`wsfo,rou [before morning star] evxege,nnhsa, [have begotten] se.”
A
Greek-English Lexicon
by Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, Henry Stuart Jones, and Robert McKenzie
defined “gennao (ghen-nah’-o)” as: to beget (#12736). A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint by J. Lust, E. Eynikel, and K. Hauspie
defined “eosphoros” as: morning star, morning 1
Sm 30,17, Ps 109(110), 3 pro. e`wsfo,rou before
the morning star, before dawn, or BEFORE LUCIFER - x;V;mI for MT rx'v. (#4080).
Several of the Ante Nicene Catholic Priests quoted
this verse in their writings and applied it to Christ the WORD. In 150 AD, Justin Martyr wrote: The
words, then, which were spoken by David, are these…: ‘From
the womb, BEFORE the morning star, have I BEGOTTEN Thee. The Lord hath
sworn, and will not repent: Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of
Melchizedek’ (ANF, vol 1, Dialogue of Justin, chp 32, pg, 414).
Hippolytus in 225 AD,
writing against the One God Jesus Name Preacher Noetus wrote: Moreover,
you are asking an account of the GENERATION of the WORD… how He was BEGOTTEN
after the SPIRIT? No more than two, in sooth [i.e. in truth], have been put in
trust to give the account of His generation after the flesh; and are you
then so bold as to seek the account (of His generation) AFTER the
SPIRIT….
[The Holy Spirit] speaking
by the prophet [David] of the GENERATION of the WORD…. For He speaks thus: ‘From the womb, BEFORE the morning star, I have BEGOTTEN
Thee’ (ANF, vol 5, Hippolytus, The Extant Works and Fragments, part 2,
Against the Heresy of One Noetus, sec 16, pp 480-481).
Who Is the Ancient of Days? TNK
Daniel 7:9-10, 21-22: “As I looked on, Thrones were set in place, And the ANCIENT of DAYS took His
seat. His GARMENTS was like WHITE snow, And the HAIR of His head was
like LAMB’S WOOL [i.e.
white]. His throne was tongues of flame…. The COURT
sat and the books were opened…. (I looked on as that horn made war with
the holy ones and overcame them, until the Ancient of Days CAME and judgment
was rendered in favor of the holy ones of the Most High, for the time had come,
and the holy ones took possession of the kingdom.)”
JPS Psalm 96:13: “The LORD [YHWH]… is come;
for He is come to JUDGE the earth; He will JUDGE the world
with righteousness.”
Jesus Is the Ancient of Day, Who
Will Judge the World and Fulfill the Above Passages of Scripture: NIV Rev 1:13-16: “I turned around to SEE the VOICE that was
speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the
lampstands was someone like a Son of Man, dressed in a ROBE reaching down to
his feet and with a golden sash around His chest. His head and HAIR were WHITE
like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like blazing fire His
feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and His VOICE was like the sound
of rushing waters. In his right
hand He held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword.
His FACE was like the SUN shining in all its brilliance.”
Not only is the description of Jesus is the same
as that of Ancient of Days, as He comes to judge the living and dead, but the
very context of chapter one definitely reveals that Jesus is the Almighty God.
NIV Revelation 1:1, 7-8, 17-18: “The
revelation of Jesus Christ, which GOD gave him to show his
servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending HIS
angel to his servant John…. Look, He is COMING with the CLOUDS, and every eye will
see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will
mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. ‘I am the ALPHA and the OMEGA,’
says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty….
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as
though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: ‘Do not be afraid. I
am the FIRST and the LAST. I am the Living One; I was DEAD, and behold I am
alive for ever and ever!”
Who is
the Almighty, the Alpha and Omega, the God who sent His angel to John to give
him his revelation? Revelation 22:13,
16: “I am the ALPHA and the OMEGA, the FIRST and the LAST, the
Beginning and the End…. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony
for the churches. I am the ROOT [i.e. the Creator] and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” If Jesus
is the Almighty God, how can He be the Root of David meaning the one whom David
sprouted up from or owe his existence to, and at the same time be an Offspring
of David? NIV Acts 17:31: “For he [YHWH]
has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the MAN he
has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising Him from the
dead.”
Who Will Every Knee Bow to at the White
Throne Judgment? JPS Isaiah 45:21-23: “Declare ye, and bring them near, yea,
let them take counsel together: Who hath announced this from ancient time, and
declared it of old? Have not I the LORD [YHWH]? And there is no God else beside Me, a
just God and a Saviour [yasha` (yaw-shah') and soter (so-tare')];
there is none beside Me. Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the
earth; for I am God, and there is none else. By Myself have I sworn, the word
is gone forth from My mouth in righteousness, and shall not come back, that unto
ME every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.”
CJB Philippians 2:8-11: Jesus “humbled himself still more by becoming obedient even to death - death on a stake as a criminal! Therefore God raised him [i.e. YHWH’s Human Nature] to the highest place and gave him the name above every name; that in honor of [at] the name given YESHUA, every knee will bow - in heaven, on earth and under the earth - and every tongue will acknowledge that YESHUA the Messiah is ADONAI [YHWH] - to the glory of God the Father.”
Jesus
Is YHWH the Holy One and Savior of All Mankind? NAS Acts 2:27: Peter quotes
the prophet David who spoke of the resurrection of Christ said: “Because Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor allow
Thy Holy One [YHWH] to undergo decay.” NAS Psalm 16:10: “For Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol; Neither wilt
Thou allow Thy Holy One [YHWH] to undergo
decay.” JPS Isaiah 43:10-15: “Ye are My witnesses, saith the LORD [YHWH], and My servant
whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am
He; before Me there was no God FORMED [referring to YHWH’s OT Glorified
Body], neither shall any be after Me. I, even I, am
the LORD; and beside Me there is NO SAVIOUR [yasha`]…. Thus saith the
LORD, your Redeemer, the HOLY ONE of Israel…. I am the LORD, your HOLY ONE, the
Creator of Israel, your King.”
JPS Isaiah 59:16: “And He saw that there
was no man, and was astonished that there was no intercessor; therefore
HIS OWN ARM brought salvation [yasha`]
unto Him; and His righteousness, it sustained Him.” JPS
Isaiah 63:5: “And I looked, and there was none to help, and I
beheld in astonishment, and there was none to uphold; therefore MINE OWN
ARM brought salvation [yasha`] unto
Me, and My fury, it upheld Me.” The Arm of YHWH is the Humanity of Christ the Holy One of Israel (Isa
53:1-12). JPS Isaiah 45:21: “There is no God else beside Me, a just God and a Saviour
[yasha`]; there is none beside Me.”
The Greek Septuagint: “mou/ di,kaioj kai. swth.r [soter]”
The angel of YHWH told the shepherds: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior [soter], who is Christ the LORD” (Lk 2:11). The apostle Paul confirmed this
truth when he wrote: “we also eagerly wait for the Savior [soter], the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phi 3:20). Now both the angel and Paul
told us that the Savior is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who
Was Pierced in His Hands, Feet and Side? Millennial Scriptures: JPS Zechariah 13:1-6: “In that day there shall be a fountain
opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
for purification and for sprinkling. And it shall come to pass in that day,
saith the LORD [YHWH] of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out
of the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I will cause the
prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.... And one shall say
unto him: ‘What are these wounds [makkah]
between thy hands [yad]?’ Then he shall
answer: ‘Those with which I was wounded [nakah] in the house of my friends.”
TNK Zechariah 13:6: “And if he is asked, ‘What are those sores [makkah] on your back [yad]?’ he
will reply, ‘From being beaten [nakah] in the
homes [tyBeî bayith - singular not plural] of my friends.” Why did the Jewish translators intentionally
mistranslate this verse? These translators evidently knew better for in the
following verses, these same translators translated the above Hebrew words
correctly: Wound makkah (mak-kaw'): 1K 22:35,
2K 8:29, 9:15, Jr 30:17, 10:19, 15:18, 30:12. Hand
yad (yawd): Exo 15:17, Psa 102:26, 119:73,
138:8, etc. Killed or Slain nakah (naw-kaw'): Jud 15:16, Jer 2:30, 33:5,
etc.
When Jesus appeared to His disciples after His
death, His resurrected glorified body still had the wounds in it. It was the
apostle Thomas who said: “Unless I see the nail marks in His HANDS, put my finger into the place
where the nails were and put my hand into his SIDE, I refuse to believe it.” After eight days Jesus came and told Thomas: “Put your finger here, look at My HANDS, take your hand and
put it into My SIDE. Don't be lacking in trust, but have trust!’ T'oma answered
Him, ‘my LORD [YHWH] and my GOD” (Jn 20:24-28, CJB)!
In the
Greek the above verse reads thus: “THE LORD of me and THE GOD of me” that is “~O ku,rio,j mou
kai. o` qeo,j mou”.This ancient Jew,
who believed in One and only One God, acknowledged Jesus to be that One God;
Jesus did not rebuke Thomas or deny his statement, which He should have done if
it was not the truth, that is if He was not YHWH God the Father!
Millennial Scriptures: CJB Zechariah
12:10-14: YHWH declared: “I will pour out on the house of
David and on those living in Yerushalayim [Jerusalem] a spirit of grace and prayer; and
they will look to ME, whom they PIRECED [daqar].’ They will mourn for him [ME] as one mourns
for an only son; they will be in bitterness on his [MY] behalf like the bitterness for a firstborn son.” NIV Zechariah 12:10 “They will look on ME,
the ONE they have pierced [daqar].”
BDB-GESENIUS Hebrew-Aramaic
and English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Francis Brown, S.R. Driver, and
Charles Briggs (all D.D., D.Litt.) defined “daqar {daw-kar'}” as: verb pierce, pierce through… Zc 12:10… 1 S 31:4…
Zc 13:3… Nu 25:8… Ju 9:54 — pierce, run
through… false prophet Zc 13:3… see also Zc 12:10 (#2200).
CJB John 19:33-37: “But when they got to Yeshua and saw that he was already
dead, they didn’t break his legs. However, one of the soldiers STABBED his side
with a spear, and at once blood and water flowed out…. For these things
happened in order to fulfill this passage of the Tanakh: ‘Not one of his
bones will be broken’ [Psa 34:20]. And again, another passage says: “They will look at Him [the ONE] whom they have PIRECED.” The apostle John speaking of Jesus said: “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they [the Jewish people]
who PIRECED Him” (Rev 1:7).
Who Did John the Baptist Prepare the Way
For? John declared he came to
prepared the way for Jesus: “He
answered in the words of Yesha'yahu [Isaiah]
the prophet, ‘I am The voice of someone crying out: 'In the desert make the way
of ADONAI straight….’
The next day, Yochanan [John] saw Yeshua [Jesus] coming toward him and said, ‘Look! God’s lamb! The one
who is taking away the sin of the world! This is the man I was talking
about when I said, 'After me is coming someone who has come to rank above me,
because he EXISTED BEFORE me.’ I myself did not know who he was, but the reason
I came immersing with water was so that He might be made known to
Isra’el” (CJB John 1:23, 29-31).
The prophet Isaiah declared he was preparing the
way for YHWH Himself, and all flesh shall see His personal GLORY: TNK Isaiah
40:3-5: “A voice rings out: "Clear in the desert A road for
the LORD [YHWH]! Level in the wilderness A
highway for our God! Let every valley be raised, Every hill and mount made low.
Let the rugged ground become level And the ridges become a plain. The PRESENCE [kabowd
– GLORY] of the LORD shall APPEAR, And all flesh, as
one, shall behold.”
YHWH’s Glory is His Glorified Human Form: TNK
Ezekiel 1:26-28: “Above the expanse over their heads was the semblance of a throne, in
appearance like sapphire; and on top, upon this semblance of a throne, there
was the semblance of a HUMAN FORM. From what appeared as His
LOINS up, I saw a gleam as of amber -- what looked like a fire encased
in a frame; and from what appeared as His LOINS down, I saw what looked
like fire. There was a radiance all about him. Like the
appearance of the bow, which shines in the clouds on a day of rain, such was the
appearance of the surrounding radiance. That was the appearance of the semblance
of the PRESENCE [kabowd
– GLORY] of the LORD [YHWH].” JPS Ezekiel 1:28: “This was the appearance of the
likeness of the GLORY of the LORD.”