HF118 - Israel's God in Person and Power
To: Hebraic-Foundations@yahoogroups.com
From: "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Date: Wed, May 19, 2004
Subject: Bible Study HF118 - Israel's God in Person and Power
Hebraics,
In this study we want to look at some of the early beliefs of the Jewish people that helped provide a platform for new covenant Christianity. There are certain sources that I will be quoting from. They are as follows:
(1) Flavius Josephus was a near contemporary to the apostles. He lived from 37 a.d. to about 100 a.d. (This means he died about the same time as did the apostle John.) Josephus was a Jewish priest whose Hebrew name was Joseph ben Matthias. He commanded the Galilee forces during the war that ended in the destruction of the temple in 70 a.d. Josephus eventually sided with the Romans. He was a prolific writer and historian. In his writings he gives testimony to Jesus Christ and to James the brother of John. The rabbis considered him a traitor.
(2) Philo was also a near contemporary of the apostolic era. He was born 20 years before Christ and died around 50 a.d. He lived in Alexandria, Egypt and was another prolific writer. Philo was an orthodox Jew whose writings are representative both of Hellenism and of the traditional Judaism of the land. He was later rejected, in part because his writings contained considerable concepts that seem too close to what Christians believed about Jesus Christ.
(3) The Septuagint was an ancient Greek translation that had become sort of the King James Version by the time of Christ. Most Old Testament quotes found in the New Testament come from the Septuagint. (Also known as the LXX.) The LXX was translated a couple hundred years before Christ. It was later rejected by the rabbis for similar reasons as was Philo and Josephus. The LXX was used almost extensively by the Christians to prove that Jesus is the Messiah. Many Jews turned to Jesus because of this translation.
(4) Then we have the Targums. These are also important to the study of early Christianity. The Targums are ancient translations of the Hebrew Scriptures into Aramaic. Aramaic had pretty much become the normative language of the Jews. The Targums were used in the synagogues along side the reading of the Hebrew Scriptures. They are free-handed translations, but they have their roots in Jewish thinking before Christ. They continued to be developed after the Christian era. It is difficult to get an exact date on when they were written.
This is Bible Study HF118 - Israel's God in Person and Power.
Deep within the heart of ancient Jewish tradition and at the very heart of Christianity lies a mystery concerning the Son of God. While the ancients were monotheists to the core and believed that God is transcendent - that is, God is outside the range of human experience and understanding - they also believed that out of God's transcendence the true God had often entered the world of human history in some form. It is in this sense that the earlier Jewish believers would more closely fit the definition of Binitarian rather than Trinitarian.
While the early believers did view deity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Father and Son concept was more clearly defined than that of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was generally seen as the empowering presence of God in the lives of believers. The Spirit was seen as in a special relationship to covenant activity. The Spirit was also thought to be the anointing of the Lord God.
You see this kind of thinking in the closing pages of the Bible. John said, "Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb." (Rev22:1) Notice that the throne is singular but speaks of God and the Lamb. The river of life is a description of the life giving presence of God and of the Lamb. (Father and the Son.)
Jesus also spoke to this idea of Father and Son, in saying, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and my Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him." (John 14:23)
I realize that Scriptures like this can seem puzzling. I once ask the Lord why He chose to reveal Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The answer I was impressed with was that this was the way we needed to know Him. God is all this to us.
Then we have this from Paul; "Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him." (1Co8:6)
What Paul says fits somewhat into the thinking of a great many Jews prior to the coming of Jesus. There was a belief that the invisible God had a way of interacting with creation that was discernible to the faculties of man. Thus the Father would send forth from Himself what the ancients spoke of as 'the Messenger of His Presence.' It was sort of like 'God coming forth from God.'
We also see this idea in John 1:18, which says, "No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him."
Here is a Scripture example of 'the Messenger' from Isaiah 63:9 (Young's Literal Translation. Caps for emphasis): "In all their distress He is no adversary, and THE MESSENGER OF HIS PRESENCE saved them, in His love and in His pity He redeemed them, and He doth lift them up, and beareth them all the days of old."
Some translations have this as 'Angel of His presence.' But the point must be made that the Messenger was not an angel in the common sense of the word, but was actually YHWH interacting with His people in a special way.
Another translation brings this together; "In all their troubles, he was troubled, too. He didn't send someone else to help them. He did it himself, IN PERSON. Out of his own love and pity he redeemed them. He rescued them and carried them along for a long, long time." (The Message.)
This special way that God had of working in creation began to be known by various names. Later theologians came to speak of this as 'God's other self.' But the ancients had other terms. They spoke of this activity of God as the Reflection, the Image, the Form, God's Shadow, the Shekinah, the Word, God's Wisdom, Memra or Logos, and even 'the Angel of His Presence.'
So when John says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," this was something the Jewish people were already familiar with. It was later that the rabbis came strongly against the idea of God having a Son. Of course the Muslims also came to the conclusion that 'God has no son.'
Certainly we have to use caution in speaking of the Father and the Son. As monotheists we Christians understand and know that there can only be one true God. Yet according to the Scriptures we also know that the one true God has chosen to reveal Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Back to the time of the earliest believers. Folk may wonder why (after 70 a.d.) the Jewish rabbis began to reject the writings of Josephus, and of Philo, and even the Septuagint. These writings were rooted pretty much in orthodox Jewish thinking at one time. So why were they rejected? The primary reason for their rejection is that they spoke too clearly to the truth of Christ.
Josephus was rejected because he stated that the God of Israel had gone over to the Romans. He also gave a testimony to the early Jewish Christians. Philo was rejected because much of what he taught too closely resembled the language used by Christians concerning Jesus Christ. The Septuagint was rejected for much the same reason. Actually it was the Christians who kept all these writings intact for posterity.
Now to the main issue --- Did the Jewish people of Jesus' day believe that God had a way to interact with human history that could be defined as God coming forth from God? Absolutely. While there was not a normative Judaism of that time, this belief that God often enters into creation by the 'Word' was commonly held by a great many Jews. Philo even spoke of the Word as God's Son.
What is to follow are quotes from these various sources so you can see why they caused problems for the emerging rabbinic Judaism. Keep in mind that these quotes are intended only to show the Jewish thinking of the time. They are not to be confused with a fuller Christian revelation of Christ. (In the case of a Scripture reference, you may want to read the Scripture in your own Bible to see where distinctions are being made.)
The first few quotes are from the Targums: (Caps for emphasis only.)
Genesis 3:8 - "And they heard the VOICE OF THE WORD OF THE LORD walking in the garden in the repose of the day ... "
Exodus 20:1 - "And THE WORD OF THE LORD SPAKE all the excellence of these words..."
Exodus 29:42 - "A perpetual holocaust for your generations at the door of the tabernacle of ordinance before the Lord; where I WILL APPOINT MY WORD to meet thee there ... (43) ... there I will APPOINT MY WORD to meet with the sons of Israel..."
Deut 4:24 - "For THE WORD OF THE LORD YOUR GOD is a consuming fire..."
Exodus 25:21 - "And thou shall put the mercy-seat above upon the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. (V22)) And I WILL APPOINT MY WORD WITH THEE THERE, and will speak with thee from above the mercy seat..."
These accord with John 1:1; "In the beginning was the Word..."
(It may be noted that the Targums were not rejected by the rabbis.)
But it is Philo who gives us a more exact description of what many of the Jews believed concerning the Word of God. Follow these quotes (Taken from 'The Works of Philio' translated by C. D. Yonge.):
"Now the image of God IS THE WORD [Logos], by which all the world was made ... " (Found in 'The Special Laws, I.)
"For God, like a shepherd and a king, governs (as if they were of flock of sheep) the earth, and the water, and the air, and the fire, and all the plants, and living creatures that are in them, whether mortal or divine ... APPOINTING AS THEIR IMMEDIATE SUPERINTENDENT... HIS OWN RIGHT REASON, his FIRSTBORN SON, who is to receive the charge of this sacred company ... " [On Husbandry.]
"For He called that divine and heavenly Wisdom by many names; and he made it manifest that it had many appellations; for He called it 'the Beginning,' and 'the Image,' and the 'Sight of God..." (Allegorical Interpretation)
A great many other examples could be drawn from the Targummim and from Philo, but this gives an idea of how God helped prepare the hearts of Jews for receiving Jesus Christ. It also shows why they worshipped Jesus as God.
But now we need to come to the Scriptures themselves. Listen carefully to these quotes:
"The Lord says to my Lord; 'Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.'" (Psalm 110:1 nasb)
"For to which of the angels did He ever say, 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You?' And again, 'I will be a Father to Him and He shall be a Son to Me'? And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, 'And let all the angels of God worship Him." (Hebrews 1:5,6)
Note: There are places were angels are called 'sons of God,' but at no time is any angel spoken of as being begotten of the Father. Thus no angel is ever called God. And in this Hebrew quote the Son is said not to be an angel.
Continue with Hebrews 1:8-12:
"But of the Son He says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your companions. And, 'You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands; they will perish, but You remain ... But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end.'"
Where it says "Your God has anointed you," this goes along with Psalm 110:1 which says, "The Lord says to my Lord: 'Sit at My right hand...'" The anointing is the Holy Spirit. In this case we see the Father anointing the Son with His own Spirit. Thus the Holy Spirit is noted in the Scriptures as the Spirit of the Father, and the Spirit of the Son.
Once again we have to wonder if the ancients believed that God had a Son. Surely they did. We have to let the evidence stand for itself. But neither should we look at this great mystery as a plurality of Gods. Paul says that Christ is the mystery of God that was hidden from past generations. In this mystery we see YHWH coming forth from YHWH. (Or the Son coming forth from the Father.)
Then we have this from Proverbs 30:4 - "Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His Son's name? Surely you know!"
Does any of this mean that there are two Almighty Gods? Certainly not. All this shows is that God has made Himself known by ways that are discernible to man. Yet He remains one God. We hear the apostle say that Christ is the Image of the invisible God.
Our problem is that we try to make an exact science in our theology, and if someone does not agree with us then they are anathema. The Bible clearly states that there are mysteries in God that can best be understood with the heart and not necessarily with the mind.
Here is one more quote from Philo that caused the rabbis to eventually reject his writings: "...the shadow of God is His Word [Logos], which He used like an instrument when He was making the world.." (Who is the Heir of Divine Things)
Does this accord with New Testament Scripture? Hebrews 2:3 says, "...in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, THROUGH WHOM ALSO HE MADE THE WORLD. And He [the Son] is the radiance of His [the Father's] glory and the exact representation of His [the Father's] nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power..."
And so Jesus Christ was Israel's God in person and in power. This is why Jesus said to the apostles, "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him and have seen Him." (John 14:7)
Do we see the Father in the Son? Absolutely. That is the only way you can meet the Father. John later wrote, "Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also." (1Jn2:23)
This concludes my part of the study for now. In this discussion we can consider how Jesus proved who He really was. Let's hear your thoughts.
Blessings,
Buddy
Lawrence E. (Buddy) Martin, HF Host
email: Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org
Web: http://www.christianchallenge.org/
"See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled." (Heb12:15)