Sh’ma
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Understanding Salvation
19 October 2013 ~ 15 Cheshvan 5774
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We have had a long ordeal with - “What is salvation?” and “How do we bring someone into the Kingdom?” etc....
In christianity we did what Rav Nolan calls “front-loading the Bible”... “just say this prayer and that is all you have to do....”
And since we have been studying Hebrew roots of our faith.... we have had a lot of questions...
So here goes....
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Yochanan 4:22 cjb p 1334
“You people don’t know what you are worshipping; we worship what we do know, because salvation comes from the Jews.”
What do you think Y’shua meant when he said,
"... salvation comes from the Jews?"
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What did Sha’ul mean when he said, "... all Israel will be saved?"
Romans 11:25-27 cjb p 1415
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And finally, what did Mattityahu (Matthew) mean when he told us that we were to call Him Y’shua; for He shall save His people from their sins.
Mattityahu 1:21 cjb p 1224 “She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Y’shua [which means ‘YHWH saves’] because he will save his people from their sins.”
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Brad Scott wrote...(talking about witnessing when he was a christian...)
“Many times we would do our dutiful visitation and use that word a lot. "Are you saved?" That was quite popular. "Do you want to be saved?" This was the phrase that we longed to say all evening. It worked quite well, as a matter of fact. More than half the people we talked to certainly wanted to be saved. The majority of the people that we "led to the Lord" we never heard from again, but we left feeling good that they were "saved." I would imagine that if you asked most people who claimed to be Christians if they were saved, they would probably admit it. The problem with most Christians is you have to ask them!”
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Scott says that the typical interpretation of what those first three verses ( Yochanan 4:22, Romans 11:25-27, and Mattityahu 1:21) are talking about is...
“To the modern Christian, salvation is proclaiming out loud that Jesus is the Christ, confessing that you are a sinner and wearing a WWJD band around your wrist.”
But true salvation is a concept that is assumed in the New Testament.
The language that is used in the New Testament is brought from its understood use in the Tanakh.
When Mattityahu said that He would save us from our sins, the audience is not told what "save" means or what "sin" means.
Why?
Because there are 39 books, (or 24 books or 22 books, depending on which translation you are reading,) that have fully explained what these two words mean.
So let us go back to the New Testament dictionary (i.e. Tanakh) to gain an understanding of the fullness of this very important word.
The root of the word salvation is yasha`, or save. As we have said before, nearly all Hebrew nouns have verbal roots which set the foundation for all the cognates. The words save, deliver, preserve, and help are how this word is usually translated. The word yasha` literally means to open, or to be wide. You will see the application of this as we go.
The word yeshua' contains three consonants which form the word. These consonants are the yod (י), the shin (ש), and the ayin (ע). Each of these letters has a primitive form and a primitive meaning behind each one.
The primitive forms are not in use today. They formed the basis for the early round script which eventually became the modern more "square" look. The early form of the yod looked like a hand, and it's meaning was a deed or action.
The early form of the shin was teeth, and it's meaning was to consume or destroy.
The early form of the ayin was an eye, and it's meaning was to cast your eyes or to look upon. To the Torah observant early Hebrews, this order of the letters helped to form their understanding of the meaning of the whole word.”
Sooo......
Brad Scott says....“To be saved was to begin with an action or deed, a rescue followed by a destroying of the thing you were rescued from, ultimately concluded by a devotion, or casting your eyes upon, that which delivered you.”
This is very important to grasp....
- an action or a deed - “I don’t want to live like this... repentance and teshuvah (returning to YHWH.)
- what i am rescued from is destroyed in me...
- my eyes focus on the ONE who saved me - Y’shua/ YHWH
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So, let's go to the first occurrence of the word save.
Shemot (Exodus) 2:16-17 cjb p 61
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Shemot 14:13-14, 27-31
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Brad Scott says...
Salvation has traditionally been taught to be synonymous with the "new birth".
= This is not true.
When traditional evangelicals ask you if you are saved, they mean are you born again.
= So, if one answers in the affirmative, that means that salvation has come to that person.
This is a dreadfully disastrous mistake.
The Scriptures do not teach this concept at all.
“The scriptural definition of salvation in no way implies an instantaneous one time event.”
“Modern Christian thinking is content with being rescued, and is satisfied that the enemy was destroyed when the rescue took place, and that dedication to the Savior is found in occasionally thanking the rescuer. “
--This kind of conclusion comes from the usual way new believers are brought into the fold.
= They are taught a backwards interpretation.
.....New Testament concepts are taught first. Then we go to the Old Testament to find some stories that will illustrate the New Testament teaching.
This leads to erroneous conclusions, -- because the New Testament can not validate itself.
Historically, the followers of Y’shua did not simply accept whatever new teaching they heard.
They tested what they heard against what YHWH had already revealed to Israel and in the thousand years that followed (Acts 17:11 cjb p 1385).
“ Interpreting the Scriptures backwards produces a message, a teaching, that is backwards. This universal concept was established in the beginning: like kind produces like kind. “
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.... Sooo it is very important we understand what salvation is....
So let’s go back to last week’s Shabbat teaching...
(I uses a lot of Rav Mattityahu Nolan’s work in this ....)
We talked about.... the 3 Hebrew words we need to understand...
- Ativ Lavo = millennium = 1000 year ==
- Malchut HaShaymim = Kingdom of YHWH...
We must understand - that the Ativ Lavo and the Malchut HaShaymim are the same thing.... = the 1000 year Millennium reign AND also the Kingdom of Heaven ... / Kingdom of YHWH!!
- Olam Habba = “heaven = what we have been commonly taught is “heaven” in religion..... it is eternity.
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SALVATION ... from the perspective of the Olam habba - “heaven” or eternity.
How do you “GET SAVED” into heaven or eternity = the Olam Habba?
Ephesians 2:4-10 cjb p 1460
(Orthodox Jewish Bible .. p 1058)
“Ephesians 2: 7-9 “In order that, in the Olam HaBah, He might display the surpassing osher of the Chen v’Chesed toward us in Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua. 8 For by unmerited Chen v’Chesed Hashem you have been delivered from HaShem’s mishpat (Judgment) and granted a share in the Geulah (Redemption), through emunah; and this is not [an einfal (intuitive idea) of yourselves, it is a matnat Hashem (gift of G-d)”....
- There is nothing attached to being saved into the Olam haBah....
- There is nothing you can do to deserve it...
- this is very important to understand.. if i give a child a gift... i don’t then tell that child he has to do something b/c i gave him a gift!
- It is a gift.
- and it is free , free, free, free.
Titus 3:5 cjb p 1491
“.. He delivered us. It was not on the ground of any righteous deeds we had done, but on the ground of his own mercy. He did it by means of the mikvah of rebirth and the renewal brought about the by the Ruach HaKodesh,”
- not by works!
How do i get into the Olam Habba / or eternity?? = not by works for righteousness, but according to MERCY.
We just said we get saved into the Olam Habba - eternity, by Mercy ... Teshuvah - repentance and returning to HIS Word/ Torah.
**
Let’s pause and consider some things...
- “Front loading the Gospel”
(= Christianity’s way of “getting people saved”)
- Get saved ... by mercy alone!!
Salvation is a free gift. You don’t have to do anything ...it is just free free free free....
This is called = “Front Loading the Gospel”.
Is this true?
Yes it is....there are scripture verses that teach us that salvation is a free gift....
Ephesians 2:8-9 cjb p 1460
Romans 3:24 cjb p 1405
Romans 10:9-11 cjb p 1413
It is true that salvation into the Olam Habba - “heaven” - eternity....
...... is a free gift...
Rav Nolan went on to say.....
BUT we have never been taught about salvation from a Hebraic perspective...
This is true... BUT....
Salvation into eternity - heaven - is a free gift... that is forever and ever... no works attached... it is simply EMUNAH = FAITH.
There is a dispute between Calvinism - which teaches that salvation is by faith.... and Armenism - which teaches that salvation is by works...
This is why Martin Luther couldn’t stand the book of Ya’akov/ Jacob... known in christianity as the book of James... because James teaches that you are saved by works...
Ya’Akov - (the whole book! ) - teaches salvation by works......
... let’s start with:
Ya’Akov 2: 17 cjb p 1511
“Thus, faith by itself, unaccompanied by actions, is dead.”
The popular English translation would be “Faith without works is dead.”
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BUT - wait... we understood that there is salvation into eternity - by faith and NO works.... there are verses that say that....
BUT what if... there are two different things here we are dealing with...
What if we are talking about the olam habba - which is eternity...
and a separate thing - the Malchut HaShaymim - the Ativ Lavo... the 1000 year millennial reign.... that is ultimately before eternity “starts” so to speak.???
Rav Nolan says---- salvation into the 1,000 year millennium - the Malchut HaShaymim.... the Ativ Lavo.....
is by faith AND WORKS....... not about faith without works......
Wow... this is shocking.... and doesn’t seem correct...
but lets explore this....
***
We will talk about why Rav Nolan would say this... but let’s look at what the Word says ....
Hetgulat / Revelation 20: 1- 15 cjb p 1553
It seems pretty clear to me that those who were martyred come to life and rule and reign with Messiah.... and the others do not.
So this seems like the teaching that the Malchut HaShaymim ... what you get into by works is not correct.
Maybe i don’t understand enough... and he is right... but at this point it doesn’t look like it to me. I hope to understand more....
Although you could say that someone who is martyred HAS done amazing works of standing for faith...
2 Corinthians 5:8-10 cjb p 1444
Orthodox Jewish Bible 2 Corinthians 5:8-10 p 1043
“Therefore we have bitachon and are pleased rather to leave home from the basar and to be at home with Adoneinu. 9 Therefore, also we are aspiring , weather at home, or away from home, to be well pleasing to Hashem, 10 Since it is necessary for all of us to be revealed / laid bare for an appearance before the Kisse Din (Judgment Throne, i.e., Moshiach’s Bet Din) of Moshiach , in order that each one of us [individually] may receive recompense for the things done in the basar, according to his ma’asim, whether tov or rah.”
Rav Nolan asks.....Is this a promise given to believers who are about WORKS....?
this is not a promise to “faith -only” believers.
This is about understanding there are works to do.
These people see that there is more than just repenting....
....that it is about LIVING your faith....
so this is a promise given to believers who have faith - but understand they do works to please YHWH.
**
Rav Nolan says... “What if... the kingdom perspective is about .... the hope of reward and the fear of punishment??”
How else do you look at scripture that talks about works??
We can get all upset ... b/c based on what we were taught... this is crazy.... but look at the verses we read and others about rewards.... clearly we all get judged and clearly we all get our works judged... I Corin 3..... they either burn up or not...
we will escape with our life... but some of us will be rewarded for our works and others of us won’t have any reward...
This isn’t just warm cocoa .... it is not comfortable...
You might say... “But janet, i wasn’t taught this...”
and i will say...
BUT it is in the Word.
but no panic.... let’s study some more....
*
Let’s consider the Hebrew word for “Saved”... because we will discover that “SAVED is not what we have been taught.”
The Hebrew word for SAVED ===
(Please keep in mind that i am spelling them based on how they sound and this could be incorrect)
lashar = saved, salvation, to have an avengement, salvation, defend, rescue
bildah = beside, saved, without, not in me
zulah =
biltay = to accept, to be saved, nothing, from
payah =
malat =
laham =
Y’shua = YHWH is salvation
Rav Nolan says... “talk about how we have dumbed this down.....
There are even more Hebrew words for saved...
It has been dumbed down so much...
I’am saved.......What does that mean??
“and there are many more words that are translated “saved” into the English.... and we just take the cream off the top and say we are good... wit a little answer....
What if there is so much more than the part we grew up knowing??
What are we saved from?
and
What are we saved into??
Philippians 2:12 cjb p “keep working out your deliverance with fear and trembling....”
I Corin 3:11-15 cjb p 1425
Hitgalut /Revelation 20:11-15 cjb p 1553
Rav Nolan says...vs 15 “by deduction, tells us that there were some who were in death and hell were found written in the book of life.”
*
In this scripture... persons while they had eternal life... were in death and shoal....and the sea - after they died before the judgment.
Nolan believes that there were people whose names were found in the book of life - who came from these three places - death , shoel, and the sea....
What is and will be really important to understanding this - and maybe this is what Rav Nolan has and we don’t yet know....
what is death, and what is shoal and is the “sea” more than just the waters....??
We can talk about how in the story of Lazeraus and the rich man... who are separated by a chasm after death, and the rich man wants Lazeraus to come with a drop of water on his finger to cool his tongue....but the chasm can not be crossed....
What i understand of that is they are in shoal - and one side - Lazeraus’ side... is Abraham’s Bosom and the other is hades... a miserable place....
If this is right - we can read vs 15 knowing that the “believers” were in Abraham’s Bosom... and all get judged... But what Rav Nolan teaches is... that there is punishment and some of the people punished actually have eternal life...
Rav Nolan uses many parables of servants to demonstrate this...
But let’s read....
Hitgalut / Revelation 20 cjb p 1553
So what if....
there is salvation into eternity -that is a free gift...
which would fit with what we have been learning.... that the people who don’t get Torah... can still be saved....
Just like in Mattityahu 5 - where the ones who teach not to keep Torah are the least in the Kingdom of Heaven....
But what if there is more...
Actually according to the Word - there IS more...
walking in Torah - works.....
multiple times the Word talks about our works being judged.... and us being rewarded or Not.
**
We know that more and more people are starting to understand truth....
and are coming to an understanding that we have certain ways to live - keeping YHWH’s instructions...
and the ways/ instructions YHWH asks us to walk in are righteous....
and he calls us to DO them....
*
Brad Scott says...
“Salvation has traditionally been taught to be synonymous with the "new birth".
This is not true.
When traditional evangelicals ask you if you are saved, they mean are you born again.
So, if one answers in the affirmative, that means that salvation has come to that person.
This is a dreadfully disastrous mistake.
The Scriptures do not teach this concept at all.
The scriptural definition of salvation in no way implies an instantaneous one time event.
As I stated before, the context of salvation begins with rescue, then the destroying of the enemy, and finally with dedication to the one who saved.
Modern Christian thinking is content with being rescued,
and is satisfied that the enemy was destroyed when the rescue took place,
and that dedication to the Savior is found in occasionally thanking the rescuer.
This kind of conclusion comes from the usual way new believers are brought into the fold.
=They are taught a backwards interpretation.
.....New Testament concepts are taught first.
Then we go to the Old Testament to find some stories that will illustrate the New Testament teaching.
This leads to erroneous conclusions, for the New Testament can not validate itself.
Historically, the followers of Y’shua did not simply accept whatever new teaching they heard.
They tested what they heard against what YHVH had already revealed to Israel and in the thousand years that followed (Acts 17:11).
Logically, they could not have tested the established revelation, which they new to be true, by a new revelation which they did not know to be true.
The Law, the Writings, and the Prophets were accepted, acknowledged, and established as God's Truth.
Scripturally, YHVH had commanded, and Y’shua affirmed, that a new teaching or claim of Messiahship be tested against what YHVH had already revealed.
The new had to be measured by the Truth, not the other way around.
Interpreting the Scriptures backwards produces a message, a teaching, that is backwards. This universal concept was established in the beginning: like kind produces like kind.”
Mattityahu 7:21-23 cjb p 1231
This is often misunderstood... This is not about salvation into eternity.... but rather, it is talking to the people who have gifts of the Ruach, but do not have the fruit.....(the intimate relationship of the “knew” in “I never knew you” in verse 23..).
“knew” = intimate knowing
“lawlessness” = Torah less ness
So this is not about salvation into eternity - but about people / “believers” having gifts or the Ruach, but not having the relationship that is deep enough to know they are called to keep Torah....
*
So perhaps Rav Nolan is right and the way to get into the Malchut HaShaymiem - is by works... but as i understand..
There are many scriptures that are about works... and rewards for the works...
I Corin 3:8-15 cjb p 1425 is pretty clear on this....
So we have salvation into eternity by FAITH ALONE... and that is a FREE GIFT...
but we are called to do works..... not in a striving way... but to follow his instructions... because we love him....
*
So what i know is... I am saved into eternity - the olam habba.... because i choose to love and serve YHWH... and i have repented and returned - done teshuvah.....
and continue to do that ....
It is a free gift - that i can ask for... but there is nothing i can do to deserve it.... it is just by MERCY... not getting what i deserve, and GRACE ... getting what i don’t deserve.
I know i don’t understand much....
but i also know - i am not going to panic and i am not going to get upset and i am not going to be concerned about locations and if i rule and reign in the 1000 year millennium or not...(even though i desire those things)
BUT i am going to be concerned about following YHWH’s instructions / Torah ... because i love Him and desire to serve and honor Him....
i have repented / done teshuvah - returned to YHWH... and He is destroying the pagan-ness in my life and i am doing my best to keep His instructions... DOING His Word.
I am doing what i understand.... and I will continue to learn and as i learn i will continue to be obedient...
Yochanan 14: 21-24 cjb p 1350
Keep His commands/ instructions... because we love Him.
...We are to Sh’ma - hear and do - keep YHWH’s instructions...
We all will stand at the throne of judgment.... and HE will judge us...
May we live - in love and reverential awe/ fear of HIM....
so that when we stand there..... He finds us to be His servants ....
may our works not burn up as wood hay or stubble.... but may we have the rewards .... and
may we be found tov and we hear our Master say......
.....as in Mattityahu 25:23 cjb p 1256
“Excellent! You are a good and trustworthy servant... you have been faithful with a small amount, so i will put you in charge of a large amount. Come and join in your Master’s happiness.”
Sh’ma Isra’el....
Amein....
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