1. Messianic Torah Apologetics Messianic Rabbi Bruce R. Booker

2. Apologetics Doesn’t mean that we “apologize” for what we believe!

3. 1 Peter 3:15 “…but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always {being} ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence…”

4. ἀπολογία - Strong's Number: 627 Transliterated Word Phonetic Spelling apologia ap-ol-og-ee'-ah Definition 1. verbal defense, speech in defense 2.a reasoned statement or argument

5. We need to be able to make an “Apologia” for the Hope that lies within us! With gentleness and reverence

6. We Need to be Able to Answer the Question: “Why do we believe what we believe?”

7. What we believe and why we believe must be based upon what the Scriptures say:

8. That’s the Rub… The reason why there is such diversity of understanding is that most often we read into the Scriptures what we want the Scriptures to say. When, in reality, we should study out the Scriptures from its own perspective!

9. 2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”

10. Rules of Scripture Interpretation How we interpret Scripture is known as Biblical Hermeneutics.

11. Herman WHO???

12. Hermeneutics “Hermeneutics is a science and art of interpreting the text of scripture.” [Dr. Milton Terry- Biblical Hermeneutics 1890]

13. Hermeneutics Hermeneutics (Hermeneutic means interpretive), is a branch of philosophy concerned with human understanding and the interpretation of texts.

14. Difference between Translation vs. interpretation

15. Name Derivation Name derived from a Greek word connected with the name of the god “Hermes,” (Mercury) the reputed messenger and interpreter of the gods.

16. Acts 14:11-13 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!“ Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.

17. Biblical Hermeneutics Determines how we interpret what the Bible is saying to us - Interpret: make clear – understandable Gives tools to ask intelligent questions about what the Biblical text says, rather than be deceived by what TV, a book, article, or person may say. To seek the Message that God intended: One Meaning; One Mind.

18. Principles of Interpretation It is not a hit or miss proposition. It is detailed, carefully spelled out. Both Jewish and Christian scholars have come to basic agreement on principles of interpretation – as far as methodology. The purpose of this course of study today is not to go through the principles of Hermeneutics. Not enough time.

19. Principles of Interpretation God’s Word was written by and to a people in another time and place in history, people with a different culture, customs, environment, language. So those people could understand God’s Word contains stories, poetry, literal and figurative language. God’s Word was written by “one mind”.

20. Hebraic Hermeneutics Studying the Scripture from a Hebraic perspective. In our previous Conference last year, I had gone through the differences between the Greek worldview and understanding of Scripture and the Hebraic (Biblical) worldview and understanding of Scripture.

21. Saw the Differences They are Significant!

22. Need to Realize: The Bible is a Hebraic Work To best understand the Bible, we need to approach it from the Hebraic perspective, since it IS a Hebraic book!

23. Exegesis… Theological Positions; Ideas Reading “out” (exe) of the Scriptures…

24. Like Prospecting… Taking gold out of the earth!

25. …Not Eisegesis Preconceived Theology; Ideas Reading “Into” (eise) the Scriptures!

26. The process of careful study of a biblical passage in relation to its historical setting; its setting in the overall collection that makes up the scriptures, specific questions of language and literary form, and how it has been understood by past interpreters, in order to provide a foundation for hearing what the passage may have to say to us today. Careful Study…

27. With Eisegesis We Can Make the Bible say ANYTHING We Want! And Judas went out and hanged himself… (Matthew 27:5) And Jesus said, “Go, do thou likewise.” (Luke 10:37) “And what thou doest, do thou quickly!” (John 13:27)

28. As Torah Submissive Believers in Yeshua, our Messiah and Lord We believe that the Torah IS applicable and pertinent to ALL Messianic believers: both Jewish and Non-Jewish!

29. Need to be able to make a “defense” to our brethren who believe otherwise!

30. We Need to Understand Where Others Are Coming From and Relate to them from the Biblical (Hebraic) Perspective! We need to be able to “cross the bridge” to reach out to them. Sha’ul did this with the Athenians at Mar’s Hill in Acts 17:16-31.

31. Sha’ul did not use a SINGLE Verse of Scripture to Them Because Scripture did not yet hold authority over them and their lives. He used their poets, philosophers and world- view to reach them!

32. Likewise, we must KNOW and RELATE To those who do not yet grasp our understanding from their OWN world-view and perspective. Then we bring them over the bridge to see ours. This DOESN’T mean that they will come across to our perspective!

33. That’s the Job of the Ruach haKodesh! Holy Spirit convicts of sin:

34. John 16:5-15 5 "But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, `Where are You going?' 6 "But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8 "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

35. John 16:5-15 12 "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 "He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. 15 "All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

36. Our Job is to Bear Witness His Job is to reveal it to those who see and hear our witness!

37. Having Said that Let’s take the MAJOR difference in Perspective between those of us who believe in the perpetuity of Torah and its application in the lives of believers.

38. That is the Torah Itself! Many Christians say that the Law was done away with by Jesus on the Cross and… …That Christians follow what is called the “law of Christ” and NOT the “Old Testament” Laws!

39. Important to Realize that the word “Torah” does NOT Mean “Law.” “Torah” literally means “teachings” or “instructions.” From the root word “Yawrah” meaning to throw or shoot, as an arrow. Teacher “shoots” or “throws” the instruction to the student.

40. Septuagint (LXX) – 70 rabbis – translated Torah into “nomos” which in the Greek means “law.” The Septuagint: is the Koine Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, translated in stages between the 3rd and 2nd century BCE in Alexandria. It was begun by the 3rd century BCE and completed before 132 BCE.

41. According to the record in the Talmud: 'King Ptolemy once gathered 72 Elders. He placed them in 72 chambers, each of them in a separate one, without revealing to them why they were summoned. He entered each one's room and said: "Write for me the Torah of Moshe, your teacher." God put it in the heart of each one to translate identically as all the others did.’

42. New Testament Writings Cite from the Septuagint! So when we read passages in the “New Testament” it often seems as though the “New Testament” is anti-Law (anti-Torah)! Especially the writings of the Apostle Sha’ul!

43. Is Sha’ul/Paul “Anti-Law”? “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:4 “But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.” Romans 7:6

44. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” Romans 8:2 “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Romans 10:4 “"For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.” Galatians 2:19 Is Sha’ul/Paul “Anti-Law”?

45. “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” Galatians 5:18 Is Sha’ul/Paul “Anti-Law”?

46. We Must Understand this: There was NO word group in the First Century Koine Greek (or for that matter First Century Hebrew) for the concepts of: – Legalism – Legalistic – Or Legalist

47. Sha’ul did NOT have a way to express these concepts in the Greek or Hebrew languages of the First Century!

48. The Greek of Paul's day lacked any term corresponding to the distinct position of "legalism", "legalist", or "legalistic", leading C.E.B. Cranfield to commend "the possibility that Pauline statements which at first sight seem to disparage the law, were really directed not against the law itself but against that misunderstanding and misuse of it for which we now have a convenient terminology" (legalism). Cranfield, C.E.B., The International Critical Commentary, Romans, 1979, p. 853.

49. Sha’ul Coined a Phrase “Hupo nomos” – “Under the Law”

50. David H. Stern Messianic Jewish Bible translator David H. Stern cited these two scholars to support the translation framework that often "'nomos' means 'legalism' and not God's Torah", especially in Paul's constructs erga nomou (literally "works of law", rendered by Stern "legalistic observance of Torah commands") and upo nomon (literally "under law", rendered by Stern by 13 words, "in subjection to the system which results from perverting the Torah into legalism").

51. David H. Stern Stern, David H., Jewish New Testament Commentary, 1992, pp. 535-8, 552-3, on Gal. 2:16b, 3:23b.

52. So the Question is: Was Sha’ul against the Torah of God, or the misuse of Torah as a system of works righteousness (legalism)? We have to look at his life!

53. What Does Sha’ul DO??? Look at the Book of Acts!

54. Sha’ul Kept the Nazirite Vow In Acts 18:18, Paul had his hair cut "for he was keeping a vow" - a Nazirite vow. Acts 21:17-22 This is a very holy and sacred Jewish vow of purity to separate yourself to God found in the Old Testament (Tanakh) Numbers 6.

55. He Observes the Biblical Sabbath Acts 13:14 But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

56. He observes the Biblical Shabbat Acts 16:13 - And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.

57. FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD In Acts 20:6 we are told that Sha’ul/Paul observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

58. He observes the Feast of Passover with his Corinthian Readers! 1 Corinthians 5:8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth

59. FEAST OF PENTECOST (FEAST OF FIRST FRUITS) Acts 20:16 he observed the Feast of Pentecost.

60. Feast of Tabernacles In Acts 18:21, Apostle Sha’ul/Paul, indicated that it was important to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Acts 18:21, I MUST BY ALL MEANS KEEP this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, God willing. The Feast of Tabernacles has been worked out by biblical scholars to be the most likely time when Yeshua was born

61. He observes the Feast of Yom Kippur Acts 27:9 - When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the fast was already over, Paul {began} to admonish them,

62. What About Colossians 2:16? Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day--

63. What About Romans 14:5, 6 One person regards one day above another, another regards every day {alike.} Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.

64. So What’s the REAL Problem with Sha’ul? Kefa (Peter) tells us in 2 Peter 3:14-16 – Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord {as} salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all {his} letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as {they do} also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

65. Nothing Wrong with Sha’ul Something Wrong with the Men who “twist” Sha’ul!