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When Heaven and Earth Passed Away: Everything Changed

5/14/2015

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Can Christians excuse themselves from obeying the Law of Moses? Jesus plainly said, “Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law” (Matthew 5:18). Surely that would mean all 613 commandments in the Pentateuch must be followed until some cataclysmic events take place. Or does it?

If we were still waiting for some cataclysmic event to happen before we were set free from obedience to the Mosaic Law, what would that practically mean for Christians today? It would have huge implications. If “heaven and earth” haven't passed away, we would have a backlog of Jubilee years to celebrate, “cities of refuge” to resurrect (which is a law requiring certain cities to protect sinners from people trying to vengefully hurt them), and bleeding lambs to burn on an altar. Forget Sunday. We would need to go back to the Sabbath rest on Saturday. And we would have to throw out our clothes that mix linen and cotton and kill our rebellious children. If you weren’t aware, the Law of Moses has some serious instructions.

So why don't Christians obey every letter of the Law if Jesus said it all applies “until heaven and earth pass away”?

It’s an important question to answer, and very few Christians have taken the time to address it. But before we start in forcing the law of Moses again, let’s make sure we understand what Jesus meant. The historical background is going to blow your mind. It will require you to put down your apocalyptic imaginations of meteors hitting earth and start seeing the world Jesus talked about.

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The Bible Is Not a Book: So how should you read it?

5/9/2015

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The Bible is not well-named. Why? The Bible is not a book.

Well, technically it has become a book. But it wasn't a book in the beginning.

What do I mean? The earliest name given to the Bible is “biblia”—a Greek word for multiple “books.” Christians and Jews called the Hebrew prophetic writings “biblia” (Daniel 9:2; 2 Clement 14:2) before either group decided on a complete set of sacred books to use. In the Fifth Century AD Christians applied the term to all the books in the Old and New Testaments. The name “biblia” accurately communicated the variety of books considered Holy Scripture. 

However, the plural name “biblia” changed over time into a singular term, translated into English as “the Bible.” That change has caused serious interpretation problems. Treating all the different books in the Bible like they communicate meaning in the same way is a category mistake.


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