Tag: law
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When reading through the Gospel accounts a reader is confronted with stories of other Jewish leaders (Pharisees and teachers of the law) challenging Jesus directly on his interpretation of Sabbath. Their challenge was that Jesus permitted His disciples, or performed Himself, actions they regarded as unlawful labor on the Sabbath. Unfortunately, nearly two thousand years…
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For many readers, Paul’s phrase “works of the law” sounds like a general warning against trying to earn salvation by works. That concern is certainly biblical: no sinner can stand righteous before God by moral achievement (Rom 3:23–24; Eph 2:8–9; Titus 3:5). Yet when we read Paul in his first-century Jewish context, the phrase “works…
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What is the Problem? The Law, or Torah, is often disregarded in modern Christian thought. Many believers assume the Torah is incomplete, harsh, legalistic, or unable to reveal God’s true heart. Some even speak as though Jesus came to save us from the Law. But if that is true, what exactly was wrong with it?…
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The book of Hebrews can be one of the more difficult books in the New Testament to read for us in the 21st century, largely because modern readers often approach it without considering its first-century Jewish context. Questions about the author, audience, date, and historical setting all shape how the letter should be understood. When…
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Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 3 are often misunderstood as if he were contrasting a failed Torah with a successful Messiah. But Paul is doing something far more rooted in the story of Israel. He is interpreting Exodus 32–34—the sin of the golden calf, the breaking and renewal of the covenant, and Moses’ radiant face—and…
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The Not So “Silent Years” When we open the pages of the New Testament, we step into a world already in motion—a world shaped by centuries of history, struggle, faithfulness, and expectation. That world is what scholars call the Second Temple Period, and without understanding it, many parts of Scripture can feel disconnected or confusing.…
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Replacement theology—also called supersessionism in academic circles—is the belief that the Church has replaced Israel in God’s covenant plan. According to this view, the promises God made to the Jewish people in the Hebrew Scriptures are no longer directed toward them as a people. Instead, the Church is believed to have inherited those promises in…
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Romans 9–11 is one of the most important sections of the New Testament and also one of the most misunderstood. Many readers approach these chapters assuming Paul is explaining why the Church replaced Israel or why God rejected the Jewish people. But if we follow Paul’s argument carefully, we see that he is answering a…
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Replacement theology proposes that the coming of Messiah resulted in the Torah becoming obsolete and that the church replaced Israel as the covenant people of God. While this interpretation became influential in later Christian theology, the biblical narrative itself contains many themes and passages that challenge this conclusion. From the Torah and the Prophets to…
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Scriptures Often Used to Argue That the Torah or Jewish People Were Replaced Throughout church history, certain New Testament passages have been interpreted to suggest that the Torah is no longer relevant or that the Jewish people have lost their covenantal role in God’s purposes. The following verses and themes are often treated as foundational…