Talmidim Korach

Talmidim Korach

Acts 14:1-16:15

Act 14:1 It happened in Iconium that they entered together into the Jewish synagogue, and so spoke that a great multitude both of Jews and of Greeks believed.

Act 14:2  But the disbelieving Jews stirred up and embittered the souls of the Gentiles against the brothers.

Act 14:3  Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in Adonai, who testified to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

Act 14:4  But the multitude of the city was divided. Part sided with the [unbelieving] Jews, and part with the emissaries.

Act 14:5  When some of both the Goyim and the [unbelieving] Jews, with their rulers, made a violent attempt to mistreat and stone them,

Act 14:6  they became aware of it, and fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra, Derbe, and the surrounding region.

Act 14:7  There they preached the Good News.

Act 14:8  At Lystra a certain man sat, impotent in his feet, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked.

Act 14:9  He was listening to Sha’ul speaking, who, fastening eyes on him, and seeing that he had faith to be made whole,

Act 14:10  said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet!” He leaped up and walked.

Act 14:11  When the multitude saw what Sha’ul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the language of Lycaonia, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!”

Act 14:12  They called Bar-Nabba “Jupiter,” and Sha’ul “Mercury,” because he was the chief speaker.

Didn’t stop speaking might be more like it.

Acts, continued:

Act 14:13  The Priest of Jupiter, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and would have made a sacrifice along with the multitudes.

Act 14:14  But when the emissaries, Bar-Nabba and Sha’ul, heard of it, they tore their clothes, and sprang into the multitude, crying out,

Act 14:15  “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to the living Elohim, who made the sky and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them;

Act 14:16  who in the generations gone by allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways.

Act 14:17  Yet he didn’t leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”

Act 14:18  Even saying these things, they hardly stopped the multitudes from making a sacrifice to them.

This is a foretaste of what will happen when the False Messiah appears – except when he does signs and wonders and the people aclaim him as a god, he will not disuade them at all.  In fact, he will begin to persecute anyone who retains their faith in the real YHWH Tzeva’ot, Elohim of Israel.

Acts, continued:

Act 14:19  But some [unbelieving] Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there, and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Sha’ul, and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.

Act 14:20  But as the talmidim stood around him, he rose up, and entered into the city. On the next day he went out with Bar-Nabba to Derbe.

Act 14:21  When they had preached the Good News to that city, and had made many talmidim, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch,

Act 14:22  confirming the souls of the talmidim, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many afflictions we must enter into the Kingdom of Elohim.

Act 14:23  When they had appointed elders for them in every assembly, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to Adonai, on whom they had believed.

Act 14:24  They passed through Pisidia, and came to Pamphylia.

Act 14:25  When they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.

Act 14:26  From there they sailed to Antioch, from where they had been committed to the grace of Elohim for the work which they had fulfilled.

Act 14:27  When they had arrived, and had gathered the assembly together, they reported all the things that Elohim had done with them, and that he had opened a door of faith to the nations.

Act 14:28  They stayed there with the talmidim for a long time.

Act 15:1 Some men came down from Yehudah and taught the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised after the custom of Moshe, you can’t be saved.”

The key word here is “custom,” and the “some men” were Pharisee Believers who would not give up their Oral Law, which insists that gentiles are unclean and not fit to enter a synagoge to worship or learn Torah or socialize with anyone unless they were circumcised first.  This was in opposition to the teaching of the Sadducees, which was the method being used by the apostles – namely, that a gentile had to read and learn Torah for a full Torah Cycle (1-3 years, minimum), learning, as Yeshua said, to “count the cost,” and only at the END of the process were they offered the chance to be circumcised and be part of the covenant kiddush of Passover.  (Recall, no uncircumcised person may, by YHWH’s direct written command, participate in Pesach.  No uncircumsised person could have been in the Upper Room with Yeshua, or at any Passover Seder where His covenant Kiddush was re-enacted every year.)

So the issue was never IF a man had to be circumcised, because every man, native born or bought into the House of Abraham, is required per the written Torah (Genesis 17) to be circumcised.  The question was WHEN.  And here the Pharisees stuck like glue to their Oral Law and refused to submit to the apostles methodology.  In fact, they went around behind Paul and the apostles everywhere they went and teaching this tradition, even after being told not to.  Like Korach, they refuse to give up their self-appointed positions of authority.  Their arrogance leads them to elevate the things they made up themselves to being equal with Elohim’s real Torah – and it’s just not true.  But they won’t admit that, and they won’t submit.

Acts, continued:

Act 15:2  Therefore when Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba had no small discord and discussion with them, they appointed Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba, and some others of them, to go up to Yerushalayim to the emissaries and elders about this question.

Act 15:3  They, being sent on their way by the assembly, passed through both Phoenicia and Shomron, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles. They caused great joy to all the brothers.

Act 15:4  When they had come to Yerushalayim, they were received by the assembly and the emissaries and the elders, and they reported all things that God had done with them.

Act 15:5  But some of the sect of the Perushim who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to charge them to keep the Torah of Moshe.”

Here those who translated the original Hebrew texts into Greek may have taken some liberty with their translation, because as we saw above, the issue was never Elohim’s written Torah, which is eternal and commanded to us for all time, but rather the issue was the Pharisees interpretation of it in their Oral Law.

Acts, continued:

Act 15:6  The emissaries and the elders were gathered together to see about this matter.

Act 15:7  When there had been much discussion, Kefa rose up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that a good while ago Elohim made a choice among you, that by my mouth the nations should hear the word of the Good News, and believe.

Act 15:8  Elohim, who knows the heart, testified about them, giving them the Ruach HaKodesh, just like he did to us.

Act 15:9  He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.

Act 15:10  Now therefore why do you tempt Elohim, that you should put a yoke on the neck of the talmidim which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

Act 15:11  But we believe that we are saved through the grace of Adonai Yeshua, just as they are.”

Now, this is important to notice – the Oral Law is, very much, impossible to bear.  It regulates everything from how you put your shoes on in the morning to how you cover yourself when you sleep at night.  There is no rest from the Rabbinate’s burdens.  But Elohim’s written Torah, as Yeshua Himself as YHWH Incarnate tells us, is NOT burdensome.

Deu 30:11  For this mitzvah which I command you this day, it is not too hard for you, neither is it far off.   Deu 30:12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?   Deu 30:13  Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?   Deu 30:14  But the word is very near to you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it.   Deu 30:15  Behold, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil…

And the apostles agree, we are very much able to do Elohim’s written Torah.

1Jo 5:3  For this is the love of Elohim, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous.   1Jo 5:4  For whatever is born of Elohim overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith.

Grace is not license for sin (Romans 6).  Sin is, by definition, the Transgression of the Torah (I John 3).  Ergo, grace is not license for transgressing the Torah.  We MUST NOT continue living in sin.  That means we MUST obey Elohim – we do NOT, however, have to obey any human teacher, especially one whose teachings are in violation of Elohim’s revealed will.

Acts, continued:

Act 15:12  All the multitude kept silence, and they listened to Bar-Nabba and Sha’ul reporting what signs and wonders Elohim had done among the nations through them.

Act 15:13  After they were silent, Ya`akov answered, “Brothers, listen to me.

Act 15:14  Shim`on has reported how Elohim first visited the nations, to take out of them a people for his name.

Act 15:15  This agrees with the words of the prophets. As it is written,

Act 15:16  ‘After these things I will return. I will again build the tent of David, which has fallen. I will again build its ruins. I will set it up,

Act 15:17  That the rest of men may seek after Adonai; All the Gentiles who are called by my name, Says Adonai, who does all these things.

Act 15:18  All his works are known to Elohim from eternity.’

So the purpose of raising David’s fallen tent – that is, re-establishing the Kingdom – is for the Gentiles may seek after Adonai.  The Prophets tell us how a gentile may do this – these are the words of Yeshua, as YHWH Incarnate, to Isaiah:

Isa 56:1 Thus says YHWH, Keep you justice, and do righteousness; for my yeshu`ah is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.   Isa 56:2  Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the Shabbat from profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.   Isa 56:3  Neither let the foreigner, who has joined himself to YHWH, speak, saying, YHWH will surely separate me from his people…   Isa 56:6  Also the foreigners who join themselves to YHWH, to minister to him, and to love the name of YHWH, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Shabbat from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant;   Isa 56:7  even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

This is how David’s tent is raised and the Gentiles seek after Elohim – by learning Torah.  But a person is, truly, better off never committing to Elohim at all than he is if he commits and then figures out there are things in the Torah he is not willing to obey.  That’s the honest truth.  The Pharisees method was unacceptable to Yeshua, who wanted his followers to “count the cost.”  They needed to participate in worship, and fellowship with other believers, and observe the moedim (except Passover) with the congregation while learning Torah, and only at the end choose whether or not to be adopted into the Household of Abraham and the House of Israel by being circumcised and partaking of the Covenant Kiddush Yeshua established at Passover.

Acts, continued:

Act 15:19  “Therefore my judgment is that we don’t trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to Elohim,

Act 15:20  but that we write to them that they abstain from the pollution of idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood.

Act 15:21  For Moshe from generations of old has in every city those who preach him, being read in the synagogues every Shabbat.”

As we see clearly from verse 21, these are the minimum requirements for fellowshipping and learning with the congregation, WHILE they hear Torah read every week in the synagogue.  There is an article on the sidebar of the homepage of this blog which discusses these passages of Acts in linguistic and translational detail, for your reference.  The intent of the apostle’s message was to twart the Pharisees method of conversion, NOT to invalidate Elohim’s written Torah.  The minimum requirements for fellowship is where a new believer STARTS their adoption, not where they end it.  It ends with a decision – either choose to be circumsised and partake in the Covenant Kiddush of Passover, or choose to remain a god-fearer without being adopted into the House of Israel and committing to Torah.

This is hard for modern Christians to understand, but god-fearers were considered as “Righteous Gentiles” and in Hebraic theology, Rightous Gentiles have a place in the Olam Haba (the world to come).  They do not get to participate in the Parousia – so they miss the Messianic Kingdom, obviously.  But they don’t “go to hell,” they are resurrected to life in the New Heavens and the New Earth.

It is the lack of understanding of this aspect of Hebraic thought which makes it difficult for modern Christians to understand why prosthelytes would be given a choice at the end of the Torah cycle.  Christians often teach that everyone raised up at the Great White Throne Judgement is thrown into the lake of fire, but that is not substantiated at all by scripture or by Hebraic Theology.  Rather, they are judged by their works, period.  At the Great White Throne, Righteous Gentiles (those who were god-fearers, or were righteous people who lived in times or places prior to Messiah or prior to Torah or who never had an opportunity to be saved) DO enter the Olam Haba.  Elohim does not fry people who never reached the age of accountability, or good people who never heard of Messiah or Torah.   It’s a sick perversion to claim otherwise.

Acts, continued:

Act 15:22  Then it seemed good to the emissaries and the elders, with the whole assembly, to choose men out of their company, and send them to Antioch with Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba: Yehudah called Bar-Sabba, and Sila, chief men among the brothers.

Act 15:23  They wrote these things by their hand: “The emissaries, the elders, and the brothers, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: greetings.

Act 15:24  Because we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, ‘You must be circumcised [by the Pharisee methodology] and keep the [Oral] Torah,’ to whom we gave no mitzvah;

Act 15:25  it seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose out men and send them to you with our beloved Bar-Nabba and Sha’ul,

Act 15:26  men who have risked their lives for the name of Adonai Yeshua the Messiah.

Act 15:27  We have sent therefore Yehudah and Sila, who themselves will also tell you the same things by word of mouth.

Act 15:28  For it seemed good to the Ruach HaKodesh, and to us, to lay no greater burden on you than these necessary things [to fellowship with us]:

Act 15:29  that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality, from which if you keep yourselves, it will be well with you. Farewell.”

Act 15:30  So, when they were sent off, they came to Antioch. Having gathered the multitude together, they delivered the letter.

Act 15:31  When they had read it, they rejoiced over the encouragement.

Act 15:32  Yehudah and Sila, also being prophets themselves, encouraged the brothers with many words, and strengthened them.

Act 15:33  After they had spent some time there, they were sent back with greetings from the brothers to the emissaries.

Act 15:34  OMITTED TEXT

This verse does not appear in the earliest manuscripts. It is apparently a gloss by a later redactor, who simply wanted to make clear what Paul was doing.  It reads:  “Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still.”

Acts, continued:

Act 15:35  But Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba stayed in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of Adonai, with many others also.

Act 15:36  After some days Sha’ul said to Bar-Nabba, “Let’s return now and visit our brothers in every city in which we proclaimed the word of Adonai, to see how they are doing.”

Part of the issue above when the Jerusalem Council said, “They can hear Moshe every week at synagogue” was the question of how long an apostle needed to stay with a fledgling congregation.  Did he need to stay for the entire Torah Cycle and teach it himself?  The answer to that was apparently “no,” because doing so would have meant an apostle would need to stay with a new congregation over up to 2 years (for towns using the annual reading cycle) or as much as 4 years (for those on the tri-ennial cycle).  It was simpy too long for them to stay in one place.  There were too many towns and cities to visit and not enough fully trained apostles.  And the basic teachings of the written Torah are the same everywhere.  All a person had to do was listen, learn, and implement it in their lives.  It didn’t require the apostle’s presence to do this, and if they had any questions regarding interpretations or traditions they could always write and ask!

Acts, continued:

Act 15:37  Bar-Nabba planned to take Yochanan, who was called Mark, with them also.

Act 15:38  But Sha’ul didn’t think that it was a good idea to take with them someone who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia, and didn’t go with them to do the work.

Act 15:39  Then the contention grew so sharp that they separated from each other. Bar-Nabba took Mark with him, and sailed away to Cyprus,

Act 15:40  but Sha’ul chose Sila, and went out, being commended by the brothers to the grace of God.

Act 15:41  He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the assemblies.

You’ll notice that sharp disagreements can arise among believers and nobody was yelling that the other person wasn’t saved if they didn’t agree.  Neither should we.  We answer to one judge alone – Yeshua HaMashiach.

Acts, continued:

Act 16:1 He came to Derbe and Lystra: and behold, a certain talmid was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewess who believed; but his father was a Greek.

Act 16:2  The brothers who were at Lystra and Iconium gave a good testimony about him.

Act 16:3  Sha’ul wanted to have him go out with him, and he took and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts; for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

Unlike Titus, a gentile who needed to go through an entire Torah cycle first, Timothy was a Jew by birth and already knew the Torah.  Therefore he needed to be circumcised right away, to show he was an Obedient Believer.

Acts, continued:

Act 16:4  As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered the decrees to them to keep which had been ordained by the emissaries and elders who were at Yerushalayim.

Act 16:5  So the assemblies were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.

Act 16:6  When they had gone through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, they were forbidden by the Ruach HaKodesh to speak the word in Asia.

Act 16:7  When they had come opposite Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit didn’t allow them.

Act 16:8  Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.

Act 16:9  A vision appeared to Sha’ul in the night. There was a man of Macedonia standing, begging him, and saying, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.”

Act 16:10  When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go out to Macedonia, concluding that Adonai had called us to preach the Good News to them.

Act 16:11  Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis;

Act 16:12  and from there to Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the foremost of the district, a Roman colony. We were staying some days in this city.

Act 16:13  On the day of Shabbat we went forth outside of the city by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down, and spoke to the women who had come together.

Act 16:14  A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped Elohim, heard us; whose heart Adonai opened to listen to the things which were spoken by Sha’ul.

Act 16:15  When she and her household were immersed, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to Adonai, come into my house, and stay.” So she persuaded us.

The Gentiles that the apostles normally spoke to and taught about Messiah were god-fearers or prosthelytes of Judaism, as the books of Acts shows over and over again.  They meet in the synagogues, they hear about Messiah in the synagogues, and even though they are cast out of the synagogues later for becoming Believers, they NEVER stop being OBEDIENT.  That means they learned the written Torah every week in the synagogue and implemented it in their lives, and that includes circumcision for men, and immersion in the Miqvah for all new believers.  They are the living examples of Isaiah 56 above, and Elohim’s requirements for us are exactly the same.

Next:  Epistle Korach.