What about 1 Timothy 4:1-5? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
I am once again quoting from the Complete Jewish Bible.
The Spirit expressly states that in the acharit-hayamim some people will apostatize from the faith by paying attention to deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come from the hypocrisy of liars whose own consciences have been burned, as if with a red-hot branding iron. 3 They forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods which God created to be eaten with thanksgiving by those who have come to trust and to know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing received with thanksgiving needs to be rejected, 5 because the word of God and prayer make it holy.
The acharit-hayamim is what you would likely recognize as something such as “The last days.”
This seems like a clear statement. We can eat most any food we want. Right? As long as we receive it with thanksgiving, it is holy. Right?
“Not so fast”, says 119 Ministries.
This means that the false teachers whom Paul gives his warning about are not people teaching obedience to God’s dietary laws. Think about it. If they were, then Messiah Yeshua would be a false teacher when he affirmed the validity of the dietary laws as part of the Torah and said that his followers will do and teach the least of the commandments (Matthew 5:17-20). Paul likewise would be a false teacher since he said, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). That indicates that Paul believes the dietary laws in Scripture are profitable for “training in righteousness.” So Paul cannot be saying those who teach obedience to God’s dietary laws are false teachers since he would be putting himself into the same category.
119 Ministries. The Pauline Paradox: What Did Paul Teach About the Law of God? (pp. 116-117). 119 Ministries. Kindle Edition.
So what is the argument?
It reads as if they are saying, “Yes. If we read it as it is, it does seem to go against our position, but keep in mind that Paul holds that all Scripture is God-breathed and keep in mind what Jesus said about the Law.”
Which means there is no exegesis of the text itself. It is then circular reasoning. Their reasoning of the text must be correct because their reasoning of the other texts must be correct. As I have said earlier throughout this book, I find them lacking and again, I have one simple question about this if that is what they think.
“What about sacrifices?”
After all, the Law contained commands for animal sacrifices and Jesus’s statement in Matthew 5 doesn’t read, “Not one letter will disappear from the Law, except for that stuff about animal sacrifices because I am going to do away with them.”
Thus ends our look at this book. It is sad that in a book that is all about defending the Law, what we did not see at all was, well, a defense of the Law. We didn’t see exegesis of the Law. We didn’t get anything on animal sacrifices or anything of the sort.
Again, there’s a reason this stuff is not convincing.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
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