Melissa :O)

To the other michael who posted back in November. B’H”.
I would be very interested to e-mail you. Please check out my blog.(sorry, hasn’t seen much use)

Shalom,

Michael W.

http://yudorstroke.blogspot.com/

http://branchpastor.blogspot.com/2008/02/myspace-pharisee.html

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Yeshua (Jesus) was a Pharisee

Referring to Yeshua as a Pharisee would sound utterly ridiculous to just about any Christian. Unfortunately, this shows how far removed Christianity is from the historical reality of the Bible, the Messiah and the faith of His earliest followers.

Yeshua did criticize some of the Pharisees for not practicing what they preached, for hypocrisy, and for making the “fences” they placed around the Torah greater than the Torah’s commands themselves. (Though there is nothing inherently wrong with making such “fences” as Yeshua did this Himself.) What Christians don’t understand is that vehement criticism was common between the various factions within Pharisaism, and was considered a normal part of discourse.

For instance, the Pharisees themselves noted that not all among themselves were good, in fact saying there were “seven types of Pharisees.” (49) As for Yeshua calling some of them names such as “sons of Satan,” this was not unfamiliar dialogue among religious Jews at that time. The same term was used by the disciples of Rabbi Hillel to describe a disciple of Rabbi Shammai, just before Yeshua’s time. (50)

It is critical to note that Yeshua never rebuked the Pharisees for teaching Torah correctly, a good example being Matthew 23:23. Here Yeshua says to them, “It’s fine if you want to add things to your lives that you feel bring you closer to God.” (Tithing on dill and cumin were not required by Torah). But He then says, you should keep what the Torah says is required first, then do these optional things.” Yeshua did not tell them to stop doing Torah — He told them to do it right.

Yeshua not only quoted and supported Pharisaic teaching, as seen in the chart above, He also upheld the religious authority of the Pharisees. He told the people to obey the Pharisees, as they “sat in Moses’ seat,” meaning their authority came from God. (Matthew 23:1-3)

When Yeshua spoke, He often was expressing His opinion on an existing interpretation of the Scriptures, supporting someone else’s opinion. Much of Judaism’s doctrine was “worked out” before Yeshua’s time by the Pharisaic schools of Rabbis Hillel and Shammai. For instance, in Matthew 7:12, we find His famous “golden rule”:

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”

Yeshua is reiterating what Hillel had taught years before:

“What you do not like, do not do to anyone else; this is the whole Torah and everything else is explanation.” (Babylonian Talmud, Shabat 31a)

In most cases, Yeshua upheld the teachings of Hillel (who was the grandfather of Gamliel, who instructed Paul). Hillel’s opinions were actually considered more “liberal.” On rare occasion, such as His ruling on divorce (Matthew 5:31), Yeshua upheld the teachings of Shammai, which taught more to what may be called “the letter of the Law.”

Examples of where Yeshua agreed with Hillel are found in all four of the Gospels (51)

Teaching
Yeshua
Hillel

Critical of tithing of plants grown only for seeds Matthew 23:23 Ma’asrot 4:5-6
Healing by faith on the Sabbath was allowed. Mark 3:2-4 Tosefta Shabat 7:14
Reached out to sinners and taught them Luke, Ch. 15 Avot D’Rebbe Natan 3:1
Allowed the handling of an item on Sabbath for which there was no need John, Ch. 5 Betzah 26b

The evidence is overwhelming. The Talmud, when compared to Scripture, shows that Yeshua upheld its Pharisaic teachings. Scripture shows He also upheld the Pharisaic authority in religious matters. When properly understood, (bias aside) His criticism of the Pharisees was within the framework of Pharisaic discussion with them as they were always critical of themselves. (This could best be called “a family argument” – the Talmud is loaded with such a wide array of opinions — it is known as “arguing for the Kingdom,” or, “arguing for the cause of HaShem [God].)

History and the Bible show that Yeshua identified Himself as a Pharisee. In fact, when the Pharisees went out to question John the Baptist about who John was, he said that one among THEM (the Pharisees) was the Messiah to come (John 1:26-27).

Yeshua was a Jew, a rabbi and a Pharisee, who wore tzitzit (Numbers 15:37-41), always upheld Torah, often quoted Talmud, and was Orthodox in His practices.

Is this the “Jesus” of Christianity?

Sha’ul (Paul) was a Pharisee

Returning to Paul, (properly named Sha’ul), he also read, understood, taught, and wrote about the Hebrew Scriptures and the Hebrew Messiah from a Pharisaic Hebrew mindset. Paul was personally taught by Gamliel — a Pharisee and the head of the Sanhedrin — probably for the purpose of taking over the Sanhedrin’s leadership, which would have made Paul the equivalent of “Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.”

Paul said he was a “Hebrew of Hebrews,” a term that means he was not a Hellenistic Jew (Jews that had largely abandoned much of the Torah in order to be “more accepted” in the Greek/Roman culture they lived in). Scripture shows that none of this changed when Paul became a believer — he remained a Torah observant rabbi and a Pharisee until the day he died. Twenty years into his ministry for Yeshua, he still identified himself as a Pharisee. (Acts 23:6, 26:5) Once you shake off the anti-Jewish mindset that “Pharisee = bad,” then the supposed conflict vanishes.

All of this creates a serious problem for those who wish to understand Paul’s epistles today.

How can a Christian, reading Paul’s letters, in the 20th century westernized, anti-Torah culture and religion that he has been raised and taught in, understand the deep meanings of Second Temple-period Jewish religious texts, written by a first century Rabbi, Pharisee and advanced Torah expert?

And you wonder why Paul sounds so confusing, hard to follow, and even contradictory to many people who read him. For instance, in the Christian Bible commentary, “The Daily Study Bible Series; the Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians,” by William Barclay, it says of Galatians 3:19-22:

“This is one of the most difficult passages Paul ever wrote, so difficult that there are almost three hundred different interpretations of it!” (52)

I would suggest that there are 300 interpretations not-grounded-in-Torah.

Make that 301 with Barclays. He goes on to say that God gave the law for the sake of transgressions. True, but then Barclay says what this means is, “… where there is no law there is no sin. A man cannot be condemned for doing wrong if he did not know that it was wrong.” (53) This is a nice sentiment, but not what the Torah, or Yeshua or Paul teaches. God provided sacrifice to make atonement for sins done in ignorance of Torah, thus showing there was sin in ignorance to the Law that needed atoning for. Paul supported Torah when he taught that those ignorant of the Law stand condemned with those aware of it (Romans chapters 1-3).

Oddly enough, in the same Galatians commentary by Barclay, he correctly states that,

“… we have to remember that Paul was a trained Rabbi, an expert in the scholastic methods of the Rabbinic academies. He could, and did, use their methods of argument, which would be completely cogent to a Jew, however difficult it may be for us to understand them.” (54)

Peter warned that Paul was hard to understand. Peter also wrote that there would be those who would twist Paul’s words to mean something wrong. What kind of people would do that? Peter said these are lawless men (2 Peter 3:17). By “lawless,” did Peter mean people who were without Roman law? Of course not. Lawless, in this religious context (understanding Paul’s writings and other Scriptures correctly), refers to being without God’s Law – the Torah. Peter is saying that those who twist Paul’s writings are those who don’t have (know/follow) Torah. They will approach these letters, in (often willful) ignorance, and incorrectly interpret them.

This is the legacy of the Christian church. As early as 187, the Christian Bishop Iraneus counted twenty different varieties of Christianity. By the year 384, Epiphanius counted eighty. (55) The lack of grounding in Torah allowed for every heresy to creep in under the guise of “love” and “liberty.” The “New Testament” Scriptures warn about this in several places. Of course, no group who thinks they are “right with God,” (especially if they are the “dominant voice”) would consider themselves to be the false teachers spoken of in these texts.

I hope this helps and continue to pursue righteousness.

In the Name of Yeshua,
Michael

You are one of my heroes….

I sent you an email.