Summary New Testament From a Jewish Point of View Class - 6/27/2022

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As usual our class was a blast!  Jo Ann, Dan, Steve, Karen, Merill, Dave, David, Robin, Randy, Jay, Norky, and Jessica (who joined us when we were visiting after the study) attended.  Odette had Jury Duty so she couldn’t join us and Jenny is about to go on a month long trip, so also she was unable to join us. 

Steve was visiting us from Beth El Congregation in Winchester, Virginia and invited everyone to a minyan Zoom meeting with his congregation that takes place on Tuesday mornings via Zoom.  Also, one of the past rabbis of his congregation had been a rabbi at Temple Israel!

After Dan leading us in the song “Give Us That Old Time Religion” we read Chapter 2 in Galatians and also the grey box that is in the Jewish Annotated New Testament that is titled “Neither Jew Nor Greek.”

Below is a summary of what went on written by Dan:

Here are some tidbits:

New Testament from Jewish point of view – June 27, 2022

We studied Galatians chapter 2 – The chapter brought up interest in what Messianic Congregations are, and what Messianic Jews are.

David said the major difference between Messianic Jews today and Jewish believers in Jesus in the first century was that, Jewish believers in the first century did not accept the idea of the Trinity or the idea of the virgin birth. Messianic Jews of the present generally accept these ideas.

We also discussed the difference between the “works of the law” that Paul spoke of in Galatians and “good works” in general.

A discussion arose about Orthodox Jews and other types of Jews.  Steve said there were as many types of orthodox Jews as there are other groups of Jews put together. Merrill gave an explanation of the statement in Galatians “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live I live by the faith of the son of God who loves me and gave himself for me”.

Additions from Jo Ann:

Karen is a “believer” (a messianic Jew).  She shared how believing in Jesus makes her feel more Jewish but that some of her family does not understand her faith.  She attends events at a conservative synagogue and also sometimes goes to a messianic congregation.  

Steve mentioned that Modern Orthodox Jews are quite different from Ultra Orthodox Jews.

Randy compared Paul with being a used car salesman as he shared the new religion he was sharing.  He told us about the movie Elmer Gantry.  Robin continues to see Paul as a person that does not support Judaism.  

Again, if anything is forgotten in this summary, please comment.


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