Summary of New Testament From a Jewish Point of View Class - 8/8/2022

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There are a lot of names for Jesus - Christ is just one of them


 Of course we had a blast together on Monday, August 8, 2022!

I’ve been opening up our Zoom room early and it is paying off.  Odette, who could not actually stay for our class, was able to get a good amount of visiting with us in before she headed off to a meeting.

When the actual class started at 9:45 am, Odette was there to sing “Give Me That Old Time Religion” along with all the others who attended:  Jo Ann, Dan, Steve, Karen, Merill, Ginger, Dave, Robin, and Norky.  

It was Ginger’s first time joining us and we were glad to have her.  She is just checking out what Judaism and our class is about.

We missed Jessica, David P., and David S.  

We were able to read all of chapters one and two in Ephesians.  We also learned that the first edition of the Jewish Annotated New Testament is slightly different than the pages in the second edition.

Our discussion got into whether Paul actually wrote the book of Ephesians.  Dan said this book seems like Paul never when to visit the Ephesians but that could not be correct since in Acts he did visit them.

We discussed the term “Christ.”  We learned that Jesus, Jesus Christ, Yeshua, Messiah, and Christ Jesus all  mean the same thing just like God, Adonai, The Eternal, Hashem, and Elohim mean the same thing.  It is confusing!

We also discussed the fear some groups may have of certain races and we discussed that a Jewish neighborhood is usually not considered a “bad neighborhood.”

We discussed eating kosher or non-kosher food and some in the group shared that they don’t eat kosher.

We ended our discussion as usual with the group singing the Misheberach Jewish healing prayer.  We especially thought of Jessica whose cousin had just passed away and also of Steve who just lost his dog.  We also though of Dan’s mother and those we thought of silently.

Again, if there is anything to add to this summary, please comment.

Additional summary of what went on from Dan:


We enjoyed the participation of Jo Ann, Steve, Merrill, Robin, Ginger (first time), Norky, Karen and Dan

We read the first two chapters of the Letter to the Ephesians, traditionally ascribed to Paul the apostle. According to the introductory notes there are reasons to believe this letter was written by someone other than Paul who wrote it after he died. The whole passage was filled with multiple expressions about what a great thing it is that Jesus died for our sins, etc. It sounded like someone was trying to outdo Paul with effusive rhetoric. Also, it was written like it was someone who had never been to Ephesus and didn't know anyone there. This is strange because the book of Acts talks about Paul having a memorable visit there (rioters shouting "great is Diana of the Ephesians", etc.)

Steve had an interesting question about whether there is a difference in meaning between "Christ Jesus" and "Jesus Christ". Dan said there is no difference, such expressions are saying the exact same thing.

Someone observed that in all the letters of Paul, both those that are thought to be genuinely his and the others, there is almost nothing about the life and sayings of Jesus. Paul proclaimed a message about Jesus (Jesus died for our sins, believe in him) rather than a message about what Jesus taught before he died.

Please add any comments you would like.


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