Summary of New Testament From a Jewish Point of View Class - 10/24/2022

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As always, we had a good discussion and time of learning together.  Jo Ann, Dan, Karen, Dave, Randy, Robin, Merrill, Norky, and David attended.   We were glad Randy and Robin could attend while they were on vacation.

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

We covered the third Epistle of John today, coming to the conclusion that this letter is a "letter of introduction", with the writer who calls himself/herself? "the Elder" to a leader named Gaius of a congregation of believers in Jesus in an undisclosed location. The men bearing this letter request the cooperation/assistance of Gaius. It is interesting that another local leader named Diotrephes opposed extending assistance by anyone in the congregation to these same men. According to the introduction in the Annotated New Testament, the Elder appears to a Jewish leader of a group of Jewish believers in Jesus. 

We discussed the division of good and bad mentioned in the letter. Do good = belonging to God. Do bad = has not seen God. David Philips helpfully pointed out that a vague "good" eventually gave way to the development of "Cannon law" in the orthodox (a general term meaning the collection of views that held sway after a series of church councils in the early centuries of the common era) churches. Unsurprisingly, Cannon law rivals Rabbinic teachings in complexity. 

We discussed the introduction to the letter of Jude, which led to a discussion of "heretics" who were accused of immoral conduct based on their understanding of what Jesus and the Apostles taught. It is noted that most of our understanding of these heretics is based on the writings of their opponents which may distort our understanding of their activities. 

Hopefully, we will be able to read and conclude our study of Jude next Monday.

Addition from Jo Ann:

We learned that 3 John is the shortest book in the New Testament.  That is why we had time to go on to Jude.  We decided to go on to Revelation after completely Jude which is also very short.  We discussed the word “walk” and how it doesn’t mean actually walking but walking with God.

Again, please comment if anything needs to be added to this summary.


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