Summaries: 8/28/23 and 9/18/23 - New Testament From a Jewish Point of View Class

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Dan may have not sent me summaries for September 4 or September 11, but below are summaries from August 28 and September 18.

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Monday, August 28, 2023

II Timothy chapters 2 and 3

We studied some of the more famous New Testament quotations today. It was observed that 

God in the Tanakh seems more violent and vengeful while in the New Testament God seems more forgiving. It is also true that God in the New Testament could blind and kill people. 

In II Timothy 2 verse 10 referred to “God’s elect”, or in some translations “Chosen people”, which here seems to refer to believers in Jesus. 

In verse 12 which is part of a song or a creed it speaks of those who deny Jesus as being lost. So is “salvation” conditional based on continued faith until death, or is it once and always? So many questions.

Chapter 3 brought up  the awful behavior of people in the last days. It appears nothing has changed since then. 

Persecution : and the statement that those who “live godly” will suffer persecution. (?) It seems to clash with the message of the blessings and curses at the end of Deuteronomy which imply the just will have a blessed life. 

Finally, the inspiration of scripture and the understanding that the scriptures referred to is the Tanakh. 

We finish next week. God willing.

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Monday, September 18, 2023

Thanks to everyone who attended, our first meeting of 5784. 

We read the letter to Titus. This, along with first and second Timothy is part of the pastoral epistles. There are reasons scholars believe these books were written in Paul’s name after his death. However they were important in organizing the early churches.

It will never be the same after our group tore into it. Steve mentioned our broad variety of opinions as an example illustrating the saying “I am a Jew because…” of our heterogeneous beliefs.  Randy noted the emphasis on “right teaching” in this letter that could be described as censorship. Randy made a reference to “Annie, get your Bible”, which struck me could become the basis for a song, maybe a book, maybe even a musical. Karen mentioned some passages in this letter which reminded her of Ecclesiastes. 

When mention was made of “Jewish myths”’, we had a lot to say. We talked of the Apocrypha, and Dave shared a comment from Rabbi Perlmutter [Chabad, Shul on the Shore], who said that he indeed did study the Apocrypha in Rabbinic school, but cautioned us that the Apocrypha contained errors. In other words, don’t believe everything you read. Robin said this passage could be putting down the Torah. And I could not resist sharing one of the stories of Hani the Circle Maker.

We had a long and stimulating conversation, of which only a small part did I make mention. We are skipping next Monday’s meeting because of Yom Kippur. May all of our names be inscribed.


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