And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
1 John 2:3 (KJV)
Commandments – Christianity loves to separate out the commandments from the law. It makes it easier this way. I only have to keep the 10 commandments and not all 613 laws according to John. But for this to be true, it has to work this way in the original language. Because 1 John is written in Greek, we’ll investigate the Septuagint to find our error.
Continue reading “Only the Commandments?”We love him, because he first loved us.
1 John 4:19 (KJV)
Loved – When was it that God first loved us? Did He love us at our birth? Did He love us before we were born? Is it you and me that John is writing about here? So many questions, and yet we quote this verse as if we truly understand it.
Continue reading “First Loved”Teshuvah means repentance. Maimonides (Rambam) recorded in the Mishneh a formula for complete repentance.
What is repentance? The sinner shall cease sinning, and remove sin from his thoughts, and wholeheartedly conclude not to revert back to it, even as it is said: “Let the wicked forsake his way” (Is. 55.7); so, too, shall he be remorseful on what was past, even as it is said: “Surely after that I was turned, I repented” (Jer. 31. 19). In addition thereto he should take to witness Him Who knoweth all secrets that forever he will not turn to repeat that sin again, according to what it is said: “Say unto Him.… neither will we call any more the work of our hands our gods” (Hos. 14.3–4). It is, moreover, essential that his confession shall be by spoken words of his lips, and all that which he concluded in his heart shall be formed in speech.
Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Chapter 2 (c.1176 – c.1178 CE)
Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;
1 John 3:7 (NASB)
Practices – The common theology of righteousness in mainstream Christianity is that the only way to be righteous is through Yeshua alone – only him. Any work you do is like filthy rags before God. That’s their mantra, and their argument for abandoning the law of God. But John makes a different claim. John writes that the person who practices righteousness IS righteous. So why the differences here? Continue reading “Practicing Righteousness”
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
1 John 3:4 (KJV)
Is – This word is definitely a comparison operator, as we’d call it in the programming world. A comparison operator states that the first item is equal to the following item. This is what John is doing here, he is making it absolutely clear that sin is equal to breaking the law. There’s just no other way around this one. Continue reading “A Comparison Operator != Common Theology”
