Yosef's Place: Musing - Does Traditional Theology Line Up with the Bible?

Hebraic Musing - Does Traditional Theology Line Up with the Bible?

Have you ever had concerns that theology sometimes distorts what the Bible says? Do people believe in theology instead of the Bible? Theology is man’s creation; taking snippets of the Bible and piecing them together in an effort explain the man's thoughts. Can theology result in misunderstanding of the Bible?

I frequently find a lack of understanding of the Hebrew language and customs due to what I’ll call the Hebrew-Greek conflict. Our Biblical understanding can be corrupted because we in the West are accustomed to the Greek culture and way of thinking in which we have a leader/teacher (pastor) and a congregation (students). Greek focuses on the cognitive or intellect (what we think), while Hebrew is based on doing or activity, participation and experience. For example -- God is love [Gr.]; or We serve a loving God [Heb.]. To complicate things, Hebrew is full of idioms, just as we have in our culture we might say, "I could have died" when embarrassed. Here are some differences in the way Hebrew and Greek languages and cultures function:

Hebrew Greek

Doing Thinking

Active Cognitive

Appeals to heart Appeals to intellect

Process oriented Program oriented

Participation Educational program

Experience faith Taught about faith, not personal

Small intimate Large groups

Love others Toleration of others

Believe in Torah Believe in either law or faith (gospels)

All too often, we hear Luther's “law versus grace” theological model being taught. How could he have could have read the Old Testament without seeing grace? Grace is all through the OT. This leads to imposing the false requirement that we choose either the OT or the NT. God’s word is from Genesis through Revelation; including the Torah which was erroneously translated “Law”, unfortunately. The NT book of Hebrews tells us that faith is what the “Ancients were commended for”; so salvation in the OT was by faith, not through obedience to the Torah. In the lessons from the Dt. 27&28 in the Torah we find that a lifestyle of obedience to Torah brings blessings; while not obeying the Torah brings curses. Gal. 3:10 refers to Dt. 27:26 - "Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out." (note the focus on action!)

Another problematic theology is dispensationalism! The Bible should not be chopped up into pieces by time frames. It makes no sense that the Torah has been done away with, or that the gifts of the spirit were only for the first century. Yehovah continually references covenants and instructions as everlasting. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Does our theology line up with the Bible in prayer, i.e., praying to Yeshua or to Mary? Praying repetitive prayers or sincerely communicating with Yeshua? Confessing sins to Yeshua or confessing them to a man?

Are you following Yehovah's worship calendar or man's? We have a Saturday vs. Sunday issue. Do you observe the other appointed times commanded by Yehovah in Leviticus 23, which are prophetic of Yeshua's first and second coming? We see Yeshua in every festival on Yehovah's calendar. Why not do both?

Points to ponder

Don’t read the Bible to prove what you believe, or to support what you do.
Read the Bible to see what it says.

Lord God, we thank you for your Word. August 18, 2015

Yosef a.k.a. Joe Brusherd, Author::