Revision as of 11:34, 16 April 2016

The Berean Bible

Ac 17:10 ¶ And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Beroea: who when they were come thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.

Ac 17:11 Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.

Before there was a New Testament, the Bereans tested the teachings of Paul against the scriptures that they had; the Old Testament known as the Tanakh ^[1].

The Catholic Church would have us believe that they gave us the Bible, and therefore the Church is the primary authority that supersedes the written word of God. However, the Apostle Paul's doctrine was tested by the Bereans against the Tanakh. Either the Bereans or the Tanakh had more authority than Paul and by extension more authority than Paul's writings which were later canonized by the Catholic Church.

Who were the Bereans?

The Bereans were the Jewish people who lived in Beroea. They were not seminary educated. They were not Rabbis, though there may have been some among them. They were ordinary Jews. The primary difference between them and you is that they knew the Tanakh in Hebrew, and you likely read it in English. They had an intimate knowledge of it, and you likely have a passing knowledge of it. They thought like Hebrews, and you likely think as Greeks. It is unlikely that these people had greater authority than Paul.

What is the Tanakh?

The Tanakh of today is different from the ones the Bereans had. The collection of books is the same, but the Hebrew language has been changed since then. Tiny markings (diacritics ^[2] ) have been added around the letters to indicate vowels, numbers and accents. These seem to be harmless additions to the written word, but they change the essential nature of the Hebrew language.

The Hebrew word for 'said' is 'amar'. The written form is identical to the word 'emeer' for 'lamb'. The diacritical marks hide the fact the when God said "Let there be light" that he created light by the Lamb. the Lamb of God IS the creator. 'Amar' also means 'word', so those harmless little marks hide the fact that the Lamb of God is the Word of God. Unfortunately, the Catholic Church and the Protestant churches were taught to read Hebrew using the diacritical marks, and so many think that John determined that Christ was the Logos, or the Word from a Greek Philosopher ^[3] .

One can only speculate why disbelieving Jews would add these marks to the scriptures when they aren't even used in modern Hebrew newspapers.

Why did the church accept these additions?

Ex 20:19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

When God had delivered Israel out of Egypt, they heard the voice of God directly, but were afraid. They did not want to know God directly. They were content for Moses to know God face to face, and to merely be associated with Moses.

^[4]

Ac 21:25 As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written [and] concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from [things] offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.

The first people of the Christian church were converted Jews. Later, when Paul started preaching, the Gentiles were added by the thousands. Paul successfully convinced the authorities in the church that Gentles did not have to become Jews to be Christians. The authorities reluctantly agreed that the Gentiles, holding to the fundamentals of the faith, did not have to practice the law. As a result, many gentiles never learned the law, but celebrated the grace of God. By 400 AD most of the Jews had been nudged out of the Gentile churches, and any semblance of Judaism purged by Augustine in the West and Constantine in the east.

The church had become officially 'Judaism Lite'. Augustine made the claim that the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Tanakh, was more reliable than the Hebrew Tanakh. Later, the Church adopted Latin, and very little study was done in Hebrew.

The shadow was lost

Heb 10:1 ¶ For the law having a shadow of the good [things] to come, not the very image of the things,...

The people who did not want to practice the law, also did not want to learn the law. It is likely that you have inherited the same attitude toward the law of God. The Greeks ARE NOT under the burden of the law, but the law was given to teach ^[5] through symbols called shadows. The Hebrews learned something that the Gentiles missed, and consequently lost. It is the richness of the teaching of the cross found in the law itself; the mystery which was hidden from the beginning ^[6]

The Berean Bible

Heb 1:1 ¶ God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners,...

This work "The Berean Bible" will examine and reproduce the exegesis of the New Testament authors who used the same method of reading the Tanakh, as did the Bereans. One who is prayerful will learn the method and be able to practice it one much of the Tanakh in English. For those who wish to explore more deeply in Hebrew, helps will be given.

Do not mix!

Modern Jewish sources, and those of many Jewish roots churches are in error. The Jewish sources descend from the same disbelieving Jews who hid Christ in the Tenakh by adding diacritical marks. Though it may appear that they do similar things, remember that they were motivated to hide Christ. Jewish roots churches have learned their Jewishness from disbelieving Jews. Many were even raised Protestant and have merely interpreted modern Judaism in light of their Christian faith. Only those methods used by New Testament authors should be used in reading the Berean Bible. Do not mix references from other sources or you will become very confused. From time to time, the error of other sources will be examined and the correction made.

References

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanakh
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_diacritics
3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logos_%28Christianity%29
4. ↑ American Version, copyright expired
5. ↑ Ga 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster [to bring us] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
6. ↑ Ro 16:25, 1Co 2:7