Much of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) reads, on a rhetorical level, like an anti-rabbinic text. Anyone who lives in a country with a Christian majority (such as the United States or Canada) should acquire basic knowledge of the foundational literature of the dominant faith. Pretty Creative WordPress Theme by, Pretty Darn Cute Design, As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. Here are some important facts … Students of Mishnah know that a great rabbi in the generation before Jesus said the same thing (the opinion of the house of Shamai in Gitin 9:10). Paul figured out an ingenious way to escape their wrath: “When Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council (verse 6), ‘Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead, I am on trial’.” In other words, Paul convinced the crowd that all the opposition to him had originated from Sadducees–who did not believe in the concept of resurrection and who were angry that Paul was teaching that resurrection of the dead would occur. They don’t follow any particular order, and they’re certainly not the only lessons that can be learned. ‘. So really the only surviving religious books written by Jews in the first and second centuries are a few of the later Dead Sea Scrolls and the NT. Jesus said that they had done no wrong since “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). and that help can be found in unexpected places (the good samaritan) I think a key theme in the New Testament is that the world can be a harsh and unpredictable place (as we've all found with this week's events) but if you have faith, and believe (in whatever you will) then things will get better. Want advertising space on our blog? Lessons You Can Learn From the Bible. In fact, the more a modern Jewish reader is acquainted with rabbinic literature, the more he or she is likely to find texts of interest in the NT, and to notice just how similar many NT teachings are to those of the rabbis. Any rabbinic text describing the factions and sects of Jews in Israel in the first century were written much later–only after groups like the Sadducees and the Essenes no longer existed. Once a hated tax collector – Then a disciple of Jesus, Once a man with a reputation for cheating and stealing – Then a man used by God to write the first book in our New Testament. While modern scholars have tried to contextualize and tone down the shocking words of Jesus to a group of Jews, “You are of your father the devil” (John 8:44), Jews should know about this and similar statements in the NT because throughout most of the last two millennia, many Christians did believe literally that the Jews were associated with the devil, their father. ... Well, I'm glad you asked. Careful Jewish readers of the NT will come to a better understanding of the vast theological differences between Jews and Christians–for example, on the issue of whether God can have a son, and whether God can be incarnated in a human body. New Testament Video presentation 1, “Come unto Me“ (11:36), shows how studying the New Testament can help us learn more about the Savior and how He can help us in our lives. The book of Matthew connected the Old and New Testaments by proving how Jesus fulfilled prophecies. And there are many other texts in the NT that support this idea. And while biblical critics teach us that most of the NT authors never actually saw Jesus–and so their descriptions of his words and actions are at best second-hand reports–these authors definitely did record their first-hand knowledge and experience of what it was like for a Jew to live in the Land of Israel in the first century, u… Matthew wrote his book especially for the Jewish people. God will use anyone – no matter his or her past – if they’re willing to be used by Him. Here are 11 things that we can learn from the Apostle Paul. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. Following Jesus is always worth the cost. | The present study explores in what ways the name of Jesus was invoked by Pagans, Jews, and Christians. This publication will take you on a journey through time, from the Bible account of creation, to the birth and ministry of Jesus, and on to the Kingdom to come. But students of rabbinic literature will recognize that Jesus’ words sound very similar to those of Rabbi Yonatan b. Yosef in the Talmud, explaining why the Sabbath may be desecrated to save a human life (Yoma 85b): “‘It [= the Sabbath] is holy for you’ means that the Sabbath was handed over to you and you were not handed over to it.” This is not to say that Jesus and Rabbi Yonatan would necessarily agree about the criteria that justify breaking the Sabbath. It’s those women — and many others — who fill the pages of her award-winning book “Jesus Approaches: What Contemporary Women Can Learn about Healing, Freedom & Joy from the Women of the New Testament” (Loyola Press, 2017), which highlights the importance of women in the New Testament, both then and now. It is a rich source for a better understanding of Jewish history, Jewish thought, Jewish law, and the history of anti-Semitism. In it Jesus argues that the righteousness of “the Scribes and the Pharisees” (= the rabbis) is insufficient and he challenges his followers to strive for what he considered a higher level of morality. Jews can read the NT to see both the strong Jewish values and the strong anti-Jewish values there. For example, the book of Acts (23:1-10) tells a surprising story about Paul, who realized he was in danger from a Jewish crowd because of his belief that Jesus had been resurrected and that faith in Jesus was the only way of achieving salvation.