Antinomism

Antinomianism means “opposed to law.” Antinomian views are those denying that God’s law in Scripture should directly control the Christian’s life.

Dualistic antinomianism appeared early in the Gnostic heresies, like those opposed by Peter and Jude (2 Pet. 2; Jude 4–19). The Gnostics taught that salvation was for the soul only, making bodily behavior irrelevant both to God’s interest and to the soul’s health. The conclusion was that one may behave riotously and it will not matter.

A “spiritual” antinomianism puts such trust in the Holy Spirit’s inward prompting as to deny any need to be taught by the law how to live. Freedom from the law as a way of salvation is assumed to bring with it freedom from the law as a guide to conduct. In the first 150 years of the Reformation era this kind of antinomianism was common. The Corinthian church may have been in the grip of this error, since Paul warns them that a truly spiritual person acknowledges the authority of God’s Word (1 Cor. 14:37; cf. 7:40).

Another kind of antinomianism begins from the point that God does not see the sin in believers, because they are in Christ, who kept the law for them. From this they draw the false conclusion that their behavior makes no difference, provided they keep on believing. But 1 John 1:8–2:1 and 3:4–10 point in a different direction. It is not possible to be in Christ and at the same time to embrace sin as a way of life.

Some dispensationalists have held that since Christians live under a dispensation of grace, not law, keeping the moral law is at no stage necessary for them. Rom. 3:31 and 1 Cor. 6:9–11 clearly show, however, that keeping the law is a continuing obligation for Christians.

It is sometimes said that the motive and intention of “love” is the only law God requires of Christians. The commands of the Decalogue and other ethical parts of Scripture, although they are ascribed to God directly, are regarded as no more than guidelines that love may at any time disregard. But Rom. 13:8–10 teaches that specific commands reveal what true love is. The law of God exposes the counterfeit love that will not accept its responsibilities toward God and neighbor.

The moral law revealed in the Decalogue and expounded in other parts of the Bible is an expression of God’s righteousness, given to be a code of practice for God’s people in every age. The law is not opposed to the love and goodness of God, but shows what it is in action. The Spirit gives Christians the power to observe the law, making us more and more like Christ, the archetypal observer of the law (Matt. 5:17).

Whitlock, L. G., Sproul, R. C., Waltke, B. K., & Silva, M. (1995). The Reformation study Bible: bringing the light of the Reformation to Scripture: New King James Version. Nashville: T. Nelson.

Weekly Torah studies for children



We attend a Baptist church and they have a well organised children's programme except they have a curriculum that seems to go all over the place and it isn't communicated at all to parents.  Ironically the previous senior minister of this church had talked to me about how important expository teaching was a foundation of his work.  Somehow his idea hadn't filtered through to the children's programme.

So we as parents decided to run a bible study program for our children on Saturdays.  To give it some structure we adopted the Parasha reading system that was in place in Jesus' time. This reading system takes the first five books of the bible and divides it up into weekly portions. After a year, the system starts at the beginning again.

My children are aged, 3, 5, 7 and 9 years of age.  Each parasha covers quite a lot of ground, too much to take in, in one session, therefore I like to pick some aspect of the parasha and make that the focus.  This also means there's plenty of material for future years.

Having given it some structure it's then a matter of thinking how to present the material in a way that is engaging, interactive and learnt.  I think its important to be guided by the personalities, interests and passions of your children. If they like Lego, use Lego.

When they were younger, doing the narrative chapters was really easy as there is plenty of visual material for children to see and comprehend.  The passages that focus on the commandments (mitzvot) are much more tricky as the information is really abstract.  For these I put together PowerPoint slides with pictures to illustrate the commandment.  This was easy for the dietary laws (Kashrut), as all you needed were photos of the various animals.  You just have to use your imagination to work out how best to convey your topic. 

As the children got older, the older two needed more of a challenge, so I introduced the "Why" question.  So the idea is as they hear the story, they have to think of a "Why" question.  Sometimes they are quite prosaic, "Why is the man's hair colored blue in the cartoon?" and other times unsettlingly profound, "Why did Joseph hide the cup in the bag?"

Resources I have found useful include:

1. Torah Tots.  Lots of pictures to color in.  Good commentary from an orthodox Judaic perspective. 
2. Infographics from Logos Software give great illustrations of various elements of the Tent of Meeting (Tabernacle) and its various elements; and priestly garments.
3. The Brick Testament uses Lego pieces to illustrate various bible stories.  Beware that sometimes the author doesn't depict the stories in a sympathetic manner.  Otherwise, its very useful for engaging children with a passion for Lego bricks.
4. The Trank Brothers have put together a great series of YouTube videos in Monty Python style that summarise each Parasha in only 60 seconds.  Easier for Grade 3 and above as he speaks very quickly.  Even if younger children don't understand what he's saying they are captivated by the engaging graphics. 
5.  G-dcast, is a non-profit production company dedicated to raising basic Jewish literacy using media and storytelling styles that speak to today's youth. Since 2006, G-dcast has created over 75 animated films enjoyed worldwide by hundreds of thousands of people from diverse religious backgrounds.  They have a YouTube channel that has a small video that covers each individual Parasha.  Their website has lots of resources for purchase.
6. Logos' First Hebrew Primer has been invaluable for getting an appreciation of the process for developing classical Hebrew literacy.  Based on the outlines laid out in this Primer, I developed exercises for my children to learn the alephbet, vowel sounds, learn Hebrew phonics and develop their classical Hebrew vocabulary.  It's no longer available from Logos but you can still get it from EKS Publishing.  I've had to mix in a bit of modern Hebrew so that the children can use their Hebrew in everyday life.  For example, there is no word for TV in classical Hebrew.

I have been asked to put together a set of resources and lesson plans for other parents to follow.  This is easier said than done because how I went about things was very much a mix of my own nature as a parent and the nature of my children.  Instead I have put this blog together. 

At this point in time, my children know:

• How the Earth came to be
• How humankind sinned and left Eden
• The increasing dissociation between humankind and God;
• How God saved humankind through Noah;
• How God began his redemptive plan with the call of Abraham;
• The story of the patriarchs;
• The story of Joseph which leads to Moses;
• How the Torah was given;
• How the torah's commandments showed humankind how God intended them to live;
• That the festival (moedim) are appointed times to meet with God and that they are observed today;
• That the bible can be read in its original languages;
• Their place in the history of God's people;
• That in God's kingdom He only intended to have one people of believers and that all ethnicities and nations were to join with it.

If you like, these can be turned into learning objectives. 

Most of all, I have found that it is important to be disciplined about it.  After Shabbat dinner on a Friday night and all the visitors and family members have gone home, I spend about an hour preparing for the children's Torah studies the next morning.  This is important as it allows you as the Parent to really get familiar with the material beforehand.  Sometimes the children's sport or some other event prevails but we just reschedule for the following afternoon or the next day.  Since we always have done it since the children were aged three, they don't argue about doing it.  Its part of their routine. 

Although I emphasize discipline it doesn't take much for children to have fun while doing it.  Too often, I think parents can make the mistake of getting too familiar with the children and they lose respect for them as parents.  I think its important to maintain the parent-child relationship.  It mustn't devolve into a child-child relationship.   I've observed the teachers at school maintain this hierarchy of relationship and the children seem to respond positively to this approach.

During the week, we often revise some of the Hebrew and other aspects of their Torah studies at the dinner table.  This has reminded me why teaching Torah as a parent is so much more effective than any children's programme run on a Sabbath.  In fact, I might go so far as to suggest that such children's programmes need to enlist the participation of parents to reinforce and interact with their material during the week.  I offered this to my children's programme superintendent at my church but it wasn't taken up. 

I hope these notes help you in teaching Torah to your children. 

Faith in the Old Testament

The idea of faith is threaded throughout the OT.

The OT concept of faith is broader than the commonly held idea of faith. The commonly held idea is a a mental or cognitive assent to a belief.

The Hebrew word for "Emunah" is often better translated as Faithfulness of which the majority definition of "faith" is but a subset.

Thus in Hebraic thought, if you have faith, you act a certain way. And if you acted in a certain way, you are exhibiting faith.

This doesn't mean that the Hebraic view eliminated the cognitive assent since the idea of having the law written on your heart is clearly an allusion to an inward state, which should result in outward obedience.

Thus there is no clash between Paul and James regarding faith and works. They are both likely to be dealing with the corruption of the idea of emunah by an over-emphasis of the Greek understanding of faith.

E P Sanders argues that the widely held idea that 1st Century Rabbinic Judaism is based on a false premise of justification by works is incorrect. If true, then we have made a misjudgement that has far reaching consequences on our understanding of Pauline thought.

Instead of viewing Paul as the Hellenised Jew who reformed Judaism by recasting the mode by which justification is achieved, how would we view Paul's writings if we thought of him merely as a Rabbi who believed his Messiah had come?

Torah is "Law"?

Not even Jews consider the Pentateuch to be merely a system of pejorative laws like Westerners do in the sense of a Roman or English Common Law system. It is certainly one aspect of it but to consider the text in only this light would be to take a very narrow view.

They call it Halakah which derives its meaning from the same root as verb "to walk." Thus a more balanced perspective is to see the Pentateuch as God teaching humankind how it should "walk."

This should have particular meaning for Christians since an early name for the sect was "The Way."

Spirit vs Law?

Does the Spirit obviate the Law?  If a truly mature believer was completely led by the Holy Spirit would the Law become an artefact?

If the Law is a part of Torah, and if Jesus is the Torah made flesh, and if Jesus, the Holy Spirit and God the Father are one in the Trinity then if any of these three are present anywhere, then there will be Law. Law is an inalienable manifestation of God's nature.

The subject of what place the law has in Christianity has been the subject of much debate. The Law was given to teach us how we should live. It is manifested in the Scriptures which according to John, became flesh. Jesus therefore embodies or in some may consists of the Law. To reject the Law at any level, is a rejection of Jesus. Law is a part of God and therefore Law is a part of the fabric of creation. Law and Spirit do not operate in the absence of the other. Since they are different manifestations of the same God, how can they? The Spirit acts as an enabling agent to obey the Law. One can flout the Law by arguing for a spirit-led life excluding any reference to the Law but such a life cannot disobey it without negative consequence nor impunity.

Christians have underestimated the power of sin to disorientate them from God's ways and so Christians have mistakenly put aside the Law leaving themselves in an exile of ignorance.

The Sabbath, Today

First Century Judaism debated the definition of work as they considered how best to obey the fourth Commandment.  Just as in Christianity there can be a diversity of opinion, Judaism was not of one mind on the definition of work.  Jesus took a purposive interpretative stance.  The Sabbath was given to refresh the believer.

With the undermining of a designated day of rest across western society, family life has been impinged and the days where whole families would head out for a day trip or to the family beach house, is much less common.

The Sabbath is also a day where the demands of this world, as well as the need to accumulate assets is put aside, and time stops -- for one day.

On this day, the sovereignty of God over all things is acknowledged as we rest, reflect on God and enjoy our families. God promises that we may gather double on the sixth day to cover our requirements for the seventh day.

Thus it is a day to celebrate shalom, a sense of peace and completeness. I'm mindful that one Jewish theologian, A J Heschel wouldn't allow arguments in his household.

With free markets, deregulation, recessions, and natural disasters, which may bring hardship to many, commitment to a Sabbath is tested. Yet God does not shy away from bringing us to a dilemma of faith, a precipice where we must choose between a leap of faith that goes beyond our sight to connect with the eternal.  This is Grace.

Electricity Industry Reform: Neo-communism?

In New Zealand the two largest opposition parties have announced a plan to return the electricity industry back to a centralised planned model. The idea is to have one monopoly buyer  who effectively sets the price for wholesale electricity.

We had decades of centralised planning for the electricity industry and that resulted in much oversupply. Deregulating the industry, creating the spot market, introducing competition (albeit oligopolistic) have constrained energy prices.

This may seem contrary to experience but the world has seen a period of sustained energy price inflation in recent years. Yet we have seen higher electricity price rises than that experienced elsewhere. NZ has its own particular circumstances that should be taken into consideration.  For example, the exhaustion of the Maui Gas field has meant that Gas-fired generation is now fed by more expensive fields. 

I believe Electricity prices would have been higher still without market constraints.  Instead of large chunky investments in new generation, smaller increments have been installed, better matching demand growth.  NZ Windfarms, an independent power generation capacity investor based in New Zealand, bet that electricity prices would rise to levels that would sustain them. This proved false. Not surprisingly capital investment in generation has slowed.

The 20th Century (should have) taught us that centralised planned economies are poor at allocating resources. Counter-intuitively the seeming chaos of free markets has proven to be more efficient.  The painful experience of the Soviet Union, China, the Eastern Bloc and indeed modern day North Korea stand as prominent warnings for us all. Humanity lost up to 100 million lives teaching us this lesson by famine, some other form of deprivation or in the Gulags. Most Left wing thinkers I have met tend to be highly intelligent and hold above average levels of education. Can this lead to over confidence in our abilities to manage an economy? 

The biblical role of government is to regulate commerce from corruption and in this context, prevent monopolies from abusing their positions. Consequently if a part of the electricity needs immediate scrutiny from Government it should be the elements that are naturally monopolistic in nature, the electricity network companies.

For further reading:

World bank. 
Lantau Group.