Before writing his first letter to the Corinthian Messianics,
Paul had deliberated in his own spirit as to whether he should travel through
During the interim between Paul’s first letter written to the
Corinthian ecclesia and his writing of Second Corinthians, events in Ephesus
and the Roman province of Asia (western Asia) began to boil over, “at that season no slight disturbance
occurred concerning the way [the Gospel of the New Davidic/Abrahamic
Covenant]” (Acts 19:23 CV). The
proclamation of the Gospel by Paul had come to have a devastating affect on the
guild of silversmiths in the business of making images of Artemis for sale to
those idolaters worshiping this goddess. This guild located in
The way of Jesus the Messiah, being the way of Yahweh the One,
True, Living Elohim of Israel, taught all idolaters to turn from such dead
idols to the One, True, Living Elohim and His Anointed Son/King. By the
authority of the Gospel of the Uncircumcision committed to Paul as Apostle to
the nations, the idolaters dwelling in the province of western Asia (and
especially in Ephesus) were being called by Yahweh to come out of the kingdom
of the darkness and ignorance associated with the idolatrous worship of the
gods into the kingdom of the Israel of Yahweh under the kingship of Jesus the
New Davidic Warrior-King. These uncircumcised gentiles enslaved under the
ignorance of idolatry were being called to the liberty of the New Nation of
Israel, a Kingdom of spiritual-warrior priests (the circumcised Jewish
Messianics) which had been in the process of spiritually conquering the
power-elites of Apostate Israel and
Many throughout the province of
Consequently, Demetrius and his fellow silversmiths were suffering substantial business losses, as testified by Demetrius, a member of the guild power-elite,
Men! You are versed in the fact that by this vocation we thrive, and you are beholding and hearing that, not only of Ephesus, but of almost the entire province of Asia, this Paul by his persuading causes a considerable throng to stand aloof, saying that they are not gods which are coming into being by means of hands. (Acts 19:25b-26 CV)
He further indicates that not only their business is being
endangered by this Gospel, but that the very sanctuary of the goddess Artemis,
located in
The proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus the Messiah had
already been successfully invading and triumphing over Apostate Israel,
signifying the obsoleteness of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant, the Solomonic
Temple made with hands, and the
Demetrius, recognizing the actual reality of the source of this Gospel, overtly opposes and attacks this Way as one who is an outright agent of The Adversary. He opposes the liberation of the Gospel because he serves the gods as one of their advantaged power-elite whose wealth, honor, and status are maintained at the expense of the welfare of the majority of the people. He incites the members of his guild into a state of fury, chanting “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” (Acts 19:28b CV). In this state, they stir up the passions of many in the city, turning these people into an ugly mob of mass confusion. Seizing two of Paul’s fellow-travelers (both being Jewish Messianics), this mob of mass confusion rushes into the enormous theatre of Ephesus used for theatrical productions and political gatherings.
Paul, learning of the situation, intends to enter the theatre (presumably to address the ravenous assembly), but is discouraged from doing so by the Messianic brethren and by some from among the chiefs of the province of Asia who had become friendly acquaintances, implying the existence of a positive relationship between Paul and a number of the provincial chiefs. The assembly is in a state of turmoil, nearing the status of a full-fledged riot. Many in the seething crowd are shouting different slogans. The majority of this apostate ecclesia is not even aware of the reason they have so chaotically gathered.
Alexander, a Jew who is in good standing with the gentiles of
These Jews are not opposed to this teaching of the Gospel. These
Jews are not hostile to Paul and his Gospel. The Messianic Jews are still
perceived by Jews and non-Jews in
Thus, the riot, in the minds of the Ephesians, is associated with Jewish teaching. Alexander, seeking to make a defense on behalf of the Jewish Community, beckons the attention of the mania-minded mob. As soon, however, as he is recognized as a Jew, with one paranoiac voice the enraged assembly begins to mesmerically chant, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” (Acts 19:34b CV), continuing for about two hours. The demonically crazed crowd, thus, asserts, in an ignorant stupor, its desperate need to believe in the superiority of their goddess over the Elohim of Israel.
Finally, the scribe of the municipal council, a man of
authority, understanding the legal implications of this riotous activity,
quiets the chanting of this illegal and disorderly ecclesia. Gaining their
attention, he reminds them of the greatness of the reputation of Artemis,
which, he declares, needs no defending. Their reaction is an insult to the
dignity of Artemis, a dignity which is well known throughout the
These facts being unquestionable, they must calmly return to
orderly conduct. Their riotous behavior could be interpreted by the Romans as
sedition, leading to
The assembly, being, thus, brought to order, is then
dismissed, the crisis being resolved, for the time being, without any further
injustice or destructive activity. However, this would be just the beginning of
Paul’s troubles in western
As in all the Messianic assemblies, conflict with various
adversaries continues to be a normal occurrence. The ecclesia at
Apostate Jews dedicated to the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant have shown a vehement hostility to the Gospel which is claiming to represent a new covenant superseding their own cherished sacred covenant. The Way of Jesus as Messiah is perceived by many among them as blasphemy against Yahweh their Elohim. Some of these Jews have smuggled themselves in among the Messianic brethren, attempting to sabotage this unorthodox, evil cult mushrooming in the midst of their sacred Jewish Community.
Other Jews have received the Gospel, becoming Messianic Jews, but maintaining a commitment to the works of the Mosaic Law. These counterfeit messianic Jews are a perpetual threat to The Way of the Gospel, adversarially corrupting the truth of the Gospel by mixing it with the terms of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant. At this point in time, the tares are very difficult to differentiate from the wheat.
Paul had already explained this phenomenon to the Corinthian brethren in his first letter:
For it must be that there are sects also among you, that those also who are qualified may be becoming apparent among you. (1 Corinthians 11:19 CV)
These divisive individuals and groups have been allowed to flourish among the ecclesias in order to prove, to put to the test, those who are truly the faithful ones. Until the false brethren among the authentic brethren can be identified with certainty, the stratagems of the adversaries must be identified by their doctrinal and practical opposition to the truth of the Gospel.
Thus, though the Corinthian brethren as a corporate assembly have responded marvelously to the apostolic letter of correction from Paul, trouble continues to brew due to both misunderstanding and adversarial seduction. The enemy remains in their midst. They must maintain their guard; they must remain watchfully alert to the deceptive seductions of adversaries parading around as Messianics.
This dangerous wilderness environment explains Paul’s surprisingly sudden attitude changes in the course of his letter writing. The enemy can only be challenged in relation to his counterfeit teaching and conduct, since such teaching and conduct could very well be carried out by someone who has been seductively deceived into such unfaithfulness. Harsh rebuke is sometimes necessary in strategic times of combative engagement.
In writing this letter to the Corinthian brethren, Paul
informs them of the most severe affliction he and his Jewish coworkers had
endured in the province of
Though the affliction caused by the outside adversaries is
great, indeed, the afflicting conflicts within the ecclesias are even more
painful and dangerous. The inordinate physical and psychological affliction
recently endured in western
In Christ, all have the sentence of this death in themselves. This sentence of death is in association with the old humanity, the soilish humanity contaminated by the alien resident within the members of the Adamic, soulish/soilish body. This old man (together with the alien Law of Sin and Death operating within through the mind of the flesh) in Christ has the sentence of death over him. He has been crucified together with Jesus the Christ, and he (the old man) must be continually accounted by the slave (the new man) of Yahweh and His Anointed Son as crucified, as disabled, as dead, thereby allowing the new man, the new mind of the spirit, the new superior Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ to direct the affairs of the resurrected-to-life members of the newly rejuvenated, vivified soulish body.
Such an accounting of faith crucifies, disables, the soilish man, the law, and the mind within from corrupting, contaminating the members of the body so as to cause them to become prostituted instruments of unrighteousness:
But we [Paul and his coworkers, but including all in Christ] have had the sentence of the death [the crucifixion death of Christ] in ourselves [in the body of this death, see Rom. 7:24], in order that we should not be having confidence [trust] in ourselves [in the soilish body contaminated with The Law of Sin and Death], but upon Yahweh, Who is the One rousing the dead [the dead soulish body in which those in Christ presently serve Yahweh (as roused from the soilish contamination in the flesh) through crucifixion with Christ, as well as the physical death of this same soulish/soilish body of flesh and blood]. (2 Corinthians 1:9 my translation)
In spite of the infirmities of the body of this soilish death, by glorying in The Cross of The Christ and thus accounting the soilish man as crucified with Christ (and thus dead, disabled), Yahweh had delivered His faithful servants “out of so great a death” (2 Cor. 1:10a, literal Greek) of the soulish body as accounted dead and as afflicted with such excessive persecution.
Though the excessive affliction drove their sound minds to the extreme point of even desiring physical death, Yahweh had not allowed them to be put to the test beyond their capacity to overcome, to conquer:
Now, faithful is Yahweh, Who will not be leaving you to be put to the test beyond what you are able to endure. But, together with the test, He also will be making the way out [ekbasis, the out-stepping, the sequel, the issue, the stepping out in mind and body from under the affliction of the test] to enable you [to empower you] to endure [until the appointed time of Yahweh’s rescue]. (1 Corinthians 10:13 my translation)
It could have been that Yahweh’s rescue would actually have been physical death. But these Messianic Jewish warrior-priests had been called to a work which had not yet been completed. Physical death would keep them from completing their calling.
Yahweh is the Elohim of the living. He gives life, and He takes life. No one supersedes His authority over life and death,
Yahweh kills and makes alive. He sends down to Sheol and raises up [from Sheol]. (1 Samuel 2:6 my translation)
Paul and his coworkers had faithfully accounted themselves dead, crucified, to the mind of the flesh, thereby maintaining dominion, rule, over the members of their physical bodies. This dominion placed the members of their bodies under the renewed mind of the new man. This mind directed the members of their bodies to be instruments producing only the righteous behavior associated with the Gospel. The command of their sound minds, operating in accord with the purpose of Yahweh being executed by Jesus the New Davidic Warrior-King, disciplined the members of their bodies enabling them to endure the great affliction on behalf of the glory and honor of Yahweh their Elohim and Jesus their Lord and King.
Thus, they were enabled to endure to the appointed time of Yahweh’s rescue. As Yahweh had recently rescued them from so great an affliction, so they believed Yahweh would continue to rescue them from persecution inflicted by the adversaries of the Gospel until their commissioned task had been completed according to Yahweh’s satisfaction.
Having informed the Corinthian brethren of this recent excruciating affliction, the wherewithal by which they had endured, and the timely rescue by Yahweh, Paul is encouraging the Corinthian Messianics to be accounting themselves dead to the old, soilish man, to The Law of Sin and Death in their members, to the mind of the flesh and to be accounting themselves alive to the new, spiritual man, to The Law of the Spirit of Life now operating in their members (which have been crucified to the alien law), to the renewed mind of the spirit. He is encouraging and exhorting them once again to put off the image (the character, the mind, the attitude) of the soilish man and put on the image of the Celestial Man (the character, the mind, the attitude of Jesus the exalted Second Man, Head of the Ecclesia and Head of the New Humanity, see 1 Cor. 15:49 CV, Greek text).
Putting off the image of the soilish man and putting on the image of the Celestial Man also meant putting off the condition and terms of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant and putting on the condition and terms of the New Davidic/Abrahamic Covenant. As the Sinatic Covenant had been inaugurated and ratified by the engraving of the Ten Words of the covenant upon two stone tablets by the finger of Yahweh, so the present New Covenant had been inaugurated and ratified by the engraving of the Law of Yahweh’s New Covenant upon the tablets of the heart by the spirit of the Living Elohim.
Moses had been commended as Yahweh’s minister of the Sinatic Covenant by means of the two stone tablets. Paul and the Apostles are commended as Yahweh’s ministers of the New Davidic/Abrahamic Covenant by means of the Law of Yahweh’s New Covenant written upon the hearts of all those in Christ:
You [the Corinthian Messianics] are our letter [covenantal contract], engraven in our hearts, known and read by all men, for you are manifesting a letter [an epistle, a legal contract] of Christ, dispensed by us [ministers of the New Covenant], and engraven, not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God [Elohim], not on stone tablets, but on the fleshy tablets of the heart [of all those receiving and agreeing to the condition and terms of the New Covenant in Christ]. (2 Corinthians 3:2-3 CV)
Thus, there is no need for Paul and the other ministers of the New Covenant to be commending themselves to the Corinthian Messianics as authorized ministers of the New Covenant. Their letter of commendation is written on the hearts of the Corinthian Messianics by the spirit of Yahweh.
The Corinthians are most capable of recognizing the authentic ministers of Yahweh and Jesus the Messiah by the officially authorized letter of Yahweh written on the fleshy tablets of their hearts. They, therefore, have no excuse for doubting the authenticity of the authorized ministers as a result of the false claims of unauthorized men claiming to be ministers of the Living Elohim. The New Covenant contract written on their hearts by the spirit of the Living Elohim, having been delivered to them by Paul and his coworkers, is sufficient to identify the authorized ministers. The brethren are not to be seduced by the stratagems of The Adversary.
The Sinatic Covenant had been inaugurated and ratified by the
Ten Words of the covenant engraven by the finger of Yahweh upon two tablets of
stone cut out by Yahweh from the height of
The intervention of Moses on behalf of the nation as a
corporate body restores the covenantal relationship between
The restored covenant is inaugurated and ratified, again, by
the Ten Words engraved by the finger of Yahweh upon two tablets of stone. This
time, however, the stone tablets are cut by Moses from the foot of the
mountain, indicating the covenant’s deathly character. When Moses returns from
the height of
As Moses, beholding the transgression of the nation, had cast down the original tablets of stone, breaking them, so now, he delivers the second set of stone tablets, bearing the glory of Yahweh back into the camp of the nation. This time, however, the glory is mediated on the face of Moses. The glory is now both a sign of the restored covenant and the indication that Yahweh’s glory among His people must be mediated, because it brings death if not mediated. Yahweh will no longer be experienced directly by His people. His unmediated visitation will now mean judgment for His people.
At Sinai, the nation had heard the voice of Yahweh and had seen His glory in the cloud and fire in the height of Mount Sinai, the Ten Words of the covenant breathing into Jacob/Israel’s corporate nostrils the breath of covenantal life. At that time, the nation had declared,
Behold, Yahweh our Elohim has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we heard His voice from the midst of the fire. This day we have seen that Elohim speaks with the human [the nation as a covenantal man] and he [the nation] lives. (Deuteronomy 5:24 CV modified)
Now, when Moses returns a second time with the tablets of stone, the people fear their encounter with the glory of Yahweh mediated on the face of Moses
when he [Moses]
descended from the mount, . . . Moses did not realize that the skin of his face
gleamed because of His [Yahweh’s] speaking
to him. Then Aaron and the sons of
This phenomenon on Moses’ face had not occurred the first time he had talked with Yahweh. When he had returned to the people with the stone tablets, his face had not glowed with the glory of Yahweh.
This second time, Moses becomes the mediator of Yahweh’s glory, which left uncovered for too long would destroy the people. Consequently, Moses had to veil his face when speaking the word of Yahweh to the people. The people feared “to look intently into the face of Moses” (2 Cor. 3:7b CV) due to the deathly affect of the glory of Yahweh upon them. The Sinatic Covenant had been a covenant of life. The glory of Yahweh’s presence instilled within the nation covenantal life. Yahweh’s glory did not need to be mediated on the face of Moses. Yahweh’s glory had not been a threat to the people, because the nation had been obedient.
The restored Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant had been made with a nation contaminated by its transgression in relation to its worship of the golden calf. Thus, the nation, like Adam after his transgression, became soilish, covenantally. The restored Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant, although now a ministry of death (since the nation had now been doomed to covenantal death, like Adam), did promise terrestrial blessings for obedience (see Deut. 32:44-47) and terrestrial cursings for disobedience (Deut. 28:58-61). It could and should be kept, obeyed. For if kept, it meant the nation’s covenantal life (covenantal terrestrial blessings exceeding that of the nations). But, if disobeyed, it meant the nation’s covenantal death (covenantal terrestrial cursings exceeding that of the nations).
As Moses had become the mediator of the glory of Yahweh associated with the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant, so also has Jesus the Messiah become the mediator of the glory of Yahweh associated with the New Davidic/Abrahamic Covenant. Moses, however, had become the mediator of the glory of Yahweh which, left unhindered, unveiled, would administer death to those beholding it. Contrariwise, Jesus has become the mediator of the glory of Yahweh which needs not to be veiled or hindered at all.
The glory of Yahweh associated with the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant administered death, because the Sinatic Covenant, intended for life, through obedience, had been disobeyed, breached, broken. That same glory, because of the transgression, became an instrument of death. That death, however, would not be meted out to the nation immediately. The intervention of Moses on behalf of the nation had initiated Yahweh’s mercy and compassion. The covenant relationship with the nation had been restored.
But the glory which had administered life, now administered death, if not mediated, veiled, hindered. The Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant itself administered covenantal life or death, blessings or cursings, based upon obedience or disobedience. But the glory of Yahweh associated with this restored covenant would eventually be unveiled, unhindered, bringing death to the nation. This necessitated a new covenant through which the glory of Yahweh, unveiled, unhindered, would administer life.
The Sinatic Covenant could administer extended terrestrial health and terrestrial blessings to soulish life. However, it could not administer immortal, spiritual, celestial life and blessings to soulish life. It had never been intended to provide such life and blessings. The Abrahamic Covenant would administer such life and blessings for the firstfruits of humanity only (those believing and remaining faithful to the Gospel of Christ as proclaimed by the Apostles and evangelists from 30-70 a.d.).
Because of
Jesus as the Lamb of Yahweh would provide forgiveness of sins;
Jesus as the Son of David would provide redemption from the curse of the
Sinatic Covenant of law and would restore the
Therefore, as the intervention of Moses on behalf of
Moses became a competent, authorized, minister of the letter
of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant representing the covenant engraved with letters
in stone (“letters chiseled in stone,”
2 Cor. 3:7a CV). This letter, this covenant chiseled in stone, is presently
killing, declares Paul (2 Cor. 3:6b CV). In spite of the fact that this
covenant is promising covenantal terrestrial blessing when obeyed, even if and
when it is presently obeyed, it is a covenant administering national death. This
covenant guarantees that in the determined time of Yahweh, the glory of Yahweh
would be completely unveiled upon
In the unveiled face of Jesus, the glory of Yahweh, which had
been veiled, is now shining brightly upon His people scattered throughout the
territories of the Roman Empire, upon the whole inhabited household of
However, although those opposing the Gospel are detecting the offensive odor of death, they do not attribute this odorous sign to the decay and death of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant. They attribute it to the Gospel associated with this new, but offensive, covenant preached by these insidious Messianic Jews corrupting the entire Jewish Community throughout its Roman household. The Corinthian brethren must not be ignorant of the fact that among them are those Jews, who, although claiming to be followers of Jesus the Messiah, continue to identify as odious certain teachings associated with the truth of the Gospel. The Corinthian brethren are to take notice of those who nauseously oppose the sound teaching of the sound mind of the spirit. The Messianic brethren are not to be seduced by such disqualified whining inspired by the mind of the flesh.
The letter of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant chiseled in stone is presently killing all those under this covenant of death, in spite of the fact that obedience to the laws of this covenant brings blessing. The laws contained within this covenant are not killing. It is the covenant itself which is presently killing. The glory of Yahweh unveiled in the face of Jesus the Christ is executing the death process of this covenant. The final impact of death upon this covenant by the glory of Yahweh unveiled in the Gospel is presently imposing covenantal death upon all those under this dying covenant.
In contrast, however, the spirit of the New Davidic/Abrahamic Covenant, representing the law of Yahweh written or engraved upon the fleshy tablets of the hearts, is presently vivifying all those receiving the glory of Yahweh shining forth from the unveiled face of Jesus the Messiah. The unveiled glory of Yahweh associated with the New Covenant produces a living covenantal relationship with Yahweh and a vivifying of the members of the mortal body by the indwelling Law of the Spirit of Life making one alive to the only legitimate worship of and service to Yahweh.
Worship and service carried out under the old, dying Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant is accounted dead by Yahweh. Only worship and service carried out under the grace of the New Covenant in Christ is presently being accounted as alive to Yahweh. Hence, in Christ is covenantal life, outside Christ is covenantal death. Under the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant is dead worship and service of Yahweh. Under the New Covenant is living worship and service of Yahweh. Keeping, observing, the laws of Yahweh contained within the old, dying covenant is not offensive to Yahweh. Such observance still brings terrestrial blessing, still is pleasing to Yahweh.
However, trust and confidence in the old, dying covenant as a means of covenantal relationship with Yahweh, as a means of covenantal salvation and future expectation, is offensive to Yahweh and is imposing covenantal death, and, thus, loss of Abrahamic and Davidic promises. Clinging to the old, dying covenant for covenantal life and promised Abrahamic blessing is clinging to Moses and rejecting Jesus the Messiah; is denying the odor of death (presently made detectible by the Gospel) as a sign of the decaying and dying Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant; and, thus, is a denying of the sweet fragrance of the glory of Yahweh associated with the New Covenant and the unveiled face of Jesus His Anointed Son.
In spite of the present state of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant, Paul makes clear that this covenant, although a covenant under the death sentence of the glory of Yahweh, still had come in the glory of Yahweh and continued to function for the glory of Yahweh. This covenant, although a ministry of condemnation (the nation had been given a national sentence of death), continued to offer terrestrial blessings for national obedience. The destructive affect of the glory of Yahweh had been hindered from destroying the nation by means of the veil placed over the face of Moses. The people could see the glory only as hidden, tempered, assuaged, behind the veil.
Thus, the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant is associated in a positive
sense with the glory of Yahweh. It had been a great advantage to
The Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant of law had been and continued to
be holy, and its commandments had been and continued to be just and good (Rom.
7:12). It is
The glory of Yahweh hidden behind the veil of Moses is an act
of Yahweh’s grace, kindness, mercy, compassion, longsuffering. This glory had
been a source of blessing for
However, even this execution of condemnation is an act of Yahweh’s grace, kindness, mercy, compassion, longsuffering. For it comes in the wake of the more glorious covenant. As the glory of Yahweh destroys the nation under the condemnation of the old covenant engraved with the letters of the Ten Words in tablets of stone, Yahweh has established a New Covenant by which His law is being written on the fleshy tablets of the heart. The glory of Yahweh as associated with this New Covenant is vivifying the holy nation.
Thus, the glory of Yahweh is simultaneously killing the old
Yahweh’s grace had executed the death sentence of the old
covenant while simultaneously using this death sentence as a means of creating
new life. Death had not been allowed to be the last word in relation to
The glory associated with the Sinatic Covenant had not been
abolished, nullified, or decreased. It merely is presently executing, writes
Paul, the just judgment of Yahweh upon the nation which had breached the
Sinatic Covenant while at the foot of
Paul argues, if the glory associated with the Sinatic/Mosaic
Covenant had to be veiled, hidden, because it had become a ministry of
condemnation to the disobedient, stiff-necked nation, how much greater is that
same glory as associated with the New Covenant proclaimed without the need to
be hidden or veiled. The glory associated with the face of Moses had to be
veiled, hidden, in order to hinder its great destructive power, thereby
allowing
Since the ministry of the New Covenant is dispensing righteousness (the justification of life, Rom. 5:18), rather than the condemnation (covenantal death) being dispensed by the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant, the ministers of the New Covenant confidently proclaim the Gospel with boldness. This Gospel redeems Israel out of the condemnation of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant while honoring the Hebrew Scriptures (the Torah, the Law and the Prophets), the continuity of Israel’s covenantal history, and the One, Living, True Elohim of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Every true, authentic Israelite whose heart is circumcised cannot, in due time, fail to recognize the voice of Yahweh in the Gospel concerning His Son.
Moses graciously needed to place a veil over his face in order
to protect the nation from the potential death sentence to be executed by the
glory of Yahweh mediated on the face of Moses. That gracious veil continued to
operate in the Tabernacle and
However, Paul writes, the apprehensions of the minds of the
sons of
They had become hindered from perceiving the significance of
the veil over the face of Moses. They could not apprehend the Sinatic/Mosaic
Covenant as a ministry of condemnation. They could no longer conceive the glory
of Yahweh associated with the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant as an executor of a death
sentence over the nation. They had continued to look to the Sinatic/Mosaic
Covenant for the future salvation of
For such hardened, calloused, blind, and ignorant minds, the Gospel of Jesus the Messiah had become an offense, a stone of stumbling. It had become a scandal, disturbing their minds and hearts. Yet, for those whose hearts are circumcised, the Gospel continues to irritate their conscience. They cannot refute the wisdom of its message drawn from the holy scriptures.
Only after they bow the knee to Jesus the Messiah, coming to
be in Christ, would the veil over the reading of the scriptures concerning the
Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant be lifted, removed, nullified, so as to allow their
minds to come to a proper understanding of the place and purpose of the
Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant in the plan Yahweh had designed for Israel. Only in
Christ would the veil over the holy scriptures be lifted, removed, so as to open
their minds to what had previously been revealed and concealed to
With the veil having been removed at the reading of the scriptures, the apprehensions of the mind would now receive and understand the glory of the truth of Yahweh’s word. The veil over the circumcised hearts will, then, have been removed, resulting in the overwhelming joy of the heart now able to respond freely to the love of Yahweh revealed in Christ Jesus.
For the remnant of the Israel of Yahweh still hardened to and ignorant of the truth of the Gospel, the veil remaining over their circumcised hearts would be removed when the Ecclesia would be revealed in glory during the Parousia/Approach of Jesus the Messiah. At that time, they would recognize Jesus as Messiah, and, turning back to Yahweh, the veil over their hearts would be removed, even as Moses, after speaking the word of Yahweh to the people, removed the veil covering his face when he returned into the presence of Yahweh (2 Cor. 3:16, alluding to Exodus 34:34).
Having the veil removed from over their hearts, the veil over the scriptures concerning the old covenant would now be removed allowing their minds to comprehend the truth of Yahweh’s word as confirmed in the teaching of the Gospel associated with the New Covenant and Jesus the promised Messiah. These believing Jews would then join the others already in the Ecclesia, together sharing in the final sufferings of Jesus the Messiah, the final sufferings associated with The Cross of The Christ terminating the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant and the Mosaic Eon.
Under the current administration of the New Covenant, Yahweh is being encountered in the operation of the spirit poured out by Jesus the Messiah. The spirit of Yahweh is testifying to the truth of Jesus the Messiah through the proclamation of the Gospel. Thus, “the Lord [Yahweh] is the spirit [operating in the Gospel associated with the New Covenant]” (2 Cor. 3:17a CV). As Moses had unveiled access to Yahweh’s presence, those in Christ have unveiled access to Yahweh’s presence through the unveiling operation of the spirit.
The presence and operation of the spirit of Yahweh and His Anointed Son means freedom to all those having the spirit dwelling within them. All those in Christ are the free sons of Yahweh. They have been freed from the alien interference of The Law of Sin and Death so that they might freely worship and serve Yahweh as adult sons manifesting the righteousness of Yahweh through the power of The Law of the Spirit of Life (which is equivalent to putting on Christ, wearing the image of the Celestial Man, glorying in The Cross of the Christ) now operating in the members of their bodies.
As adult sons, they conduct themselves according to the sound mind of the spirit. As such, with an unveiled face, they themselves are mirroring, reflecting, Yahweh’s glory as revealed in the face of Jesus the Christ. Paul declares that all in Christ are manifesting Yahweh’s glory through unveiled minds, hearts, and bodies
being transformed [metamorphosed] into the same image [of Jesus the Christ, the Second Man, the Celestial Man] from glory [that of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant and the present transforming glory of the soulish/soilish mind and body by the indwelling spirit] to glory [the final glorious transformation to take place at the completion of this resurrection process, the putting off, through death or atomic restructuring, of the soulish/soilish body and the putting on of the new Celestial body], even as from the Lord, the spirit [Yahweh’s spirit]. (2 Corinthians 3:18 CV)
Like and unlike Moses, all in Christ are presently manifesting, mirroring, reflecting, revealing the glory of Yahweh, as reflected in the face of Jesus the Christ (Who is The Glory of Yahweh, Heb. 1:3), with unveiled face (that is, boldly, translucently, fearlessly, courageously), declares Paul to the brethren in Corinth.
Therefore, the ministry of Paul and his coworkers is a ministry imparting the spirit. This ministry is clearly of Yahweh since it proclaims the truth of the Gospel in honor, spurning the dishonorable interpretation of the holy scriptures based upon a veiled understanding of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant. Hiding and distorting the truth of the holy scriptures, the apostate Jews and pseudo messianic Jews having access to the ears of the Corinthian Messianics have been teaching “the hidden things of the shame” (2 Cor. 4:2 CV), the hidden, veiled, dishonorable eisegesis of the holy scriptures, shamefully denying the manifest, clear intention of the holy texts.
These ministers of darkness distort and deny Moses, denying as well Paul and his coworkers. For these ministers of darkness have placed over the holy scriptures the veil of their own traditions and commandments, thus hiding from themselves the truths of the Law and the Prophets which reveal the continuity between Moses and Jesus, between the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant and the New Davidic/Abrahamic Covenant, between the Gospel and the Law, between the Prophets and the Apostles, between the letter and the spirit.
Unlike the Apostles, these deceivers go out of their way to hide the truth behind the hypocritical veil of their own manufactured refutations of the truth of the Gospel. Thus, they walk in the craftiness of uncircumcised hearts, hearts hardened, veiled to the truth of Yahweh revealed in both the old and new covenants. In adulterating the word of Yahweh, they shame themselves, Moses, the Prophets, the Apostles, Jesus, the spirit, and Yahweh. They worship Yahweh with their lips, but their hearts and minds worship and serve The Adversary, the elohim deceptively directing the present eon of Apostate Israel’s shame. The Corinthian brethren are not to be seduced by these deceivers into the lie of The Adversary, the lie of the sons of Cain masquerading as righteous Jews or Jewish Messianics.
If the Gospel proclaimed by Paul and the Apostles is veiled,
is hidden, it is veiled in or hidden from only those who are perishing. It is
veiled or hidden to those perishing because they have mistakenly transferred
the veil over the face of Moses, placing it over the holy scriptures
themselves. Consequently, a veil has formed over their hearts matching the veil
over the scriptures. Many in
A veiled mind and a veiled heart blind one to the glory of
Yahweh revealed both in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the Gospel of Jesus the Messiah.
Many in
These are those of whom Paul declares,
Now, if our evangel is covered [veiled], also, it is covered in those who are perishing, in whom the god [elohim] of this eon [of the darkness of Israel’s apostasy] blinds the apprehensions of the unbelieving [apostate Jews, pseudo messianic Jews] so that the illumination of the evangel of the glory of Christ, Who is the Image of the invisible God, does not irradiate them. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4 CV)
There are many Jews still perishing whose hearts are circumcised. Being truly blind because of the veils placed over their minds and hearts by the pseudo-shepherds, when these veils are removed by Yahweh’s spirit, these circumcised-in-heart Jews will no longer be perishing, since the illumination of the glory of Yahweh emanating from the Gospel will irradiate their circumcised hearts and minds, placing them in Christ. Yahweh, looking at the heart, knows who are the faithful children of Abraham. Yahweh will not leave in blindness those who have innocently, blamelessly, been victimized by the sons of Cain. Yahweh remains faithful to those possessing hearts belonging to Him.
Paul, the Apostles, and their coworkers are not proclaiming themselves. They are not seeking their own glory, honor, or exceptional status. They have been commissioned by Yahweh and His Anointed Son. Their ministry is confirmed by the glory of Yahweh manifested by the spirit, a vivifying glory irradiating all those faithfully responding to the voice of Yahweh speaking in the proclamation of the Gospel. These faithful ministers of Yahweh are proclaiming,
Christ Jesus the Lord [the authorized agent directly reflecting the vivifying glory of Yahweh], yet ourselves your slaves [according to the Law of Christ, “But whosoever may be wanting to become great among you, let him be your servant, . . . whoever . . . wanting to be foremost . . . let him be your slave” (Matt. 20:26b-27a CV)] because of Jesus [Who commissioned them], for the God [Elohim] Who says that, out of darkness light shall be shining, is He Who shines in our hearts, with a view to the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God [Yahweh] in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:5b-6 CV)
The Gospel proclaims Jesus Christ as Lord, as Yahweh’s only agent directly reflecting His vivifying glory, as Yahweh’s Regent Son manifesting the character of His Father and sharing this manifestation of Yahweh’s spirit of vivifying glory with all those receiving faithfully the Gospel as Yahweh’s word of life. Since Paul, the Apostles, and their coworkers have been called and commissioned to bear great responsibility and occupy the foremost positions in the Ecclesia, they are to serve the Messianic Community as slaves, enduring the greater sufferings of such service. They are not to be given inappropriate homage according to the flesh; they are not to be kept in luxury at the expense of the community’s spiritual and physical welfare.
At this point (2 Cor. 4:6), Paul alludes to Yahweh’s act of
creation recorded in Genesis 1:3, “Let
there be light” (NASB), but, more specifically, he alludes to Isaiah 58:8
which refers to
The direct allusion to Isaiah 58:8 is a pungent reminder that the Corinthian Messianics have been illuminated with the glory of Yahweh Who now shines in their hearts making them His adult sons possessing a knowledge and an acknowledging of His characteristics as revealed in the face of Jesus Christ (the mind and conduct of Jesus, Yahweh’s Anointed Only-Begotten Son Who had been obedient unto the death of a cross and continues to obediently manifest Yahweh’s glorious character). As such, the Corinthian Messianics should be actively involved in manifesting the glory of Yahweh in their thinking and behaving. They should be illuminating, to all around them, the righteous character of Yahweh and His Anointed Son:
Then [when you feed the hungry, house the homeless, cloth the naked] your light [the light of the righteousness of the glory of Yahweh as exemplified by Jesus the Christ] will break out like the dawn, And your recovery [renewed mind, heart, and body] will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness [in Christ] will go before you; The glory of the Lord [Yahweh in the face of Jesus Christ] will be your rear guard [your protection and security in Christ]. (Isaiah 58:8 NASB)
All those in Christ possess this glory of Yahweh, this treasure “in earthen vessels, that the transcendence of the power may be of God [Yahweh] and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:7 CV). The glory of Yahweh associated with Jesus Christ, the Gospel, the Cross, the New Covenant, is a treasure dwelling within the earthen body of the soulish/soilish man. This earthen vessel/body is mortal, corrupt, contaminated, by the process of the death common to all humanity, the alien Law of Sin and Death operating within its members, and the mind of the flesh interceding on behalf of The Law of Sin and Death (the soilish man).
The glory of Yahweh is produced by The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus as it invigorates, vivifies, the mortal members of the mortal, earthen body, releasing these members from the alien influence of The Law of Sin and Death and the mind of the flesh. No longer held captive to the influence and intercession of this alien power, which has been disabled through having been crucified with the Christ and which must remain disabled by the faithful accounting of it as crucified, the soulish man is free to serve Yahweh and His Anointed Son by yielding his members as instruments of righteousness, thus, fulfilling the Law of Yahweh in Christ Jesus according to the influence of The Law of the Spirit of Life and the intercession of the mind of the spirit.
In this way, the power producing the transcendent illumination of the glory of Yahweh in the earthen vessel of the mortal body is not of men, but of Yahweh Himself. The body remains mortal (under the process of the death common to all humanity) while its mortal members are vivified, invigorated with the power of The Law of the Spirit of Life, enabling the soulish/mortal man to avoid the unrighteous, contaminating influence of The Law of Sin and Death.
Released from the powerful influence of this alien law and its effectively interceding mind of the flesh, the roused/renewed mind of the interceding mind of the spirit, together with the vivified/resurrected members of the mortal body by The Law of the Spirit of Life, is alive to Yahweh in association with the New Covenant. This new creation, the new man in Christ, the new spiritual man, at this point, consists of the soulish man as released from the influence, interference, of the soilish man while being empowered by the spirit of Yahweh. As alive in Christ, this new man is now endowed with spiritual power enabling him, through the very mortal members of his body (earthen vessel), to produce the works of Yahweh’s righteousness associated with thought and conduct conforming to that which is upright in the eyes of Yahweh.
Consequently, all those in Christ have been appropriately equipped for spiritual conquest:
In every way being afflicted [for the sake of the Gospel], but not crushed; perplexed [by the self-destructive madness of those opposed to the Gospel], but not victimized by despair; persecuted [for the sake of the righteousness of the Kingdom], but not forsaken; cast down, but not perishing [either physically or spiritually]; always carrying about in the body the deadening of Jesus [the crucifixion of the members of the body to The Law of Sin and Death and the mind of the flesh], in order that the life also of Jesus [the resurrection of the members of the body by The Law of the Spirit of Life and the mind of the spirit] may be manifested in our body [the soulish body in the process of dying the death common to all humanity]. (2 Corinthians 4:8-10 my translation)
The Apostles and their coworkers are enduring the death (the excruciating bodily affliction and mind-baffling bewilderment coming to those officially commissioned to proclaim the Gospel) of their physical bodies in order that the members of the Ecclesia (The Body of The Christ) might relatively more safely experience the life of Christ in them toward their spiritual growth and maturity. Although the Corinthian Messianics are not enduring the excruciating affliction and persecution which their superiors are enduring on their behalf, they still, like their superiors, should be “carrying about in the body the deadening of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested” (2 Cor. 4:10 CV) in their bodies.
The eschatological end of the Mosaic Eon is near. The Approach/Arrival of Jesus the Messiah is not far off. All those in Christ are soon to experience the completion of their resurrection/metamorphosis which had already begun with the pouring out of the spirit. Sharing in the sufferings of The Cross of Jesus The Christ will result in the sharing of His glory soon to be overtly revealed. Paul declares that even though “our outward man [the body] is decaying [being physically wasted, worn out, through this excruciating affliction endured on behalf of the Gospel and the spiritual growth and maturity of the Ecclesia]” (2 Cor. 4:16a CV), nevertheless, the man within (the new man, the new creation, the spiritual man wearing the image of the Celestial Man, the soulish man as roused, invigorated, vivified, by The Law of the Spirit of Life, by the indwelling operation of the spirit) “is being renewed [updated in mind, metamorphosed, transformed, in body] day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16b CV).
The momentary and relatively light affliction suffered by The Ecclesia (in varying degrees by her various members) is presently already contributing to their gradual transformation by the celestially transcendent glory of eonian weight to be fully realized at the consummation of the Parousia of Jesus the Messiah. The glory of Jesus the Christ to be shared by His Ecclesia is not momentary. It will continue through the eons, beginning with the soon-to-come eon. Though the affliction being endured is to last only through the duration of these last years of the Mosaic Eon, the glory already in process will be worn, adorned, throughout the course of future eons.
This present affliction is relatively light compared to the enormous eonian weight of the Celestial glory belonging to all those in Christ who remain faithful to the end of this present Mosaic Eon soon to be terminated. Therefore, those in Christ are assured of this Celestial transcendent glory, providing they do not consider as weighty the terrestrial affairs of this present temporary eon (which affairs are presently being observed with the eyes), but rather continue to consider as exceedingly worthy the enormous weightiness of the glory associated with the celestial affairs of the coming eons (which cannot be observed with the naked eye, but only with the inner eye of faithfulness).
The glory of Yahweh, according to Paul, is now reflected in the face of Jesus Christ. This glory is now dwelling in earthen vessels. These earthen vessels refer to the soulish/soilish physical body. Not all earthen vessels contain the glory of Yahweh. Only those earthen vessels belonging to those in Christ, both Jew and Gentile. It is now clear that Paul has been using double entendre once again.
Collectively, all those in Christ are one body, one vessel. Collectively, all Jews are one corporate body, one nation, one vessel. The collective body or vessel of this nation is established by the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant. It is this covenant that incorporates all Israelites (Jews) into a corporate man, a national man, a covenantally corporate body. Metaphorically, this corporate body can be referred to as a body of flesh, that is, a soulish/soilish national body because it had activated its latent covenantal mortality with the worship of the golden calf, thus, becoming a soulish/soilish nation. Paul had declared,
For we [Jews] who are living [those Jews in Christ] are ever being given up to death [both individually in relation to the soulish/soilish body and nationally in relation to the covenantal body of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant] because of Jesus [crucified with Christ individually and nationally], that the life also of Jesus [individually and nationally in relation to His resurrection life and the New Covenant, the New Covenantal Corporate Body, Nation, Man] may be manifested in our mortal flesh [individually and nationally in relation to the individual body of mortal flesh and in relation nationally to the corporate body of mortal flesh, established by the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant]. (2 Corinthians 4:11 CV)
The New Born-From-Above
Israel of Yahweh is collectively a New
corporate, national, covenantal Man,
Body, into which both believing Jews and Gentiles are placed by the sealing
of the spirit of Yahweh. Since this corporate, national, covenantal Man, Body
is the New Israel of Yahweh, the Jew is given priority, “to the Jew first, and to the Greek as well” (Rom. 1:16b CV). The
cultivated olive tree is
The death of the old Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant is necessary if
the Gentiles are to be grafted into the cultivated olive tree, are to be
incorporated into the New Born-From-Above
Israel of Yahweh as “fellow-citizens
of the saints” (Eph. 2:19 CV). Thus, the Saints (Messianic Jews) are suffering with Jesus the Christ the collective, national,
corporate, covenantal death of the old national, corporate body of
As the old Adamic soulish/soilish body is still alive for the individual in Christ, so the old Sinatic/Mosaic covenantal, corporate, national soulish/soilish body is still alive for the Jews in Christ. As the old, Adamic soulish/soilish body has to be crucified, accounted as dead, disabled, by the individual in Christ, so the old, Sinatic/Mosaic covenantal, corporate, national soulish/soilish body has to be crucified, accounted as dead, disabled, by all Jews in Christ. The Gentile Messianics, having never worn the old covenantal body of Israel (having never been under the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant and, thus, having never been members of this corporate, national body) do not have to crucify it (the old, dying, decrepit Sinatic/Mosaic corporate, national body) as do the Jewish Messianics. Thus, only the Jewish Messianics share in the sufferings of Jesus the Messiah associated with the crucifixion death of the old Sinatic/Mosaic covenantal, corporate, national soulish/soilish body.
The old Sinatic/Mosaic corporate, covenantal body is still alive, and the Jewish Messianics still presently live, covenantally dwelling within this body. Thus, it is necessary for them to crucify themselves to this corporate, covenantal body indwelt by the alien Mosaic law of sin and death operating in the members of this corporate, national body. This alien law is seductively killing covenantally the members of this dying national, corporate body through the deception of the corrupted and distorted (veiled) reading of the Law of Moses through the eyes of the covenantal mind of the flesh.
This covenantal mind of the flesh, obediently responding to
the seductive input of the alien national law of sin and death hardening the
heart and blinding the eyes of the old national
In suffering with Christ, the Jewish Messianics are suffering the afflictions and persecutions associated with the putting to death of the old Sinatic/Mosaic covenantal, corporate body and the provision of life associated with the New Davidic/Abrahamic covenantal, corporate Body of The Christ. The Jewish Messianics are putting off the old national body by crucifying it through the proclamation of the Gospel and by the bearing of its accompanying affliction and persecution necessary for the administering of the new life of the New Covenantal Body of The Christ. Only as the old is put to death through covenantal crucifixion can the new, national, covenantal Body of life be put on, thereby escaping the imminent death of the old, national, covenantal body of death.
The double entendre continues as Paul writes,
For we [Jewish Messianics] are aware that, if our terrestrial tabernacle house [the corporate, national covenantal house/body of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant, the old Israel of the flesh] should be demolished [crucified, put to death], we [the New Israel] have a building of God [the Ecclesia, the spiritual Body of Christ presently being built, constructed, the spiritual house of living stones, the House/Body of the New Covenant], a house not made by hands [as the house/body of the old Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant, alluding also to the Tabernacle/Temple as symbolically representing the house/body of national Israel according to the flesh], eonian [associated with the coming eon], in the heavens [of the terrestrial realm, the new heavenly Jerusalem of the indwelling spirit]. (2 Corinthians 5:1 CV)
In Christ, the old Sinatic house/body is being demolished,
even as the old Adamic body/house is being demolished, crucified, disabled and
constructed anew by The Law of the Spirit
of Life. The
As each one in Christ accounts his members as crucified to The Law of Sin and Death, the old Adamic
body is being demolished in relation to The
Law of Sin and Death and is being vivified, built up, constructed in
relation to The Law of the Spirit of Life,
the indwelling spirit. This
soulish/soilish body, however, is still a terrestrial body, not yet a celestial
body though now associated with the
second man out of heaven (see 1 Cor. 15:47c CV, Greek texts). As each Jewish
member of the larger corporate, national, covenantal Body of The Christ (the
Ecclesia, the Born-From-Above Israel of
Yahweh) is actively crucifying the individual members of his own
soulish/soilish body, each Jewish member participates in the demolishing of the
old, Sinatic/Mosaic larger corporate, national, covenantal body of
Thus, the old
As the old Adamic body must die as a naked kernel before the putting on of the New Celestial body, before the putting on of the completed resurrection body, so also the old Sinatic corporate, national, covenantal body must, as a naked kernel, die before the New Ecclesiastic corporate, national, covenantal Body of The Christ (the New Jerusalem, the heavenly Temple still in the terrestrial realm) can put on her glorious completed resurrection, celestial Body, Building, House. The process of demolition, when completed, ends in death. This occurs in the terrestrial realm. The completion of the Resurrection resulting in the putting on of the New Celestial Man, the New Celestial Body, occurs in the Celestial Realm in the New Eon. This is applicable to both the individual in Christ (in relation to his individual soulish/soilish body) and the collective, corporate, national Body of The Christ (in relation to her corporate, national soulish/soilish body, the old Sinatic/Mosaic Israel of the flesh).
As long as the demolition process continues, the building of Yahweh not made by hands (the Ecclesia, the Born-From-Above Israel, the Corporate, National Body of Christ) remains in the terrestrial realm, though metaphorically, spiritually, covenantally exalted into the heaven over Apostate Israel and the nations, which are metaphorically, religiously, covenantally in the lower, earthly part of the terrestrial realm. Thus, the glory of Yahweh remains in earthen vessels, individually and corporately. The death or atomic changing of the earthen vessels must take place before the glory of Yahweh will indwell individual celestial vessels, bodies, and the Corporate Celestial Body of The Christ.
As long as those in Christ remain in their earthen vessels (bodies) and as long as the Ecclesia, the Born-From-Above Israel remains in her Sinatic/Mosaic earthen, soulish/soilish corporate body under the demolition by the spirit, the groaning of the spiritual change (the crucifying of the old man/body and the vivifying of this same soulish/soilish man/body taking place against The Law of Sin and Death and the mind of the flesh representing the soilish man/body) will continue. Thus, this groaning is in association with The Cross of The Christ, the crucifixion of the flesh, the old, soilish body/man. The groaning indicates the spiritual, agonistic struggle of the spirit against the flesh. It is a sign of the incompletion of one’s salvation, one’s resurrection with Christ.
The groaning indicates the spiritual desire to be dressed, clothed in “our habitation which is out of heaven” (2 Cor. 5:2 CV). This refers to wearing the image of the Celestial Man (1 Cor. 15:49 CV), “the second man . . . the Lord out of heaven” (1 Cor. 15:47 CV), “stripping off the old humanity [man, individually and corporately] together with its practices, and putting on the young [that which is incomplete, that which is growing, that which is under construction in the terrestrial realm of the terrestrial, soulish/soilish body], which is being renewed . . . ” (Col. 3:9-10 CV); “to put off from you, as regards your former behavior, the old humanity which is corrupted in accord with its seductive desires, yet to be rejuvenated in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new humanity which, in accord with God [Yahweh], is being created in righteousness and benignity of the truth” (Eph. 4:22-24 CV); “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be making no provision for the lusts of the flesh” (Rom. 13:14 CV).
Thus, having put off the old, those in Christ are to put on the new, thereby not becoming naked (2 Cor. 5:3b). To become naked means to put off the old man without putting on the new. For the New Born-From-Above Israel of Yahweh, “naked” means putting off the Sinatic/Mosaic corporate, national, covenantal body with its righteous requirements while refusing to put on the new corporate, national, covenantal Body of The Christ with its righteous requirements. To be found naked is to be found publicly without a covenantal relationship to Yahweh. This had been the condition of the nations dwelling within the world-order of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant.
For
The individual in Christ putting off the old man/body but refusing to put on the new man/body, that is, refusing to walk in the power of the resurrection of Jesus the Christ, refusing to walk in newness of life, the new life of the spirit, is publicly shamed, being naked, being without a covenant relationship to Yahweh. Metaphorically, he stands publicly before Yahweh and His Anointed Son unclothed, naked, shamed, unable to reflect, mirror, the glory of Yahweh in the face of Jesus. This is the condition of some pseudo messianic Jews whom Paul characterizes as shamefully “walking in craftiness, . . . adulterating the word of God [Yahweh]” (2 Cor. 4:2 CV).
Those in Christ should not be desiring to be stripped naked (found naked, covenantally dead to the soulish/soilish man, but not alive to Yahweh in the Likeness of the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah). This is the state of a naked kernel (seed) having been buried in the soil, but, not having died so as to produce its potential fruit. This is the state of the naked kernel (one professing belief in the Gospel whose heart and mind have not yet allowed the dwelling spirit to actively indwell) buried in covenantal death, but not covenantally alive to the New Covenant worship and service of Yahweh. Those in Christ should be longing to be dressed in the new tabernacle house of the vivified, rejuvenated, soulish body as individuals in relation to their own bodies. In relation to their being members in The Body of The Christ, they should be desiring, longing, to be alive to Yahweh in the temporary new, corporate tabernacle, tent, of the New Covenant spiritual Israel, the New Heavenly Jerusalem within which they corporately abide during the wilderness journey of the Ecclesia, the New Born-From-Above Israel of Yahweh, to her home in the Celestial Realm.
The Ecclesia, the corporate spiritual Body of The Christ, must strip herself of the old soulish/soilish body of the dying Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant and must clothe herself in the new soulish body of the New Covenant (vivified by the spirit of Yahweh, not by the letter of Yahweh chiseled in stone) in order that “the mortal [body of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant] may be swallowed up by the life [of the New Covenant vivifying, rejuvenating, resurrecting the New Born-From-Above Spiritual Israel in her terrestrial wilderness journey, during which she is growing, maturing, progressing towards her being clothed in her new corporate Celestial Body, having completely died to the old corporate terrestrial body]” (2 Cor. 5:4b CV). This swallowing up of the mortal by the life of the New Covenant is a present reality for all the Corinthian Messianics. Paul is not here referring to the future Parousia and the completion of the Resurrection transformation. He is referring to that phase of the resurrection already initiated and in progress, both individually and corporately.
This then-present phase is confirmed by Paul’s next statement, “Now The One having made [produced, created] us for this very longing is Yahweh, The One having given us the pledge of the spirit” (2 Cor. 5:5 my translation). Yahweh has already made this longing to strip off the old and put on the new a work of the spirit within the corporate Body of The Christ, as well as within the corporate members of the bodies of each person in Christ. This spirit is Yahweh’s pledge that as He has vivified the terrestrial soulish corporate body of Israel and the terrestrial soulish bodies of each individual in Christ, so He would terminate the crucifixion of the old terrestrial corporate body of Israel and the crucifixion of the soulish/soilish members of the bodies of all those in Christ in the finality of death in order that the new Celestial Resurrection Body may be put on by the Corporate Body of The Christ and each of her members in particular.
Paul, then, exhorts the Corinthian brethren (both Jews and Gentiles) to continually be courageously accounting the old man dead, so as to be perpetually walking in newness of spirit until the consummation of the Parousia of Jesus the Messiah which is near. He accomplishes this exhortation by using himself and his Jewish Messianic coworkers as examples. He declares that the Messianic Jews, as long as they are at home in the terrestrial, corporate, soulish/soilish body of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant (which body has been vivified by the pouring out of the spirit in association with the New Davidic/Abrahamic Covenant), they are away from their Celestial Home where Jesus the Messiah is presently dwelling. They are alive to Yahweh in spirit while yet remaining in the terrestrial realm and in the terrestrial body/bodies.
Walking in newness of spirit in the terrestrial realm means walking by faith. For the new life of the spirit in the terrestrial realm must be accounted by faith. The terrestrial realm can be observed. But the Celestial can only be perceived by faith. Therefore, they must all live in the terrestrial realm according to the new life of the spirit which is a pledge of the promised completion of the Celestial Resurrection Life.
Those walking by faith must honor the work of Yahweh in
vivifying, resurrecting, the terrestrial
By faith, those walking in newness of spirit should be accounting The Law of Sin and Death as disabled within their members, having been crucified with Christ according to the testimony of Yahweh in the truth of the Gospel. Though they eagerly await “to be away from [our present] home,” out of the terrestrial realm of the corporate body of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant and into the Celestial Realm of the Celestial Corporate Body of The Christ, The Ecclesia of the New Covenant, they must be faithfully carrying on the work of Yahweh in the terrestrial realm according to the indwelling power of the spirit until that work is completed:
yet we [Messianic Jews] are encouraged, and are delighting rather to be away from [our present] home out of the body [the corporate body of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant, as well as their individual soulish/soilish bodies] and to be at home with the Lord [out of the terrestrial realm of the corporate soulish/soilish body of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant and out of their terrestrial soulish/soilish mortal bodies into the Celestial Realm of the corporate Celestial Body of The Ecclesia, the Born-From-Above Israel of Celestial Glory, and into the new celestial, immortal bodies completely transformed into the likeness of the image of the Celestial Man, the Second Man, the exalted and glorified Only-Begotten Son of Yahweh, Jesus the Anointed Son of Yahweh]. Wherefore we [the Messianic Jews as exemplifiers of the truth concerning all in Christ] are ambitious [looking upon ourselves as honor-bound] also, whether at home [in the terrestrial realm of service within the corporate body of soulish/soilish Israel and the individual soulish/soilish mortal body vivified by the spirit] or away from home [with the Lord in the Celestial Realm of the Celestial Corporate Body of The Ecclesia and the individual celestial, immortal bodies of every member in The Christ], to be well-pleasing to Him [Jesus their Head, their Commander-In-Chief]. (2 Corinthians 5:8-9 CV amplified)
It is important to be faithfully serving Jesus the Messiah,
carrying out His instructions, His commands, His directions, His orders in the
power of the spirit vivifying, rejuvenating the members of each man’s soulish/soilish
body for service to Yahweh under Jesus as Commander-In-Chief of the spiritual
warrior-citizens. All in Christ should be well-pleasing to Him as He had been,
and continually is, well-pleasing to His Father, “My food is that I should be doing the will of Him Who sends Me, and
should be perfecting [completing] His
work” (Jn.
All servants of Jesus the Messiah will be evaluated by Him in relation to their service, their work. The toil of each servant is not in vain (1 Cor. 15:58). The faithful toil of each servant is not taken for granted. It is valued and most appreciated. The faithful servant toiling on behalf of his Lord out of heartfelt love eagerly seeks to honor his Lord and eagerly seeks the honor and praise coming from his Lord’s satisfaction with his service and his Lord’s honorable evaluation of the quality of his work:
For all of us [in Christ, Jew and Gentile alike] must be manifested in front of the dais [judgment throne] of the Christ, that each should be requited for that which he puts into practice through the body [the soulish/soilish body empowered by the spirit, The Law of the Spirit of Life], whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10 CV)
This judgment scene is only for those in Christ. Those in Christ refers to those in the first century who share in the sufferings of the Christ in association with the crucifixion and death of the old Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant as well as the crucifixion of their individual soulish/soilish bodies. Those in Christ are those who hear, believe, and remain faithful to the Gospel proclaimed by the commissioned Apostles. Those in Christ are those sons of Abraham accounted as faithful by Yahweh.
At the completion of the Resurrection
and Exaltation of The Ecclesia of
Jesus the Christ sometime during the
year 70 a.d., the promises to the
sons of Abraham had been fulfilled. The members of the faithful seed of Abraham
had entered into their Celestial Allotment. Thus, the promised seed of Abraham
had come to an end with the fulfillment of the promises. Hence, the all in Christ (see 1 Cor.
The mission of the Apostles and their Jewish Messianic coworkers
is to complete The Ecclesia, the all in Christ. This would occur within the
lifetime of the Apostles. The Gospel of Jesus the Christ is sent to the elect children of Abraham dwelling within
the inhabited household of
For the love of Christ is constraining us [Jewish Messianic Apostles and their coworkers], judging this, that, if One died for the sake of all, consequently the all [the faithful elect hearing and remaining faithful to the Gospel in that generation] died [in Christ’s death]. And He died for the sake of all in order that those who are living [as a result of faith in the Gospel] should by no means still be living to themselves, but to the One Who died and was roused for their sakes. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15 CV modified)
The Apostles and their Jewish Messianic coworkers are
constrained to proclaim the Gospel because they understand that the love of
Christ is on behalf of all those hearing and believing the Gospel in their
generation. This passage is not concerned with Christ’s death in relation to
all humanity. It is concerned with His death in relation to all in Him (see 1 Cor.
If Christ died for the sake of “all,” argues Paul, then, consequently, “the all,” this particular all, already died with the death of Christ. The all making up this particular group have already died with Christ in order that they, having died with Christ, should be living, in the likeness of His resurrection, to Jesus the Messiah Who died and was roused for their sakes. “The all,” therefore, are all those coming to be in Christ as a result of hearing and believing the Gospel proclaimed by the Apostles and their coworkers.
The Gospel has been committed to these Apostles for their particular generation. The Gospel is not to be passed on (and was not passed on) to the next generation for continued proclamation. The Gospel would be proclaimed by the Apostles, and it would complete its course and accomplish its purpose during that generation.
The Gospel is Yahweh’s call to the elect, faithful sons of Abraham. This is the final generation of the sons of Abraham, since the Gospel is the fulfillment of the promises made to these faithful sons of Abraham. The elect ones hearing and believing the Gospel in this blessed generation, together with all the faithful ones of Yahweh beginning with Abel, make up “the all” in Christ.
All those in this last Mosaic generation hearing and believing the Gospel are identified, baptized, into Christ’s death in order to share in the likeness of His resurrection. The likeness of His resurrection has to do with the fact that the spirit has come to dwell within each one, vivifying, rejuvenating, resurrecting, the members of the physical soulish/soilish body from the alien invader, The Law of Sin and Death. This had not been a reality for any of those preceding acquaintance with the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah, nor would it be a reality for those coming after the completion of the salvation of “the all,” The Ecclesia, the Spiritual Body of The Christ, at the consummation of the Parousia in 70 a.d.
Since Jesus had died as the last (eschatos) Adam, all those in Him are also identified as being in Adam. Being baptized by the spirit into the death of Christ (the eschatos Adam) places the baptized one in Adam. In Adam all those elect ones die and are dying to the soilish Adam (1 Cor. 15:22a). Being identified in the likeness of the resurrection of Christ (the deuteros Man) places the elect one in Christ as the Second Man, thus, sharing in His resurrected life by the power of the indwelling spirit. In Christ all these elect ones have been made alive to Yahweh and are living by faith, walking in newness of life, according to the power of The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus (Rom. 6:3-7; 8:1-4).
Yahweh has not given the spirit to any one since the
completion of The Ecclesia in 70 a.d.
The promise of the spirit had been given by Yahweh through the prophets to
It should be enough to be grateful to Yahweh for that which He
has given to you. Taking from another that which Yahweh has not given to you is
dishonoring Yahweh and shaming oneself. It has been written Thou shalt not steal, Thou shall not covet
what is not thine, Thou shalt honor thy Father. Claiming to possess the
spirit of Yahweh without His authorization and against His testimony is
equivalent to the religious rulers of
That the all in Christ refers to those hearing and believing the Gospel from among the generation to whom the Apostles had been sent is confirmed by Paul’s next claim:
So that we [Messianic
Jews], from now on [from the time of
Jesus’ death and resurrection to the imminent end of the Mosaic Eon], are
acquainted with no one according to flesh [according
to the status of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant, the status of the soulish/soilish
man]. Yet even if we have known Christ according to flesh [according to the terrestrial things of the
Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant, according to the soulish man, the eschatos Adam],
nevertheless now [since His resurrection,
ascension, and exaltation] we know Him so no longer. So that, if anyone is
in Christ, there is a new creation [in
contrast to the old creation of Sinatic
In Christ one is no longer acquainted with Jesus as associated with the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant. One is no longer acquainted with Jesus according to the terrestrial things of the previous eons. One is no longer acquainted with Jesus as the eschatos (last) Adam.
In Christ, the old soulish/soilish Adamic man is legally accounted dead by Yahweh. Existentially, this soilish Adamic man is crucified, disabled, with Christ. This soilish man is then, by faith, to continually be accounted crucified, dead, disabled, to the members of one’s physical, soulish body. By faith one is also to be continually accounting oneself as alive to Yahweh by allowing the spirit dwelling within one’s relatively new body to actively indwell, activating the members of one’s body as instruments of righteousness and renewing one’s mind according to the sound mind of the spirit, the sound mind of the Gospel, the sound mind of Christ, the sound mind of the new creation of Yahweh.
The primitive things of the old order of the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant have passed for those in Christ. The primitive things, ways, attitudes, activities of the old Adamic soulish/soilish body are put off, deactivated, no longer allowed to be produced through the members of the soulish body. No longer will the old soilish man prostitute the members of the soulish body, thereby making them instruments producing unrighteousness, those things not upright in the eyes of Yahweh, those things malignant in the eyes of Yahweh.
Those in Christ, exhorts Paul, will now be acquainted with Christ in spirit. Christ will be known and served in the power of the newly renewed body and mind. He will only be present through the terms and conditional status of the New Covenant. He will only be observed through the new eyes of the new creation associated with the faithfulness of the Gospel. Only as one remains actively crucified with Christ and actively walking in newness of spirit in the likeness of His resurrection will one be acknowledged by Yahweh and His Anointed Son/King.
All these new things of the new creation in Christ are “out of Yahweh” (2 Cor. 5:18a CV
modified). They are the product of Yahweh’s activity on behalf of the promises
made to Abraham and
Who conciliated [counter-altered, katallasso, down-changed, changed against] us [Messianic Jews] to Himself [by counter-altering the relationship imposed by the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant with the counter-alteration relationship of the New Covenant] through Christ, and gave us [Messianic Jewish Apostles and coworkers] the dispensation [ministry] of the conciliation [this counter-alteration produced by the administering of the New Covenant], how that God [Yahweh] began in Christ, conciliating [counter-altering] a world-order [the Sinatic/Mosaic order and the Adamic order of the soulish/soilish man, against what each order actually still is] to Himself, not reckoning [accounting] their offenses [the deviations (paraptomata) of those under the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant of law whose hearts are circumcised, as well as those among the Gentiles whose hearts are also circumcised] to them, and placed in us [the Jewish Messianic Apostles and their Jewish Messianic coworkers] the word of the conciliation [the sound word of the counter-alteration of Israel (the New Born-From-Above Israel as the counter-alteration of the corporate, national body of Sinatic/Mosaic Israel and the Adamic soulish/soilish body by the counter-alteration of this body brought about by the indwelling spirit)]. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19 CV modified and amplified)
Through Christ, Yahweh has begun the process of counter-altering the corporate, national body of Sinatic/Mosaic Israel, even as this corporate, national body continues to live, though daily decaying, dying, becoming decrepit and near final death.
This counter-alteration
is taking place by the invading Born-From-Above
Israel of Yahweh’s New Covenant spirit. As the old
As ambassadors for Christ, representing the New Born-From-Above Israel of Yahweh, the corporate, national counter-altered and counter-altering members of the corporate, national body of Sinatic/Mosaic Israel, Paul declares to the Corinthian Messianic brethren,
We [the Apostles and their Jewish Messianic coworkers] are beseeching on behalf of Christ, “Be conciliated [counter-altered by believing the Gospel and receiving the spirit of life alteration] to Yahweh!” For the One Who had not known sin [neither The Adamic and Mosaic Law of Sin and Death nor the commitment of personal sin against the Law of Yahweh contained within the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant of law], He [Yahweh] makes to be a sin offering [according to the Sinatic/Mosaic law] for our sakes [on behalf of all those under the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant of law] in order that we [Messianic Jews] may, acting on behalf of ourselves through the indwelling spirit, become Yahweh’s righteous instruments in Him [Jesus the Christ, the Second Man, the Celestial Man out of heaven]. (2 Corinthians 5:20-21 my translation)
Through the proclamation of the Gospel, Paul and the Messianic Jews, as Yahweh’s righteous instruments commissioned to proclaim this Gospel, are beseeching, first the Jews, as well as the Gentiles, to allow the spirit of Yahweh and His Anointed Son/King to counter-alter them against what they actually are under the Sinatic/Mosaic law of sin and death (for the Jew, for the Gentile, his condition of nakedness) and what they actually are under the Adamic Law of Sin and Death (for both Jew and Gentile).
This counter-alteration is the consequence of faithfully believing the Gospel, trusting in the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah on their behalf. Such reception of the Gospel indicates one’s turning back to Yahweh the One, True, Living Elohim of Israel. Hence, the heavy burden of responsibility placed upon the shoulders of those commissioned to proclaim the Gospel, the word of Yahweh’s revolutionary metamorphic counter-alteration of the Mosaic corporate body of death and the Adamic corporate body of death.
Consequently, there is a note of urgency in Paul’s exhortation
addressed to all Messianic Jews and Gentiles. Entreating the Corinthian
brethren, he warns them not to “receive
the grace of God for naught” (2 Cor. 6:1 CV). The time of Yahweh’s present
salvation is short. Yahweh has already begun His final visitation of
Having, then, these promises [of counter-alteration, final salvation and glory], beloved, we [all those in Christ] should be cleansing ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit, completing holiness in the fear of God [Yahweh]. (2 Corinthians 7:1 CV)
Not all those presently in Christ will remain faithful to the end. There is the danger of becoming disqualified. Imminent judgment and salvation require serious watchfulness, dedicated spiritual discipline and endurance, faithful toil in the service of Yahweh and Jesus the Messiah, the Commander-In-Chief of Yahweh’s spiritual militia. Therefore, again, Paul warns,
For not he who is commending himself is qualified, but whom the Lord [Yahweh through the recommendation of Jesus His Anointed Son] is commending. (2 Corinthians 10:18 CV)
At the end of the letter, Paul earnestly exhorts the Messianic
brethren in
Try yourselves, if you are in the faith; test yourselves. Or are you not recognizing [acknowledging] yourselves that Christ Jesus is among [all of] you [and also is in each of you in that each of you has His counter-alterating spirit dwelling within your soulish/soilish body], unless you are perhaps disqualified? (2 Corinthians 13:5 CV modified)
The writer of Hebrews, confirming Paul’s earnest exhortation, reminds his readers,
“The Lord [Yahweh through the agency of His Anointed Son/King] will be judging His people” [quoting from Deuteronomy 32:36]. Fearful is it to be falling into the hands of the living God! (Hebrews 10:30b-31 CV)
Elaborating on the theme of disqualification, this same writer warns,
For it is impossible for those once enlightened, besides tasting the celestial gratuity and becoming partakers of holy spirit, and tasting the ideal declaration of God [Yahweh], besides the powerful deeds of the impending eon, and falling aside, to be renewing them again to repentance while crucifying for themselves the Son of God [Yahweh] again and holding Him up to infamy. For land which is drinking the shower coming often on it . . . yet, bringing forth thorns and star thistles, it is disqualified and near a curse, whose consummation is burning. (Hebrews 6:4-8 CV)
Having just reminded the Corinthian Messianics of their
participation in “our terrestrial
tabernacle house” (2 Cor. 5:1 CV), the corporate, national body of the
Sinatic/Mosaic order (system), Paul now reminds them of the eschatological
collection for the Saints in
Jerusalem, “the fellowship of the service
for the saints” (see 2 Cor. 8:1-4 CV). This corporate, national
soulish/soilish body of
To this corporate, national invigorating body new members are being added, the Messianic Gentiles. These Messianic Gentiles, being new members, are replacing those natural members of the body who are rejecting the crucifying/vivifying work of Yahweh’s spirit. Those rejecting the work of Yahweh’s spirit are committed to the soilish national man/body of the sin/transgression committed at Sinai. They are decaying members of the body doomed to the covenantal death of the Sinatic/Mosaic covenantal house/body.
These decaying/dying members of
Arise, shine [O
Israel!]; for your light has come [Jesus
the Christ], And the glory of the Lord
[Yahweh] has risen upon you [the glory of Yahweh associated with the new
ministry of the spirit reflected in the unveiled face of Jesus Christ, 3:6,
4:6]. For behold, darkness will cover the earth [the darkness of the corrupted Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant veiling the
glory of Yahweh being revealed in the Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant of law], And
deep darkness the peoples [steeped in
idolatry and deprived of the glory of Yahweh which should have been lighting
the darkness of their idolatry]; But the Lord
[Yahweh] will rise upon you [Israel], And His glory [shining forth from the face of Jesus the
Messiah in the New Covenant ministry of the spirit] will appear upon you.
And nations will come to your light [the
light of the glory of Yahweh irradiating the invigorated members of the
body/house of
This is the eschatological significance of this collection according to the understanding of Paul as inspired by the spirit guiding, directing, invigorating the entire Ecclesia, the Body of The Christ, the New Born-From-Above Israel:
yet now I am going to
Paul describes to the Corinthian Messianics the spiritual
character of the delight of those Gentile Messianics of Macedonia contributing
to the collection on behalf of the Saints
in
for, in a test of much affliction, the superabundance of their joy [over their participation in Israel’s spiritual things] and the corresponding depth of their poverty [not fleshly poverty, but the poverty coming from being poor in spirit on behalf of the righteousness of the Gospel, exemplified by Christ Who, being rich toward Yahweh, became poor by emptying Himself of His life for the sake of His brethren] superabounds to the riches of their generosity, . . . (2 Corinthians 8:2 CV)
It is this spiritual delight which should also be the
motivating factor in the Corinthian contribution to the collection for the Saints in
Jesus, possessing a soulish life free from The Law of Sin and Death, is, thus, free from the contaminating influence of the soulish man/body and uncontaminated by personal sin (hearing aside [disobedience, Rom. 5:19], stepping aside [transgression, Rom. 5:14], slipping aside [deviation, Rom. 5:17]. Jesus, having not sinned (missing the mark of soulish life by disobedience, transgression, and deviation) and, thereby, having a right to soulish life, voluntarily gives up that right in obedience to the command of His Father. He empties Himself of His rightful soulish life, thus, becoming poor to the interest of the spirit of Yahweh’s righteousness, thereby obtaining spiritual life for all those in Him.
The Macedonian Gentile Messianics in Christ have demonstrated the mind of Christ in pouring out the accumulation of their soulish endeavors for the sake of their spiritual debt to the Saints (the Messianic Jews), a debt accounted to them by Yahweh. In this, they have demonstrated their spiritual poverty, their becoming poor in spirit, poor to the interest of the righteousness of Yahweh, thereby losing their souls for the sake of the kingdom of heaven:
For whosoever may be wanting to save his soul shall be destroying it. Yet whoever should be destroying his soul on My account shall be finding it. . . . For the Son of the Man is about to be coming in the glory of His Father, with His messengers, and then He will be paying each in accord with his practice. (Matthew 16:25, 27 CV)
Do not hoard for yourselves treasures on this earth, . . . Yet hoard for yourselves treasures in [the interest of] heaven [the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of the Son of David] . . . for wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:19-21 CV)
The time is short. The suffering, the pouring out of one’s soul, for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, the newly restored Davidic Kingdom of Jesus the Anointed Son of David, is almost over. The Parousia of Jesus the Messiah is very imminent.
The Corinthian brethren are to imitate the Lord as the
Macedonian brethren are imitating the Lord. They are to be laying up treasure
in the interest of the kingdom of heaven by pouring out their soulish
accumulations on behalf of their Jewish brethren waging spiritual warfare with
the enemy in the holy land of
In voluntarily contributing to the fleshly needs of the Saints in the holy land, they are also
contributing to the spiritual invigoration of the corporate, national,
soulish/soilish body/house of terrestrial
Yahweh’s Gospel is not returning to Him void. It is
accomplishing the invigoration of terrestrial
This completed transformation would shortly occur with the
Gospel’s completion of its purpose. The collection for the Saints in
Paul, alertly aware of the solemn implication of this
eschatological sign prophesied by Isaiah, realizes the danger to which he and
his fellow Jewish Messianics in Jerusalem and throughout the holy land will be
exposed in the deliverance of this Gentile Messianic offering to the holy,
elect people of Yahweh represented by the Jewish Messianics (the Saints) in Jerusalem and throughout the
holy land. He, therefore, entreats the Messianic brethren dwelling in Rome “to struggle together with me in prayers to
God [Yahweh] for me, that I should be
rescued from the stubborn [apostate Jews and pseudo messianic Jews] in Judea, and my dispensation [on
behalf of the Gentile Messianics] for
Jerusalem may be becoming well received by the saints [both Messianic Jews
and non-messianic Jews], . . .” (
The Messianic Saints
in Christ dwelling in
The stubborn ones in Judea consist of all those still
remaining soulish/soilish members of the terrestrial corporate, national
body/house of
Offended by the dishonoring act of Shechem, Simeon and Levi had deceived this uncircumcised prince when he attempted to right the wrong by entreating Jacob to give Dinah to him in marriage. In this, Shechem revealed his love for Dinah and his righteous attempt to undo the wrong he had committed. Simeon and Levi deceived Shechem and his people into becoming circumcised, promising them the right of intermarriage. Becoming circumcised, the Shechemites were then slain with the sword by Simeon and Levi to the disgust of Jacob, “And saying is Jacob to Simeon and Levi, ‘You trouble me to make me stink among all the dwellers of the land, . . . ’” (Gen. 34:30a CV).
If the righteous offering of the Messianic Gentiles is perceived by the soulish/soilish members of the terrestrial national body/house of Israel (Simeon/Levi) as an act dishonoring and defiling their national identity, it will signal the soon-to-come jealous and insane vengeance of soulish/soilish national Israel against both soulish/spiritual national Israel and the Roman Empire identified with the defilement caused by these Gentiles. Thus, the time of Jacob’s trouble (see Jer. 30:7 KJV), causing the faithful Messianic Jews and Gentiles (the New Born-From-Above Israel of Yahweh, the members of the national soulish/spiritual body of Israel) to stink in the nostrils of the peoples of the Roman Empire, is about to begin.
The Messianic Community within the larger religious Jewish
Community is shortly to be distinguished from the larger religious Jewish
Community. The Roman authorities will shortly withdraw Jewish privileges from
the Messianic Jews and Gentiles no longer considered members of the Jewish
nation. When this trouble begins, Messianic Jews and Gentiles in
This rebellion will be carried out in the name of Yahweh the
Elohim of Israel. It will end in the covenantal condemnation (terminal death,
demolishment) of the terrestrial national soulish/soilish body/house of
Sinatic/Mosaic Israel (“our terrestrial
tabernacle house,” 2 Cor. 5:1 CV). It will end with the exilic scattering
of those apostate, soulish/soilish Jews surviving national destruction (the
conquest of
Hence, this collection, this spiritual offering of the Gentile Messianics, would be a prophetical sign of the very closeness of the great affliction, the time of Jacob’s trouble, the initiation of Christ’s Parousia, and the glory about to be revealed in the Messianic Ecclesia, the terrestrial soulish/spiritual Body of The Christ (see Rom. 8:18). It would be the revelation of this glory in The Messianic Ecclesia (presently groaning in her soulish/spiritually renovated body) which would open the eyes of the remaining non-messianic Jews whose hearts (like Saul of Tarsus) are circumcised, but still deceptively hardened by the seductive traditions and commandments of the pseudo-fathers of Apostate, Soulish/Soilish Israel of the flesh.
These remaining Jews, whose circumcised hearts are identifying
them as faithful children of Abraham in the eyes of Yahweh, are about to be
given a final opportunity to repent and turn back to Yahweh by believing the
Gospel. They will represent the end of the harvest. The Gospel will, then, have
completed its course, its task, its purpose. It will have achieved the
salvation of
Paul has determined to be in
As Paul prolongs to midnight his solemn word of exhortation amidst the “considerable number of torches in the upper chamber where we were gathered” (Acts 20:8 CV), a young man named Eutychus sinks into “a deep sleep” (Acts 20:9 CV). While Paul is still speaking, Eutychus falls from the window of this upper chamber, a distance of three stories. Those who reach him first, picking him up, conclude he is dead.
Paul, reaching the young fallen man, falls on him and embraces him. He then declares to the gathered brethren, “Make no tumult, for his soul is in him” (Acts 20:10b CV). Whether Paul performed a miraculous resurrection is open to debate. The text may be alluding to Elijah’s miraculous raising of a son of a widow dwelling in Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8-22). But Elijah had asked Yahweh to return the boy’s breath, spirit, indicating clearly that the boy had been, indeed, dead (Acts 17:21, Hebrew text). Paul announces only that the young man’s soul remains in him, implying the spirit had never left Eutychus.
There is, however, a more plausible explanation as to why Luke included this incident in his account. Eutychus falls into a deep sleep in the midst of Paul’s words of exhortation. He falls into this deep sleep during the darkness of the night approaching the hour of midnight. Though the night is dark, there are a considerable number of torches lighting the chamber within which the gathering takes place.
Midnight, symbolic of a desperate situation, surprise, urgency, points to the need to be watchful. The numerous torches in the chamber symbolize watchfulness. Paul has been lecturing the brethren concerning the urgency of watchfulness. Only those faithfully watching to the end will enter into the Celestial Allotment. Luke, quoting Jesus, had written,
Let your loins be girded about and lamps be burning, and you be like men anticipating their own lord, when he should break loose from the wedding festivities, that at his coming and knocking, they should immediately be opening to him. Happy are those slaves, whom the Lord, coming, will be finding watching. (Luke 12:35‑37a CV)
Watching and sleeping are terms associated with eschatological exhortation,
Now be vigilant, on every occasion beseeching that you may be prevailing to escape all these things which are about to occur, and to stand in front of the Son of the Man. (Luke 21:36 CV modified)
Be watching, then, for you are not aware on what day your Lord is coming. (Matthew 24:42 CV)
This, also, do, being aware of the era, that it is already the hour for us to be roused out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night progresses, yet the day is near. (Romans 13:11‑12a CV modified)
Eutychus falls into a deep sleep at about midnight. He falls
into this deep sleep in spite of all the torches lighting the environment. Thus,
he falls into a deep sleep while the
light of the eschatological word of life is shining brightly. He fails to
remain vigilant, watchful (like the five virgins who run out of oil for their
torches in the middle of the night,
Eutychus symbolically represents those in Christ who fail to be vigilant, watchful, faithful to the end. The persecution and great affliction coming in the time of Jacob’s trouble (the time of “burdensome wolves . . . entering among you, not sparing the flocklet” and the rise of “men, speaking perverse things to pull away disciples after themselves,” Acts 20:29-30 CV) will rob them of the Celestial Allotment which would have been theirs if they would not have fallen into a deep sleep, if they would have remained watchful, vigilantly faithful to their Lord during the most crucial point of trial.
These disciples falling asleep remain in their soulish/soilish state. They fail to attain the “out-resurrection” (Phil. 3:11 CV), that is, they fail to experience the Resurrection-Consummation whereby the New Celestial body is put on. No longer retaining the spirit within, they no longer can share in the likeness of the resurrection life of Jesus the Christ. Thus, eschatologically they appear to be dead for a short time, dying to the spirit dwelling within their bodies. Their bodies, having had become soulish/spiritual bodies (as a result of the faith-reception of the spirit dwelling within their soulish/soilish bodies), now become once again, soulish/soilish bodies, having failed to complete the resurrection process. These sleepers become the originators of the Christian religion after the entrance of the faithful members of The Ecclesia, the corporate, national Body of The Christ, into their promised Celestial Allotment.
Falling asleep can be a disastrous failure. One is in grave danger of forfeiting the great expectation of Resurrection-Consummation and Celestial Allotment. The Gospel demands vigilant watchfulness. Those in Christ must remain dedicated, disciplined hearers of the word and must continually be “bearing fruit with endurance” (Lk. 8:15b CV). Eschatological alertness necessitates strenuous discipline of mind, heart, and body in order to be found faithful to the end, the telos of the Mosaic Eon, the telos of the terrestrial soulish/soilish Adamic body.
A short time after Paul writes 2 Corinthians, he makes his
final visit to
These Messiah-followers, consisting of both Messianic Jews and Messianic Gentiles, have among them those who are misunderstanding the spiritual life and identity established by the Gospel. Some are teaching and practicing a freedom contrary to the Gospel. Others are misunderstanding the covenantal identity of Jews and Gentiles in the Ecclesia, the corporate, national Body of The Christ. Such misinterpretation of the message of the Gospel demands correction by the Apostle to the nations. Neither the Messianic Jew nor the Messianic Gentile is to be boasting in his ethnic identity, but rather in his covenantal identity in Christ where there is neither Jew nor Gentile,
For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the one body, being many, are one body, thus also is the Christ. For in one spirit also we all are baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and all are made to imbibe one spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:12‑13 CV)
For whoever were baptized into Christ, put on Christ, in Whom there is no Jew nor yet Greek . . . for you all are one in Christ Jesus. Now if you are Christ's, consequently you are of Abraham's seed, enjoyers of the allotment according to the promise. (Galatians 3:27-29 CV)
Before, however, analyzing this most important letter (Romans)
written by Paul, the eschatological foreboding of his farewell address to the
Ephesian elders needs to be examined. Leaving
Paul is in a hurry to get to
This priestly offering being mediated by Paul as the Apostle to the nations is an eschatological sign to both the Jewish National Community and the Messianic National Community still identified with it. The rejection of the Messianic Jews and Gentiles by the larger Jewish National Community will signify the official breach of peace between the Jewish National Community (Apostate Israel) and the Messianic National Community (the New Born-From-Above Israel) dwelling within this larger national community.
For Paul, James, and the Apostles, the rejection by the larger Jewish National Community of this spiritual offering-up of the Gentile Messianics is a sign from the spirit warning them to prepare for the soon to come great affliction between the two communities. This great affliction (the time of Jacob’s trouble) would effectively separate the wheat from the tares (the Messianics from the pseudo messianics) within the Messianic National Community. It would also effectively separate the Jewish National Community from the Messianic National Community, identifying clearly the distinction between the two nations and initiating all-out open civil warfare.
Paul has been warned during his travels on behalf of this
collection for the Saints in
And now, lo! I, bound in spirit, am going to
The Jewish National Community is to reject what Yahweh and His
New Born-From-Above Holy Nation had
already received and was about to officially offer up to Yahweh: the official
eschatological acceptance of the Messianic Gentiles into the commonwealth of
Israel as fellow citizens with the Saints.
The Messianic Assembly in
Many Messianic Jews zealous of the Mosaic Law, but knowing
Jesus as Messiah only according to the flesh, would become offended by the
covenantal significance of the collection from among the nations. The
acceptance of the Messianic Gentiles apart from circumcision and as
fellow-citizens with the Jews would be scandalous to these pseudo-messianics
thinking and behaving contrary to the truth of the Gospel. This would
especially be true of pseudo-messianics in
Paul’s farewell address to the Ephesian elders is, therefore,
a gesture of momentous eschatological portent. He knows the Ecclesia, the New Born-From-Above Israel of Yahweh is
about to be suffering the end-of-the-eon, great affliction through which she
must go in order to enter into the Kingdom of Yahweh; within which kingdom, she
shall possess her Celestial Allotment. Moses, who had led
for I know your rebellion . . . Behold in my day, while I am still with you alive, you have been rebellious against Yahweh, indeed, how much more after my death! . . . For I know that after my death you shall bring ruin, yea ruin on yourselves; you will withdraw from the way that I enjoined on you, and the evil visitation will befall you in the latter days, for you shall do the thing that is evil in the eyes of Yahweh so as to provoke Him to vexation by the work of your hands. (Deuteronomy 31:27-29 CV)
Messiah Jesus, Who is leading
As Moses’ prophetic announcement is a warning to the faithful remnant to vigorously remain alertfully watchful, so also the prophetic announcement of the Apostle Paul is a warning to the faithful soulish/spiritual members of the corporate, national Body of The Christ, the Spiritual Temple of Yahweh, to be vigilantly watchful and vigorously disciplined in the life of the Gospel, the renewing resurrection life of the spirit, during the soon-to-come visitation of Yahweh to judge His people. As many Mosaic Israelites had failed to complete their salvation by their failure to remain faithful to the end of the eon of Egyptian bondage, so also many Messianic Israelites would fail to complete their resurrection salvation by their failure to remain faithful to the end of the Mosaic Eon.
As after the death of Moses, the uncircumcised-in-heart, rebellious, stiff-necked Israelites and those seduced into following their deceitful lies brought ruin upon themselves, resulting in their exilic captivity, so also, after Paul is “out of reach” (Acts 20:29 CV) as a result of his eschatological bonds and afflictions received in Jerusalem on behalf of the Gospel (see Eph. 3:1; 4:1; Philemon 9; 2 Tim. 1:8, Paul as a prisoner of Christ), the uncircumcised-in-heart, rebellious, stiff-necked pseudo-messianics and those seduced into following their deceitful lies would bring ruin upon themselves, either clinging to Jesus according to the flesh or turning completely from Him to the national cause of the Sinatic/Mosaic Apostate Israel.
This danger is now imminently
close, as confirmed by Paul’s repetitive use of the adverb “now”: “And now, lo! I, bound in spirit, am going to
Peter also speaks of the future false teachers, “as among you also there will be false teachers who will be smuggling in destructive sects” (2 Pe. 2:1 CV); “in the last days scoffers will be coming with scoffing, going according to their own desires” (2 Pe. 3:3 CV). The apostle John confirms such an apostasy caused by antichrists (antimessiahs): “it is the last hour, and, according as you heard that the antichrist is coming, now also there have come to be many antichrists, whence we know that it is the last hour” (1 Jn. 2:18 CV). John clearly believes he and his readers are literally in the last hour before the commencement of Christ’s Approach/Arrival Parousia, which will bring about the end of the Mosaic Eon. These Apostles clearly perceive the imminent end of the Mosaic Eon.
Paul declares to the
Paul is determined to complete his commission, even if this
means his death as a result of his priestly mediation of the collection among
the nations on behalf of the Saints
in
By the time he writes 2 Timothy, he can announce, “I have contended the ideal contest. I have
finished my career [course]. I have
kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7 CV). He can write this in 60 a.d. from his imprisonment in Caesarea
having made his legal appeal to be judged by Caesar and knowing “I am already a libation [to be poured
out as a drink-offering], and the period
of my dissolution is imminent” (2 Tim. 4:6 CV). Therefore, it can be
concluded that his sufferings for Christ and His Gospel extend from the Jewish
capital of
After his arrival in Rome, it would not be long before Jewish instigation would manufacture the scenario within which the Neronian persecution of the Messianic assemblies would take place, and it would not be long before the Jewish national religious antagonism against Roman rule would begin to rise as red-hot lava to the surface of the political and social ground, flowing destructively over the territories of Judean Palestine. Cooling quickly, this molten sea of religious madness would become a hardened crust entombing the rebellious, stiff-necked Apostate nation.
Such an arrogant, presumptuous revolt in the name of Yahweh her Elohim would soon end in the loss of her covenantal status, as well as her national status. The eschatological foreboding of the Apostle Paul’s farewell address would prove to be prophetically accurate within the span of 12 turbulently volatile years.