Participants: Alex Schlusser (Host), Rachael Hyman (Host), Sasha Bolotnikov
Series Code: BTOR
Program Code: BTOR000022
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00:01 And next to Jesus, Paul is one of the most
00:03 well known figures of the New Testament. 00:06 But who was Paul really? 00:08 Join us today on "Back to Our Roots" 00:09 as you hear us talk about it. 00:31 Welcome once again to "Back to Our Roots." 00:34 I'm your host Pastor Alex Schlusser 00:36 and my co-host-- Rachel Hyman. 00:37 And we're so glad that you've decided to join us today. 00:41 We have a really special program today. 00:43 We're gonna be talking about the Rabbi Paul. 00:46 Now Rachel I bet that when we say that, 00:49 even that statement, the Rabbi Paul, 00:51 some people are going, what? 00:53 What Rabbi? Who, Paul, who? 00:55 Yeah. 00:56 You know, I don't know how many people associate 00:59 the fact that Paul of the New Testament-- 01:02 Was a very popular Rabbi. 01:03 A very prominent, a very well known Rabbi. 01:07 Today, we're gonna be discussing his early life. 01:11 And what made him who he was? 01:14 The biblical character, figure that we know him to be. 01:19 You know, maybe we want to start where for him 01:23 was the starting of his walk with Jesus. 01:26 You know, the scriptures in the Book of Acts 01:28 talk about the persecution that was talking place. 01:31 And Paul was maybe the leader 01:34 or the most zealot of all of the Jews 01:37 at that point that we're coming against it. 01:40 You know, this had become a growing sect within Judaism 01:44 and there were many of the leaders 01:46 that were fearing for their power 01:48 and fearing for their persuasion over the people 01:51 and here was this upstart Rabbi 01:54 by the name of Jesus or Yeshua that had proclaimed 01:57 something that was like wildfire spreading through the nation. 02:02 And Paul, when we first meet him, 02:04 he's hunting down the Jewish believers 02:08 and persecuting them and sending them 02:10 to their death literally. 02:11 Killing them. Right. 02:12 And when we first meet Paul, 02:14 it's actually at the stoning of Stephen, 02:16 that he's standing there holding the cloaks of them 02:19 that are stoning Stephen. 02:22 But we want to pick it up now in Acts 9:3. 02:26 And let me read this little passage for you. 02:29 "Now as he went on his way," 02:30 now the "he" is Paul, "he approached Damascus, 02:35 and suddenly a light from heaven shone about him. 02:40 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying, 02:43 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"' 02:48 Wow. I wonder what must have went through his head. 02:50 He's like, "what? I'm helping you, Lord, not persecuting." 02:53 Well, and he said "who are you Lord?" 02:56 What a great question. Who are you Lord? 02:59 And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting." 03:05 Wow. Can you imagine what he must have felt like? 03:07 Oh, Paul must have been crushed devastated to the core 03:11 because, listen, Paul did what he did because-- 03:13 Yeah, he was sincere. 03:14 He was sincere, he was a zealot. 03:17 And isn't that the way it is, 03:19 that God can take those who even though 03:21 in the beginning their intentions may be wrong, 03:24 but they're passionate. 03:26 And God can change that passion for the right thing 03:30 and that's what he does to Paul. 03:31 He lights Paul on fire, right. 03:35 Well, at this point I'd like to bring out 03:38 our resident scholar, Sasha. 03:40 Sasha, come join us. Good to see you, Rachel. 03:44 Good to see you, Alex. Salom, Sasha. 03:46 How are you, my brother? Pretty good today. 03:48 Good. Good to have you with us. 03:50 So, Sasha, our topic today is the Rabbi Paul. 03:55 Yes, yes. Yes, the Rabbi Paul. 03:58 And we've already talked about how Paul 04:02 through his Damascus road experience meets Jesus. 04:07 Now, friends, you need to spend some time 04:10 and go back and read Acts Chapter 9 04:12 because there's a lot more to the story 04:14 what God ends up doing to him, 04:15 blinding him and many things happen for him 04:18 to come to that place to be able to accept, 04:21 yes, in fact, this is Jesus. 04:24 But we're gonna jump into his life now 04:27 as someone who began to share 04:31 the good news, the gospel message. 04:34 Particularly Acts Chapter 13, Sasha, 04:40 describes Paul going down to the synagogue, 04:43 people going there. 04:45 Why don't you tell us a little bit about that 04:47 and exactly what's happening? 04:48 You think maybe I should read that passage? 04:51 Yeah, let me read a little bit of it 04:53 because it says, "that on the Sabbath day 04:56 they went into the synagogue and they sat down. 04:59 After the reading from the law 05:01 and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue 05:04 sent a message to them 05:06 saying, 'Brothers, if you have any word 05:08 of encouragement for the people, say it."' 05:11 What exactly is going on here, Sasha? 05:12 Okay, first of all I want to take note that 05:16 before the sentence you read 05:18 there is that they came to the city of Antioch of Pisidia 05:23 which is a little different. 05:24 It's in the coast of Asia Minor 05:26 which is kind of Northern Mediterranean 05:29 where Turkey is. 05:31 And so it's the area where Paul was from. 05:35 He was from Tarsus which is somewhere around there, 05:38 one of these coastal cities of today's southern Turkey 05:43 which where many Jews live, 05:47 many diasporas and different places. 05:49 And so they go there, they walk into the synagogue, 05:54 they sit down and then it says 05:56 "after the reading of the law and the prophets." 05:59 That's a very important statement 06:01 because this is the purpose what the synagogue is all about, 06:07 unlike the temple which is designed 06:11 to have rituals and sacrifices, synagogue is the place 06:16 for public study and reading of scripture. 06:21 So this is what they do. 06:23 They break the Torah, five books of Moses 06:26 into weekly portions and they read it to people. 06:32 Which, by the way, even today that exists, 06:36 that if you go to synagogues 06:38 almost anywhere in the world on any given Sabbath, 06:42 you're gonna hear essentially the same things 06:44 being read wherever you are. 06:45 Really? I didn't know that. Yeah. 06:47 So then they would have a matching portion 06:51 from the books of the prophets 06:54 to go with the portion of the Torah. 06:56 It's known as Haftarah, meaning the conclusion. 07:00 And that's what New Testament refers by the prophets. 07:04 So this is the essential, 07:07 this is the bulk part of the synagogue service 07:11 to actually have the scripture read to people. 07:16 And so after that there is a time for, 07:20 what is known in Christianity today as sermons 07:23 and here it's called the words of encouragement. 07:27 In Hebrew, it's nihemta you know, how do you lift us, 07:31 lift our spirit after we've read the scripture 07:35 and usually that's the task of the Rabbi. 07:38 So let me ask you then, is this, Sasha, 07:42 them doing commentary on it or is it or are they free to, 07:48 you know, whatever is on their heart 07:50 to speak to them about? 07:51 Is it necessarily tied to what they had read? 07:54 It is and it isn't. 07:57 The Torah, the legal commentary on the Torah 08:01 is done right away when the Torah is read. 08:04 Now would they-- another question. 08:07 Would they do an interpretation at the same time 08:10 because if they're in the Diaspora-- 08:12 Oh, absolutely. 08:13 Outside of Judea, that means they could be Greek or, 08:15 you know, whatever language is. 08:18 So they would read it in Hebrew 08:20 and then someone would interpret it 08:22 into the existing language whatever that synagogue-- 08:24 And that interpreter known as meturgeman, 08:28 he would supply a little commentary here 08:30 and there explaining-- 08:32 As they're reading that particular portion. 08:34 As they're reading and he translates. 08:36 Right, so then when they say, 08:38 "Brothers, if you have a word of encouragement," 08:40 that could be connected to the portion that they had read 08:44 but it also could be just something 08:45 that particular speaker had in heart. 08:47 It's actually more towards the portion of the prophets, 08:51 and then it's tithing and it's like 08:54 what speaker could have to speak. 08:56 You know, I'm only asking this 08:57 because it comes to mind, you know, 08:58 how so often in Christian worship services 09:04 you're gonna have a scripture reading. 09:06 And then someone's gonna come along and preaching, 09:10 usually the preaching is drawn from 09:13 whatever that scripture reading is from. 09:15 That's about the same. 09:16 And it's probably it could have its origin 09:20 in carrying those traditions 09:21 and those customs from that time. 09:22 Absolutely. Interesting. 09:24 So that's the fact that these-- 09:29 that Paul and his friends 09:31 in that city of Antioch of Pisidia right away 09:37 were invited to speak the words of encouragement 09:42 by the leaders of the synagogue 09:44 meant that Paul was indeed revealed as a teacher. 09:48 Right, because they wouldn't just ask anyone to, 09:51 "hey, you got something to say? 09:52 Come on." Yeah, of course, they came-- 09:55 you have to remember next what is described, 09:58 you know, after the big speech of Paul, 10:01 there is a little description of how the ancient synagogue 10:05 was actually composed. 10:07 It was composed of three sections. 10:10 You got the first rules for the Jews, 10:14 those were born Jews or became Jews 10:19 after they have received their circumcision 10:23 and went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem 10:26 to eat the Passover lamb. 10:28 Then they're fully Jewish. 10:30 Then on the second section, which is a little bit behind, 10:35 that's where you sit your Gentiles 10:40 who are preparing for conversions. 10:43 Now would those be known as the God-fearers? 10:45 Proselytes. Proselytes. 10:47 Many of them are already circumcised 10:50 but according to Exodus 12, you become Israelite 10:54 only after you have eaten the Passover lamb. 10:59 So it may take a couple of years 11:01 before this individual could raise enough money 11:04 and possibility to actually take the trip to Jerusalem 11:07 to participate in sacrificial ceremony. 11:11 Then he's fully Jewish. 11:13 I want to clarify something 11:15 because remember, that we are talking about 11:18 Paul is going to synagogues. These are not Christians. 11:22 This is in the full Jewish economy 11:25 because I don't want people to get confused, 11:28 you know, that we have people here that are okay, 11:31 that we're talking about that "church" Christians 11:34 that are making this attempt to go ahead and become Jewish. 11:38 No, no, this is-- this is Jewish synagogue. 11:42 If we-- and then, of course, 11:43 there is a third row where you have guests, 11:47 the first comers, the righteous, 11:50 you know, that's one you're talking about God fearers. 11:54 These are Gentiles who decided for them self, 11:57 "Hey, we're sick and tired of this pagan worship. 12:00 Let us explore what the synagogue have to say." 12:03 So Paul is there in the synagogue 12:05 preaching to this varied audience. 12:08 And, of course, he is sitting on the prestigious place, 12:12 front row because they're Jewish, so they're there. 12:14 Right, but do you think that this would have been a case 12:17 that the leaders of the synagogues 12:20 would have known who he was 12:22 or would it be that someone has talked to them 12:24 before and said, "hey, we have this Rabbi 12:27 who has come from Jerusalem." 12:30 Oh, the fact-- Did he have to? 12:32 I guess what I'm saying, Sasha, 12:34 is that did he have to present some kind of credentials, 12:38 you know, to be able to prove 12:40 so that he would even be invited 12:42 to speak in front of the congregation? 12:43 Unlike-- we talked about Jesus, 12:45 unlike Jesus who didn't have credential 12:49 and that's why Pharisees didn't like Him 12:52 because He kind of proclaimed himself 12:55 or the voice of heaven proclaimed 12:57 and Pharisees didn't care for the voice of heaven, 13:00 Paul had credential. 13:02 He was one of the best disciples of Gamaliel. 13:06 So he had the full rights to come 13:08 to the synagogue and teach. 13:09 Right, right, so Paul then we find him 13:16 teaching in the synagogues wherever he goes. 13:18 He goes, that's the first place 13:19 that he goes is to the synagogues 13:21 and whatever city it is, and he is teaching about Yeshua, 13:26 however he is doing and however he is approaching, 13:29 he's talking about Messiah has come and so on, 13:33 but we do get the sense from the scripture 13:36 that there is a problem with whether it's how Paul speaks, 13:41 how he presents his message, what he does, 13:44 that there's some confusion about what Paul 13:47 is teaching that's beginning to arise. 13:50 Because in 2 Peter, we have these words addressed. 13:56 And it says this, this is 2 Peter 3:16, 13:59 "as he does in all his letters," Peter's speaking of Paul, 14:03 "when he speaks in them of these matters." 14:05 And I wonder what "these matters" are. 14:07 Maybe things of Torah, the things of religious-- 14:11 you know, something, right? 14:12 We'll explore that maybe. 14:14 "There are some things in them that are hard to understand 14:18 which the ignorant and the unstable," 14:21 now I'm wondering what that means, 14:24 "twist to their own destruction 14:26 as they do the other scriptures." 14:30 You pointed right exactly, Alex, 14:34 when you have-- there are two issues. 14:36 What are "these matters"? 14:38 And something confusing. 14:40 So let's talk about "these matters." 14:43 One of the important matter which is not understood today 14:47 is the fact that Paul is first of all, 14:53 a disciple to Jewish Diaspora. 14:56 And Diaspora functions totally different from Judea. 15:02 So remember, you know, just so everyone understands, 15:05 we use that term Diaspora, as we said in other programs, 15:09 this is referring to those Jews 15:11 that were no longer living in Jerusalem or Judea 15:15 and were living in other parts of that Mediterranean world. 15:19 And by the way, there is some similarity today. 15:22 If you went to Israel 15:24 and you've been to the synagogues in America, 15:26 the synagogues in America are totally different 15:29 from the synagogues in Israel. 15:31 And I'm not gonna get into the reasons but in the-- 15:34 So let's get back to Paul. 15:36 Yeah, and the Diaspora, 15:38 the problem is you have these synagogues 15:41 are always drawing Gentiles in. 15:44 But what we have in actually Acts 13 and Acts 14 15:49 and it culminates in Acts 15, 15:51 we have this thing that Paul does. 15:55 He starts accepting Gentiles right away 15:59 and it causes a huge fear because 16:02 literally a conversion-- even today 16:06 you convert to Judaism, it takes you 5 to 7 years. 16:09 Really? 16:11 Conversion to Judaism with all the rules 16:14 and regulation, it takes that long. 16:17 And before that you can't sit on one table 16:23 with non-Jew until he is fully converted. 16:27 And by this I don't mean this table 16:30 like we're sitting in a meeting. 16:32 You mean like a teaching. No, I mean community. 16:36 You go into this Diaspora, you see the houses. 16:41 Here is Jewish houses, Jewish houses, Jewish houses. 16:44 And these Jewish houses are connected. 16:47 They create like a special, like a enclave, 16:51 because that's where they cook their food. 16:54 That's where they eat together, you know, 16:57 and so they are very protective of someone else 17:01 coming in until he is fully converted. 17:05 And so Paul brings the Gentiles in and then they're just, 17:08 "wow, what are you doing? 17:09 You can't go so fast." 17:11 So let's back to the scripture, Sasha. 17:16 These matters that he's talking about-- 17:18 That's often are these matters. 17:21 The major issue is how do you become the follower of Jesus. 17:26 Do you become the follower of Jesus 17:28 through the same procedure 17:30 as someone would become a Jew in that world? 17:34 Or do you become the follower of Jesus a little bit faster? 17:39 When are you accepted? 17:40 That's the major issue that Paul discusses in his epistles. 17:44 So why does Peter say that he thinks that 17:48 it's hard to understand? 17:49 Is it the way that Paul is presenting it? 17:52 Or is it the preconceived notations that people had 17:56 about what was right and what was expected 17:58 and he's coming with something that seems so foreign? 18:01 No, what Paul is working and dealing with 18:06 in writing it's in a special Jewish style. 18:09 It's like he goes in circles. 18:12 He goes in circles and he would kind of debate 18:17 within the text of his epistle, 18:21 asking the question, raising the-- you know, 18:26 raising the difficulties, resolving the difficulties. 18:30 And it goes back and forth, 18:31 back and forth, back and forth. 18:33 That's why one needs to really look at the whole epistle 18:37 and the problem is often people just take one verse 18:41 and they make whole conclusion. 18:43 And this verse maybe Paul is addressing 18:47 somebody's misconception. 18:49 So I've always been intrigued by Peter's use of ignorant 18:55 and unstable twist to their own destruction. 18:58 Do you have any thoughts of why he might have 19:01 phrased it that way because to me it seems like 19:05 this was something that any person might misunderstand. 19:10 You know, exactly how it is-- 19:12 what does he mean by ignorant? 19:14 Is he talking about people that don't really understand 19:18 those rabbinic teaching styles? 19:20 And if that's the case, 19:22 why would he consider that unstable? 19:24 What do you think? Interesting question. 19:26 I believe, I believe that people referred-- 19:30 Peter refers to ignorant, 19:32 if these are the people who are ignorant 19:35 about the environment and the culture 19:39 in which Paul is addressing, 19:42 so the ignorance I believe is the main component here, so. 19:48 And why unstable? 19:51 Because, you know, 19:53 there are two ways ignorant can work, 19:55 ignorant can decide to learn and understand. 19:58 And people who don't want to learn 20:01 and they want to abuse, 20:03 I believe those people are unstable because 20:07 they're not willing to learn and to understand 20:11 the intricacies of issues Paul was dealing 20:16 and they're quick in judgment and try to-- 20:21 and that's what they are twisting and that's what-- 20:23 So it's the matter of the will. 20:25 Yeah, it's the matter of the will to learn, I believe. 20:29 So when he says they twisted to their own destruction, 20:33 he says, as they do the other scriptures. 20:35 So this, I mean we could bring this really into today 20:39 because we see this on time. 20:41 That people take teachings, not just of Paul, 20:45 but of Jesus of the Bible as a whole, 20:49 without really spending time to study and understand context, 20:56 the time in which it was spoken, 20:57 what did it mean to the original hearers then. 21:01 They quickly make assumptions and try to apply it their life 21:05 and wrongly apply the scripture. 21:08 And like Peter says, it's to their own destruction, 21:12 because they, you know, they follow a God 21:15 that isn't and maybe it's one of the reasons, 21:17 not the only one, we talked about this 21:19 when we talked about the sermon on the Mount 21:22 when Jesus is saying, you know, many will say, 21:25 "didn't we cast out demons, 21:26 didn't we do all these things for you?" 21:28 And Jesus says, "depart from me, I never knew you." 21:31 And that could be a similar affect 21:34 that these people, yeah, they never knew Jesus 21:37 because they never took the time to know who he was, 21:39 to understand what he taught really. 21:41 It was all these preconceived notions and so on. 21:44 And that reminds me of the verse in John where Jesus says, 21:47 "those who are willing will understand the doctrine." 21:50 Right. 21:51 And it's important to see that, 21:54 you know, you can't know about Jesus, 21:57 you can't know about God, you can't know God 22:01 without studying his revelation. 22:03 And that's a continuous process, when we grow, 22:07 but if we are kind of self satisfied 22:11 and we are-- we think we can get by 22:16 and be with God without understanding 22:18 the scripture, that's a big error. 22:19 Or we're not open to understand 22:22 that our knowledge, our growth in walking with Jesus 22:27 is something that continues to move forward. 22:31 Just because you think you went to Bible school 22:33 or you went to Sabbath school-- 22:34 Or you accepted Jesus 10 years ago. 22:36 When you were a kid and you learned all these lessons. 22:38 Well, I learned all of that. 22:40 But the problem with that is that as we grow and as we move, 22:43 the things that we learn get challenged 22:45 and either we allow those challenges to affect us 22:47 and to change us and to move us. 22:49 I want to, before time gets completely 22:52 away from us today, Sasha, 22:54 I've always been a strong believer that 22:56 one of the real problems with the misunderstanding 22:59 of Paul is that people, 23:02 I would say, they start with a distorted filter. 23:04 And what do I mean? 23:05 It's like putting a colored filter on your glasses 23:08 and looking at something and go, "wow, that's purple." 23:11 Because you have a purple filter, 23:13 everything looks purple. 23:14 Now what do I mean when I say that 23:16 people look at Paul with a distorted filer? 23:19 First of all they don't understand his history, 23:21 they don't understand who he is, 23:22 they don't understand where he came from. 23:24 And to whom he writes. And to whom he writes. 23:27 Another interesting thing that I've often thought is 23:30 so much of Paul's letters 23:31 it's like listening to a one-way phone conversion. 23:35 You only hear one side. 23:37 A lot of times we don't know what the questions were. 23:39 He's just answering those questions. 23:41 So we have to be really careful 23:45 that when we seek to understand Paul that, 23:49 like you said, we are wanting to understand his audience 23:52 and that, more importantly, we are wanting to understand 23:55 who he was as he brings his teachings 23:58 and his truth to us, Amen. 24:01 And it's important also, you know, 24:04 some people may say, "oh, it's so difficult," 24:07 but if you read the entire letter of Paul, 24:10 if you read the entire-- if you don't focus 24:13 and pull one verse, it will be possible. 24:16 So I hate to cut it short but I have a song 24:19 that I'd love to do for us. 24:21 So, Sasha, if you would describe that song. 24:24 Psalm 113:2, 24:26 "Mi-mizrah, from the setting of the sun." 25:09 Blessed be the name of the Lord 25:20 Blessed be the name of the Lord 25:24 Oh, from the rising of the sun 25:28 To its going down Rising of the sun 25:33 To its going down 25:35 The name of the Lord is to be praised 25:40 The name of the Lord is to be praised 25:44 From the rising of the sun 25:48 To its going down 25:50 The name of the Lord to be praised 26:01 Blessed be the name of the Lord 26:11 Oh, blessed be the name of the Lord 26:37 From the rising of sun To its going down 26:42 The name of the Lord is to be praised 26:47 The name of the Lord is to be praised 27:06 Amen. From the rising of the sun until the going down, 27:12 the name of the Lord is to be praised. 27:14 You know, Rachel, I think that Paul, 27:18 one of the things that drove him more than anything 27:20 was to proclaim the name of Jesus 27:22 once he had met Him, that nothing would stop him, 27:25 from the rising of the sun until the setting down. 27:27 That's what Paul did. 27:28 From synagogue to synagogue, 27:30 wherever he was, he proclaimed the name, 27:34 the name above all names. 27:36 As God moves through you may you have opportunities 27:41 to proclaim His name wherever you are. 27:44 And may the Lord bless you and may He keep you. 27:47 And may the Lord make His face to shine upon you 27:49 and be gracious to you. 27:51 May the Lord lift His countenance upon you 27:54 and bring you His peace. 27:55 Blessings. 27:56 And we'll see you again on "Back to Our Roots." |
Revised 2014-12-17