Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | Matthew 7:23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.' |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 7:23 "And then I will declare to them publicly, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME [you are banished from My presence], YOU WHO ACT WICKEDLY [disregarding My commands].' [Ps 6:8] |
Subject: What is iniquity in Matthew 7:23? |
Bible Note: Indy, I accept your apology but there is no need, I am not offended. I can see how one could arrive at that conclusion. “I was reading Romans 7 and 8 this morning and I simply cannot fathom why you believe as you do.” Why I believe what I believe: I started out as a Protestant Christian in 1996 with no religious background. Having no foundation, I received everything that was taught without question. As I read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation (one chapter at a time) I started to have questions. The pre-tribulation rapture was one thing I had trouble with. It did not make sense that YHWH was going to rapture the modern church (a body of self-willed, self-indulgent, adulterous, idolatrous, hypocritical, fleshly believers) to spend eternity in heaven doing whatever they want while 50,000,000 Christians over the centuries have been martyred in excruciatingly painful ways designed to make them deny Jesus Christ. I concluded that the rapture was an 19th century myth which confuses the 1st resurrection of Revelation 20:6, 1Thessalonians 4:17, I Corinthians 15 and Philippians 3:11 with some type of "get out of jail free card". Then the question became if mainstream Christianity is wrong about the rapture what else are they feeding me that may be wrong? The Bible is full of warnings about being deceived. So then it was a matter of finding out how far back do the deceptions go. I discovered Christmas was the pagan festival of Saturnalia dressed up as Christ’s birth, easter is the name of a reincarnated Babylonian fertility god, the Sunday Sabbath was a papal edict with no scriptural authority, etc. So I have to go past 325 AD to find out what the "called-out assembly" was really doing. The problem is that most of what is taught is based on the early church fathers who were anti-Semitic due to the political climate of Rome after the Temple destruction in 70AD. Since then anything Hebraic has been systematically divorced from mainstream Christianity. I have found that you cannot get to the truth about the 1st century church through Christain sources because everyone is so influenced by the anti-Semitic “church fathers.” Paul was warning the Thessalonians in 50AD about the "mystery of iniquity" that is already at work. The “mystery of iniquity” was faith outside of Torah. If you isolate Paul's "teachings" and receive what the rest of the Bible teaches it is clear that YHWH has not changed. The key is that we have to understand the who, what and why of Paul's letters. They are dealing with very specific issues. Paul was writing to former pagans with no roots in Torah. I have so much to say I am not sure where to start. Initially, “Christianity” was known as one of the many sects of Judaism. Judaism was based on OT scriptures before it was corrupted. Why would the foundational text of everything that we believe become obsolete? Without the scriptural authority of the OT there is no basis for the Promised Redeemer. Acts 24:5-6 “For we have found this man (Paul) a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a RINGLEADER OF THE SECT OF THE NAZARENES: Who also hath gone about to profane the temple: whom we took, and would have judged according to our law.” The Nazarenes are Jews that believed Yeshua was the Messiah. Epiphanius an early church member has this to say about them: "We shall now especially consider HERETICS who call themselves NAZARENES; they are MAINLY JEWS and nothing else. They make use not only of the New Testament, but they also use in a way the Old Testament of the Jews. For THEY DO NOT FORBID the books of the Law, the Prophets and the Writings...so that they are approved of by the Jews, FROM WHOM THE NAZARENES do not differ in anything, and they do profess all the dogmas pertaining to the prescriptions of the Law and the customs of the Jews, EXCEPT THEY BELIEVE IN MESSIAH. They preach that there is but One God and His Son Yahshua." According to the Bible, Paul is the ringleader of this sect of Nazarenes. “In fact, the religio licita, or "legal religion," sanction granted by imperial Rome to the Jews, permitted the apostles and their followers to freely engage in evangelistic activity throughout the Roman empire for many years.” To understand how we got where we are today and why Christians are misinterpreting Paul we need to understand the anti-Semitic roots of Christianity. It is amazing, I have so much to say it is hard to get organized. While I try to answer your question concisely, please see the article on this link. It is a easy-reading 2 part article. http://www.messianicstudies.org/mag_70_art40.html Shalom, Greg Boone |