Subject: "Once Saved Always Saved" |
Bible Note: Hi Lisa, You said: I also read last night that the actual "Hebrew Canon" was put together after the Christian one. I found that kinda curious. Prior to our Bible, they were only interested in a scroll of The Law. Unless I misunderstand what you're talking about, the Hebrew Canon (laws or body of laws of a church) was written by Moses, with the exception of the few verses at the close of Deuteronomy which give an account of his death. It was possibly written in archaic Hebrew (although some say Aramaic, which is very similar to Hebrew from what I understand) on clay tablets, leather or papyrus. Papyrus was commonly used in Egypt in those days, and it is possible that the first five books of the law were written on that if Moses had the forethought (or inspiration from the Lord) to take some along when the Exodus occurred. And clay tablets would be very heavy to haul around... but they definitely had the manpower and animal power to do so. But personally I think leather is a more practical expectation. For those forty years in the wilderness, they would have had a ready supply at hand. Just my thoughts on it since I don't know which they were written on. :) If the original was written on leather or papyrus, they wore out with use and were replaced with new copies. If clay, they apparently wore out or broke too, since archeologists have found MANY fragments of such. Again, unless I'm mistaken the "scroll of the Law" that you mentioned, was usually made of leather, because it generally lasted much longer than papyrus. The entire Old Testament (which included the Torah [law] was translated into Greek and called the Septuagint, made in the 3rd century BC, and was in common use during Jesus day. The gospels (memoirs of the apostles) and the epistles (letters) were first "gathered together" by Eusebius during the reign of Constantine. This was in the early 300's AD, and the bibles were printed on vellum (a fine parchment - [animal skin, prepared as a surface for writing]). These were possibly the original Sinaitic or the Vatican Manuscripts. During the time of Jesus, it was still the custom that letters were scrolled [rolled] and sealed to be delivered to the addressee. From what I've read that is possibly the form used by the apostles who wrote the original epistles (letters). You said: The Hebrews rejected all Greek writings because they didn't see the Gentiles as people of God. No possible way he would send the Holy Spirit unto them! Since their law was also written in Greek several hundred years before Christ, we know they did not reject Gentiles because of the Greek writings. They rejected the Messiah and therefore rejected his teachings which just happened to be written in Greek. You said: The entire New Testament is written in Greek. Of course the Hebrews, not believing in Jesus, reject all the New Testament as well. It's my understanding that the Jews believe in the man Jesus, but do not believe He was/is the Messiah. And this reminds me that in Acts 10, Peter was given a vision which he did not fully understand... until the Spirit informed him that he should go to meet Cornelius. And in 10:28 Peter said "You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean..." So if it had not been for the Lord's instruction to Peter personally, he probably would have been one of "those of the circumcision who believed" and "were astonished because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentile" believers. God bless. |