Good Morning, Siblings!
Today’s readings are 1 Cor 15-16
Read today’s passages at BibleGateway.com by clicking here.
Rabbit Trails
First order of business is a note: Are you reading in multiple translations? If not, I highly recommend it. Translator bias is subtle but effective and word choice can make a huge difference. I do believe these translators were well intentioned in almost all cases, but the duty of due diligence remains on us. Therefore, if you’re only reading one translation, you’re reading that through one translator’s bias or their ideas of what was supposed to be conveyed by a certain passage. When we read multiple translations these differences, especially in key verses, tend to jump out at us.
I would try to choose a second translation that is pretty different from the one you normally read. The ones I read are ESV, CJB, Aramaic English NT (no longer available), The Scriptures, and the Restoration Study Bible by YRM (which is a King James with added Greek and Hebrew concordances). Note that each of these has a different translator bias, however I believe that they are each seeking to honor the Father and the original intent of His word with their translation. Again, the duty of due diligence is on us. (Acts 17:11)
Diving on in….
1 Cor 15:3-4 has Paul reiterating twice that the Messiah’s life, ministry, and sacrifice was directly in line with what was spoken of him in the Scriptures. This is further validating the authority of Scriptures and reinforcing the fact that Messiah was YHWH’s plan all along and He did not cancel out anything which the Father instated. (Matthew 5:17)
Remember when we talked about the big sects of Jews at this point and that the ongoing dispute among the Pharisees and Saduccees is that the Pharisees believed in resurrection of the dead and the Saduccees did not? Recall that Paul is a Pharisee and we can tell from the start of 1 Cor 15:12 that this is not only a mixed congregation being that there are Gentiles in it, but there is also a mixture of Jewish sects as well. It looks like some of them are Saduccees.
This sentence made me stop and linger over it a bit:
If in Messiah we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 1 Cor 15:19
We see reference to one of YHWH’s Biblical Feasts or appointed times, First Fruits in 1 Cor 15:23 23.
But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
Messiah very likely rose on First Fruits. Once the first fruits offering was accepted, the remainder of the harvest was then acceptable before YHWH (Lev 23:9-14).
Through Messiah we are made acceptable to YHWH.
Note that we have seen Paul keeping the feasts and even referencing them as a means of a teaching tool with the new Believers in Messiah. When the Father declared His feasts in Leviticus He said they were to be observed forever, throughout our generations, Messiah kept them, and now we see Paul keeping them. At some point we have to consider that the source of all wisdom knew what “forever” meant when He said it.
The cool thing is that YHWH set these up as teaching tools to know our past and our future as a People. The feasts foretell of Messiah and as I’ve mentioned before, the spring feasts have been fulfilled but the fall feasts are yet to be fulfilled. If we keep these feasts according to the instructions of YHWH, we will have a better understanding of what is to come. I recommend Leviticus 23 and this book was and continues to be a great help: https://amzn.to/2MRjBn8 (it is pricey but its the size of an old telephone book and I can honestly say that the Father used the introduction alone to change the course of my life)
?In 1 Cor 15:51-52 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
This mystery is another reference to a Biblical Feast, Trumpets! This is a fall feast and teaches us about Messiah’s return. This feast occurs in the fall of course, but the date you celebrate it depends on which Hebrew calendar you use. I could spend at least a day explaining the different calendars but the one we use can be found just by doing an internet search for feast of trumpets and the year.
The Feast of Trumpets is a LOT of fun for us. We usually gather together with lots of other Believers in our area who keep the feasts and everyone brings a shofar! It’s an evening of rejoicing and celebrating as we look forward to His return.
When we keep these Feasts we will learn so much more about our Father and how He is using our Messiah. The fulfilled feasts (which still have much to teach us) are Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, and Shavuot.
The feasts yet to be fulfilled are: Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Sukkot.
I know this may sound confusing if this information is new to you. The intent of the Father was for people to grow up keeping these feasts, throughout their generations, so that it would be as ingrained in us as our manmade holiday traditions are. That is not to say that it is ever ever too late to begin to keep them! In fact, we will see later on in Paul’s writings that he, too, has to encourage new Believers when they are trying to keep the feasts and others outside of the faith are making that difficult for them.
I think 1 Cor 15:27-28 should be read carefully. YHWH is the head of all things. Paul may seem as if he is usurping Messiah here, but this is Biblical and a careful reading may help to remove a lens and see YHWH’s word more clearly as we begin the Bible again.
1 Cor 15:34 felt deeply personal to me. I think of how many decades I sat in church allowing myself to be fed milk and having no idea I was not maturing beyond that, because I didn’t open the book or dedicate myself to the study of it. I was satisfied with milk. I am so grateful that the Father rose up within me a hunger that only He could satisfy firsthand! I’m so glad to be FEASTING with you!!!
1 Cor 15:35-41 was just beautiful and the illustration really resonated with me and helped me to grasp the ways of the Father so much better.
1 Cor 16:2 has an erroneous translation in my Bible and likely in yours as well. The Greek words translated as “first day of the week” are “mia sabbaton”. To their credit, the King James translators did italicize “day” to show that this word did not appear in the original text being translated from, despite going forward with a mistranslation, but mia sabbaton means “One Sabbath”. I’ve explained this before but a refresher never hurts so here we go:
First, lets look at 1 Cor 16:2 in a listing of several translations:
https://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/16-2.htm
Note how many say “first day of the week” and how many variances there are! How do we know what is right?
If you look up at the top of that screen and click “Greek” you will see this:
https://biblehub.com/interlinear/1_corinthians/16-2.htm
Now click mia (Strongs Greek 1520)
https://biblehub.com/greek/1520.htm and we see it means “one”
Not first.
Go back to the Greek and you’ll see it says in the English it says “of the week” under Sabbatu, BUT if we click on Sabbatu we will see the following:
https://biblehub.com/greek/4521.htm
And we see it means Sabbath. One of the Sabbaths. (also at this link, if you are on a desktop look on the righthand side of the screen at all the other places in the Gospels this word is used and you’ll see that some verses have it translated it corrected and some do not)
This takes place a few times in Paul’s writings so let’s just look at one more piece of evidence. While the words are somewhat different in their spelling, they correspond to the same number in the Strong’s Greek concordance and are used in a way that they have the same meaning.
The verse we’ll check out this time is Acts 20:7, which, in the ESV reads”
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. Acts 20:7
So let’s dig deeper. Check out other translations here: https://biblehub.com/acts/20-7.htm
Check out the Greek manuscript here: https://biblehub.com/interlinear/acts/20-7.htm
Now click on the word “Sabbaton” in greek to get this: https://biblehub.com/greek/4521.htm
Now go back and click on Mia to get to this: https://biblehub.com/greek/mia_1520.htm
Ton simply means “of the”. One of the Sabbaths – but English translations put it as “First day of the week”
However, In Greek, mia means one and Protos means first.
Mia Ton Sabbaton is a Greek phrase that does not even contain the word “day”
Mia ton sabbaton – one of the Sabbaths
Mia Sabbaton – One Sabbath
Crazy isn’t it? Almost as if translators intentionally altered something to support their doctrine. ?
Speaking of Sabbath: I’ve received a lot of questions lately about just how to go about keeping it Holy and set apart. By the point in our reading I always find that many people have begun keeping Sabbath but have a wholehearted desire and concern to “do it right”. First of all, I want to assure you that He is the source of right so don’t fret if Sabbath looks different at your house than it does at mine. Secondly, I’ve written an article for those who are seeking more information on how to keep the Sabbath and you can read it here if you would like. This article was not written to convince or convict anyone that they should keep Sabbath – it is for those who have already found that conviction and are looking for a little direction as to what to do next.
That’s all for the Christy thought train today, folks! Please gather all of your belongings and make sure the train comes to a full and complete stop before exiting the vehicle to the conductor’s right. ?
And with that, we have completed another book. Rak Chazak!
Test everything, hold tight to what is good.~ 1 Thess 5:21
We are saved by Grace alone: Obedience is not the root of our salvation, it is the fruit!
May YHWH bless the reading of His Word!