Bible Study
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Romans 12:6-8 ESV
God gives everyone a range of skillsets that we can use in service to his kingdom. Leadership, administration, mechanics, languages, etc. The list of possible gifts of God is endless! In this passage Paul mentions several of those gifts, and here's what each of them is really about.
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
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For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Romans 12:3 ESV
The grace Paul is speaking of is the favor God showed him in appointing him as an apostle to the nations, and all of the authority and responsibility that comes with that commission.
Grace isn't a divinely bestowed super power. It's unobligated favor, an honor bestowed on one person by another. Just as God showed Paul grace in making him a teacher and evangelist, he graces every person in his kingdom with a unique set of skills and a mission to accomplish for the his glory and for the growth of his kingdom. That doesn't mean we all have a commission as high as Paul's, but as Paul pointed out elsewhere, every part of a body is important, no matter how lowly it might seem.
God has given you grace by making you who you are and by giving you a role to play in his plan.
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
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Romans 11:30-32 ESV For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
How does God use our disobedience to bring us (and the Jews!) to repentance and restoration to relationship with him?
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
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And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
Romans 11:23-24 ESV
Very few native branches of Israel were left on the tree after the first few centuries of Christianity, so that today both the native and the wild branches need to be grafted back into the olive tree of Israel. God has promised that he will restore the genetic descendants of Jacob, and he has the power to do it!
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
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May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 15:5-6 ESV
Disciples of Yeshua shouldn't divide over relatively minor issues. We don't have to agree on everything, but we also shouldn't bring shame on God's name by public (or private!) bickering over matters of opinion that aren't central to our common faith in God and the Messiah of Israel.
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
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If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
Romans 11:16 ESV
What does "firstfruits" and "root" refer to in Romans 11:16? The context makes it clear. This chapter is talking about how God will never forsake the natural branches of Israel because of the promises he made to Israel's patriarchs. The firstfruit of the dough and the root of the tree are the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
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So I ask, did [the Jews] stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!
Romans 11:11-12 ESV
How did the failure of the Jews to accept their Messiah mean riches for the Gentiles? In the same way that the failure of Israel to repent in Jonah's day meant riches for at least one generation of the people of Ninevah. The ministries of Paul and Jonah are parallel in many ways. Jonah can even be thought of as the first apostle to the nations, a foreshadowing of Paul's ministry.
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
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I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?
Romans 11:1-2 ESV
People love to use Romans and "A true Jew is one who is a Jew inwardly" to say that God has permanently rejected the Jews and canceled his covenant with them, but Paul refutes that idea in the very same letter.
The apostate Israelites of Elijah's day didn't stop being Israel because they were apostate. God always preserves a remnant of the natural descendants of Jacob and, through them, the whole nation. Nor can he reject his covenant with them. So long as God himself lives and a single descendant of Jacob lives, God cannot annul the covenant that made Israel his people.
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
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Tov Rose joined the Common Sense Bible Study community for a live conversation about God's Fall Feasts.
All of God's appointed times are profound illustrations of his plan of redemption over the millennia. The Sabbath, the Spring feasts, and the Fall feasts are pictures of how God wants to relate to us as well as prophetic of how his plan will play out in history. Every one of them look both forward and backward at God's interventions in history.
We talked about Yom Teruah (aka Rosh Hashanah), Yom Kippur, and Sukkot among many other topics.
Tov is the founder of the New Messianic Version (NMV) Bible Project & Foundation and has authored hundreds of articles and over twenty books including, The New Messianic Version Bible (available through the YouVersion Bible App, Bible.com, and Amazon). A few others include: The Baptism of Jesus from a Jewish Perspective, Jesus in the Old Testament, Jesus in the Targums, Jesus in the Jewish Wedding, Jesus in the Passover, The Book of GOD: For Men, and more found on this website and available through most booksellers. He has several websites you should check out:
https://TovRose.com
https://tovrose.substack.com
https://nmvbible.com
https://thehappytheologist.org
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
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The Bible is a collection of ancient books. It contains the oldest stories known to mankind, written in ancient languages by people who lived between 2000 and 4000 years ago and written to their contemporaries. If you can read more than one modern language, you are probably aware that it is next to impossible to understand any complex text written in a foreign language without knowing something about the culture into which it was written, their myths, religion, lifestyle, economy, and politics.
Add a few thousand years time gap, and this problem increases exponentially. Nobody on earth today lives in a culture quite like the ones in which the Biblical authors lived. That world doesn't exist anymore.
David Wilber is an author, Bible teacher, Messianic/Christian apologist, and joint CEO of Pronomian Publishing LLC. He has written several books and numerous theological articles. Additionally, David speaks at churches and conferences across the nation. He has served as a researcher and Bible teacher for ministries such as 119 Ministries, Founded in Truth Fellowship, Freedom Hill Community, and InspiringPhilosophy. David currently lives in Lake Wylie, SC, with his wife and two children.
David's most recent book is How Jesus Fulfilled the Law: A Pronomian Pocked Guide to Matthew 5:17-20 (https://amzn.to/4d0DK1E Amazon affiliate link), and his homepage is https://DavidWilber.com.
David recommended Craig Keener's work The IVP Bible Background Commentary, which you can get at https://amzn.to/3zeWo7V . (Amazon affiliate link! I earn a small commission if you buy through that link.)
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com). This content is free, but I accept contributions via Paypal at https://jaycarper.com/paypal.
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Revealing the truth about the woman caught in adultery and the famous "I am" statement in John 8 does not mean what most teach.
This video is part of a series on the study of the Gospel of John. Previous chapters are available at the link. Further chapters will be uploaded as they come available. https://firstcenturychristiani....ty.net/the-gospel-of
Paul tells us that before a person can call out to God, he must be convinced that there is a reason to do so. Faith comes from hearing. This is the same message that Yeshua gave in the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13.
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
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Quoting Deuteronomy 30:14 in Romans 10:8, Paul makes a powerful rhetorical connection between Yeshua and the Law of Moses. The Torah gives life, but only to those who have already confessed Yeshua as their Master and Savior.
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
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The Jews had the Torah for many centuries by the time Yeshua came to inaugurate the New Covenant that had been promised through Jeremiah at the midpoint between himself and Moses. Their familiarity with the Law and their pride at having been chosen above other nations led them to believe the Law was sufficient for all their spiritual needs. The gentiles had no such barrier to overcome, being presented with their guilt and salvation at the same time.
Making Torah (aka the Law) the object of our lives leads inevitably to failure. We ought never to keep God's Law for the sake of the Law itself nor for the sake of the veneer of righteousness that it provides, but for the sake of the Lawgiver who gave us His Torah out of love for us and a desire to see us succeed as children of God and citizens of His Kingdom. Torah is a blessing and a guide to those who keep it out of love for our Creator and Redeemer. It is a curse and an obstacle to those who attempt to keep it pridefully.
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
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Romans 9 is the core of Calvinism's doctrine of irresistible grace in the eternal salvation and condemnation of individual people, yet this chapter isn't even about eternal salvation! Paul's use of the potter and clay analogy is from Isaiah 29 that speaks of God's temporary hardening of Israel because of their sins. They blinded themselves with pride, so he blinded them further to ensure that his judgment would be carried out, with the intent that the nation would eventually repent and be restored.
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
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God is never arbitrary. He doesn't roll dice to decide who is "chosen" and who isn't. However, we know his choice of Jacob wasn't about anything Jacob or Esau had done either, so what was it?
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
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Romans 8:31-39 ESV
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
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Romans 8:28-30 ESV
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Foreknew doesn’t mean that God knew what was going to happen or who was going to do what or even the character of each person who didn’t exist yet (even if he does, that's not what the word means in this passage). It’s talking about God’s established relationship with those whom he has determined to conform into the image of his Son. "Foreknew" should be translated as "already knows".
Predestined doesn't mean that God decided from before Creation that Joe was going to Hell and John was going to Heaven. It means that God made a plan to transform all who would believe in Yeshua into living images of Yeshua.
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
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Sorry about the strange audio effect at the end of the video. I'm not sure what happened there.
Romans 8:18-23 ESV
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Several places in Scripture talk about how Creation longs for the day when God judges the world and everything is restored. Paul and John tell us that Creation won't just be restored, but will be resurrected and glorified just like us. The end is a mirror image of the beginning, but bigger and better!
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
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Romans 8:12-17 ESV
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Paul uses the word spirit (pneuma) six times in this short passage, and he uses it in multiple ways. They don't all refer to God's Spirit, not even when most translations capitalize the word. There's a chiasm in these verses that might help you see the idea that Paul was trying to explain.
A - V12-13 - Killing the flesh per God’s Spirit leads to life
B - V14 - Spirit of God reveals sons of God
C - V15 - Spirit of slavery vs spirit of adoption as sons
B - V16 - Spirit of God reveals children of God
A - V17 - Suffering in flesh per God’s Son leads to life
Our job is to stop behaving like slaves (having a spirit of slavery) and start behaving as sons (having a spirit of adoption as sons) as God intends.
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
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