⁣For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
Romans 7:14-17 ESV

Until the resurrection, we all face a constant struggle with the flesh to live according to God's Law, but as long as we struggle, we also have a good indication that our spirits are already in agreement with the Law. Remember that your salvation doesn't depend on your feelings and failures, but on your commitment to remain faithful in spite of those things.

From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

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⁣What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
Romans 7:7 ESV

Reference also, James 2:8-13, Leviticus 19:13-18, and Exodus 20:13-14.

Paul plainly and strongly asserts that we are not to continue in sin once we have been saved by grace. We are not beneath the Law, but we are to live in agreement with it, because the Law tells us what sin is. Not just the ten commandments, but the whole Law, because as James explains, the Law is indivisible. If you break a commandment in Leviticus 19, it is just as much a sin as breaking a commandment in Exodus 20.

From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

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Pharoah sends out the children of Israel (along with the mixed multitude). Moses gets baptized. Miriam and the woman dance a song of victory. The miracle of the Red Sea crossing. There is so much to look at this week.
Please join us as we dig into the word of Adonai.

⁣For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Romans 6:14 ESV

The phrase "Under the Law" is one of the most misunderstood and abused in all of Scripture. The meaning is obvious if you let Paul's letter to the Romans speak for itself, but it can be very difficult to stop filtering his words through our church's doctrinal lenses.

It's not Judaizing to teach obedience to God's Law. In fact, that was the dominant teaching of all of Christendom until the last century. The key is to be obedient as a son to his father and not as a criminal slave to his jailer.

In this video, the Common Sense Bible Study community addresses the questions of "What is sin?" and "What does it mean to be under law and under grace?"

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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⁣Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
Romans 6:8-9 ESV

What does it mean that Christ was raised from the dead? Can he have a physical body in Heaven? What exactly is Heaven?

The Common Sense Bible Study crew wades into some deep waters in this video while I repeatedly say "I don't know".

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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The two biggest events in Israel's history happened at Passover, and throughout the Bible, revivals were marked by a subsequent Passover celebration.

⁣What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:1-4 ESV

What does it mean to be dead to sin and baptized into Yeshua's death? Was his death a sacrificial offering like those performed at the Temple?

The Common Sense Bible Study community explores these questions and the power of Jesus' blood in this video.

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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⁣⁣This series is like a puzzle - many pieces interlocking to form one big picture: Why Christians Should Keep the Law. Videos are about 10 minutes in length; perfect to share with family and friends.

⁣This series is like a puzzle - many pieces interlocking to form one big picture: Why Christians Should Keep the Law. Videos are about 10 minutes in length; perfect to share with family and friends.

⁣Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 5:20-21 ESV

God didn't give Moses his Law in order to create sin where it didn't exist before, but to magnify the sin we were already committing, so that nobody could deny it. Once we are made aware of our sin by the witness of the written commandments, we are also made aware of our need for God's grace.

Adam's sin brought death to all men, and that corruption leads all men to sin, subjecting them to the power of sin and death, which is the power of the Law to condemn. On the other hand, Yeshua's death enables God's grace to forgive our sin, releasing us from the Law's power to condemn, but not from its power to teach us right from wrong.

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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*** This is not my video, but I believe it is worth watching as he covers some interesting points in this short video. ***

Every language today has their own way of saying the name ‘Jesus’—English speakers say Jesus, Spanish speakers say /xeˈsus/, German speakers say /ˈjeːzʊs/, French speakers say /ʒe.zy/, Chinese speakers say 耶穌 yēsū, Korean speakers say 예수 [je̞sʰu], and Arabic speakers say يسوع [jasuːʕ]. But how was it pronounced in the first century? Or, in other words, how did Jesus pronounce his own name?Many different websites out there have all sorts of reconstructions of how Jesus’s name should be pronounced or how Jesus’s name was pronounced in ancient times. But let’s look together at the first-century evidence to find out how it really was pronounced.For the full blog post on this topic (with references), see https://biblicalhebrew.com/how....-did-jesus-pronounce FREE video lessons in Biblical Hebrew and related languages, visit https://www.BiblicalHebrew.com.To follow us on Facebook, go to: https://www.facebook.com/bibhebrew.To follow us on Twitter, go to: https://www.twitter.com/bibhebrew.

This week, we take a look at Galatians 4. A lot has been written about this letter of Paul and how it says we are "free" from keeping the Torah. Is that what it really says? Let's take another look at it.
Justification by Faith is the theme, so where does "the law" fit in?
We can't "Go Forth" if we don't have direction, can we?

⁣More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Romans 5:11 ESV

Joy is commanded throughout the Torah. This is what the book of Deuteronomy has to say about the oppressive, burdensome sacrificial system:

ch12 - You shall eat your sacrifices before YHWH your God and rejoice before him.
ch14 - You shall eat there before YHWH your God and rejoice.
ch16 - You shall rejoice before YHWH your God.
ch26 - You shall rejoice in all the good that YHWH your God has given to you and to your house.
ch27 - You shall rejoice before YHWH your God.

God's Law is only burdensome to those who keep it in order to earn their way into God's favor. That will never work. His commandments bring a level of fulfillment and peace that can't be found anywhere else, but it is only through the reconciliation purchased by Yeshua that we can ever achieve that joy. Any other path leads only to disappointment and heartache.

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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⁣Did we inherit guilt from Adam? Or just an evil inclination? What is sin? What is the remedy for sin and guilt and the evil inclination?

On December 6, 2023, the Common Sense Bible Study community was live with Rob Vanhoff to talk about Romans 5:12-21 and the doctrines of Original Sin. I say "doctrines" (plural), because there is significant disagreement among theologians about what this actually means. This was an amazing opportunity to have a conversation with a really smart guy with a deep understanding of the Scriptures and its ancient Jewish context.

A lifelong resident of the beautiful Pacific Northwest, Rob loves Yeshua (Jesus) and teaches the Bible in many facets: cultural contexts, ancient languages and translation, interpretation history, and most importantly what it means to be a disciple of the Messiah today. His purpose is to bring accuracy and clarity to the articulation of the Gospel message within its “full Bible” framework. Rob has an MA in comparative religions and a BA in Near Eastern languages and civilizations.

Rob is currently an instructor for TorahResource Institute, where he teaches courses on the 2nd Temple Period, Rabbinic Literature, Judaism, Koine Greek, and Aramaic. He has also written articles and presented on ancient Jewish scribal tradition, the Masorah of the Hebrew Bible, and midrashic literature.

Links to some of Rob's online activities...

Messiah Matters video podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@MessiahMatters
Rob on the Rock, Rob's personal YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ontherock
TorahResource: https://torahresource.com/
Rob's homepage: https://robontherock.com/
Academic publications: https://washington.academia.edu/RobertVanhoff

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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⁣Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope...
Romans 5:3-4 ESV

There is so much suffering in the world. Poverty, sickness, disaster, oppression... eventually everyone asks why God would allow it. The easy answer is that God has a plan, and we need to trust him. That's true, of course, but it's more complicated than that. In an online discussion of Romans 5:3-4, the Common Sense Bible Study community tackled this question.

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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⁣For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
Romans 4:14 ESV

Does this mean that anyone who tries to keep the Law of Moses is automatically disinherited by God? Of course, not! As Paul wrote, "I wouldn't have known that coveting is wrong if the Law had not said, 'Do not covet.'"

Obedience to God's commandments, even if they were given through Moses, is a good thing so long as you don't think that you can earn salvation by them.

This is an excerpt from the weekly Bible study at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) with Jay Carper from 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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⁣Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness...
Romans 4:4-5 ESV

Forgiveness of sins and eternal life are gifts of God, granted by his grace alone. Nobody can buy or work their way into eternal life. Eliezer, Ishmael, and Isaac make a great illustration of God's plan.

Eliezer was Abraham's chief servant. He worked for Abraham his whole life, helping him build his wealth and watch out for his family. If Abraham had died without children, Eliezer would have been his heir according to the traditions of man. He was a faithful servant, but his inheritance would have been the wages of his own efforts.

Ishmael was Abraham's firstborn son according to the flesh. However, he was also the son of a slave. If Abraham had not had another son by a free wife, Ishmael would have inherited God's covenant as Abraham's firstborn, displacing Eliezer, in accordance with the laws of both man and biology.

Isaac was a child of promise, conceived through miraculous intervention. Sarah's time in Abimelech's house might cast a shadow over Isaac's right of inheritance as Abraham's biological son, but God's decree overrides anything man might do. Isaac inherited the covenant promises of Abraham because God intervened and made it happen, apart from any natural or man-made law, and Abraham believed him.

This is an image of our salvation, which is granted by divine intervention according to our belief in God's promises.

See also Genesis 15:1-5 and Genesis 17:15-21.

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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⁣No, you can't earn your salvation, and you can't make him save you. Your eternal fate is solely at God's discretion. He adopts us as sons or he doesn't. However, God has told us that he will save or condemn us based on our faith in him and also that we can be disinherited for rejecting him. There is no contradiction in this with anything in Romans. It is not a "salvation by works" or "salvation by merit" soteriology. God the when, if, and how of your salvation, no matter what you do or believe.

There is a lot of truth in both Calvinism and Arminianism, but just like every other -ism, neither is complete, because they both try to fit God into a brain-sized box.

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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⁣Paul's Epistle to the Romans is ground zero for the Calvinism vs Arminianism debate. Does God choose who will believe? Or does he choose those who believe? Does it even matter in any tangible way?

This is an excerpt from an online study of Romans at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com).

From Jay Carper at 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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⁣
It doesn't matter
what the Jews have done nor what antisemites say about them. If God didn't
keep his promises to Israel, to the physical descendants of Jacob, what kind
of God would he be? How could we trust him to keep any of his promises? Or
not to change the rules whenever he felt like it? The only hope of
forgiveness for sins to escape eternal damnation lies in God's character as a
promise keeper.