For Our Friends Of The Jewish Faith
Instructions: Read each point. For each one that you agree is the truth, place a mental checkmark in the box and then read the next point, and so on. Citations are hyperlinked to their sources.
Square 1. The Tanakh is the Word of the Lord.
“So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances, and all the people answered in unison and said, "All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord””
Shemot (Exodus) 24:3-4a (chabad.org)
“And the Lord stretched out His hand and reached my mouth, and the Lord said to me; Behold, I have placed My words in your mouth.”
Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) 1:9
“Hear the word of the Lord, O rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, O people of Gomorrah!”
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 1:10
“The spirit of the Lord spoke in me, And His word was upon my tongue.”
Shmuel II (2 Samuel) 23:2
““The spirit of the Lord spoke in me, And His word was upon my tongue.”
2 Samuel 23:2”
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:2
Square 2. The Lord does not contradict Himself.
“God is not a man that He should lie, nor is He a mortal that He should relent. Would He say and not do, speak and not fulfill?””
Bamidbar (Numbers) 23:19
"For I am Jehovah; I do not change.”
Malachi 3:6a
“Forever, O Lord, Your word stands in the heavens. Your faith is to every generation”
“The grass shall dry out, the blossom shall wilt, but the word of our God shall last forever.”
Square 3. The Talmud teaches that rabbinic teaching is authoritative, particularly in the interpretation and application of Jewish law (Halakha).
Bava Metzia 59b: This passage is part of the famous story of the "Oven of Achnai," where the rabbis overrule a heavenly voice (a bat kol) in a legal dispute. The passage concludes with the principle:
"It is not in heaven" (Lo ba-shamayim hi), meaning that the Torah has been given to humans, and it is the rabbis who have the authority to interpret it. This story emphasizes that rabbinic interpretation of the law is authoritative, even over direct divine intervention.
https://www.sefaria.org/Bava_Metzia.59b.1?lang=bi
Square 4. Rabbinic teaching teaches faith plus good deeds (works) for salvation.
“The Gemara goes back to discuss the Day of Judgment. Rabbi Kruspedai said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Three books are opened on Rosh HaShana before the Holy One, Blessed be He: One of wholly wicked people, and one of wholly righteous people, and one of middling people whose good and bad deeds are equally balanced. Wholly righteous people are immediately written and sealed for life; wholly wicked people are immediately written and sealed for death; and middling people are left with their judgment suspended from Rosh HaShana until Yom Kippur, their fate remaining undecided. If they merit, through the good deeds and mitzvot (commandment from God) that they perform during this period, they are written for life; if they do not so merit, they are written for death.”
“It is taught in a baraita: Beit Shammai say: There will be three groups of people on the great Day of Judgment at the end of days: One of wholly righteous people, one of wholly wicked people, and one of middling people. Wholly righteous people will immediately be written and sealed for eternal life. Wholly wicked people will immediately be written and sealed for Gehenna, as it is stated: “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall wake, some to eternal life and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). Middling people will descend to Gehenna to be cleansed and to achieve atonement for their sins,”
Square 5. The Bible teaches salvation by faith alone apart from doing good.
“And he (Abraham) believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him as righteousness.”
Bereshit (Genesis) 15:6)
“Behold, it is puffed up-his soul is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.”
Chavakuk (Habakkuk) 2:4
“From the toil of his soul he would see, he would be satisfied; with his knowledge My servant would vindicate the just for many, and their iniquities he would bear.”
Square 6. Final Point.
If the Tanakh is the Word of the Lord (pt. 1), and the Lord does not contradict Himself (pt. 2), then the Talmud, which claims rabbis also speak for the Lord (pt. 3) discredits itself as a true authority for the Lord because it contradicts the Tanakh by teaching faith plus works for salvation (pt. 4) when the Tanakh, which came first, clearly and unmistakenly teaches faith alone for salvation (pt. 5).
The Biblical Gospel
The Lord is holy and just, and has set a day in which He will judge the wicked (Isaiah 13:9-11; Daniel 12:1-2; Joel 2:1-2, 11). He will not overlook any sin (Exodus 34:7). How will you do? Here’s a quick test: How many times have you lied, stolen, and had sex outside of marriage? If you’ve done these things God sees you as a liar, thief, and adulterer/fornicator; and the Tanakh warns that one day the Lord will justly punish you in Sheol/Gehenna (Isaiah 14:9-11; Daniel 12:2). There is no forgiveness of sin without shedding of blood (Leviticus 17:11).
But the Lord lovingly and sacrificially provided a way for forgiveness (Isaiah 53), the ultimate sacrificial lamb (Exodus 12:3-7). We’ve broken God’s moral Law (of Moses), but Yeshua (Mashiach/Shiloh), who was sinless, paid the fine, with his life’s blood, on the cross for guilty sinners. This means God can legally dismiss their case even though there is no longer a temple: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (Isaiah 53:5, Zecharia 12:10, Psalm 22:16-18). Then King Yeshua rose from the dead, defeating death.
Make up your mind/heart to turn from sin (repent) and to trust Yeshua alone and trust in His righteousness (not your own failed self-righteousness), then the Lord will forgive your sins and grant you eternal life in His Kingdom as a free gift. Then read the Bible daily, obey it, and find a Bible-believing church where you can learn and grow as a believer. Also ref. Psalm 51.
For a more comprehensive proclamation of the Biblical Gospel, click here.
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