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Yeshua in Context >> Identity of Yeshua

Preachable Points: Identity Stories

Looking for short series of teaching or sermon series outlines? That's what Preachable Points will be. How does a four-week series on the meaning, authority, and identity of Yeshua sound? It could be a real faith-builder. Here are some ideas and a few links to fill in the content of the messages. ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Identity of Yeshua , Preachable Points

Identity Stories in the Gospels

If you click the category "Gospel Genres," you will find a post called "What are the elements of the gospels?" It is a list that will be in the upcoming Yeshua In Context Sourcebook, a cornucopia of helpful lists for studying the gospels that I am building and working on. Don't you wish you could take the kind of info that is here on YeshuaInContext.com with you and your Bible as you go out to study in whatever place inspires you? That's what the sourcebook will be. Now, many stories (you could say all of them) in the gospels are about Yeshua's identity. But some stories in particular are not teachings, they are not symbolic actions, they are things that happen to Yeshua and reveal his identity. What are the top ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Beginners , Gospel Genres , Identity of Yeshua

Interpreting the Temptation

What is the main issue in the Temptation narrative? Is it about Yeshua's messianic mission? Or is it something else? Aside from the many connections to Moses' and Israel's story, the temptation account definitely has a message about Yeshua's identity. Is it what people think? R.T. France in the New International Commentary on the New Testament series is most helpful. ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Aims of Yeshua , Divinity of Yeshua , Identity of Yeshua , Temptation

Temptation, Moses, Wilderness

Matthew especially develops layers of symbolism, Yeshua as the New Moses and Yeshua as Ideal Israel. The temptation story (Matthew 4:1-11) is bursting with such symbolism. See Dale Allison, The New Moses: A Matthean Typology for details. The list of parallels is not only interesting, but a great clue to the meaning of the temptation story itself. ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Background to Gospels , Ideal Israel Theme , Identity of Yeshua , New Moses Theme , Temptation

The Teacher, A Parallel in Chronicles

Adela Yarbro Collins (Mark: A Commentary. Fortress, 2007) discusses in her introduction some of the aspects of Yeshua's identity. One of the identifying roles of Yeshua is teacher. In this comment, she uncovers a little known parallel from the Hebrew Bible, of teachers sent out to travel as itinerants through the land teaching the people: ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Aims of Yeshua , Background to Gospels , Identity of Yeshua , Spectacular Commentary , Teaching of Yeshua

Yeshua, Driven as a Prophet

Mark 1:12 (NET): The Spirit immediately drove him into the wilderness. What is this phenomenon of Yeshua being compelled or carried to the desert by spiritual force? The word for "drove" is the same used for driving out evil spirits in many verses in the gospels and for removing the speck from the eye in Matthew 7:4. Yeshua was driven, removed, cast into the desert. Why? ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Background to Gospels , Identity of Yeshua

Transforming Aspects of the Gospels, #1

This will be a series of posts and you can click the category "Applying the Gospels" on the right sidebar to see all in this series and more. Faith Deepening as we enter more into the story. ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Applying the Gospels , Identity of Yeshua

News about Him

. . . news about him spread throughout the surrounding countryside (Luke 4:14b). Luke places this summary at a crucial point in the story. A report about Yeshua is spreading throughout Galilee. The word for "news" here is not the same word often found in the gospels and other parts of the Bible from which we get our word "gospel." But the idea is the same. How does the idea of "news about him" fit into the larger picture of Luke's portrait of Yeshua? ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Besorah/Gospel/Good News , Identity of Yeshua

The "I Am" Sayings, Part 1

Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. -John 8:24 Raymond Brown discusses the grammar of the "I am" (ego eimi) sayings in the Fourth Gospel (see The Gospel According to John, I-XII, pp. 533-4). These sayings fall into three categories. ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Divinity of Yeshua , I Am Sayings , Identity of Yeshua

Yeshua Talks About His Identity

A commonly heard line about Yeshua goes, "He never claimed to be Messiah or divine." In the three books known as the Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke), Yeshua talks about his exalted status many times. Sometimes people think it is only in the fourth gospel (John) that he is presented as more than simply a man. Here are a few examples (citations are from the NET Bible): All things have been handed over to me by my Father. Matthew 11:27. ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Beginners , Identity of Yeshua