Chapter III
The Sources of the Gospels and the Way of Writing Them
Section V
The Texts of the Old Testament, which were quoted during the Debates and the Arguments and the Dialogues in the Gospels
In this section we will examine some texts in the Gospels that contain debates and dialogues and arguments, in which the Gospels authors have cited texts from the Old Testament; to find out if these texts consistent with the Gospels and not contradicting with them, nor with the principles and the concepts and the texts of the Old Testament, and if the Gospels authors did not distort and manipulate them to serve what they believe, as we have seen in the previous sections how they have used the texts of the Old Testament to write their narratives to bestow a state of holiness and credibility and reliability on what they have written, away from the revelation and the Holy Spirit, or even the historical events; for this they have distorted and manipulated the texts of the Old Testament, whether by changing the meaning of them, or by adding some paragraphs, or by deleting others, or by writing some paragraphs that were not written in the Old Testament, or by writing some names and numbers that are inconsistent with what is written in the Old Testament, etc.
2 - The Source of the Saying "I said you are gods?"
John 10:31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.
John 10:32 Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?"
John 10:33 The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."
John 10:34 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, "You are gods’?"
John 10:35 "If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),
John 10:36 "do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming’, because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
In this text John writes a story about an attempt of the Jews to stone Jesus, and asking them why they want to stone him, and reminds them that he had done many good works and miracles to them, and the Jews answered him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, and because you, being a man, make yourself God", then Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, "You are gods’?", "If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken).
This answer might considered as a logical answer as John has written, however, we have several notes on it, including the followings.
The first note is on his saying "your law", this word is wrong, because the quotation is from the Psalms not from the Law, and the Psalms not called on the Law, which means divine songs, while the Law called on the first five books in the Old Testament!
The second note is if we agree that the Psalms called the Law, this word is not the proper word in this case, because John here wants to show that Jesus is a god and the son of God, for this he should use the word my law, not your law, because if it's what he says is true, and Jesus is the son of God and one of three Persons, who are one and have the same nature and essence, will be supposed that he is the one who has inspired the Law to Moses, so when Jesus says to them your law, it seems that it was an attempt to prove his saying that he is a god and the son of God from the Old Testament, because there are some paragraphs in the Old Testament have mentioned that some people were called gods and sons of God, and not because he is a true god or son of God!
The third note is if what did John say is true, and was acceptable by Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the various churches, this means that he has proved the existence of several other gods, not only two or three gods! Because he says that the judges of the Jews are gods, and there are hundreds of judges!
The fourth note is did the Jews accept John’s understanding and interpretation of the text, particularly it describes their judges as gods like Jesus himself?!
The answer is clear and famous, which is that the Jews have not accepted this understanding and interpretation, and have remained insist that anyone says that he is a god or the son of the God should be stoned to death as a punishment of his blasphemy.
Now let’s read the Psalm to find out the truth of what was talking about, and if the understanding of Jesus and John was true or not, which is as follows:
Psalm 82:1 (A Psalm of Asaph.) God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods.
Psalm 82:2 How long will you judge unjustly, And show partiality to the wicked? Selah
Psalm 82:3 Defend the poor and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and needy.
Psalm 82:4 Deliver the poor and needy; Free them from the hand of the wicked.
Psalm 82:5 They do not know, nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are unstable.
Psalm 82:6 I said, "You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High.
Psalm 82:7 But you shall die like men, And fall like one of the princes."
Psalm 82:8 Arise, O God, judge the earth; For You shall inherit all nations.
Hebrew version
Psalm 82:1 A Psalm of Asaph. {N}
God standeth in the congregation of God; in the midst of the judges He judgeth:
Psalm 82:2 'How long will ye judge unjustly, and respect the persons of the wicked? Selah
Psalm 82:3 Judge the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and destitute.
Psalm 82:4 Rescue the poor and needy; deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.
Psalm 82:5 They know not, neither do they understand; they go about in darkness; {N} all the foundations of the earth are moved.
Psalm 82:6 I said: Ye are godlike beings, and all of you sons of the Most High.
Psalm 82:7 Nevertheless ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.'
Psalm 82:8 Arise, O God, judge the earth; for Thou shalt possess all the nations.{P}
Septuagint version
Psalm 82 A Psalm for Asaph.
Psalm 82:1 God stands in the assembly of gods; and in the midst of them will judge gods.
Psalm 82:2 How long will ye judge unrighteously, and accept the persons of sinners? Pause.
Psalm 82:3 Judge the orphan and poor: do justice to the low and needy.
Psalm 82:4 Rescue the needy, and deliver the poor out of the hand of the sinner.
Psalm 82:5 They know not, nor understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth shall be shaken.
Psalm 82:6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you children of the Most High.
Psalm 82:7 But ye die as men, and fall as one of the princes.
Psalm 82:8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.
The Psalm begins by saying that the LORD judges among the judges of the Jews, and says to them; how long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?
Then asked them to defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy, and deliver the poor and needy; free them from the hand of the wicked, and there are several texts in the Old Testament talked concerning the judges of Jews and how they judge unjustly, including the following text:
Isaiah 1:23 Your princes are rebellious, And companions of thieves; Everyone loves bribes, And follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, Nor does the cause of the widow come before them.
So, the Psalm was rebuking and scolding the judges of Jews, not praising them, after all this reprimand them, the Psalm mentions other attributes to those judges, saying, they do not know, nor do they understand; they walk about in darkness, and because of them all the foundations of the earth are unstable, which was established on justice and wise and knowledge.
So, does the Psalm refer to the true gods, or wants rebuking the judges of Jews?
Is it true that those gods, who do not know and do not understand and walk about in darkness, are true gods?!
Then says "I said, "You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High", which John has quoted it and wrote it on the lips of Jesus to prove his saying that he is the son of God is not a blasphemy, because this paragraph written in their Law! This quote will be true and reliable if the paragraph came in the context of praise, not blame and reprimand as we see!
He says to them; I said, "You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High, and you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?!
I said, you are gods and you do not defend the poor and fatherless, and do not do justice to the afflicted and needy?!
I said, you are gods, and you do not deliver the poor and needy, do not free them from the hand of the wicked?!
I said, you are gods, and you do not know, nor understand?!
I said, you are gods and you walk about in darkness?!
I said, you are gods, and you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes?!
I said, "You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High.
Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You shall inherit all nations. Amen!
From this careful reading of this Psalm, we find that John has failed to prove what he believes in Jesus; as a god and the son of God by quoting from the Psalm, and it was better for him to know the LORD the Creator, as well as Jesus as was described in the laws of faith of churches before writing this story, because the Old Testament has mentioned dozens of texts concerning the Lord the Creator; which show His Oneness and that there is no gods beside Him or with Him, and all gods other than Him are untruths and falsities and myths and do not harm or benefit, therefore, how will describe the judges of Jews as gods, unless this description is a kind of scolding and humiliation, which appeared to us by reading the Psalm.
As for knowing John to Jesus, if really he believes in him as say the laws of the faith of the churches, if he had heard about them, he should know that they do not consider Jesus like the judges of Jews!
This indicates that the Gospels authors have relied upon the Old Testament texts to write their Gospels, as is their way or method or approach of writing, to say that what they believe in is compatible with it, regardless of the true meaning of the texts, or where it is written; to bestow a state of holiness and credibility and reliability on what they have written, which means that our law "do not accept the lying and false" applies to the story of John.
3 - The Source of the Saying of the Jews that the God is their father
John 8:37 "I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.
John 8:38 "I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father."
John 8:39 They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.
John 8:40 "But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.
John 8:41 "You do the deeds of your father." Then they said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father — God."
John 8:42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.
This dialogue between Jesus and the Jews is unlike the previous text.
Here John writes on the lips of Jews that they have said that the God is their father, while in the previous text wrote that they had tried to stone Jesus because he said that he is a god and the son of God!
And when John wrote this; he did not care if it is compatible with previous text or incompatible, but the important thing to him is that he tries to prove that the Old Testament speaks of a number of gods and not one God, the LORD the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and this text contains some issues that have invalidated the laws of faith of the churches, such as Jesus' saying about himself that he is a man, and came from God, not from himself, and his fear of death and murder, although our main aim in this book is the search for the sources of the Gospels, which the authors had relied upon to write them, and as we have seen they have relied upon the Old Testament texts by quoting them and reformulating them in their narratives to bestow a state of holiness and credibility and reliability on the Gospels, and as for this text we find that John has quoted this saying from the book of Isaiah, as in the following texts:
Isaiah 63:15 Look down from heaven, And see from Your habitation, holy and glorious. Where are Your zeal and Your strength, The yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward me? Are they restrained?
Isaiah 63:16 Doubtless You are our Father, Though Abraham was ignorant of us, And Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.
Isaiah 63:17 O LORD, why have You made us stray from Your ways, And hardened our heart from Your fear? Return for Your servants’ sake, The tribes of Your inheritance.
As we notice that the Jews, after they have said that the God is their father; returned and confessed that they are His servants, and the Jews usually use these expressions, i.e., the sons of God and God is our father, as a matter of obedience and love, not in terms of the nature and essence, as John and the rest of the authors of the New Testament and the various churches use it.
Isaiah 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.
Isaiah 64:7 And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of our iniquities.
Isaiah 64:8 But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.
So this text was an attempt by John to say that what he says about Jesus; that he is a god and the son of God is as what the Jews say concerning themselves. However, even if the Jews said that there are gods with the LORD or beside Him, or that He has true sons, it is not an argument against the Lord, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, because every atom and every creature in the universe indicate to His Oneness and His greatness, as well as the LORD has shown in the Old Testament in dozens of texts that He is the only true God, and anything worshiped with Him or beside Him is not true gods, as is shown in the first chapter. Moreover, that the Jews have remained long periods of their history live in infidelity and disobedience and worship other gods with the LORD the only true God, and as a result of these things they have been punished of all kinds of calamities, which have ended into captivity to Assyria and to Babylon.
Therefore that John's attempt to simplify the issue of the Oneness of the LORD is contrary to the nature of the universe, as well as contrary to the Old Testament principles; even if the Jews said that the Lord is their father!
No comments:
Post a Comment