This is one of those letters that the scholars are not absolutely certain was written by Shaul. I am not sure why they think that. The reason given is that the writing style is different from other letters he has written. It seems strange to me that this would not be considered one of his because he states at the end he is signing in his own handwriting, which he has done on other letters (1 Corinthians, Galatians, 2 Thessalonians, and Philemon). However, many times letters were either dictated or notes left for a scribe to complete, in which case there would be a difference between the style of a dictated letter, and one that was completed by someone else, based on notes.

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This letter was written during the time Shaul was a prisoner in Rome, around 62 A.D., and addresses an issue the congregation was having with the Gnostics, who were turning their faith away from trust to needing special knowledge, and repeats not only the reasons for faith, but he goes further to instruct them on how to live a godly life, even to how to form proper familial relationships.

Shaul starts off reminding them of the power of God and the Messiah, and how they were introduced to the Gospel he preached to them about faith.

Shaul spends a brief time (in Chapter 2) telling them that they should not allow themselves to be turned away from the truth of Messiah by either of the philosophies they were being told about. One was the need for special knowledge, secret codes and such that is the system called Gnosticism. The other was the idea of performance-based salvation, which was the old argument of legalistic observance vs. faith-based obedience.

I see this same problem in Christianity today, as well as in Judaism (to a lesser degree): the need to know exactly when, what every little statement means (I mean, no one will ever know what the 666 means. I really believe when the antichrist is in charge, we won’t need to see his number- we’ll know that the world is being led by a demon. The need to know is not something that God requires of us; instead, it is the need to trust that he is in charge is all we really need to know- that and what he tells us to do in the Torah.

If you ask me, those who are all about the “proper” calendar, and numerology, and astrology, etc. are concentrating on minutia, and in some way, substituting the event as more important than the one the event is about. If I am celebrating the Holy Days based on the Jewish calendar I bought on Amazon, but somewhere there is a more accurate calendar that says I am a day off, here or there, I seriously doubt that I will go to hell for that.

The need to follow the “correct” calendar, to not worship anything not in the Torah, to refuse to worship anything created, to reject all man-made traditions Carte Blanc, is (as I have stated in my ministry many times) what I believe to be a modern form of the legalistic approach to worship that Shaul is arguing against in many of his letters to Gentiles who are being confused by both Jews and Gentiles regarding the proper form of worship.

He spends the majority of this letter reminding them that they were spiritually circumcised when they accepted Yeshua, and that their faith is what saves them. Their old ways of sin were put to death when they were reborn in the Messiah. He reiterates that they must do away with foul language, sexual immorality, lust, greed, and other sins of the flesh.

And, if we chance assuming that the issues he mentions are mentioned because he heard that they were problems being experienced within that congregation, then we can see that there was a lot to fix in this group of believers.

He states that all are one in the body of the Messiah- there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, free nor slave, etc. Of course, he is speaking figuratively here, talking about our spiritual selves. There will always be differences between people who are believers in the Messiah, Yeshua. The point is that we are not to hold onto any of the old biases or prejudices that we did before we were saved.

He gives one of my favorite verses in his admonitions on submission to each other, in that in Chapter 3, verse 23 he is telling slaves to do what they are told not because their master is watching; rather, they should do everything for the Lord, and not just for men, because that way they will receive an inheritance from God.

Even though he is addressing slaves, this is good advice for all of us.

Shaul ends with the usual greetings to everyone, and if he didn’t write this letter, I have to assume since he spent the time to sign it himself, he must have (at least) proofread it.

The next letters we will review are to the Thessalonians, and since both letters are fairly short, I will cover them both in the same lesson.

Until then, l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Now we come to Chapter 11, which is one of the most ignored chapters, if you ask me, by traditional Christian teachings.

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The main theme of this chapter is that even though God cut off from the Tree of Life the natural branches (the Jewish people rejecting Messiah), which allowed the wild branches (the Gentiles) to be grafted in, they need to remember that they are not supporting the root, but the root is supporting them (Romans 11:18). And if God was willing to prune the natural branches, how much more so will he be willing to prune those who were not of the tree, in the first place? Therefore, the Gentiles in Messiah should never become arrogant.

May I share something personal with you? Spending my youth and teenage years during the 60s and 70s, my experience with Christians was being called “Christ killer” and they accused Jews as being the ones who killed God (as if that was even possible!) My personal experience with traditional Christian teachings (which, sad to say, haven’t really changed) has been that the Jews are looked down upon because so many didn’t accept Yeshua when he was human, and even today, still don’t have enough sense to convert to Christianity. It is an arrogant position, thinking Christians are better than Jews because they worship Jesus, and we don’t: it is totally in opposition to what Shaul told them not to do in this chapter.

Here is another example of what Christianity has taught, regarding their affiliation with Jews: When I taught a Messianics 101 course at the messianic synagogue I attended in Philadelphia, I used to ask if they remembered the Bugs Bunny cartoon where Elmer chases Bugs up a tree, and Bugs is sitting at the far end of a branch while Elmer is on the same branch, right where it comes off the tree. He then starts to saw the branch between him and Bugs, and when he saws through, the branch that Bugs is on miraculously remains suspended in the air while the tree (and Elmer) fall down. Then I’d say this is what Christianity thinks they can do: reject the Torah, which is the Tree of Life (in Hebrew, we say Etz Chaim Hi), but still be attached to God.

Now, if that ain’t Looney Tunes, I don’t know what is!

Alright…back to Romans.

Shaul’s warnings in this chapter reminds me of the warning Moses gave the children of Israel as they were about to enter the Promised Land, reminding them that what they were to receive was not because they deserved it, but because of God’s love for his people (Deuteronomy 7:6).

Starting in Chapter 12, Shaul pleads with the Roman believers to work at changing their entire mindset, no longer conforming to what the world expects, but acting and thinking more in line with what God wants of them, even to the point of becoming (as he puts it) a living sacrifice to God. It seems that he is implying, from his previous statement about hypocrites, and now this statement about transforming themselves, that the Believers in Rome weren’t living a righteous life.

Sorry- but I have to interrupt, again.

The way these “megachurches” get so many attendees is that all they talk about is what God will do for them, and rarely, if ever, talk about what we are to do for God, except maybe to be loving to each other. That “Be a good person and love each other, and you get to go to heaven” is the sales pitch used, and so no wonder it attracts many people.

But it’s a lie- first off, even Yeshua said no one is good but God (Mark 10:18) and loving one another isn’t enough- Yeshua said even sinners do that (Luke 6:32). No- you need to do what God says to do BEFORE he will send blessings. When you read Deuteronomy 28 (the chapter known as the Blessings and Curses Chapter in the Torah) you will see that God tells us when we obey, he will bless us, and when we disobey, he will send curses (which really means he simply won’t bless us and leave us on our own in a sinful and fallen world). Note, please, the order: we obey, we get blessed, not we get blessed whether or not we obey.

OK, now that I have that off my chest, let’s get back to Romans.

Regarding how to be a living sacrifice, Shaul explains that the way we do that is not to think too highly of ourselves; rather, to use whatever gifts we have correctly and to love others, which includes those who do not love us. He gives the examples of blessing those who persecute us, of not repaying evil with evil, and to care for our enemies (again, how can I not mention how for centuries Christians have derided and persecuted Jews, just the opposite of what Shaul said they should do).

Many Christians have credited Shaul with being the originator of these godly teachings, but they are all found in the Tanakh, from Leviticus to Proverbs. And if you are thinking that it was just Shaul repeating what Yeshua said, that is correct, but where did Yeshua come up with these? That’s right- he got them from the Tanakh, as well.

Shaul continues to talk about how to love others through not judging others who are weaker in faith, and here is where another misinterpretation has led Christians to believe Shaul is saying the laws of Kashrut (Kosher laws defined in Leviticus 11) are no longer valid for Gentiles.

Chapter 14 is confusing, and (again) we run smack-dab into Shaul’s convoluted Jewish Logic. He states that there are those who eat differently: some just vegetables and others will eat everything (as we will see later, he is talking about vegetables and meat). This has been mistaught as meaning that food doesn’t matter because all those who believe in Yeshua and worship God are accepted.

Here we run into the same issue we had back in the Gospel of Mark, where Mark declares all food clean (Mark 7:19). To review what happened, Yeshua was asked why his talmidim (students, or disciples, in this case) don’t wash their hands before eating, which was a traditional man-made requirement. Yeshua tells them that it isn’t what we eat that makes us unclean, but what comes out of our heart, and at this point Mark states Yeshua declared all food clean.

But what is food to a First Century Jew? I can tell you this- it ain’t pork chops! What was considered as food to Jews at that time was only what God allowed us to eat, and so when Shaul, a Pharisee, talks about food, it is safe to assume he is talking only about what is allowed by God.

Chapter 14 has traditionally been misinterpreted to allow believers in Yeshua to eat trefe (unclean) foods; but, when you read these passages carefully, you see Shaul is talking only about vegetables and meat. He never mentions pork verse veal, or lobster verse cod- he talks about the difference between one eating only vegetables (the diet that Daniel ate) and another eating meat and vegetables. The gist of his lesson is that when there is a meal presented that has both vegetables and meat- and he is talking about a meal that is in accordance with the laws of Kashrut- and someone at the table thinks that it is a sin to eat meat, then to show your love you should eat only vegetables. And if you like vegetables, but someone else is eating both vegetables and meat, then you should have some meat, as well.

Again, even though Shaul is talking about food, this passage has nothing at all to do with Kashrut, and everything to do with not judging others regarding the strength or weakness of their faithful obedience (to the Torah). But later on, when Gentiles were reading this, they defined food as whatever is edible by human beings, and subsequently have misinterpreted this to mean that you don’t have to follow the kashrut laws if you believe in Jesus.

Shaul concludes this letter by talking about all the work he has done as minister to the Gentiles throughout Asia, and that he now wishes to come to Rome.

(As we read in Acts, he eventually made it there and was very fruitful ministering for about 2 years, but he never got out of Rome alive.)

At the end of this letter, as with many, he thanks those who have helped him and warns to be careful about false teachings (too bad that warning didn’t work) and to avoid anyone who places stumbling blocks in their way.

The next letters we will review are the ones he wrote to the Corinthians.

That’s it for now, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

This is one of Shaul’s shorter letters and was written from both Shaul and Timothy while Shaul was in Rome, awaiting trial after having appealed to the emperor to avoid being killed in ambush while being transported back to Jerusalem (Acts 23).

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The time of this letter was probably around 60-62 A.D., and in this letter Shaul is basically sending his thanks to the congregation for helping to defray his costs while he was awaiting trial.

He explains to the people how his imprisonment is a good thing because it is an example of his suffering for Messiah.

He states in 1:15-18 that there are some who preach about Messiah in Rome for good reasons, and others who do so to cause trouble for Shaul, for their own selfish desires. Now this is interesting: he goes on to say that whether they preach for selfish means or for righteous means, so long as Messiah is preached, that is a good thing.

Let me go off on tangent for a moment: there are many believers who deny the validity of Christians celebrating Easter or Christmas because those holidays fall on the same days as pagan holidays did; in fact, Easter is still called that, even though Easter is the English pronunciation of the name of a pagan fertility goddess. They state, and they may be correct in doing so, that celebrating those holidays are ungodly, even though the holidays now have nothing to do with the pagan gods, but rather to celebrate and proclaim Messiah Yeshua.

To my way of thinking, which now I can say agrees with Shaul’s statement in this letter, what the holidays used to be doesn’t matter because now they are proclaiming Messiah, and any time we proclaim the Messiah it is a good thing.

Continuing his letter, Shaul states he is confident that whatever happens will be good, and to live is for the messiah and to die is gain, in that he would rather be with the messiah, but for the sake of the people who he leads, he will stay alive.

As he begins to close the letter, he encourages the congregation to be like-minded, not to argue, and to show the same humility that the Messiah showed.

Shaul says he wants to send Timothy to them and will be sending Epaphroditus, who had come to Shaul with the support from the Philippians but caught ill and is now well enough to go back, being very homesick.

Shaul sends a warning against being forced into undergoing b’rit milah (circumcision) because this is what many of the Jews were forcing the Gentile believers to do, stating that it was necessary to be saved, even though they have accepted Yeshua. Since this is mentioned in a number of Shaul’s letters, it seems to have been an issue throughout the Middle East and Asia where Shaul was ministering to Gentiles. He explains that no one can receive righteousness through acts of the flesh, but through the messiah, Yeshua.

As he finishes, we come to the real reason he sent this letter, which is to address the interpersonal problems the congregation was having. Here is where he is finally getting to the point of this letter- the managerial directives that the members of the congregation needed to be reminded of so that they would stay on track.

He tells them to follow in his example, and then chides (in a nice way) two women, Euodia and Syntyche, for disagreeing, which must have been so damaging to the congregation that it was bad enough to reach Shaul’s ears, all the way in Rome.

He finishes by thanking them for being so helpful and tells them he has learned to be content in all situations, whether with or without necessities.

I see a bit of a guilt trip being laid on them, as Shaul does much “guilt-tripping” in so many of his letters, although you have to look carefully at how he writes to people to pick-up on it. For instance, here he states how the congregation had been the only ones to help him, and how he has learned to be content in all situations, then states in 4:17 that he is not looking for a gift, but rather he is asking them for something that will be credited to their account.

Maybe it’s just me, but that sounds like a Jewish guilt trip (being Jewish, I can recognize these things a mile away) because he says he doesn’t need anything and that he is content in all things, BUT if they do send something, he will credit it to their account. If he is content in all things, why even mention sending anything?

This letter is not so much a managerial concern as with many of the other letters, and the only problem they were having that we see here is the need to stand firm regarding circumcision, and for the two ladies to stop arguing with each other.

That’s it for this letter; the next time we will see what the problems were that Shaul had to address in the congregation that was in Colossus.

Until then, l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!