Pharisees

five books of the Old Testament] was studied beginning with Leviticus. THE SANHEDRIN COURT The second major institution of the Jews was the Sanhedrin court, which was made up of seventy Jewish men and was presided over by the High Priest. Both Pharisees and Sadducees served on the Sanhedrin. This court can only be traced back to about 200 B.C.; yet, it likely had its beginning as the Jerusalem city council during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah; about 430 B.C.. The Sanhedrin, with the approval…

comprised for modern readers in the New Testament, specifically the synoptic Gospels. In general, the parables teaching about the coming kingdom of God, and are fictional stories used to answer questions either asked by one of the disciples, scribes and Pharisees, and in come cases just a member of the crowd. Many of the parables overlap appear in the books of Matthew and Luke, however, many of those overlapping parables have different elements, specifically in the way they end. The parables in…

The Rule of Herod King Herod the great was the son of Antipater, his name was a variety of membrs of the royal dynasty which originated in Edom or idmea after adopted by Jewish religion. His kingdom was comprised of Judea, Samaria, Galilee, Idumea, Batanea, and Peraea which reflected the same size of Solomon and David kingdoms. Herod had exceptional leadership skills, but he was disliked by the Jews. He was related by marriage to the Maccabean dynasty, but his attitude toward them was cruel.…

During our time in the world, Christians often find themselves in close contact with skeptics- agnostics, atheists, or those people who simply don’t care about a spiritual life, who all have their own reasons to distrust the church and the Bible as a whole. The questions these people pose are not simple ones, not questions that can be answered by a simple “John 3:16” or a “Jeremiah 29:11.” How then should we, as a part of the body of Christ, react to and answer those people who desire more…

Bruce W. Longenecker’s book Lost Letters of Perfamum has been a delightful easy read. This book is both educational and easily entertaining. The book is a fictional account of letters discovered in the city of Pergamum that once belonged to Antipas, the martyr mentioned in Revelation 2:13 who died in Pergamum. These letters inspired what Longenecker produced which is to be although fictional but seems more of a narrative to the history that is going on. Longenecker’s Antipas was a Roman…

Christ-like. Johnson analyzes the way prophetic vision is expressed through ministry of Jesus in correlation to the early church. He points out that the prophetic mission of Christ is contrary to those of other pagan nations, but also to Judaism (the Pharisees) and the Essene community who had even more religious rules. Johnson calls the contemporary church to act a little more like Jesus, to stand out from our ordinary society, and bring back the Spirit into our churches through healing and…

Jesus claimed to have the ability to forgive sins, this is essentially a claim to be God (7.25.3). In Luke 5:20-21, “When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, ‘Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’” Jesus explained he was the fulfillment of the “Son of Man” prophecy described in the Old Testament, and that…

In every corner of the world, you will find some type of religion or belief system. Religious people live a life of deciding to do what is right from wrong, the fear of an almighty God. Along the way bloomed four religions that dominated the world, known as – Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. “According to Hebrew history narrated in Exodus, the second book of the Torah, the Hebrews became a nation and adopted a national god on the slopes of Mount Sinai in southern Arabia” (Ancient…

Jesus Christ – A Man Like No Other Jesus of Nazareth is one of the most well-known figures of history. He lived more than two thousand years ago and yet he has more than a billion followers world-wide (Web 2018). The details surrounding his birth, life, death and resurrection are unique and many details are foretold in Old Testament, the Christian sacred scriptures. The claims that Jesus made about himself infuriated the religious establishment of his day and they had him crucified. Every…

tradition. Newer generations have questioned the old hierarchies and beliefs of their ancestors, persuading others to change their society with new ideas. For example, Jesus spend his ministry with sinners, tax collectors, and Gentiles to show the Pharisees and Sadducees that he came to save the lost, which broke the law of Moses (Matthew 9:9-13). The changes of old tradition to new tradition does not stop there; the Civil Rights movement, the women suffrage movement, and the LGBT social…