The Eternal Life Series offers a look at eternal life based on John 17:3 and related New Testament scriptures.
Most or all of the New Testament was written in Greek, so Bible students often dissect scripture by minutely examining Greek words and philosophies. This is natural for Americans because the American education and culture is based on Greek ways of thought.
However, Jesus probably taught mostly in Hebrew, with some of his teachings in Aramaic. Jesus and his followers were well educated in the Hebrew Old Testament. For the first couple of decades after his death, the followers of Jesus were mostly practicing Jews. It seems likely that a better understanding of the teachings of Jesus can be attained by looking at them through a Jewish cultural viewpoint and a better understanding of Hebrew words.
The impetus for this series were some of the episodes of the Bema Discipleship podcast, along with personal study times with Hebrew experts Elle Grove Fricks and Brad H. Young. Working with them, we developed a dictionary of some Hebrew words that you can find in Reference 7 of the Reference section of this website.
Although each episode in this series can be approached individually, the Eternal Life Series is written for viewers to watch all of the episodes in the order in which they are presented.
Your browser does not support HTML5 video playback.
The book of James was written by the leader of the first church at Jerusalem, James. One of the most detailed accounts involving him is in Acts 15 describing the meeting at Jerusalem of the apostles and elders that set the standards for what non-Jewish Christians should believe and how they should behave.
Starting in Acts 15:13, James acts as the head of the group who makes the final judgement. The group concludes that non-Jews do not have to become practicing Jews (including being circumcised) in order to join the Christian community. The group does insist that new believers follow some of God’s laws, but nothing is burdensome. The account of Acts does not include an important conclusion of the group.
In Galatians 2:10, Paul recounts another conclusion of the group. “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.” With this statement, Paul makes it clear the followers of Jesus are supposed to be involved with meeting people’s physical needs as well as their spiritual needs. The book of James is saturated with admonitions to help the poor, widows, orphans and others who are in need. These admonitions are not restricted to helping meet physical need but include ways to show respect and love for those in need.
