Culture II: New Testament Cultures

So this morning we're looking at New Testament cultures. I'll just read our first paragraph here. As with the study of Old Testament cultures, we will underscore the importance of understanding elements of culture by providing examples of where cultural considerations demonstrate a value of cultural insights into the passage. At this point we'll go back to two items on the prior page before moving to examples of culture. So on the page previous there, We have the philosophy of empire regarding conquered people.

And the first four there, Egypt through Persia, are really looking at having a bigger influence on the Old Testament. And our next two, Greece and Rome, are going to be having a larger influence on our New Testament era. And as you look at those two things, two cultures, Greece and Rome, the Greek people, they really did infuse their culture and language everywhere. Most of the New Testament world spoke Greek. There are other languages mixed in there, but if you were a citizen of actually even the Roman Empire, you probably spoke Greek.

And then the Roman Empire, allowing the present culture but requiring payment. So they would allow like the Jewish people, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and all those groups of the Jewish people to set up camp and do what they were doing as long as they paid their taxes. And even to a degree gave the Jewish people breaks on their feast years to have a break from their taxes. So they really were, very much okay with, you guys keep your culture in place as long as you pay your taxes and hold Caesar high, we're good, kind of thing. But isn't it also interesting that that's sort of what our law and our traditions also are based on, those same fair, just kinds of treatments. Yeah, absolutely. In the Western world, the Greek and Roman influence is definitely strong. Egypt through Persia, probably not very strong at all. But the Greek and Roman influence on the Western world is very heavy. Absolutely.

All right, so some of these examples that we have here, the first one is going to be Matthew 22 verses 15 through 22. And Steve, would you mind reading that for us? It is right there on the page if you want to just read it off the page. You don't even have to dig if you don't want to. Let's see, one, two, three.

They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians saying... Start on the line above there, then the Pharisees. Sorry. Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap him and what he said. And they sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians saying, We know that you are truthful and teach the way of God in truth and defer to no one, for you are not partial to any.

Tell us, then, what do you think? Is it lawful to give a poll tax to Caesar or not? But Jesus perceived their malice and said, Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the poll tax. And they brought him a denarius, and he said to them, Whose likeness and inscription is this? They said to him, Caesar's. Then he said to them, Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And hearing this, they were amazed, and leaving him they went away.

So when you guys look at this passage, what things, what's going on here? this is really profound if you think about it. Thinking of a God-man interacting with the world around him. In a sense it perceives the culture of the times. That's the lesson you're teaching today.

But also it makes you perceive things of a heavenly nature and things of an earthly nature. It's really kind of, I'm not of this kingdom, but let this kingdom have its own rule. I mean, and remember, God was the one who established earthly government. So the idea of taxation was, I don't know if it's God's perfect plan, but certainly it's the way the earthly system operates. I mean, this is so profound. In just a few words, it's so incredibly insightful. And it applies today. It actually should be helpful today with the current election.

Exactly. You do get concerned. I don't think we should be concerned. But in a sense, we say, well, Lord, This is what you have for us. So that's right. Yeah. And we still should pray for our leaders just like the Lord has told us to do. But also, you know, there's these people that think that they don't need to pay taxes. And it's very clear from what Jesus has said that in several places that you do pay taxes. Sure. Now, needing to and logically wanting to are probably different things. I don't think any of us want to pay taxes.

In verse 15 there, what is the Pharisees plot and how are they trying to trap him? So in verse 15 it says, Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap him in what he said. So what's their plot and how are they trying to trap him? They wanted him to basically say, don't follow Caesar. Let's overthrow Caesar and go for it. They had their ideas about that.

And that paying taxes to Caesar was acknowledging that he, because Caesar pointed out to, I mean, the way he felt about it, that he was a god. And so their thing was, well, if you're paying homage to Caesar, you're recognizing and you're admitting that he is a god. So there's one of two things that he can say. Yeah, it's okay. And then he's recognizing this, like you're saying Caesar is a god. And if he says no, then they go to the Roman authorities and say, hey, this guy's saying that it's bad to pay taxes.

So they're trying to trap him. If he says yes, he's in trouble. If he says no, he's in trouble. So they're trying to trap him. So his answer is really, yeah, And really what he does is they're trying to point the finger at him and get him to say something wrong. And what he does is he points it right back at him. But the interesting thing even before that is he responds to a question with a question.

Right. We always get criticized when we do that. Oh yeah. Yeah. Why are you testing me? My savior did it. Yeah. Yeah. So answer the question. No. I'm asking you a question back to you. Yeah. Exactly. But what he does is he says, why are you testing me, you hypocrite?

Show me the coin you used for a poll tax. And they brought him a denarii. And the denarii has the likeness of Caesar on it. So he's calling them hypocrites because they've got the coin in their pocket, which has a graven image of Caesar who is looking like a god. He turns it right back on him and says, you're trying to make me look like a bad guy here, but you're the hypocrites. You're the ones who are carrying these coins to pay Caesar with his likeness on it.

So what he does is he points it right back at him. And I think one of the other things we see here is some of the things that Jesus did really started to break apart the the structure of law and he's really starting to set up grace in my opinion some of the things that you see him do healing on the sabbath and that they get all mad at him things like this where carry the coin and pay Caesar and do what you got to do but render to God what's his. I think you really see that throughout the Gospels as Jesus is starting to break down a little bit of the laws and he's starting to show these people it's not all about these laws and it's more about this grace that I'm going to show you.

And two types of citizens, right? Right. My kingdom and this earthly kingdom. Right. So the culture there, you have to understand a couple of things. And one of the points that Vern makes in the notes above is that an understanding of Old Testament culture is going to take place, you're going to need it.

The New Testament continues many of the cultural insights to be gained from the Old Testament and draws upon the cultural and written background of the Old Testament up into the New Testament's very last pages. So cultural understanding of the Old Testament, of the Jewish people, is important even in the New Testament. And we see that here in this passage by understanding the Jewish laws. And they're Jewish laws of the time, but they're Jewish laws that have been in place for a long time as well. So having an understanding of of that Old Testament culture that if you were carrying a graven image of something else, that's one that's against the law. So there's some Old Testament understanding of culture. And then in the New Testament, just understanding what a denarii is, what it has on it, and things of that order, brings some light to this passage that if you didn't know those things, you might scratch your head a little bit.

Do you think he's really accusing them of carrying a Craven image? I think so. You do? Yeah. I'm not sure I get that out of this passage. I'm not objecting to it. I think it's a good concept. Well, because he says you're hypocrites. Right. Why would he say you're hypocrites?

On the next page there, page 33, So Jesus asked them to produce a Poltax coin from their own possession, a denarii, which was about a day's wages. Their possession of this coin showed that they were holding and using coins that bore a graven image of a Gentile ruler who was declared to be by Rome a deity against Exodus, so it's against the law there in Exodus 20 verse 3 and 4 and Deuteronomy 4 16 23 and 5 7 and thereby admitted that they being subject that that they being subject to a foreign nation were disobedient to the law of Moses, so By having them pull that coin out of their pocket and show that they had this graven image, he's calling them hypocrites because, look, you claim to be following the law. You claim to be this, you know, the Pharisees were, you know, the legalists of legalists. And he's basically, that's why he calls them a hypocrite because they're carrying something that shows that they're breaking the law.

Well, Yeah, I mean, I see your point. I must admit I would not have seen that had you not made it or Bernd had not made it. I mean, he does say in verse 20, he saith unto them, whose is this image and superscription? And I didn't read into that so much carrying, you know, an idol or an image. Right.

I read it more like they're trying to put him on the spot in terms of their wanting not to pay taxes now, according to the Jewish law, right? I don't know the Exodus passage, but the idea here of what they're trying to catch him in, if he says yes, then he's admitting Caesar's authority and deity, and if he says no, then he's denying it and they're going to go. So if he says yes, he's in trouble with the Jewish people. And if he says no, they're going to go and get him in trouble with the Romans. But in effect, he's granting them, you know, the ability to pay Caesar's tax, right? Well, they're already paying Caesar's tax. That's not what it's about. Yeah, if they didn't, they'd be in trouble. It's not about them paying taxes. They already are paying taxes. But what he's saying is because they're carrying the coin.

Yeah, well, actually, the Deuteronomy passage, I was just looking some of these up. The Deuteronomy passage actually talks about not having graven images, not making for yourself graven images of any birds, animals, or anything. But is that the intent here? That they're carrying a graven image?

But that's how he twists it back on them. They're trying to get him in trouble to say yes or no. And what he does is he says, look, that's not what it's about. And if you're trying to catch me in a legalistic standpoint, then let's judge yourself first. It's good. I like it. I would never have seen that in this passage. And that's where having some of the insight on the culture and stuff brings to light some stuff that maybe you wouldn't see originally. And that's why we look at it. Absolutely.

The only difference I would see in the Deuteronomy passage, it talks about you making a graven image. This is like possessing a graven image. So you can argue then it might be a difference between possessing a graven image and making one. You actually have them chiseled out. Well, they didn't make one. They just had one.

I mean, this is a bit ridiculous, but I mean, we're in the age of grace, right? So if I pull out this coin that has, you know, Abe Lincoln's picture on it, I mean, am I carrying a graven image? I mean, you know. No, but Abe Lincoln didn't build himself up as a god.

The difference is Caesar Caesar made you declare. Educated. But you remember that, that all the Caesars, you had to swear to Caesar of homage that he was a god. I think this Caesar was the first ever to declare himself don't know that. I think that came up in last week's study in my tangential study as I was looking into the background of the Old Testament culture, that Caesar, Julius Caesar, was the first to declare himself God. So in a sense that fits now in terms of this week's interpretation. And I'm not trying to be difficult, I'm just trying to be educated.

Yeah, no, absolutely. Well, and I think the point here is even if our culture did declare Abraham Lincoln a god, what Christ is saying is, carry the coin, I don't care. Right, right. And do whatever, but... I have some grace for you as far as that's concerned. You're not under the law. I don't care if you carry the grave. What I care is if you give your life to me or not. Even if we did declare that Abraham Lincoln was a god and he's ruling from up on high. Even if that's what the state said.

It's what you worship. So are people who today are making a comparison of our system with Caesar, are they misspeaking when they're saying rendered as Caesar, in our instance, in our culture? Because there's nobody here that's declaring himself God, so we're saying that Caesar declared himself God, and that therefore is that's influencing the statement, render to Caesar what's his. I don't think whether he's a god or not, I think it's in the position that Caesar was, he was the ruler.

Right. And so this passage, I think, addresses whoever your rulers are, you render what is due to them if it's taxes. Well, and it's in Romans that, isn't it Romans, where Paul says to submit to form of right well actually went over that that's it from it's 13 right right you rent you basically you're you know you give society and God and the reason you do that is because God is in control of that right and that's what's so wonderful you look at you look at society and say it's out of control but But God says no, I'm the one. And society is out of control. But God's in control.

So we are asked to support our government, whoever it is, and pay the taxes, and pray for our leaders. All those things we're still asked for to do. So I don't think it matters, Steve, whether I'm here at this point, it's whether Caesar says he's a god or not. It's still to render to the government what is the government's, and to understand where that comes from, and to understand what's God's. We are of him.

I think there's more truth in that. When you look at that particular portion there in Luke, you find out there's bribes. Let me read it. Go ahead. Chief priests and scribes seemed to lay hands on him. Now what period of time is this? They wanted to capture him. Right.

It wasn't the early part of his ministry, but the end of his ministry, you might say, on earth. And they feared the people, for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them. They watched him and sent forth spies, which have made themselves just men. They might take hold of his words, They were trying to catch him for it, not just catch him there, but to do away with him.

Well, and that's what they did in the end. That's right. They were using that as one of the tactics to try to get him against the government. At the end of that ministry, you see that over and over. They're trying to get him. They're trying to lay hands on him. You could probably find that.

20 or 30 times in the gospels where they're seeking they're trying to destroy Jesus they want to get rid of him because he's causing trouble for the Jewish leaders and the Jewish leaders are trying to get the Roman leaders on their side which in the end they do absolutely yeah that was really the principle the reason they were doing this right but isn't it all interesting how it's never the Romans that are trying to trick him It's always the Jews. The Jews rather despised him. The Romans couldn't find anything wrong. All the way through, even though it was their law, they never could find that he did anything.

Well, and this is an example of what we're talking about, allow present culture but require payment. That's an example of they allowed the present culture. Pilate allowed it. Instead of having an uprising from all the people, he said, do with this guy what you're going to do with, because if I don't let you kill him, I'm looking at a big old fight going on here. His decision, it probably mostly was to hand him over, to hand Christ over to the Jews and have him crucified was mostly a political decision. Because if he doesn't do it, he's probably looking at a rebellion. Pilot, what's going on over there? Right. So, those are all really neat cultural insights to look at. I think another interesting thing about this tribute is the fact that we deal with the same issue today.

I mean, the Pharisees are not really raising the issue as to what their taxes are going for, right? I mean, you know, God doesn't qualify what your taxes are going for. He just said give unto Caesar those things that are Caesar's. Yeah. I mean, I feel very strongly about any tax dollars that we give going to issues that relate to debt with the undoor. Oh yeah, absolutely. But yet God doesn't say, by the way, if this is what your tax is going for, withhold your tax. Right? I mean, in a sense, again, it's the two kingdom kind of grace law comparison. Right. And you brought that out. That's so relevant to see here. Yeah.

So let's look at our next one here. And we've looked at this one. We looked at this one in our who you are in Christ's class and its adoption, except for its sons, not babies. And don't read that the wrong way. Not only sons. Except sons, not babies. So in the letters of the Apostle Paul, we find that he told the believers in several churches that they were to receive adoption of sons.

There are a few things to note about those passages at an outset. Each of the churches had a strong Roman connection. Rome was the capital of the Roman Empire. Two of four cities of Galatia mentioned in the New Testament were Roman colonies. Ephesus was a provincial capital, which the Roman governor in residence along with about 3,000 Roman troops. Roman military roads ran to and through each of these cities.

So when we look at this adoption of sons, the Greek word is Hesilotheia, which is son and position. And the procedure was initially set up in order for the Roman Empire to adopt an adult son as heir. It had been utilized by at least two emperors within the century before Paul used the term as letters. So it's something that is very clear to the Roman people of the Roman area. People who are under Roman rule, they would have understood this term very clearly. Approval of the procedure required very high approval. An emperor adopting a son required approval of the Roman Senate, and the adoption had to be witnessed by at least seven qualified witnesses. So we've got a whole bunch of... That's what this word meant in the Roman culture, and that's what it was originally set up to do.

By Roman law, the adopted son had a position better than the natural born son, and he was a full heir. It was irreversible, and the adopted son was legally severed from any prior sonship. The adopted son lost all rights of his own family and gained all rights of a fully legitimate son in his new family. So we're talking about huge benefits that this person is going to gain, especially if he's going to become the emperor. I mean, wow.

Roman law allowed the father to kill any born son at any age unless legal acceptance procedures had to be completed. An adopted son was already included as accepted and could not be killed at his father's option. So there's some, I don't know why you'd want to do that. And I don't know how that's going to relate to our position because I don't think Jesus or God ever has a desire to get rid of us in that manner.

An adopted son became an heir to his father's estate, even if other sons were born afterwards. The old life of the adopted son was completely wiped out so that the adopted son was regarded as a new person entering into a new life. And here's the interesting one, and it makes a great parallel. Any debts and criminal history that might have existed were erased from the record and totally forgiven. So we can obviously see some very clear parallels between that and who we are in Christ.

Isn't that Onesimus? I'm sorry? Onesimus, the same thing. Onesimus. Onesimus. I'm not familiar with the word. Philemon? No, he's a person. Onesimus. Onesimus is a person. It's a person. Yeah, the person. Yeah, the book of Philemon. Oh, okay. Everything was wiped out. Oh, okay. Yeah, everything wiped out.

As far as I think he did. The adopted son was literally and absolutely the son of his new father. So just lots and lots of benefits that you're getting from this adoption of sons position in the New Testament culture. And if we don't bring those things out of the Roman culture, we just look at it as adoption in our culture. And the benefits are good, but they're not the same. If I adopt a child who's been in trouble with the law, his debts aren't going to be forgiven. He's still in trouble with the law. And so there's some really good, to understand the culture of what this adoption of sons was in the Roman culture brings out a lot more than it would if we just said, oh, adoption, because it's not the same thing. So to understand these cultural insights really bring out more meaning in the term adoption of sons.

So another example of how having cultural insight into what these things are makes the passage pop, makes it bigger, makes it mean more. On the next page there we have slaves of all sorts. Though the New Testament mentions literal slaves at few points, and it is clear that a number of believers in the early church were slaves, The even greater importance of slavery comes from the use of slavery terms as metaphors for the spiritual standing of unbelievers and believers. Here are some New Testament examples of how the use of slavery terminology in spiritual metaphors.

Let's actually look at the passages. I don't have my Bible with me. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 6.20. OK.

So that word bought there is the word we have over here, and it was a term that was commonly used in slavery in the New Testament era. And there are different things that can be brought out from that purchase. But the idea behind it is God has bought you out of slavery and placed you into his care. I don't know if we need to look at every single one of these, but redeemed is another word used in Galatians. It's used a different version of redeemed used there in Titus. But each one of these words was something that was commonly used They were words that were commonly used in slave trade of the New Testament era.

And the idea behind these writings is, I mean, 1 Corinthians 6.20, for example, you weren't actually a slave. Maybe you were, maybe you weren't. But it's the metaphor of being bought out of slavery to sin and the sin nature and being placed into a new standing where you're not a slave to those things anymore.

So the metaphor is there. Well, the terms would have been readily understood by the readers. Absolutely. Because that's who Paul was writing to. Right. People who had a Roman background. So these words would have meant, I mean, they wouldn't have had to go, now let's see, what exactly does this, they knew immediately. Yep. And for us, the idea of slavery, I mean, I guess we're, what, 150 years? Not even that far. About 150 years removed from slavery in the United States. But they're not terms that we don't think of things that way.

The Tudor one there is always an interesting one because that's something that, and I don't have the, I don't remember all the information, but Vern's gone over this on slides and stuff in the main service of what that Tudor was. He was with So a rich person would have this slave, and they were a tutor to their child, usually a son, and they would go to school with them.

They'd make sure that they did all their schoolwork correctly. They'd make sure that if they had anything that had to be done at home, that it was the tutor's job to make sure that it was taken care of. They were like a bodyguard on the way to and from school as well. So that's a word that in in context to know what this tutor or schoolmaster was. I mean, it's a slave tutor. That was their job. They were a slave to their master and the job that he gave them was to tutor my child, make sure they're doing the right thing.

A word that we would fully not understand in our culture now. I mean, that doesn't exist. So some different stuff there where understanding of the culture brings out more more light into the passage. Because in context that term is used in relationship to the law as a tutor to Christ. That's right. You're right. The cultural interpretation is so relevant to how we understand that passage. That's right.

I've forgotten what the exact use of it was. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. So, I mean, that word, it just says tutor. And we just think, OK, something to help us study. Great. Maybe we go to the tutor on Wednesdays and it helps us learn how to read. But it's kind of like the law, you know, the law, you know, tutoring or bonding to the old man in terms of that constant accountability.

And you know, that's true of not only coming to salvation, being saved, but it's true of living the Christian life, too. Right. that legal systems are bound to really orchestrating the behavior of the first nature. You kind of think back through, at least I can, back through your life as a believer. where certain law principles are taught as to how to become a better Christian and how to do this. You can kind of track that back in your own personal experience and see how, yeah that's true, that's brought me to a fuller understanding of what grace and faith and justification is. Yeah, my dad was raised in a Catholic household. He went to Catholic school, you know, he had nuns, hit him with rulers and all that stuff growing up.

And when he finally understood grace principles, he said, well, the one thing I can say about the Catholic Church is it taught me the law. It taught me what God's characteristics and things were. The only problem is sometimes he goes back to the Old Testament and forgets that we're under grace now and tries to use those principles. The Catholic mindset of legalism has stuck with him a little bit. But he said that on a couple of occasions where he goes, you know, I look back at that and I didn't enjoy my time in the Catholic Church because all it was was law and failure. But what it did teach me was characteristics of God through his law.

Now, there are things in the Catholic Church where, you know, eat fish on Fridays. That's not a God's characteristic. That's a man's law. But there are some laws there that, you know, the majority of the laws are, they just dug them right out of the Old Testament and tried to apply them to, you know, the believer, which isn't God's intent.

But the example of culture here, The word tutor, to me, I had a tutor when I was about six or seven years old. I went on Wednesdays, and she helped me with my reading because I was struggling with it. So to me, that's about all a tutor means, is somebody that I might see once a week, and they help me with my reading, and was probably more interested in going to see her because she made cookies than anything else. So that's what tutor means to me. But this word here, this tutor, is the same word that we were talking about, which is that that slave tutor.

They were with them from sunup to sundown. They were with them all the time. You didn't see them once a week. And they didn't learn about something once a week. So you have to draw the parallel that the law, it was with these people all the time. And it was how they lived their life. And it was what guided them. Not guided them, but probably pushed them to do what they had to do. Talk about daycare.

Right. That's actually a wonderful thing in the sense that even as a believer you see that push of the law just so oppressive. And you're like, I can't do it. I can't fulfill that law. I can't do it. And you're forced to come to the Lord by grace and say, Lord, it's got to be grace because I can't do it.

And that's the amazing thing about the Pharisees is they're coming, in that passage there, they're coming to Jesus thinking they've got it all. They really think they've got it. They really think that the law is what they need, and it's what's going to make things right. And he's doing stuff to show them it's not it. It's not it. It's good. I gave it to you for a reason, but it's not everything. But anyway. The purpose of a law, though, is to convict.

Right. not to be lived because it's impossible. When I look at the Bible and you see, why did God wait so long for grace? It was there all the time. But why didn't he just say, we're going to live under a principle of grace right off the bat? Adam, you messed up. It's all good. Grace right away. Absolutely. But it's not the same principle that we live under as New Testament saints. And even with Adam and Eve it was grace. He didn't kill them. I understand. The grace was they could still live in the garden.

But when you look at it, why did he wait until Christ to live under, to give his saints the principles of grace that we live under now? Why did he do that? I'm asking a question. What do you mean, you hypocrite? No. It's the same question applying to your own personal life. Why does it take you 20 years? Why does it take you all that time to see that struggle under the law? Why does it take us that time? Why do some people never see it?

Remember, the principle of man's response to God is always faith. Oh yeah, absolutely. And so, Abraham's filled with grace. And we've got God personally communicating to certain individuals throughout the Old Testament. And here, after God's act of grace to liberate the nation of Israel from captivity, all they did was whine and complain. So to place now, God's new revelation is these tablets, right? which they went beyond the templates and created their own legal system. I mean, the point is that God has been very patient to test man's ability to respond by faith in what God has given. And ultimately, keep in mind, the Old Testament saints, I mean, one of my biggest questions along the same lines, somewhat tangential, but what was the basis by which men and women of the Old Testament responded to God's law by faith?

And that faith was that annual sacrifice was sufficient to at least be an atonement. Right. Well, and when you look at Abraham, God makes a promise to him. And it says Abraham believed. And it was credited to him as faith. That's the bottom line is God reveals to you, God reveals something to you, and you believe it.

That's right. And when, why, I mean, he gave the law first because what he was doing is he's, one, he's revealing his righteous character to us through the law. The things of the law are of God and they reveal who he is. Absolutely, all the way. And that's, you know, when he gave the law to Moses, he gave it to him because I want you people to understand who I am so that we can have a relationship.

And then all that the Jewish people did was fail for how many thousand years? But we now know that was the purpose of the law. These are God's standards and you as a human are incapable. That's where the act of faith in God is still, although Hebrews says the sacrifice of bulls and goats is not sufficient.

Ultimately that paid a dividend for a while. Right. And they were just an example of what was to come. I mean Christ's blood is what is what saved the Old Testament saints just as it saves you and I. And that was an act of faith too, believing that there would be an Old Testament.

There would be, yes. How many people knew of that on a day-to-day basis in the Old Testament? I'm unclear about that. I don't think maybe very many. And the thing about the Old Testament is, I mean, the Jewish people, as far as God's law was concerned, they're it. You've got this little tiny nation and what I mean, maybe the Jewish people at their largest at that point in time got to maybe a couple million people, maybe 10 million, I don't know. But you're talking about maybe 2% of the world's population and that's who God's revealing himself through, through his law, through that people.

I think Roger's heard this before, but very briefly, we were on a flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, and I was seated next to a guy who was going from Yeshiva University in New York to Sydney to go into Yeshiva to get digitally trained in Jewish law.

He was keeping all 613. He told me he was actually keeping all 613. I don't know how you memorized 613. Yeah, but we know. He and I talked at length. He'd never heard Christianity the way I presented it to him before. I pray that there was some seed dropped that day that ultimately would make him realize that he's not keeping 613 and needs a lot more than 613. Actually a very simple principle. was reading and dealing with a woman that weighed 400 next to her. This very intellectual conversation with this self-righteous Jew. That's an example. Here's a believing Jew who's as orthodox as can be.

Paul 6.13. And he thought he was righteous through it. He really did. But it's all about the faith. But anyway, I hope that looking at this stuff this morning gave everybody an idea of how looking at culture can really bring to light some... You can pull more out of a passage if you understand who's writing it, who are they writing it to, and how do these people think, and what was their world like.

There's a couple of books that Vern has on the bottom of the page there. And I have them here. I have a couple of them here with me. And this one I've actually read out of in the Who You Are in Christ class. Really neat cultural stuff. And this is Verne's. He's got, I mean, you can tell he uses it a lot. Really neat book. Really digs into the day-to-day life of a New Testament era person in the Greco-Roman world.

And then these books, these are, I'll just pull one of them out. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary. This goes pretty much verse-by-verse. If you want to look at a passage, there are some verses that aren't in here. But it pretty much just goes verse-by-verse and just looks at the cultural side of that verse. So all it's going to do is say, here's a cultural insight into that verse. Here's the coin thing that we looked at this morning. That's in this book. What was a coin? Or something that Vern used before is a seal. What were seals used for? What did they mean to the culture?

So here, this is a book that would just, it's all culture. And it goes verse by verse through the New Testament. I like this one a lot when I go to do studies. Really neat book and then the other thing it does is for each for each for each letter or each book in the Bible it gives you So if you go, you know, it gives you background on on the writer at the beginning of the beginning of each chapter You're right. It'll give you so First John important facts John son of Zebedee one of twelve chosen apostles When was the book written You know, why did he write it?

What are some of the key themes? When you get into the books that are written to specific cities, it'll tell you about the city. What were the gods that were prominent in that city? What trade was prominent in that city? When was the city set up? Why was it set up? How did the Romans use it?

So it gives you insight into day-to-day life of those people at that point in time. And then there's a third book on there that I don't have. great people of the Bible and how they lived apparently you can pick that up on Amazon for like two dollars people just are just like here you go get it and I need to I need to put my money into that because it's not much you spend more on shipping than you do on the book but Vern has that one and I've looked through it a couple times also very good as far as insight into culture goes. These ones are a little more expensive. They're like $60 or $80 if you find them on sale. This one I think you can pick up for $15 on Amazon as well. So this is a pretty cheap one that is nice to look at. It doesn't give you the verse by verse that this one does though. So that's more like you just read through it? You just read through it.

The chapters have different topics. So like life and death in the first century, all it talks about was, I mean it goes into burial rites, different things like that. The city, so how the cities are set up, what was the common pattern for how cities were set up. Very thematic, absolutely. All the way through, it's just a theme in each chapter. And I've read about half of it, and every time I read it, I just get really interested. It's a lot of fun.

And there's some stuff in there that he goes into their diet, and you just go, man, they eat nasty stuff. They made fermented fish paste. oh that sounds good doesn't it but we should we should close so let's just close in prayer real quick here Heavenly Father we thank you for our time together we thank you that when we go to your word there's a logical There's a logical pattern in which you've done things. There's a logical way that we can dig into it and understand more and more about it. We think that we have tools to understand what you've told us. We thank you for our time this morning and just pray that everyone have a blessed day and is safe on the roads. We thank you for the smell, but we hope it melts soon. Amen.