On occasion, I am asked about helpful tools in study of the scriptures. I like to recommend a combination of Jewish resources as well as traditional evangelical sources. When I receive push back on using Jewish resources, I remind students it is a mistake to be narrow in our thinking. To keep ourselves separate from the Jews in our thinking and interpretation of the scriptures is an error which fosters disunity and fracturing in the assembly of believers. To maintain an arbitrary separateness when we are discussing the same scriptures is to believe that our agenda or world view is more important than seeking the truth about God. Failing to consider thousands of years of Jewish scholarship by men who spent their lives steeped in the scriptures is tantamount to intentional ignorance. Moreover, it is a failure in the task of seeking unity as called for in scripture at a basic level. (See Psalm 133:1; Ephesians 1:4-16; 1 Peter 3:8)
One cannot come anywhere near a unity of understanding without consideration of a wide range of resources from various points of view. It is not necessary to accept every resource as “equal” in its usefulness, but it is necessary to consider that something of value to an overall understanding of God and His revelation can be found in many different places, even resources outside of our tradition.
Rejection of Jewish materials is also, it seems to me, a form of anti-Semitism that the church should not condone. Moreover, wholesale rejection of all things Jewish in terms of commentary on scripture creates an unnecessary barrier to observant Jews coming to believe in Yeshua.
The disassociation of Jewish thought and even the Hebrew scriptures themselves from the New Testament study is to unmoor the gospels and the New Testament letters from their Jewish roots and sources which creates a risk of misinterpretation and a furthering of the divide between Jews and Christians.
Without much financial commitment, one can find Jewish resources at her fingertips through https://www.sefaria.org/texts . This website is easy to use and filled with materials to aid in study and understanding of scripture.
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