Chaim wrote:

"Is repentance and good works a teaching of man or is it what the Tanakh says, or both? What's your point?

When you read Ezekiel 33:10-20, written within the context of exile, do you not see repentance and good works affecting atonement? Or do you see a teaching of man there?"

Repentance and good works are a teaching of the Tanach, God's word, and are necessary for receiving eternal life, in the NT as well as in the Tanakh.

There is a subtle but important difference between affecting atonement and effecting atonement. Affect means to aim at or tend toward. Repentance affects atonement. Effect means to produce something. What I meant was that the repentance and good works do not produce the atonement. All that G-d said in the Tanach was that if you turn from wickedness and do right, then you will live by it. It doesn't say that the turning from sin was the thing that made that sin disappear. I think that all Jews should ask, "What is it that gives a repentant sinner forgiveness?" or "What is it that produces forgiveness?"

As I mentioned before, Ezekiel 18:4 states: " ... the soul that sins, it shall die." How can it be possible for a soul to sin, yet turn to righteousness and live? Turn from the sin, do good, yes, that will allow the soul to live, but doesn't that annul what G-d just said? The soul sinned. Why didn't it die? How could G-d say to King David, "Also the Lord has removed your sin; you shall not die." (II Samuel 12:13) How did He remove the sin? As we have discussed many times, David didn't even give an animal sacrifice and we both agree that the animal sacrifice couldn't take away sin anyway. This is the "million dollar" question that I believe should have all Jews' ears tuned for an answer, maybe when the Prophet comes. Instead, you are saying that repentance and good works do the trick. That can't be. G-d told David that He, G-d, had removed the sin. "What did you do, G-d? How did You do it? You aren't a corrupt judge that let off your favorite son, are You? That can't be!"

So, when the NT comes along and we hear, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." and "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past,..." I believe that Jewish ears should perk up to listen for the answer to that long unanswered question.

Unfortunately, a common Christian interpretation is that the sacrifice of Jesus annulled the law and allowed sinners to escape the death penalty proscribed in Ezekiel 18. When the NT says that salvation is not by works, many Christians think that means we don't need to do good works anymore. They think we can do all kinds of wickedness and say, "I believe in Jesus, forgive my sins," and go directly to heaven without passing GO or collecting $200. This of course contradicts many of Jesus' direct teachings, so they proceed to say that those teachings are only for Jews before Christian salvation took effect.

I got into this a number of years ago when, after being taught Christian teachings all of my life, I becan to see that some things didn't add up, then I found out that they were what was read into the NT, and not what the NT actually taught. This question of Ezekiel 18 and 33 was one of my main sticking points, that I found beautifully answered in the NT.

The NT says that salvation is not by works. That is simply answering the age-old question I refer to: "How does G-d justify a soul that sinned so he doesn't die?" It is not by works or repentance. It is a supernatural work of G-d that takes the person through death and executes the sentence of the Law upon him through spiritual baptism into the Lamb of G-d. Then the soul that sinned is a resurrected soul that does good works, a requirement for eternal life, according to the NT (Matthew 5:48, 7:23, Acts 26:17-20, Ephesians 2:10, Hebrews 12:14, I Peter 1:15, I John 2:2-3, for a few of many examples).

So, to summarize, this teaching of salvation through faith in Jesus as the Lamb of God is a new teaching from the NT not explained in the Tanach, but it is an answer to an old question that is implied in the Tanach. It is not a new way of salvation with new requirements, but simply a new explanation of how G-d did it all along. It does bring some new results, just as the Tanach foretold would come (Jeremiah 31). It does not annul the Torah, but expands it. An annuling of the earthly details of Torah will come only when the heavens and earth are remade.

Hopefully, this finally makes clear what I have been trying to explain.

Just three sentences on Peter and his vision of unclean animals to eat. It did not say to eat unclean food. It simply said that G-d has ways to make clean what was unclean.

"Also, if Jesus is a prophet telling us about a god our fathers never knew, that makes him a false prophet."

I agree 100%. But the NT does not tell you to worship a god your fathers did not know, nor does it require you to violate the Torah. Read just what it says. If the NT does not teach any idea of the Trinity, don't believe it. The requirements for receiving salvation have always been repentance of sins, and faith in G-d. Complete understanding of doctrine, Trinity or otherwise, cannot be a requirement, or the thief on the cross would have been excluded, and he wasn't. I doubt that he knew about the Word of God made flesh or Jesus being the Son of God. All he knew was that Jesus was a righteous man suffering unjustly who was going to receive a kingdom from God. He confessed his wickedness deserving of death and asked against all hope that Jesus would show him favor. G-d will not reject anyone who fulfills those two conditions. However, don't restrict what you will accept from G-d because of preconceived notions not in the Tanach.