Below is a summary of what my husband Dan wrote about what went on at our New Testament From a Jewish Point of View Class which took place on Monday, March 7, 2022:
Temple Israel New Testament from a Jewish perspective, Monday, March 7, 2022
I Corinthians chapter 3
Jo Ann, Karen, Robin, Odette, David, Dave, Nadine and Dan attended.
In this passage the apostle Paul addresses the Christians in Corinth as “infants” in their Christian experience because of their unspiritual “fleshly” ways of quarrelling, etc.
Jo Ann was interested in the language Paul uses of “flesh” and “spirit”. Odette addressed the analogy Paul draws of an architect constructing a building, specifically the reference to gold and other precious materials. It reminded her of the construction of the Tabernacle. Robin wondered if the language about a structure being tested by being set on fire may have been a reference to or a prophecy about the destruction of the Second Temple which was still a future event at the time of this writing.
Karen drew on her experiences of being “shamed” by other people and of the reference to Paul saying people are like a “temple.” Shaming someone who is a person is shaming God’s temple, and is therefore wrong. Dave discussed what Paul wrote at the end of this chapter saying that “Christ belongs to God” and it’s apparent contradiction to the present day understanding of the Christian Trinity.
Jo Ann addressed the idea of “baby Christians” and wondered if there is such a thing as a “baby Jew.” This led David into a discussion of stereotypes of converts of all religions and specifically stereotypes of Jewish converts.
At some point the description of Donald Trump by some evangelicals (including James Dobson) as a “baby Christian” was brought up. I doubt few if any present bought that description.
Some interesting movies from the 1980s about young people being recruited by religious cults were mentioned. A discussion of the practice of proselytizing brought a funny story from Odette about her encounter with some Jehovah’s Witnesses that ended when the JW’s declined to help her dig her car out of the snow.
(Jo Ann summarized the movie Ticket to Heaven where a young Jewish man gets sucked into a religious cult.)
We ended up talking about Chabad and Rabbi Perlmutter’s eloquence. We all admired Robin’s beautiful singing voice as we sang the Misheberach Jewish healing prayer for Merrill.
Again, if anything in this summary has not been mentioned, please add to it. We will study1st Corinthians Chapter 4 next week.
