John 1 Yeshua asks, what do you want?

 

CJB emphasis in bold (online), green, red, and blue, with footnotes in blue; NIV in magenta (none); Nomads* comments in yellow; and my comments in gray.   

*Participative Sunday-school-class at UBC led by Kenneth Tipton. My continually improved statement about Genesis 1:26-28 is at the end of this.

John wrote approximately 4 to 6 decades after Yeshua was executed. I perceive civic considerations to the good regarding the scripture that follows, including:

1.     Could writer John’s “the Word” have been Yeshua’s “the good”?

2.     Is John the Baptizer a fictional character intended to prove constructed prophesy from Semitic-speaking ancient people?

3.     I like these consecutive statements from V 17-18: “For the Torah was given through Moshe;  grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah. No one has ever seen God . . . “

4.     Notice that when John the Baptizer said, “I am not the Messiah”, Yeshua was alive and Paul’s concept of salvation on the cross had not been developed. Yeshua’s contemporaries debated a king anointed to unite the 12 tribes of Israel.

5.     Ken’s focus on V 38 prompts my reflection, “Do I want influence to perfect civic behavior in living or do I want salvation of mysterious soul?” That’s why Genesis 1:26-28 is so important to me.

6.     I wonder if Adonai expresses an Old Testament representative on earth to the God, and Yeshua presents a New Testament replacement. Do modern Messianic Jews and Orthodox Jews distinguish Adonai and G-d?

7.     Civic people may and can, could and should, choose for themselves how to aid humankind to the good rather than divide on mysteries. 

John 1 CJB, what do you want

^1:1 In the beginning was the Word,
    and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God. [I imagine that “the Word” is “the good”.]
²     He [the good] was with God in the beginning.

³ All things came to be through him,
    and without him nothing made had being.

⁴ In him was life,
    and the life was the light of mankind.

⁵ The light shines in the darkness,
    and the darkness has not suppressed it.

⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was Yochanan. ⁷ He came to be a testimony, to bear witness concerning the light; so that through him, everyone might put his trust in God and be faithful to him. ⁸ He himself was not that light; no, he came to bear witness concerning the light.

⁹ This was the true light,
    which gives light to everyone entering the world.

¹⁰ He was in the world — the world came to be through him —
    yet the world did not know him.

¹¹ He came to his own homeland,
    yet his own people did not receive him.

¹² But to as many as did receive him, to those who put their trust in his person and power, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ not because of bloodline, physical impulse or human intention, but because of God.

¹⁴ The Word [the good] became a human being and lived with us,
    and we saw his Sh’khinah [presence],
the Sh’khinah of the Father’s only Son,
    full of grace and truth.

¹⁵ Yochanan witnessed concerning him when he cried out, “This is the man I was talking about when I said, ‘The one coming after me has come to rank ahead of me, because he existed before me.’”

¹⁶ We have all received from his fullness,
    yes, grace upon grace. [Humility on goodness.]

¹⁷ For the Torah was given through Moshe;
    grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah.

¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; but the only and unique Son, who is identical with God and is at the Father’s side — he has made him known.

¹⁹ Here is Yochanan’s testimony: when the Judeans sent cohanim and L’vi’im from Yerushalayim to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰ he was very straightforward and stated clearly, “I am not the Messiah.” [That is, the Baptizer is not the one sent to unite the 12 tribes. This is 3 years before they executed Yeshua, 6 years before Paul began what became Christianity, so it cannot refer to the cross: to hearers, it is about Israel, not about humankind. Fourteen years more, and Paul called the Council of Jerusalem to get relief from circumcision for pagans. The council to Paul was absent orthodox Jews who opposed Yeshua and included elders and John supporting circumcision, James who promoted Yeshua’s return to unite the 12 tribes, and Peter hoping to accommodate Jews and pagans. Neither Yeshua nor human-beings who want civic integrity even accommodating religion were represented. Thus, borrowing applicable words, “read back into Paul’s letters and passages”, from Ron Perritt, the contemporary question, is the Baptizer the Messiah? applies to uniting Israel and is not germane to the cross.*] ²¹ “Then who are you?” they asked him. “Are you Eliyahu?” “No, I am not,” he said. “Are you ‘the prophet,’ the one we’re expecting?” “No,” he replied. ²² So they said to him, “Who are you? — so that we can give an answer to the people who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?” ²³ He answered in the words of Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) the prophet, “I am The voice of someone crying out:
‘In the desert make the way of Adonai straight!’” [Isaiah 40:3, CJB, “A voice cries out:

“Clear a road through the desert for Adonai! Level a highway in the ‘Aravah [2024 Jordan Rift Valley.] for our God!”] [In the Old Testament, is Adonai an emissary for “our God”?]

²⁴ Some of those who had been sent were P’rushim. ²⁵ They asked him, “If you are neither the Messiah nor Eliyahu nor ‘the prophet,’ then why are you immersing people?” ²⁶ To them Yochanan replied, “I am immersing people in water, but among you is standing someone whom you don’t know. ²⁷ He is the one coming after me — I’m not good enough even to untie his sandal!” ²⁸ All this took place in Beit-Anyah, east of the Yarden, where Yochanan was immersing.

²⁹ The next day, Yochanan saw Yeshua coming toward him and said, “Look! God’s lamb! The one who is taking away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is the man I was talking about when I said, ‘After me is coming someone who has come to rank above me, because he existed before me.’ ³¹ I myself did not know who he was, but the reason I came immersing with water was so that he might be made known to Isra’el.” ³² Then Yochanan gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and remaining on him. ³³ I myself did not know who he was, but the one who sent me to immerse in water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining, this is the one who immerses in the Ruach HaKodesh.’ ³⁴ And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

³⁵ The next day, Yochanan was again standing with two of his talmidim. ³⁶ On seeing Yeshua walking by, he said, “Look! God’s lamb!” ³⁷ His two talmidim heard him speaking, and they followed Yeshua. ³⁸ Yeshua turned and saw them following him, and he asked them, “What are you looking for?” [This Ken perceives is the key question in this chapter: It’s important to listen to God’s questions, then pursue the response you perceive to the good. My example is:  Do I want influence to perfect civic behavior in living or do I want salvation of mysterious soul?] They said to him, “Rabbi!” (which means “Teacher!”) “Where are you staying?” ³⁹ He said to them, “Come and see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and remained with him the rest of the day — it was about four o’clock in the afternoon. ⁴⁰ One of the two who had heard Yochanan and had followed Yeshua was Andrew the brother of Shim‘on Kefa.

⁴¹ The first thing he did was to find his brother Shim‘on and tell him, “We’ve found the Mashiach!” (The word means “one who has been anointed.”) ⁴² He took him to Yeshua. Looking at him, Yeshua said, “You are Shim‘on Bar-Yochanan; you will be known as Kefa.” (The name means “rock.”)

⁴³ The next day, having decided to leave for the Galil, Yeshua found Philip and said, “Follow me!” ⁴⁴ Philip was from Beit-Tzaidah, the town where Andrew and Kefa lived. ⁴⁵ Philip found Natan’el and told him, “We’ve found the one that Moshe wrote about in the Torah, also the Prophets — it’s Yeshua Ben-Yosef from Natzeret!” ⁴⁶ Natan’el answered him, “Natzeret? Can anything good come from there?” “Come and see,” Philip said to him. ⁴⁷ Yeshua saw Natan’el coming toward him and remarked about him, “Here’s a true son of Isra’el — nothing false in him!” ⁴⁸ Natan’el said to him, “How do you know me?” Yeshua answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” ⁴⁹ Natan’el said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Isra’el!” ⁵⁰ Yeshua answered him, “you believe all this just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than that!” ⁵¹ Then he said to him, “Yes indeed! I tell you that you will see heaven opened and the angels of God going up and coming down [Genesis 28:12, CJB, “He dreamt that there before him was a ladder resting on the ground with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of Adonai were going up and down on it.”] on the Son of Man!” [I do not think either entity -- Yeshua or Jesus -- uttered this spurious promise. It was constructed by Bible writers and religions. I accept that I could be wrong and so judged by the God.]

*This is the first time in my Nomads-class-records that I have cited and refuted Bible-reporting about Yeshua. It seems intended to construct evidence that Yeshua fulfilled prophecy from Semitic-speaking peoples, only some of whom were ancestors to Israel. However, the Bible shows that Yeshua (whether student or God) affirmed Genesis 1:26-28:  Humankind is responsible, empowered, and authorized to pursue the good (order) to the earth. Primitive physics is affirmed by modern physics.

Yeshua was an actual person, who spoke Aramaic, a Semitic kin to Hebrew, Syriac, and Phoenician. Since Yeshua did not write, the only reports about him carry bias and cannot be verified as the ineluctable truth. In this case, the Baptizer perceived things about Yeshua which in the writer’s opinion, (John’s opinion), verified 700 year old prophecy by Isaiah regarding the mystery of the God. I neither accept nor promote acceptance of perception opined as prophecy about mystery. I promote physics and Yeshua’s civic influence.

We read John the apostle’s opinion about John the Baptizer’s speculation about Isaiah’s prophecy: a Messiah to unite the 12 tribes of Israel. I took about 300 years after Yeshua was executed and Paul developed a religion grounded in the cross for “Iesu Christi”, a name and a title to be promoted over Yeshua’s civic influence. Then, 1300 years later, “Iesu Christi” became “Jesus Christ” the savior of elected souls, rather than Yeshua, who was open-hearted and encouraged freedom from error to every human-being. It is a choice of entities rather than labels. I choose Yeshua’s civic influence to the good among humankind.

[I read to apply perhaps 5500 year old Sumerian political philosophy. It’s primitively expressed by Semite scholars of 3900 years ago in Genesis 1:26-28; in my paraphrase:  Female-and-male-human-being may and can choose to independently and together constrain political democracy on earth: on earth, humankind has the power and authority to pursue the good and constrain the bad. Civic citizens may use the rule of law to develop statutory justice. Yeshua* affirmed these ideas in each Matthew 18:18 (no peace-power above humankind), Matthew 19:3-8 (civic loyalty), Matthew 5:48 (perfection), and in other direct dialogue.
The next Bible canon could and should include the law codes of Sumer and competing civilizations. Resulting insights would take the heat off Judeo-Christianity, a Christ vs Messiah** vs the God competition.*** Personal and institutional competition egregiously deludes Yeshua’s civic influence to the good. The collaborative view could accelerate mutual pursuit of human being (verb) and lessen habitual baby killings, like those happening in Israel, in Ukraine, and in the U.S. in the year 2024.

*In 4 BC, Yosef and Myriam of Nazareth begot Yeshua. 250 years beforehand, Greek translation of the Torah provided Ἰησοῦς and χριστός, both of which competed with “Yeshua”, the former during Yeshua’s life and the latter in afterdeath. By the 16^th century CE, Christianity used “Jesus Christ” to repress Yeshua. 

The person, Yeshua, said, in my paraphrase: if people don’t speak my name they can neither consider my civic influence nor share my open-heartedness. Competitive monotheism hides Yeshua’s civic influence. Churches hide Yeshua. Churches claim the Holy Bible is the word of the God yet do everything they can to negate Genesis 1:26-28: humankind is responsible to rule to the good on earth.

The God is a mystery. However, civic citizens may, can, and do discern Yeshua’s civic influence. Accepting Genesis 1:26-28 helps yet does not exclude the open-minded and open-hearted fellow citizen who has not discovered Yeshua.

**Cyrus, 600 BC, is called a messiah in Isaiah 45:1.

***Competitive monotheism survives on war.]

1 Peter 4 and 5 promoting priesthood above Yeshua

CJB emphasis in bold (online), green, red, and blue, with footnotes in blue; NIV in magenta; Nomads* comments in yellow; and my comments in gray.   

*Participative Sunday-school-class at UBC led by Kenneth Tipton. My continually improved statement about Genesis 1:26-28 is at the end of this.

Peter wrote approximately 3 decades after Yeshua was executed. I perceive civic advice to the good regarding the scripture that follows, including:

1.      Living presents the anxiety of the unknown together with the certainty of death, yet choosing the good is always in personal self-interest. The good is not a test: it is life.

2.      No one knows “God’s words”, so accepting the mystery, still choosing the good, seems the only option.

3.      Living “by the spirit” means accepting the power and authority to choose the good in all things, as directed in Genesis 1:26-28 and affirmed by Yeshua in Matthew 18:18.

4.      Given Peter’s experiences, including the Council at Jerusalem, I do not accept that he would choose Jesus or Christ rather than Yeshua. I could be wrong.

5.      I think the Church imposed its will on Peter’s writing. I could be wrong.

6.      Just as the youth in Peter’s church were born for a time Peter could not imagine, we were born for a time our parents could not imagine. (Gibran, “On Children”.) Choosing the good for our time is on us.

^4:1 Therefore, since the Messiah suffered physically, you too are to arm yourselves with the same attitude. For whoever has suffered physically is finished with sin, ² with the result that he lives the rest of his earthly life no longer controlled by human desires, but by God’s will. [This implies that God’s will prevents human desires. However, I argue that humility to the ineluctable truth is a human pursuit.]. ³ For you have spent enough time already living the way the pagans [pagans] want you to live — in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, wild parties and forbidden idol-worship. [I never lived such a life style. Some people tried to persuade me, but I did not accept.]  ⁴ They think it strange that you don’t plunge with them into the same flood of dissoluteness, and so they heap insults on you. ⁵ But they will have to give an account to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶ This is why he was proclaimed to those who have died; it was so that, although physically they would receive the judgment common to all humanity [that is, death], they might live by the Spirit in the way that God has provided. [I think “live by the Spirit” means to accept the Genesis 1:26-28 power and authority to behave during life. I think Yeshua affirms Genesis 1:26-28.]

⁷ The accomplishing of the goal of all things is close at hand. Therefore, keep alert and self-controlled, so that you can pray. ⁸ More than anything, keep loving each other actively; because love covers many sins. [Proverbs 10:12, “Hate stirs up disputes, but love covers all kinds of transgressions.] [By substituting “appreciation” for “love” I think of Yeshua’s process for forgiveness, given in Matthew 18:15-18. Readers who don’t consider V 18 miss Yeshua’s connection to Genesis 1:26-28. I do not think Yeshua used the word “hate”, as the Greek doctor claims in Luke 14:26.] ⁹ Welcome one another into your homes without grumbling. ¹⁰ As each one has received some spiritual gift, he should use it to serve others, like good managers of God’s many-sided grace — ¹¹ if someone speaks, let him speak God’s words; if someone serves, let him do so out of strength that God supplies; so that in everything God may be glorified through Yeshua the Messiah — to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen. [If we change the credit from Yeshua’s open heartedness to Jesus or to Christ, we are imposing church opinion rather than appreciating the Jew from Nazareth. Peter had not Wikipedia, with which he could discern that people would struggle to comprehend his opinion about Christ rather than to pursue Yeshua’s civic influence. Otherwise, Peter would have claimed to not know the ineluctable truth and encouraged people to 1) accept the mystery of the God without objection or imposition, in order to 2) pursue Yeshua’s civic influence.]

¹² Dear friends, don’t regard as strange the fiery ordeal occurring among you to test you [Living with uncertainty is not a test: it’s the real thing.], as if something extraordinary were happening to you. ¹³ Rather, to the extent that you share the fellowship of the Messiah’s sufferings, rejoice; so that you will rejoice even more when his Sh’khinah [presence glory] is revealed. ¹⁴ If you are being insulted because you bear the name of the Messiah, how blessed you are! For the Spirit of the Sh’khinah, that is, the Spirit of God, is resting on you! [It seems Peter equates suffering in the name of the Messiah as equivalent to attaining the “glory” of God – an evaluation of Peter’s God I do not condone.] ¹⁵ Let none of you suffer for being a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or a meddler in other people’s affairs. ¹⁶ But if anyone suffers for being Messianic [as a Christian], let him not be ashamed; but let him bring glory to God by the way he bears this name. ¹⁷ For the time has come for the judgment to begin. It begins with the household of God; and if it starts with us, what will the outcome be for those who are disobeying God’s Good News? —

¹⁸ “If the righteous is barely delivered [it is hard for the righteous to be saved],
where will the ungodly and sinful end up?” [Proverbs 11:31, “If the righteous are paid what they deserve here on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!”]

¹⁹ So let those who are suffering according to God’s will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator by continuing to do what is good. [This circular argument is demystified to people who accept the power and authority to choose the good that is asserted in Genesis 1:26-28. I encourage each person, every church, and every nation to consider Genesis 1:26-28: humankind has the duty to rule to the good on earth.]

1 Peter 5, CJB

^5:1 Therefore, I urge the congregation leaders [elders] among you, as a fellow-leader and witness to the Messiah’s [Christ’s] sufferings, as well as a sharer in the glory to be revealed: ² shepherd the flock of God that is in your care, exercising oversight not out of constraint, but willingly, as God wants; and not out of a desire for dishonest gain, but with enthusiasm; ³ also not as machers [influential person] domineering over those in your care, but as people who become examples to the flock. ⁴ Then, when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive glory as your unfading crown.

⁵ Likewise, you who are less experienced [younger], submit to leaders. Further, all of you should clothe yourselves in humility toward one another, because

God opposes the arrogant [proud],
but to the humble he gives grace [favor]. [Proverbs 3:34, “The scornful he scorns,
but gives grace to the humble.”]

⁶ Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that at the right time he may lift you up. ⁷ Throw all your anxieties upon him, because he cares about you.

⁸ Stay sober, stay alert! Your enemy, the Adversary [the devil], stalks about like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Stand against him, firm in your trust [faith], knowing that your brothers [Jewish priests, 1 Peter 2:4-5] [family of believers] throughout the world are going through the same kinds of suffering. [The Jewish priests are a special group, and this “privilege” is being suggested to the pagans. But NIT does not agree with CJB.] ¹⁰ You will have to suffer only a little while; after that, God, who is full of grace, the one who called you to his eternal glory in union with the Messiah (Since the God is a mystery, the only means to humility is to pursue Yeshua’s civic influence.), will himself restore, establish and strengthen you and make you firm. ¹⁰ And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.  ¹¹ To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.

¹² Through Sila, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written you briefly, encouraging you and giving my witness that this is God’s true grace. Stand firm in it!

¹³ Your sister congregation in Bavel [Babylon], chosen along with you, sends greetings to you, as does my son Mark. ¹⁴ Greet each other with a kiss of love.

“Shalom aleikhem!” [Peace to you.] to all who belong to the Messiah [Peace to all of you who are in Christ]. [Yeshua offers peace to every human being. Peter cannot be held responsible for this difference, because “Christ” is church imposed, long after Peter was dead.]

[I read to apply perhaps 5500 year old Sumerian political philosophy. It’s primitively expressed by Semite scholars of 3900 years ago in Genesis 1:26-28; in my paraphrase:  Female-and-male-human-being may and can choose to independently and together constrain political democracy on earth: on earth, humankind has the power and authority to pursue the good and constrain the bad. Civic citizens may use the rule of law to develop statutory justice. Yeshua* affirmed these ideas in each Matthew 18:18, Matthew 19:3-8, Matthew 5:48, and in other direct dialogue. The next Bible canon could and should include the law codes of Sumer and competing civilizations. Resulting insights would take the heat off Judeo-Christianity, a Christ vs Messiah** vs the God competition.*** Competition egregiously deludes Yeshua’s civic influence to the good. The collaborative view could accelerate mutual pursuit of human being (verb) and lessen habitual baby killings, like those happening in Israel, in Ukraine, and in the U.S. in the year 2024.

*In 4 BC, Yosef and Myriam of Nazareth begot Yeshua. 250 years beforehand, Greek translation of the Torah provided Ἰησοῦς and χριστός, both of which competed with Yeshua, the former during life and the latter in death. By the 16^th century CE, Christianity used “Jesus Christ” to repress Yeshua. The person, Yeshua, said, in my paraphrase: if people don’t speak my name they can neither consider my civic influence nor share my open-heartedness. Competitive monotheism hides Yeshua’s civic influence. Churches hide Yeshua. Churches claim the Holy Bible is the word of the God yet do everything they can to negate Geneses is 1:26-28: humankind is responsible to rule to the good on earth.

The God is a mystery. Civic citizens may, can, and do discern Yeshua’s civic influence. Accepting Genesis 1:26-28 helps yet does not exclude the open-minded and open-hearted fellow citizen.

**Cyrus, 600 BC, is called a messiah in Isaiah 45:1.

***Competitive monotheism survives on war.]