First let's get something clear about erroneous notions of Paul and his founding a new religion, which he didn't. True, the halakhah of his Judaism switched from the Pharisaic oral law to the Ruach Hakodesh, but his religion was still one of the Judaisms of the time, not a new non-Judaism Gentile religion.

MOSHIACH'S LETTER THROUGH THE SHLIACH SHIMON KEFA TO THE BRIT CHADASHA KEHILLAH (II)

Since Shliach Kefa was martyred under Nero, and Nero died in C.E.

68, this letter was probably written between A.D. 65-68, for it

mentions I Shliach Kefa which must have been written C.E. 64-68.

The notes on Yehuda should be read prior to reading these notes.

Those who flatly deny that Shliach Kefa could have written this

letter of fervarious spurious objections. For example, it is

asserted that Shliach Kefa would never quote a lesser figure like

Yehuda, as some argue II Shliach Kefa 2 does in its supposed

dependence on almost the whole letter of Yehuda. This kind of

argument is that of a modern scholar reading his own scholarly

conventions and attitudes back into the first century. If Shliach

Kefa were convinced that the Spirit of the Risen Moshiach

Yehoshua were speaking in Yehuda, why should the humble fisherman

refuse to quote the Spirit of the Risen Moshiach Yehoshua?

Certainly Shliach Kefa knew that, though it was his own sermons

and testimony that comprised the Besuras Hageulah of Mark (which

Matthew and Luke quote extensively in their Besuras Hageulahs),

no one was quoting him per se but the Ruach Hakodesh who authored

this material through him. Therefore, if the Shliach Matthew

quoted the non-apostle Mark, why could not the Shliach Shliach

Kefa quote Yehuda? If

Shliach Kefa used a secretary (Silas) to make sure his Greek were

polished in I Shliach Kefa but did not have the same

secretary when he wrote II Shliach Kefa, this would account for

any stylistic differences between the two letters. It does not

take any creativity to envision a situation around C.E. 64, when

Shliach Kefa's life was nearly over in Nero's pogrom, and,

possibly with Yehuda's circular letter before him (yet Yehuda and

II Shliach Kefa ch. 2 may not be as dependent on each other as

many believe, and both may be quoting from a common source) and

the horror of this antinomian heresy weighing on his thoughts,

that Shliach Kefa decided to add the weight of his own authority

against the immoral plague that Yehuda is attacking. (On the

other hand, it is also possible that Yehuda is quoting Shliach

Kefa.) Furthermore, it would seem strange if Shliach Kefa had not

read and collected at least a few of Rav Sha'ul's major epistles

by this date, so 3:15 poses no threat to Petrine authorship.

Michael Greene adequately documents the early attestation that II

Shliach Kefa is a genuine letter of the Shliach.

Shliach Kefa condemns the antinomian false teachers for enticing

new and immature believers "who are just escaping from those who

live in error" (2:18). Ch. 1:4 describes this escape as from the

slavery of the domination of the evil desires of this depraved

world. The one who is in union with G-d and has received the new

birth from His Ruach Hakodesh has a new nature, one with glory

and immortality like the divine life of G-d (see 1:4). These

false teachers who promise "freedom" from the constraints of the

moral law are in fact slaves of the corruption of this decaying

and condemned creation (2:19) which will be ignited by fire and

destroyed in the end (3:10). These corrupt religious people,

lacking the holiness that grows with a genuine new birth, are

doomed to the same destructive fire (2:9-10) as the rest of the

depraved world.

Notice that mere profession of the new life of holiness in the

Moshiach is not enough for salvation (2:20). The new life of

Moshiach Yehoshua must actually reside in the person and

disentangle him from his former defilements and give him the

victory that overcomes the world, holiness-generating, true,

saving faith (See I Yochanan 5:4). This is a true Biblical

teshuva and a change of heart and many have not experienced it.

To only make profession of faith but lack the power to live a new

life makes the person worse off than if he had never heard the

Besuras Hageulah because his greater love of depravity is now

common knowledge, like a dog that loves to return to its vomit

(2:31-23). Shliach Sha'ul says these kinds of men will not get

very far because their folly will be clear to everyone (II Tim.

3:9). Ultimately, only those who are as depraved as they are will

be fooled by them.

In counselling new believers who have just escaped the

corruptions of the world and are still very much tempted by

Satan, it is of utmost importance for messianic ministers to be

wise enough to know when to minister "at arm's length, "snatching

them from the fire by showing mercy toward them mixed with the

fear of G-d (see Yehuda 23). In this way the ministers themselves

can flee temptation and keep their own testimony.

The Day of the L-rd (3:10) can come at any time, like a thief,

catching all but the G-dly unprepared. This Day is looked at in

its destructive effect on the present wicked and depraved human

empire and is seen at a single glance, without pausing to

describe the Millennium (but see 3:8). Those who say that nothing

has changed and that the L-rd is not coming back but that life

will go on unchanged are blind to the changes that have already

occurred: the flood of death on all corrupt flesh, the fulfilled

(586 B.C.E. and C.E. 70) prophesies of the fiery flood of

destruction overtaking Jerusalem in both her predicted exiles,

the millions and millions who have been changed by the new birth,

and the imminent prospect of change with the coming cosmic

conflagration and world destruction by nuclear fire. Read chapter

3.

A final note on "prophecy" teachers with speculative and strange

teachings. Ch. 1:20 says that Scripture cannot be

individualistically exploited to support novel doctrines which

are in error because they are a matter of one's own

interpretation (as though one could interpret a verse any way he

wanted). Each text must be interpreted in line with its immediate

context as well as the greater context of Scripture, which has

one author, the Ruach Hakodesh, who doesn't contradict himself.

This means that all Scripture must be interpreted with the help

of the same Ruach Hakodesh, who alone can remove the scales from

our eyes so that we can understand what we read in the Bible. To

the person without hitkhadeshut the Bible is unfathomable and

foolish (I Cor. 1:18).

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E. student of Plato and tutor of Alexander

the Great) said, "Of things constituted by nature, some are

ungenerated, imperishable, and stung.." (On the Parts of Animals,

644b). So Aristotle said that the universe is eternal. But the

Second Law of Thermodynamics states that a closed system (such as

the universe) declines toward a state of maximum entropy or

degeneration. So modern science proves Aristotle wrong. The

universe is not eternal but is winding down to an end. This is

also a powerful scientific argument against evolution, since,

according to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, we would expect

species to tend to decline downward toward extinction (which they

in fact do) rather than evolve upward.

But like Aristotle, the libertine, skeptical Greek false teachers

being refuted in II Shliach Kefa are also wrong when they say, af

es gar oi pateras (see Heb.1:1 on pateras) Ekoimethesan panta

outos diamenei ap arxes kriseos (II Shimon Kefa 3:4). On this

kind of scoffing in the Jewish Bible, see Amos 9:10; Mal. 2:17;

Ezek. 12:22; Zeph. 1:12; Isa. 5:18-24; Jer. 17:15. As surely as

the Day of the L-rd came near in the 586 B.C.E. and C.E. 70

destructions of the Beis Hamikdash, vindicating the predictions

of the prophets and destroying the scoffers, so, just as surely

the e epaggelia tes parousias autou (II Shimon Kefa 3:4) will be

kept and fulfilled by G-d. "A star shall rise out of Jacob" LXX

anatelei astron eks Iakob--Num. 24:17, interpreted of the

Moshiach's coming, Jerusalem Talmud Ta'amit 68d). The morning

star (Venus) will rise and the new Day of Eternity will dawn at

the parousia of the Second Coming (II Shimon Kefa 1:19).

The second century Irenasus, who through Polycarp had a knowledge

of the early Brit Chadasha kehillah going back to the Shliach

Yochanan, seems to allude to II Shimon Kefa 1:15 (Against

Heresies 3.1.1). An even stronger attestation of the authenticity

of II Shliach Kefa is the fact that Yehuda may in fact be quoting

from II Shliach Kefa and Yehuda's whole letter seems to be a

reference to II Shimon Kefa 3:3 (see Yehuda 17-18) as well as a

series of references to II Shimon Kefa 1:12-3:18. Those scoffers

who say that Shliach Kefa did not write II Shliach Kefa stand

under the judgment of G-d's Word.

A key word continually repeated in II Shliach is epignosis

(1:2,3,8; 2:20). It is more than gnosis which has to do with

spiritual discernment. It means the knowledge or recognition one

has of Moshiach Yehoshua when one comes to repentance and

conversion.

Compare II Shimon Kefa 3:3 and Yehuda 18

As you can see, II Shimon Kefa 3:3 appears to he Yehuda's proof

text in Yehuda 18 and Yehuda's whole letter may in fact to be

written with the aid of II Shliach Kefa. Compare below:

II Shimon Kefa 1:5 and Yehuda 3

II Shimon Kefa 1:12 and Yehuda 5

II Shimon Kefa 2:1 and Yehuda 4

II Shimon Kefa 2:4 and Yehuda 6

II Peter 2:6 and Yehuda 7

II Shimon Kefa 2:10 and Yehuda 8

II Shimon Kefa 2:10 and Yehuda 8

II Shimon Kefa2:11 and Yehuda 9

II Shimon Kefa 2:12 and Yehuda 10

II Shimon Kefa 2:l2 and Yehuda 10

II Shimon Kefa 2:13 and Yehuda 12

II Shimon Kefa 2:14-15 and Yehuda 11

II Shimon Kefa 2:17 and Yehuda 8,10,12,16,l9

II Shimon Kefa 2:17 and Yehuda 12

II Shimon Kefa 2:17 and Yehuda 13

II Shimon Kefa 2:18 and Yehuda 16

II Shimon Kefa 2:21 and Yehuda 3

II Shimon Kefa 3:14 and Yehuda 24

II Shimon Kefa 3:18 and Yehuda 25