Douglas Jacoby Podcast

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website . Family Brothers of James and son of Zebedee. For further details, see notes accompanying the James podcast. Ministry Training with Jesus. Focus: Luke 9:46-55 (John's lack of humility and love towards outsiders). Preaching with Peter Acts 3-5). Focus: Acts 4:13,19-20 (powerful preaching, significant knowledge of God and his word). Uned...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website . Introduction James, in its various forms (Jacob, Jacques, Diego, Jaime, Jack), is a common name. He was the brother of John. Jesus thus called at least two sets of brothers. With only one exception in the NT, he is always named before his brother John. This suggests he was older, or else preeminent. Perhaps his preeminence and outspok...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website . Introduction In these NT character podcasts, we have already heard a lesson on the apostles Paul and Andrew. We continue our study with the balance of the better known apostles; the lesser known ones we will cover all together in the final podcast on the apostles. For Catholics he is the majestic prince of the apostles, as a visit to...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website . Background The name Andreas (English Andrew) comes from the Greek word for man ( aner / andros ), and hence appears to mean "manly." He seems to have been more cosmopolitan (broad-minded and Greek) than the other apostles, and thus figures prominently in John's gospel, which has a more universal focus than the three Synoptic Gospels....

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website . References Acts 24:24 Josephus, Jewish Antiquities , xx.7.2. NT Character Podcast on Felix Birth Born in Rome (?) 38 AD The youngest of three daughters of Herod Agrippa I (grandson of Herod the Great), who had killed the apostle James (Acts 12). She was apparently quite beautiful. Marriage Married as a teenager. Accepted an invitation...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website . The man Antonius Felix reigned 52-60 AD He was a freedman of the emperor Claudius (41-54 AD) or his mother. His brother was friend of Claudius. Three wives Drusilla of Mauretania (half-Greek, no issue) Felix divorced her to marry a teenage Judean princess of the same name (53 AD) She died in 79 AD -- more about that in the next podcas...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website . Introduction   Jesus and Paul are beyond question the two persons in the NT about whom we know most. Paul wrote 13 of the 27 NT documents (87 chapters, nearly as many as the 89 of the four gospels). But there is a major difference between him and Jesus.  Jesus left nothing directly to us in writing. In Paul’s case, we are able to coor...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website . Name, marriage, means Joanna = "God is gracious" Wife of Chuza Chuza was steward (financial controller) of Herod Antipas, son of the Herod (the Great) who'd tried to dispatch Jesus c.6-4 BC. Herod Antipas reigned 4 BC - 39 AD. He had John the Baptist decapitated, and also was part of the process that condemned Jesus. She may be the Ju...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website . Birth & marriage We have information on her over a period of some 36 years. Birth We know nothing of her family, though there is a tradition that her parents were Joachim and Anne. She was named after Miriam (prophetess, leader, singer, sister of Moses). Birth year around 20 BC. Marriage Betrothed (Luke 2:5) -- nearly as binding as a...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website . Identity A common name in the Arab kingdoms of Nabatea and Palmyra. Possibly an Arab slave of Caiaphas? As assistant to the most powerful (Jewish) man in Israel, Malchus occupied a position of respect. Walked at the front of the guards, given his close connection to the high priest. Speculation: M. may have been Caiaphas' "ear" in Jer...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website . Semitic words: Yeshua -- Hebrew name for Joshua (Jesus), meaning "God saves," or "salvation. Yesous -- the Greek word for Jesus and Joshua. Immanuel -- Hebrew for "with-us God" Based on grave inscriptions and other literary sources, the most common names in 1st C. Palestine were, in order: Salome, Simon, Mary, Joseph, Judas, Lazarus,...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website . Review: Galatians : Deals with a set of teachings remarkably similar to modern Messianic Judaism. As in Romans, the phrase “the Law” refers to Torah, not works-righteousness. The issue isn’t whether we can scratch and work our way to Yahweh, but whether the regulations of Torah are essential. The Law, for the ancient Israelites, was a...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website . Main ideas The Jew-Gentile Controversy Just how “Jewish” do Christians need to be? The answer: Not at all, although it is okay for actual Jews to hold on to cultural markers—provided they do not force these on others. This was the broadest dispute in the first century church, from 30-70 AD. Later centuries had their own hot topics. Ro...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website . We have already discussed several major features of Judaism that do not carry over directly into Christianity. For example, consider:   Animal sacrifices (Heb 9:22; 10:1-4; 10:18) Warfare : We are no longer permitted to kill our enemies. The church is no longer a political entity. Priesthood . All Christians function as priests, and o...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website . Main ideas: Sabbatarians are right about the day: Sabbath is the 7th day, sundown Friday-sundown Saturday. The 4th-C church created a "Sunday Sabbath". (Although Christians had long been meeting on Sundays, it was not legally day of rest/worship.) This happened under Constantine (early 300s). Yet in the 1st C, there was a change to th...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website . Main ideas: In Rom 11:25, plērōma means fullness, not "full number." (The identical term appears in 13:10 and 15:29. Also John 1:16; 1 Cor 10:26; Gal 4:4; etc.) Rom 9:6: Ancestry doesn't count; "Israel" = children of faith, not Abraham's physical descendants. " All Israel" refers to true Israel—those who by faith are the sons and daug...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website . Main ideas: Jesus and the apostles clearly taught that Israel had lost its covenant and nationhood in the sight of God (Matt 22:2-9; 23:31-39; John 8:22-24, 39-47; Rom 8:30-10:4; 10:20-21; 1 Thess 2:14-16). [These strong words are not "antisemitic," as they were articulated by Semites (Jews). Not only Jesus, but all the apostles too w...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website . Main ideas: The new covenant is for all believers, not just the Jews. In fact, the Jews have no special status before the Lord, and more than male Christians are in a different category from female Christians (Gal 3:26-29). To be Abraham's descendant is not an ethnic matter, but a matter of faith. Jesus speaks of the rejection of the...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website . Main ideas: Law and covenant are integrally connected. Nearly the entire book of Deuteronomy is cast in the form of a covenant, the conditions of which are the commandments of the Law of Moses. Although key components of the old covenant (Gen 17:13; Exod 12:24; 29:9; 31:16; 40:15; 1 Ki 8:13) seem to be "forever," the original word ( H...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website . Main ideas: The Law and Prophets are the foundation on which Jesus begins his transformative ministry. Analogy: algebra builds on arithmetic—not invalidating it, but fulfilling it. This fulfillment is illustrated in Matt 5:21-7:27. Matthew's 14 fulfillment formulae, interestingly,  all cite the Prophets, (1:22; 2:15; 2:17; 2:23; 3:15;...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website . Main ideas: Matthew 5:17-20 is an important passage for Messianics. Yet the commands Jesus refers to are not the typically "Jewish" mitzvoth, but dealing with anger and lust, being persons of integrity, loving enemies, etc. (We referred to 1 Corinthians 1:17, and also compared John 9:39 to John 12:47, since they illustrate how a verse...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website . Main ideas: 1st century: apostles agree Gentiles are  not obligated to follow Torah (Acts 15:1-35; Titus 1:10-11). 19th century: rooted in evangelism of Jews, Zionism , and Dispensationalism . 20th century: birthed in groups like " Jews for Jesus " (1960s-1970s). In short, there is no "Messianic Judaism" until a few generations ago. T...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website . A growing movement—with perhaps 250,000 members in the U.S., and 10% that number in Israel—is proclaiming that the path to Christian spirituality is through embracing Torah and the Jewishness of the early church. They aim to keep the Sabbath, observe the Old Testament festivals, use Hebrew and Aramaic words, call their leaders rabbi,...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website . Pharaoh’s daughter / Pharaoh (daughter / father, and princess / king) 14th BC Exodus 1:15-17, 22; 2:1-10 The hero is a pagan, a worshipper of the Egyptian gods—the daughter of Pharaoh! We’re not told whether she ever told her father she had adopted a Hebrew baby. Nor are we given any details about her interactions with her father, the...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website . Introduction CLEAN 21, The Wealthy Shunammites’ Son = also  OT character study 64 . Yesterday we saw how the prophet Elijah saved the life of the son of the Widow of Zarephath. Today we will look at a similar account—and it’s easy to confuse the two!—involving Elijah’s successor, Elisha. This woman is probably younger than the widow o...