Quote:
Originally Posted by Evang.Benincasa
I understand all that, but still we may not have the actual documents which Jude and Peter quoted from.
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I do however think this plays a part in it all:
Tit 1:13 This witness is true.
Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
Tit 1:14 Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
What is fascinating to me is that 1st century Judaism was not monolithic. There were calendar disputes about when the Feasts were to be kept, or even what kind of calendar was to be used (some held to a solar calendar, represented by the Book of Jubilees). The Qumran sect denied the validity of the Temple priesthood. I discovered from FF Bruce's New
Testament History that there was a competing Jewish Temple and priesthood in Egypt in those days, claiming legitimacy by geneology and denying the Jerusalem priesthood any legitimacy because of the Herodian appointments (begun during the Maccabean period, I think it was, under the Seleucids?).
Galatians and Colossians reveal it wasn't just plain old Pharisaism Paul and the churches had to deal with, but a weird cultic new agey type of syncretic Jewish-gnostic-pagan-occultic smorgasborg of false doctrines, false teachers, etc rampant within 'Judaism'.
Apparently, nothing has really changed much in 2000 years...
