Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

Who’s Authority?

We are going to use an apologetic approach to unravel Romans 13:1-7 this week. The term Apologetics comes from 1 Peter 3.

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense (Apologia) to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

1 Peter 3:15

I previously covered a few of the most common apologetic approaches here. This week, we will engage in Presuppositional Apologetics. A presupposition is a statement that we assume to be true. We then build an argument based on that original assumption. If the presupposition is wrong then the entire argument falls apart. Paul was a presuppositional apologist extraordinaire. One great example of a Pauline presupposition is found in 1 Corinthians 15.

But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if, in fact,, the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life, we have hope in Christ; we are of all people most to be pitied.

1 Corinthians 15:12-19

A similar Pauline presupposition is that

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

If the entire Bible is not God-breathed, then we have no logical basis for determining that any of it is God-breathed. All truth and meaning in scripture become subject to individual interpretation. This is called Relativism. Taken to its extreme, relativism ends in Solipsism. In case you were wondering, if God is the creator of all things, then logic was also invented by God. Mankind simply discovered it.

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.

Proverbs 25:2

Mankind’s search for what God concealed was later named science. 

All that being said, if all of the Bible is God-breathed then scripture can not contradict scripture and still be true. Only our faulty human understanding can contradict scripture. This is the foundational presupposition upon which we base the Acts 17:11 Bereans Bible Study.

Moving On to Romans 13

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Romans 13:1-7

Romans 13:1-7 has been one of the most controversial verses in history. It was cited in defense of slavery during the Civil War. Adolf Hitler used it to justify Nazi rule in Germany along with his Final Solution in the Holocaust. People are forever twisting scripture to minimize, rationalize, and justify errant presuppositions, otherwise known as sin. The outstanding question in this passage is,

Who has the authority to govern?

One argument states that Romans 13 only applies when the authority that governs and bears the sword is good. If it is not good then we are obligated to oppose it. This presupposition has been applied in support of all manner of wars including civil war. Hence this begs the question,

What or who qualifies as good?

If we are to blindly obey every political and religious leader because they are placed in authority by God, then how do we account for Peter’s response to the Pharisees in Acts chapter 5?

And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, 
“We must obey God rather than men“.

Acts 5:27-29

Are Peter and Paul contradicting one another?

He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him, all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Colossians 1:15-20

If, in fact, Satan is defeated and Jesus is Lord of all creation, then it follows that nothing can happen that God does not cause or allow.  How, then, can we claim that horrors like slavery and the Holocaust happened contrary to God’s will? If that be the case then Satan has the authority and power to foil God’s plan. We are in effect saying,

“Jesus conquered Satan on the cross, but not really because Satan wins sometimes”

This violates the laws of non-contradiction and coherence. Either Jesus has ALL power and authority, Mat 28:18 or He does not.

This was the dilemma that Dietrich Bonhoeffer faced when Adolf Hitler’s SS minions perverted the gospel via Romans 13 in the German church. Bonhoeffer subsequently participated in an assassination attempt on Hitler. His reasoning:

Adolf Hitler was clearly not good. 

What many historians, miss or perhaps omit is that Dietrich Bonhoeffer eventually repented for this. In his final work, “Ethics,” he postulated that man’s ultimate problem and the reason for all evil, including the Holocaust, was man’s “knowledge of good and evil” gleaned from the fruit of the forbidden tree in Eden. Bonhoeffer concluded that all of man’s ethical judgments, even his best most righteous judgments, effectively make him a god onto himself and an enemy of the one true God. That’s a hard sell in faith streams where the authority of individual believers is so emphasized. Still, it’s worth pondering, especially in the context of Romans 13:1-7.

1 Peter chapter two seems to support the assertion that we are called to submit to all authority including oppressive tyrants.

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

1 Peter 2:13-17

The emperor in the above verse was Nero. Nero is often cited as the inventor of the “false flag attack” after he burned Rome and blamed it on Christians. He then had them mounted on poles, soaked in oil, and burned as human torches to light the streets and gardens of Rome. For this is the will of God, that by doing good, you should silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Is Peter contradicting what he said in Acts 5?

The short answer is “no!”. The question is the phrase “be subject to…” synonymous with “blind obedience to…”? The Greek word is hypotássō. While it can mean obedience it is more clearly defined as “to be in submission to…” 1 Peter 2 commands us to honor the emperor. But we are to fear God.

I would venture to say that the bottom line in Romans 13, 1 Peter 2, and Acts 5 is the sovereignty of God and the requirement of our obedience to Him alone. We preach the gospel out of obedience to God. We obey human authority out of obedience to God. We are to do everything as onto the Lord. Col 3:23 Christians under Nero didn’t reject Jesus out of obedience to Nero. Rather they were faithful to God and submitted to the earthly consequences for doing so. They submitted in obedience to God. They did not fight Nero because he was evil. Rather they responded as Paul commanded in the previous chapter.

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:19-21

The apostle’s obedience was displayed in their faithfulness in preaching truth, followed by their willingness to submit to being tortured and killed for doing so, knowing that “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” Nowhere in the gospels is there an exhortation to oppose the earthy government and authority on any grounds apart from speaking the truth of scripture. We are not to oppose any authority in any way apart from preaching the gospel. Like Peter, we disobey any command forbidding us to speak the word of God even if it results in our death.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

2 Corinthians 10:4-6

Vengence in Romans 12 and Punish in 2 Corinthians 10 are from the same Greek root ekdikéō.

to vindicate one’s right, do one justice
to protect, defend, one person from another
to avenge a thing
to punish a person for a thing

-Strongs Concordance-

I know what some are thinking. Paul says we are to be ready to punish every disobedience. Doesn’t that speak to those in Romans 13 with the authority to wield the sword? Perhaps. But you’d better be sure the Lord gave you that authority or you will be fighting against Him.

The emphasis in 2 Corinthians 10 is upon our obedience being complete. Anger is a normal and even correct response to injustice. The key to understanding anger is found in our response. We only respond correctly when we win the battle in our minds with truth.  There is only one correct response. 

Be angry,and do not sin;
    ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. 
Selah

Psalm 4:4

Of course the idea that we only oppose injustice by speaking truth to power is another hard sell especially in Dominionist streams where the overarching theme is,

“Occupy till I come.”

Luke 19:13

Many believe that occupy implies defense and offense. We take ground for God and hold it. Period! This is one presupposition that supports patriotism and the use of the sword to preserve and extend a nation’s borders.

Throughout scripture, God uses those bearing the sword to fulfill His purpose and righteousness, then punishes the sword bearers for their own unrighteousness. See Jeremiah chapters 14 and 25 and Isaiah chapter 10. The point here is that the mere fact that one has the authority to wield the sword for God’s good purposes does not in itself imply the sword wielder’s righteousness before God. God causes all things to work together for good. Rom 8:28

Chew on that for a minute…

I believe the responses of Jesus further confirm my thesis that believers are never to oppose those in authority with anything other than the word of God.

When Peter attacked Malchus in Gethsemane with the sword Jesus told him to bring, Jesus declared that He could ask his father for twelve legions of angels.

“No more of this!”, said Jesus

Jesus submitted to the wicked authorities so that scripture might be fulfilled.  Luke 22:49-51, John 18:10-15, Matthew 26:51-55

When Jesus was arrested, stood before Caiaphas, and was asked if He was the Son of God, in Mat 26:57-68, Jesus paraphrased Daniel 7:13-14.  

“You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Mat 26:64

Jesus then became silent and submitted to be struck, spat upon, and condemned.

He stood silent before Pilate never defending himself except to state that His kingdom is not of this world. If it were his followers would fight. Luke 23, Matthew 27, Mark 15, John 19 Nowhere in the gospels did Jesus or His disciples oppose authority beyond speaking God’s word.

So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

John 19:10-11

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. 

Titus 3:1-2

Are we to submit to ruling authorities out of obedience to God whether we agree with them or not? It would seem so because God is the only authority. But maybe you see differently. Do you have another biblical apologia that does not violate the laws of coherence and noncontradiction?

Let’s hear about it.

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

A Week Apology

If you are tracking with our most recent Acts 17:11 Berean Bible study post, I asked people to give a 1 Peter 3:15-16 defense (apologia) for the hope that is in us to a Jewish person claiming the Torah says,

all Christians are idolaters and should be killed.

First, we must sanctify our hearts in preparation to speak with gentleness and respect. 1 Pet 3:15-16. The Jews are still God’s chosen people into whom we are grafted. We must not become arrogant toward the branches. Rom 11:18 As regards the gospel, they (the Jews) are enemies for our sake. Rom 11:28

Here is one apology.

Somewhere around 2000BC Abraham had his son Issac carry wood for a burnt offering on his shoulders to the top of Mount Moriah. Issac had no idea that he was to be the sacrifice. Abraham was fully prepared to end the life of the very son whom God had promised. Then God stopped him.

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”  He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn“, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you,  Genesis 22:11-17

Two thousand years later God fulfilled His sworn oath in His own son Jesus who was fully aware that He was to be the final sacrifice, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world as he carried the wooden Cross on His shoulders to the top of the same mountain to be crucified.

As believers, we know multiple scriptures tell us that our omniscient God had His plan in place before the foundations of the world. The key to our defense of this all-encompassing hope before our unbelieving Abrahamic siblings is to make this argument using the Old Testament alone. The book of Daniel is just one example of God foretelling His plan so that His chosen people, the Jews could know and recognize their Messiah when He arrived. But they rebelled. Therefore,

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
    eyes that would not see
    and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.” Rom 11:8 Eze 12:2

As all of Romans 11 explains, even their hardness of heart was part of God’s plan.

Ironically it was the Magi from Persia where Daniel had been exiled that recognized the birth of the Jewish Messiah Mat 2 while His own people rejected Him. Psalm 118:22 Isa 53:3 John 1:11 Nevertheless, God can not lie. He swore an oath by His own name. Gen 22

“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
    he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;  “and this will be my covenant with them
    when I take away their sins.” Isaiah 59:20 Rom 11:27

Sworn in Gen 22:11-17 is shaba` Literally “to seven oneself”, i.e. to swear an oath by repeating a declaration seven times. The masculine form Sheba is the numeral 7. Hopefully, you will see the poignance in this as you read on.

Daniel 9 gives us the exact year when Jesus’s ministry began. It was there for the Jewish people the whole time. I understand that this might be confusing. I will do my best to answer questions when we meet.

The Seventy Weeks of Daniel

In the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Dan 9:2

Daniel is referring to the following verses.

This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon for seventy years. Jer 25:11

For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. Jer 29:10

In addition to the sexual sins associated with Baal and Asherah worship (Asherah is the first recorded Transgender) and the infanticide associated with Molech worship, Israel was sentenced to exile for 1 year for every Shmitah (Sabbath year 7th year that they failed to observe and allow the land to rest.) 7 x 70 = 490 years is the total time Israel was in rebellion against God. That they only served a 70-year sentence is more evidence of God’s mercy.

For the record, we know that a week of years is seven years because “You shall count seven weeks [Sabbaths] of years, seven times seven years so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. Lev 25:8

“Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy. Dan 9:24

This verse is a summarization of the entire prophecy of Israel’s future from the end of their exile up to the start of the Millenial reign of Jesus on earth following His return on the Mount of Olives. Zechariah 14:14 Mat 24:29-31

“Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command (decree) To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. Dan 9:25

Verse twenty-five is speaking of the rebuilding of the Temple and Jerusalem by Nehemiah. The decree to do so marks the beginning of seven and sixty-two, or 69 “weeks of years”. 69 x 7 = 483 years. Keep in mind, that “Messiah the Prince” is not the birth of Jesus. Rather it refers to the date of Jesus’ anointing when He was baptized by John, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and He officially began His ministry on earth.

The exact date of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem is rather ambiguous at first. Therefore it helps to do the math based on what we already know. Given that we are still BC (before Christ) the date of Jesus’ baptism (anointing) and the start of His ministry should work out to

483 – “X” years. X=unknown.

Both Luke and Matthew mention Jesus’ birth as occurring during Herod’s reign and before his death in 4BC Luke 1, Mat 2 The consensus among most Scholars is that Jesus was born around 4BC. In addition, we are told that Jesus was about thirty years old when He began His ministry. Luke 3:23

Possible References

The decree to rebuild Jerusalem is mentioned in four places.

– Cyrus 538 BC Ezra 1:1-11 Messiah would have to be anointed in 55BC
– Darius 520 BC Ezra 5-6  Messiah would have to be anointed in 37BC
– Artaxerxes 457 BC  Ezra 7 Messiah would have to be annointed in 26AD
– Artaxerxes 444 BC  Nehemiah 2:4-11Messiah would have to be anointed in 40AD

As we will see Artaxerxes’ decree in 457BC Ezra 7 is the only one that fits. The reasons are as follows.

1. Ezra 7 is the only place where a full decree to is written out.

2. Four hundred eighty three years from Artexerxes’ decree in 457BC is 26AD because

483 years – 457 BC = 26AD

If Jesus was born in 4BC He’d have been 30 years old in 26AD because

4BC + 26AD = 30 years

“And after (the specific date is not given) the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; (this is when Jesus was crucified). And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary…
Dan 9:26

The Romans destroyed the Temple and Jerusalem under Titus in 70AD. The Jewish people were dispersed to the nations and Israel ceased to exist as a nation until it was restored in 1948 and Jews began returning to their ancestral home. “The people of the prince who is to come” are the people who follow the spirit of antichrist.

More poignant details

Consider that it was the angel Gabriel who came to Daniel amidst his intercession for his people and gave him the prophecy of the coming Messiah. It’s no coincidence that Gabriel announced the birth of John and Jesus 2000 years later. The name “Zacharias” means “remembered of Jehovah”. His wife “Elizabeth” means “oath of God”. Together they mean,

“God remembered His oath.”

“Jesus has come. Jesus is coming.”

We must be ready to make Old Testament connections to New Testament scripture.

“Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah as you did that day at Massah  in the wilderness, Psalm 95:8 Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion Heb 3:15

That said, you may be wondering about the remainder of Daniel 9

The 70th week that brings in everlasting righteousness, seals up vision and prophecy, and anoints the Most Holy.

Daniel 9:27 refers to the end of days e.g. Daniel 12, Matthew 24, Luke 21, Revelation 12 and 13, etc. That said, there is a world of controversy over this verse. Hence it is a separate study. For now, let’s be content to bask in the awe of comprehending one piece of God’s complexity and precision in what He resolved to accomplish before the foundations of the world has been fulfilled. These are foundational to the reason for the hope that is in us.

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

We Owe You an Apology

“but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.” 1 Peter 3:15-16

This is known as the apologetics scripture. Defense is apología – a verbal defense, a speech in defense of, a reasoned statement or argument. Ironically it is also the word from which the English word apology is derived. a regretful acknowledgment of an offense or failure. While the word of God most certainly is an offense to many, we are not apologizing for it. We are arguing for it’s validity.

Paul and Peter were the first Christian apologists. Justin Martyr followed. Christians were accused of being atheists and cannibals. Hence Martyr’s was a formal legal defense of Christianity before the Roman Emperor.

There are at least eight primary schools of apologetics. While each assumes a different approach they support one another and frequently overlap. They are as follows.

Experiential Apologetics is most easily recognized in personal testimonies about salvation and other encounters with the presence of God. This approach is most common and most accepted within charismatic circles. As valid as testimonies may be we must consider that Mormons, Muslims, and especially New Agers all have testimonies as well. Testimony alone is often ineffective unless we also expose the fallacies of any worldview devoid of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Historical and Evidentialist Apologists like J Warner Wallace a former cold case homicide detective use the same investigative principles employed by detectives to defend the historical accuracy of the Bible.

Presuppositional Apologetics begins with the fact that everyone has a worldview and every worldview is rooted in at least one empirically unprovable assumption or presupposition. “God exists” and “God does not exist” are equally unprovable. Hence everyone is a person of faith. The question that follows is, “Which statement of faith has the most supporting evidence?”

Biblical Apologetics assumes the inerrancy of scripture and argues for or against theological truth claims such as  Continuationism – “The gifts are for today” based on scripture alone. Biblical Apologetics and Presuppositional Apologetics are close bedfellows.

Philosophical Apologetics, argues for the existence of God but not the deity of Jesus or the inerrancy of scripture. The Cosomolgical
Argument argues points like, the Kalam cosmological argument.
1. Everything that exists has a beginning.
2. The universe exists.
3. Therefore the Universe has a beginning.
What often follows is the

Teleological Argument which includes arguments like one based on Complexity. One such argument is called the “Wristwatch Argument”. If an alien landed in a remote forest and found a wristwatch he would based on its complexity alone, assume there was a designer and a maker. A single human cell is far more complex than a wristwatch. Therefore it follows that the cell had to have a designer and maker.

Prophetic Apologetics argues for the accuracy of scripture on the basis of fulfilled prophecy and may include evidential arguments such as the mathematical impossibility of their being random chance events.

Moral Apologetics
Absolute moral law exists. That’s how we know it is wrong to torture and kill babies. That absolute moral law exists implies a creator. If there is no creator then absolute moral law does not exist. You are free to “do as thou wilt”. Moral apologetics converges with presuppositional and Biblical apologetics and illustrates how inherently sinful we are, how incapable we are of being good, and our subsequent need for a savior. Ray Comfort frequently applies Moral Apologetics in his evangelism.

Still, Peter prefaces this famous apologetics verse with “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy… The KJV says But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts…

Honor or Sanctify is hagiázō – to render or acknowledge, or to be venerable or hallow, to separate from profane things, to consecrate, to purify…

One thing you will learn if you study apologetics is that a logically valid argument can be made about almost anything provided it remains faithful to the original supporting presupposition. That Jews should be killed is a valid statement by Hamas in the context of Jews committing genocide against their people. The same argument is valid in the case of Jews as the recurring victims of genocide for hundreds of years. If there is no God there are no absolutes. There is nothing outside of group consensus to stop anyone from doing anything be it exterminating a group of people or hybridizing mankind. A man can be a woman, a woman can be a man and a child can be a cat or a dog. Hence logically valid is not always the same as

RIGHT.

It is for this reason that Peter instructs us to consecrate our hearts onto to God. We need to separate our hearts from profane things such as war and the mutilation of His images and consecrate them to God.

Herein lies the paradox.

Peter instructs us to lead with our hearts. But we can not do so unless our mind informs our hearts. One problem I see in the church today is that we have

too many heartless minds and just as many mindless hearts.

Heart and Mind are not exclusive nor are they adversaries. They are interdependent and complementary.

Here is an exercise for our next Acts 17:11 Bereans Bible Study.

I posted this video in the previous post. A Jewish man tells a Christian evangelist that Christians should be killed. The Christian man does a great job of sanctifying his heart and a horrific job, in my opinion, of making a defense for the hope that is in him.

One thing is certain

We owe this Jewish man and everyone like him whose jealousy we are called to provoke an apology.

Make a defense as if you were the evangelist he confronted.

MARANATHA