Theologians have made various arguments for the existence of God by arguing that since every effect is the result of a cause, and the existence of the universe is an effect, therefore a cause for the universe must exist. Moreover, since an infinite series of causes cannot be traversed to produce a present effect, there must be a first or beginning cause for the existence of the universe, and that cause is God.

While this may be a sound argument, the Hebrew Scriptures teach that the “first cause” of all that exists is not some sort of mechanistic or abstract power that sets the universe in motion, but on the contrary is a personal God who creates, sustains and providentially guides everything that exists. The Torah begins by revealing God as a “talking Intelligence” that creates all things by the agency of his verbal expression, or by means of his word. The first recorded word of God is yehi ohr, “let there be light” (Gen. 1:3). God speaks; he sees; he imagines, designs, orders, and executes his will in building the “house” (בּ) of the universe…

Torah teaches that God, the infinite and all-powerful Creator of reality, expresses himself as Person with a character that can be known… God is the great “I AM” (i.e., ehyeh: אהיה) who is the Source and origin of all that is real (Exod. 3:14-15). As I mentioned the other day, personhood is the essential feature of reality itself, and indeed, the structure of the “I” that constitutes the person is grounded in the Divine “I” that creates everything yesh me’ayin, “out of nothing.” The LORD (יהוה) is alone the transcendent and unsurpassed Creator of all things, and there are no other so-called gods besides Him (Deut. 32:39; Isa. 45:21-22).

Indeed God created people made in his “image” and his “likeness” for the very purpose that they would personally know Him and understand their special place within creation. The irreducibility of the self, the intuitions of logic, the ability to use language, the sentiments of value and beauty, and the inner witness of conscience, enable human beings to relate to God and understand truth. Therefore by virtue of creation people are endowed with the knowledge of God’s unsurpassing power and glory as well as the duty to act in accordance with his moral will (Psalm 19:1-2; Rom. 1:20). And while God created each of us individually, each individual is given life to be a member of the family of God, and that implies responsibilities to regard the sanctity of life and to respect the sanctity of others.

Read more “The Heart of Reality…”

Perhaps the first or most basic question of philosophy is “what is real?” The ancient philosopher Aristotle wrote, “All men by nature desire to know,” and knowing presupposes an object of knowledge… The quest of discovering “what is real” is the subject matter of “metaphysics,” or the study of what makes up reality…

The ancient pagan philosophers gazed upon the cosmos in wonder, asking what “stuff” (or power) constituted or underlay all the particulars of experience. They sought to understand not just what this or that particular thing was, but what everything was, the entire totality of all that exists. They sought the “one” in the “many” things of life, the arche (ἀρχῇ) or “unifying principle” that made the “uni-verse.” They also were puzzled by the phenomena of change: how something change over time and yet still be the same thing?

Jewish metaphysics began well over a thousand years before the ancient Greeks, though it did not arise through speculative reasoning about the nature of the world but by means of an encounter with the personal Creator of Reality, the great “I AM” (i.e., ehyeh: אהיה) who is the Source and origin of all that is real. Unlike ancient Greek cosmology that reduced the ego to a mechanistic process and unlike Hindu pantheistic philosophy that reduced the ego to an illusion, ancient Jewish metaphysics revealed that Personhood is the central feature of Reality itself, and indeed, that the structure of the “I” that constitutes the person is grounded in the Divine “I” that created everything yesh me’ayin, “out of nothing.” Human beings, in other words, are not the result of impersonal or blind processes (whether spiritual as in Hinduism or mechanical, as in naturalism), since the Source of all that exists – and that includes human beings and the structures of consciousness – is a Person who uniquely created and providentially governs all things. The LORD (יהוה) is alone the transcendent and unsurpassed Creator of all things, and there are no other so-called gods besides Him (Deut. 32:39; Isa. 45:21-22). Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is One” (Deut. 6:4).

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From our Torah this week (i.e., Bechukotai) we read: “Then [after all the various judgments have befallen the people] I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land” (Lev. 26:42). Here we note the “deeper Torah” of God’s unconditional promise to the children of Israel that “contextualizes” the various tribulations they would suffer because of their disobedience to the terms of the covenant given at Sinai (Gen. 15). Therefore the Apostle Paul appealed to God’s promises given to Abraham as the foundation for Torah, not to Israel’s righteousness based on the covenant of the law (Rom. 9:31; Gal. 4:24-27). “For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law (οὐ γὰρ διὰ νόμου) but through the righteousness of faith” (Rom. 4:13). The better covenant of Zion was prefigured at Mount Moriah – and hearkens back to Abraham and Isaac – not the later covenant made at Sinai (Gen. 22:16-18; Heb. 6:13-15; John 3:16). As for Israel in the galut (exile), God has promised: “But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD” (Lev. 26:45). Note again that this covenant relationship was established when we were without anything – we had no Torah, no mitzvot, nor any good deeds to commend ourselves before heaven. Nevertheless, God chose us and called us his people, and all this comes from his great love.

Read more “Bound by Love’s Promise…”

Everyone is a theologian of sorts, though not everyone thinks clearly or takes the time to reflect on the meaning of the words they use, and therefore studying theology is necessary because so much muddled theology exists… Generally speaking “theology” (θεολογία) may be defined as reasoning (λόγος) about God (Θεός), though such reasoning is grounded in the philosophical activity of apprehending truth about ultimate reality. And just as everyone is a theologian (either a good one or not), so everyone is a philosopher of some kind or another, that is, a person who opines about the ultimate questions of life. To be a conscious person (as opposed to being numb or asleep) implies that you are haunted by “big questions” (for example, “Who are we?” “Where did we come from?” “Why are we here?” “Where are we going?” and “What does it all mean?”), and therefore every self-reflective soul cannot escape the need to think clearly. Indeed disciples of Yeshua are called talmidim (תַּלְמִידִים), that is, “learners” who have a duty before God to know and live the truth. We are to “study to show ourselves approved before God, rightly understanding the Word of Truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). The alternative to being talmud chacham (a wise student) is to be muddled about what you believe and why your believe it. Faith is called the conviction (ἔλεγχος) or “argument” of truth (see Heb. 11:6). Not knowing the truth makes you vulnerable to various forms of philosophical deception and theological error, as it is written: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the traditions of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Messiah” (Col. 2:8). “However, we speak wisdom (σοφία) among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory” (1 Cor. 2:6-7). Knowing the truth sets us free (John 4:24, John 8:32; 2 Cor. 3:17).

Read more “Theology and Humilty…”

This week’s Torah portion (i.e., Bechukotai) promises blessings for those who obey God’s law and curses to those who do not. In the opening verses of portion we read: “If you walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them” then great blessings will follow (Lev. 26:3-ff). The sages comment that the phrase “if you walk in my statutes” (אם־בחקתי תלכו) does not refer to the regular commandments (i.e., ha’mitzvot: המצוות), but instead to the study and love of the Torah (לימוד התורה), the wisdom of which is a “Tree of Life” (עֵץ־חַיִּים) to those who take hold of it (Prov. 3:22). To “walk in the statutes” of Torah is to meditate upon it day and night, so that you will be rooted as a tree beside streams of water, bringing forth fruit in abundance and blessing (Psalm 1:3).

The portion continues by warning that if, on the other hand, you neglect God or are careless about keeping the commandments, you will experience the curse: all kinds of trouble, sickness, sorrows, exile, and (worst of all) alienation from God. The sages emphasize that the cure to the various curses of the law (i.e., tochachah) is the study of the Torah, by which they mean not simply intellectual study but also the careful practice of its principles in your daily life. Torah study, in this sense, is likened to medicine that heals the soul…

Now while it is assuredly true that the practice of Torah – walking in the decrees of God – is the ideal for people, and the imperatives of Scripture, if obeyed, direct the soul to life and blessing, the problem of indwelling sin is so incurably radical that it no amount of resolution of the will nor reformation of character will suffice to transform the fallen estate of human nature and thereby reverse the curse of death given to the sons of Adam, and therefore a cure that comes from beyond the realm of human nature must be found, a heavenly cure that is otherwise called the “righteousness of God” (צדקת האלהים).

Read more “Establishing the Law…”

We are being educated for eternity, and the life of faith is a long lesson in obedience — learning to suffer God’s will, to accept whatever happens, and to endure in hope. Practically speaking this means “laying aside” your desires and surrendering yourself — all that is within you — in trust of God’s plan for your life, even (and especially) in the most harrowing of moments… Indeed, in light of suffering what we really need is perseverance, or what the New Testament calls hupomone (ὑπομονή), a word that means “remaining [μένω] under [ὑπο]” the Divine Presence while being tested (the word “suffer” comes from the Latin word sufferre, from sub- (under) + ferre, to carry, and therefore denotes “bearing under” difficulty). Laying aside our desires is a form of suffering that calls for patience and wisdom as we learn to endure our own frailty and to trust God for what is best…

For the child of God there are no “disappointments” in life, since God directs our steps and uses every circumstance for our ultimate good: “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down…” (Psalm 37:3-4). To plead with God for some deliverance, to beseech him for the life of a beloved child or spouse; to cry out from the depths for mercy in the face of loss, as when beside a fresh grave – and to there affirm the threefold affirmation of kaddish: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21) – is to learn the lesson of obedience – surrendering to God’s will, refusing to despair even in the midst of our sorrows….

Hebrew Lesson:

Read more “The School of Suffering…”