Table of Contents
<title>Exegesis II</title>
When I started writing this website I was trying to counter arguments from Mormons, Christians, and others which I felt were not based entirely in the Bible. I believed that God's word was holy and that for some strange reason many people had decided to follow their own will in spite of the clear and present word of God in the bible.
The previous chapter, Exegesis, is my attempt to re-examine the bible from stage one. This was built on the foundation of the Noachide Bible Study group I founded.
All of this work led me to the desire to codify a statement of belief. Not a declaration, not a canonization, but merely a summary of what I had found. I do not see this as voting in doctrine or by decree. I see this as a discovery process where I am writing down what I learned during my bible study sessions.
There was just such a massive amount of information that I begain trying to come up with various ways to organize the information. The “Four Actions”, or four steps to becoming a Noachide, is one of these organizations.
Getting Right with God
These are four steps you must take in order to follow God's will in being a Noachide. These four actions are not doctrine but rather come from a critical analysis of what the Bible actually says about how to follow God's will.
First, You're already a Noachide. But maybe you don't feel like one. So this is as much for you as it is for Him. You have to feel like you're on the right path. Don't get depressed about it. You can realize that hidden Noachide potential deep inside you! So, to really be a Noachide – this is what you have to do.
Step One. Believe in God, Fear God, and Seek God.
This is important. You must not be wicked or you may fall into the caveat of wickedness (see: Exegesis).
- You must believe there is a God before you can give credence to his word.
- To fear God means to respect, believe, and trust God. Not to fight against God's word.
- To seek God means to try and learn more about God from his holy scriptures. To follow his word.
Fearing God and seeking God also means you must repent of your sins and turn to God. How do you do this? It's simple. Are you sorry that you have sinned? Good, then just pray to God and tell him you're sorry. It isn't that he doesn't know you're sorry. But talking to God is the first step in having a relationship with him at a personal level. Next, you can begin to seek God with a clean slate. Tell him you will avoid sinning like this again in the future. Then really make an effort to turn away from that sin and follow God's will.
When this is done, God gives us a direct guarantee that we will understand his message perfectly and that we will be able to follow it. There are dozens of statements showing this in the Bible. Here are a few;
Believing in God
A quick look at who God is, the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob; The God of the Hebrews, of the nation of Israel.
| Genesis 1:1 | |
|---|---|
| 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. | KJV |
| 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. | NIV |
| 1 In the beginning God created[a] the heavens and the earth. | RSV |
| Exodus 3:14 | |
|---|---|
| 14 And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you. | KJV |
| Exodus 20:2 | |
|---|---|
| 2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. | KJV |
| 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. | NIV |
| 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. | RSV |
| Numbers 23:19 | |
|---|---|
| 19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? | KJV |
| 19 God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? | NIV |
| 19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfil it? | RSV |
Fearing God
Seeking God and Following God
| “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” –Psalm 119:105 (ESV) | * Our guidance comes from the word of God. * Our lack of knowledge and understanding is cured by the word of God. |
| “… I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, the Lord, speak the truth; I declare what is right.” –Isaiah 45:19 (NIV) | * God's words are plain and easy to understand. |
| “Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald[b] may run with it.” –Habakuk 2:2 (NIV) | * God's words are plain and easy to understand. |
| “And God spake all these words, saying,” –Exodus 20:1 | * God spoke directly to Israel so there would be no mistake in understanding. * Everyone who heard the message can understand it. * All Israel was witness to the correct understanding of God's word at Sinai. |
| “But the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.” –Deuteronomy 30:14 | * The word is readable and understandable so that we may understand how to do it. * It is God's intent not only that we follow his commandments but it is his intent that we understand his commandments. |
| “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:” –Deuteronomy 30:19 | * When God speaks, he has done so, so that we may understand, choose life, and live. |
Step Two. The Noachide Covenant
Note: This part comes after the initial acceptance and surety that you can, in fact understand and follow God's word. The entire message is found in Genesis 1 to 10.
The Noachide covenant is an (effectively) eternal covenant (Genesis 8, 9) which was made between God and Noah and all of Noah's descendants (Genesis 9); emphasis mine:
| “The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though[a] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.” –Genesis 8:21 (NIV) | * The covenant will last forever. |
| ““As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” –Genesis 8:22 (NIV) | * The covenant will last forever |
| ““I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you” –Genesis 9:9 (NIV) | * All humans are bound by this eternal covenant. |
| “I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”” –Genesis 9:11 | * The covenant will never be abrogated (canceled or replaced). |
| “I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.” –Genesis 9:15 | * The covenant is an eternal covenant. |
| “Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”” –Genesus 9:16 | * The covenant is an everlasting covenant. |
Step Three. Choosing to follow the Noachide Covenant
Once we realize that at a minimum we are covered by the Noachide covenant, we are presented with a chocie.
Do we choose to keep “our end of the bargain”, the Seven Laws of Noah – or not?
Step Four. Further Learning
Consider that since we are under the Seven Laws of Noah, all further exegesis done to determine how we are to serve and worship Hashem, will end up being a commentary to the laws of Noah.
If you consider yourself under additional or alternate covenants I would not be able to advise you on that. It is certainly possible that God would abrogate any one of his previous commandments to Adam, his sons, or Noah or his sons under the umbrella of a new and covenant for a new and different group of people. However, you would then be expected to show scriptural proof that such a thing is a) possible and that b) it has been granted by God (ex. prophesied), and c) that it has come to pass. Without A-B-C, there simply is no alternate covenant by (B) and (C), etc. in Exegesis.
Further Learning
There are a number of general statements we can make from the standpoint of someone who is freshly approaching Noachide Covenant theology. First you should know you are also bound by the Adamic Covenant because Noah was bound by it! Noah was a son of Adam (and therefore you are also a son of Adam). Thus, any covenantal responsibilities, rewards, curses, and so forth will have been inherited by Noah as he is a descendant of Adam.
You will thus need to study the Adamic Covenant and read the bible from the beginning until the life and times of Noah draw to a cease. This will be your primary guidance in terms of safe and reliable holy writings. If you wish to continue from here, I've included some of my findings in Exegesis III.