Samaritan, was anyone in need. It was not enough to cease from retaliation. True faith goes even further
than this—we are to return good for evil. This is the distinctiveness of true believers.
Different groups of people will tend to respond warmly to their own kind. Gentiles love Gentiles and Jews
love Jews. The kind of love we must reflect is love for our enemies. In common grace, Elohim gives
blessings (rain and sun) to all men without distinction. If we are to reflect Him, we must be indiscriminate in
our acts of goodness, also.
Narrowness is often one of the criticisms against believers. Oftentimes this criticism is justified. According to
YHWH‘s Word, it has no place among believers.
5:45-47 Sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust
―(45) That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil
and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. (46) For if ye love them which love you,
what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? (47) And if ye salute your brethren only, what do
ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?‖
There are times when it seems as though "the wicked prosper" and "the righteous suffer‖. As such, (and in
light of all the previous comments on the Torah) Y‘shua reminds His audience that our reward is not on this
earth but in heaven.
This teaching is also found in Talmud:
Babylonian Talmud, Taanit 7a: ―God causes it to rain for the wicked as well as for the righteous‖.
5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect
―(48) Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect‖.
The Greek word, teleios (perfect), means ―to be complete‖. This teaching mirrors the following:
Sifri, Ekev No. 49: ―As God is, so shall you be: As God is merciful, so shall you too, be merciful‖.
The ApostlesSome have said that although Yeshua did live and teach as a Jew, His followers soon abandoned their
Jewishness and started a new religion; which became known as Christianity. This is simply not true.
Consider the case of Peter, who received the following accusation from his fellow Apostle, Paul: ―But when
Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men
came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself,
fearing those who were of the circumcision. ... But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the
truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, ̳If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not
as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?‘" (Gal 2:11-12, 14)
This was a stinging condemnation. At issue here was the traditional Jewish attitude of that day concerning
social intercourse with Gentiles. The hard-line Jewish position said that Jews and Gentiles could have no
social contact at all, especially when it came to eating meals together.
The crux of the problem had to do with Kashrut (kosher), the way Jews handled their food. Not only were
Jews forbidden to eat certain meats (as listed in Lev 11), they also had additional rules on how animals were
to be slaughtered so that the maximum amount of blood could be drained from the carcass. This was done in
order to fully obey the Torah command: ― ̳And whatever man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who
sojourn among you, who hunts and catches any animal or bird that may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood
and cover it with dust; for it is the life of all flesh. Its blood sustains its life. ... Whoever eats it (blood) shall be
cut off‘‖. (Lev 17:13-14)
As quoted previously, there were also a number of other established traditions to ensure the proper washing
of containers and utensils used in cooking. Since the Gentiles did not observe these traditions, some of the
more strict members of the believing Jewish community had an aversion to eating meals with their believing
Gentile brethren.
When Paul made the statement that Peter ―lived as a Gentile‖, he was not saying that Peter had given up the
correct interpretation of the Torah commands or the food restrictions of Lev 11; but that he had fallen back
into observing some of those Jewish traditions which served to separate Jew and Gentile. The problem Paul