Hello, brethren in Christ,<\/p>\n
I hope you are well and my greetings to you and the church. I have been going on your website for many answers to questions that I study and I get provided many concrete answers.<\/p>\n
I wanted to get some clarification on the word “natsarim”. I have been having some discussion with a friend who states that the Bible is translated wrong. For example: “Christians” are actually “Natsarim”. Now the kind of Bible he uses is a Hebrew Bible. He states that there is no such thing as Christians, the word, or rather “religion” itself mentioned in the Bible. But in James 1:26, it states it there.<\/p>\n
Can you please shed some light on this?<\/p>\n
Thank you and God bless.<\/p>\n\t
When arguments are made, there is a set of assumptions made from which the argument is built. Formally, the set of assumptions are called prepositions. The prepositions for an argument must be true in order for the argument as a whole to be true. If you show that one or more of the prepositions are false, then the whole argument collapses.<\/p>\n
Your friend starts out assuming that the New Testament is written in Hebrew. That is provably false. See:<\/p>\n
In Acts 11:26 we read, “And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.<\/em>“<\/p>\n The word natsarim<\/em> is a Hebrew word for Nazarenes. Nazarene (singular) means a person from the town of Nazareth. The only time we find Nazarenes (plural) used is in a derogatory accusation against Paul. “For we have found this man a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes<\/em>” (Acts 24:5). However, the accusation is wrong because Christianity is\u00a0not<\/strong> a sect of Judaism. It is the replacement of the Israelite religion. While Jesus did grow up in Nazareth, Christianity did not originate in Nazareth.<\/p>\n Your friend likes to think of himself as superior because he knows a little bit of Hebrew. As you noted, the Bible proves his various positions wrong. Knowledge of God’s teaching does not require knowing Hebrew or Greek. You can understand what God said by reading translations in your own language.<\/p>\n “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God<\/em>” (I Corinthians 1:26-29).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\t Thank you so much for the response!<\/p>\n I hope I am always welcome to ask questions.<\/p>\n Thank you once again<\/p>\n\t Everyone is welcome to ask questions. I answer as many as I’m able.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hello, brethren in Christ, I hope you are well and my greetings to you and the church. I have been going on your website for many answers to questions that I study and I get provided many concrete answers. I wanted to get some clarification on the word “natsarim”. I have been having some…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[450,998,799],"class_list":["post-28897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-christians","tag-names","tag-new-testament"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":60124,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-should-get-your-facts-straight\/","url_meta":{"origin":28897,"position":0},"title":"You should get your facts straight","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 30, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You mentioned (in Is \"Christian\" supposed to be \"natsarim\"?) that the New Testament wasn't written in Hebrew. That's partially true, as Epiphanius and others have documented there was a Hebrew Matthew. Then you mentioned that Christian was a valid term based on the assumption that the New Testament wasn't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35480,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-have-an-ordained-and-permissive-will\/","url_meta":{"origin":28897,"position":1},"title":"Does God have an ordained and permissive will?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Like many times in the past few years, I was lost as to God's will for my life. So I typed into Google: God what do you want me to do? Stay where I am or move? I have been out of work for several years and my money\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18075,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-baptists-christians-and-where-does-the-bible-speak-against-creeds\/","url_meta":{"origin":28897,"position":2},"title":"Are Baptists Christians and where does the Bible speak against creeds?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have discussed with a lady the fact that one has not put on Christ until she has been baptized into Him. She is a Baptist but has been discussing the Bible with an open mind. She said her preacher told the congregation this weekend that they are \"bought\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16300,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-christians-choose-not-to-pay-an-income-tax\/","url_meta":{"origin":28897,"position":3},"title":"Can Christians choose not to pay an income tax?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Recently, a man teaching a Bible class made the\u00a0comment that \"We as Christians can choose not to pay our income taxes with a clear conscience as it was an unconstitutional act when these taxes were brought into law\" I disagree because\u00a0my understanding is that\u00a0Romans 13\u00a0and \"rendering to Caesar what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18959,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-did-christians-use-before-the-bible-was-compiled\/","url_meta":{"origin":28897,"position":4},"title":"What did Christians use before the Bible was compiled?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, During the first century, the Bible was not yet compiled. So what was the basis of Christianity during that time? Thanks. Answer: \"For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57255,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-ideal-bible-teacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":28897,"position":5},"title":"The Ideal Bible Teacher","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 23, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Johnny Ramsey via\u00a0Gospel Minutes, Vol. 55, No. 39, Sept. 29, 2006 Jesus was born to die, but He lived to teach. I know that we have all heard that, but there are some statements that we hear over and over again that never get old. We have also heard\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Bible-Reading-5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Question:<\/h2>\n
Answer:<\/h2>\n