Is Michael Rood Against BAPTISM ? . . . ROOD REFUTES BAPTISM in MATTHEW ... and The LORD'S WORDS !

A Re-post from October 2017 - - -

For whatever reason, Mr. Rood REFUTES Scripture in Matthew 28: 18-20 with NO SUPPORT whatsoever from  the Greek and Aramaic manuscripts. 

Hebrew Roots popular leader, Michael Rood, has re-written Scriptures. Mr. Rood calls it the "Corrected" KJV,  called the Chronological Gospels , and has re-written verses that hinder his theories. . . verses which contain TRUTH.  

Just like the Gnostics of old, Mr. Rood bases his "corrected" version on his own logic, his own method of counting the feast days, and the SHEM TOV . His version attacks both Passover and Baptism. This is part two; Passover was covered in the previous post.

Mr. Rood Refutes The LORD and Matthew about  BAPTISM

For whatever reason, Mr. Rood REFUTES Scripture in Matthew 28: 18-20 with NO SUPPORT whatsoever from  the Greek and Aramaic manuscripts.

The PROBLEM is that Mr. Rood prints his errors in the text of the Chronological Gospels as the Gospel Truth !

This error in his version . . . 

  is in Matthew 28: 18 - 20, starting on page 273 and carrying over to 274, top.

28:18 KJV

And JESUS came and spake unto them, saying,

All power is given unto ME+

 in Heaven and in earth.

Here is Mr. Rood's version :

Then Yeshua came and spoke to his disciples.

All power and authority has been given to me

in Heaven and in Earth.

So far, so good. No problem in verse 18.

28:19 KJV

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,

baptizing them in the name

of the FATHER, and of the SON+,

and of the HOLY SPIRIT:

Here is  what it says in Mr. Rood's version of verse 19 :

Go !

Instead of Scripture for verse 19 , we have a long footnote, page 274

28:20 KJV

Teaching them to observe all things

whatsoever I+ have commanded you:

and, lo, I+ am with you alway,

even unto the end of the world.

Amen.

Here is Mr. Rood's version :

Teach all nations to carry out all the things

that I have commanded you --- forever." 

according to Mattityahu [[ Amen ]]

 Mr. Rood deftly  omitted and, lo, I+ am with you alway, even unto the end of the world and added forever .

 

What is Mr. Rood's authority to remove and add things to the Holy Scriptures ... Scriptures that have the attestation of  over  5,000 manuscripts, many Papyri, and around 1,000 ancient lectionaries ... plus "first" versions of the New Testament translated into a variety of old languages?

Matthew itself is attested unto by 15 Papyri, eight of which were composed before the  I I I / I V  century,  according to Nestle-Aland’s 26^th edition, introduction page 49.

Here is Mr. Rood's version of Matthew, directly copied from the Shem Tov of Matthew 28:19 - 20. The underlined words from the Shem Tov are exactly the same in Mr. Rood’s well-forged Chronological Gospels.

18 Jesus drew near to them and said to them:

To me has been given all power in heaven and earth.

19 Go

20 and (teach) them to carry out all the things

which I have commanded you forever.

What Shem Tov writes, Mr. Rood writes. What Shem Tov omits, Mr. Rood omits. And herein does the problem lie. 

Mr. Rood did not translate Matthew 28: 19 and 20 from ANY text, Greek, Aramaic, or otherwise.  

 He simply OMITTED the real text found in both Greek and Aramaic manuscripts, beginning with the earliest manuscripts we have, in the 4th century( not counting the Papyri, which were earlier ). 

Then, he inserted these two verses from the Shem Tov translation of Mr. George Howard, the Shem Tov version which Mr. Rood uses. There are two or three different versions of the Shem Tov / Tob, all of which come from the Middle Ages. 

The footnote to explain these maneuvers in his version is long. Here is the part of it which relates to his "corrections" to the KJV, page 274, top, Matthew 28:19:1 .

"The KJV and late Greek manuscripts add the phrase " Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son , and of the Holy Spirit."   from Chronological Gospels, page 274.

That statement is BLATANTLY false.

NOTHING was “added” to the manuscripts, neither Greek --- neither the Byzantine nor the Alexandrian nor the Egyptian nor the Cesaerean manuscripts --- nor the Aramaic.

If Mr. Rood would have CHECKED ANY APPARATUS in ANY version, this is what he would have found:

•  NUN … ( “now”) found in the Codex D and Old Latin mss, and

•  BAPTIZING … written as the aorist particle instead of present participle verb form in Codex D and also Codex B.

THOSE ARE THE ONLY TWO VARIANTS IN ANY OF our wide variety of thousands of GREEK MANUSCRIPTS in verse 19 !

Neither of these variants tell us that the verse was “ADDED” or inserted at a later date into the Sacred Texts.  

The EARLY Greek manuscripts ( centuries before Mr. Rood’s  Shem Tov was written ) include all three verses, nearly intact.

Verse 18 has three variants and all three are attested to by different manuscripts. They are:

•  in Heavens ( plural of Heaven);  

• "the" omitted before earth,  

• and the phrase found only in the Peshitta:

Even as My+ Father has sent ME+, I+ also send you.

The variants are listed in the Greek text, the Nestle-Aland 26th edition, and as is apparent, these variants are not major.

The phrase in the Peshitta, which is duplicated in John 20:21, is ONLY found in the Peshitta, a Syriac version.

All then, can see clearly that:

NEARLY ALL of the manuscripts --- both Early and Late ---  have verse 19 intact.

Thus,  baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were indeed the very words of  the Resurrected  LORD JESUS to His+ Disciples.  

Verse 20 turns out the same way.  Only two variants are listed among the hundreds of manuscripts.

• One variant cites three words in an inverted order.

• Another variant lists the omission or inclusion of "amen" at the end of the verse !

 None of these variants are of much importance to the message.

All this is to affirm that verses 18, 19, and 20 are INCLUDED in every manuscript ever written by the Early Church scribes , with very little variants among hundreds of manuscripts for these three verses.

Mr. Rood's footnote now lauds Eusebius, whom he denigrated in the introduction so forcefully. He says Eusebius quoted the words of the "Ancient Hebrew Matthew"  ( Shem Tov ) at the end of Matthew 18 times ! (  versus the authentic Scriptures.) 

There is no way to check Eusebius’ writings quickly, but Mr. Rood has not shown himself to be very accurate so far.

Now we come to the last part of this wretched footnote: Mr. Rood explains that "there is no record" of any historical group baptizing this way and it appears to be a "post-Constantinian invention." 

HERE ARE THE FACTS: 

Fact: Constantine lived from 280 (?) to 337 AD.

Fact: from the Didache, 80 to 140 AD. The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, Chapter 7, page  13, Tyler, TX. Scroll Publishing House, @ 1976 . Translated by Tim Sauder.

"Concerning baptism, baptize in this manner:

Having first said all these things,

baptize into the name of the Father, 

the Son ,

and the Holy Spirit --- in living water. ... "

Fact: from Justin Martyr, 160 AD. The First Apology of  Justin. Chapter 61, page 183 ANF vol 1.

"They are brought by us

where there is water,

and are regenerated in the same manner

in which we were regenerated ourselves.

 

They there receive the washing with water

in the name of God ( the Father and Lord of the universe)

of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit. ... "

Fact: from Tertullian, 213 AD, Against Praxeas, chapter 26, page 623, ANF vol 3.

“He commands them to baptize

into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

--- not into a unipersonal God. 

And, indeed, it is not once only --- but three times ---

that we are immersed into the three Persons,

at the mention of each individual name.”

All of these Early Christian apologists wrote these instructions about how the Early Christians baptized into Y'SHU+ the M'SHIKHA+ (CHRIST JESUS) long before Constantine was even born ! They wrote about HOW the Early Christians baptized in the name of The FATHER, The SON+, and The HOLY SPIRIT.

So clearly, Mr. Rood is in error here. His vague yet adamant statements do not line up with history nor with Scriptures

…. nor with Truth, sadly enough.

We remember the words of the Apostle Peter, in his second Epistle:

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the LORD that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.  

And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

For if GOD spared not the angels that sinned,

but cast them down to TARTARUS, 

and delivered them into chains of darkness,

to be reserved unto judgment … 2 Peter 2 : 1 – 4

… Spots they are and blemishes,

sporting themselves with their own deceivings

while they feast with you…  verse 13b

+  +  +

COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE,

AND TOUCH NOT THE UNCLEAN THING.