Explaining the "Hebrew" and "Greek" mindsets

Our website constantly asks people to begin using the Hebrew as opposed to the Greek mindset. What exactly does that mean?

Well, there is a major difference between the "Greek" and the "Hebrew" mindsets due to their respective ways of thinking about life, God, and Truth. Both the Hebrews and the Greeks were "set" in their thinking about what and how they believed.

To the Hebrews (Jews) God was an easy concept as they already believed in ELOHIM, who had given His Name (Hebrew letters, Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey, most likely pronounced Yah-way) to Moshe/Moses in Exodus 3:13-15! (While there are several different transliterations of the Hebrew letters of God's Name into English, we prefer the letters "YHWH". Please see our article: The Father revealed His Name to Moses.)

The Hebrews already knew He was their Creator who had given them the Torah (first five Books of the Bible containing all of God's original, Divine Instructions, without which we would have NO blueprint for moral, holy living.)

The Greeks, on the other hand, were more prone to be atheistic or agnostic. That is why Rav Shaul (the Apostle Paul) used different approaches when speaking to Greek cultures. To reach them and their particular mindsets, he first presented a man named (Y'shua, or Yeshua whose Hebrew name means "YHWH is Salvation") as God's Divine Messiah who had been sent to preach the Kingdom and teach Torah.

Shaul needed to teach them about Yeshua in simple terms they were able to understand Yeshua, the Messiah - an entity who had been revealed in Isaiah 53:1 as the "arm of YHWH" and as "the Word of God" in John 1:1 and 14 who, while on Earth, was addressed in human terms.

(See also the metaphors for the power of YHWH who saved Israel with "a mighty hand and an outstretched arm" in, for example, Exodus 3:19-20, 6:6, 15:16 and 32:11; Deuteronomy 4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 9:26, 29; 11:2; 26:8; cf. Psalm 40, 136:12; Isaiah 59:16 and 63:5; Hebrews 10:5; and other verses.)

Shaul presented Yeshua as YHWH's chosen Messenger - the ONLY "messenger" who had the ability to forgive sin - AND who (unlike all the other messengers) had YHWH's Name within his own name. (All other messengers [also known as "angels" in many Bible versions] have the title of "El" [short for Elohim, Exodus 23:20-22] within their own names: Gabri-el, Rapha-el, Micha-el....)

All of Shaul's teachings HAD to be presented in simple terms that, to our modern mindsets, are often hard to understand. (Even Peter, in his time, wrote that Paul's teachings were often difficult to grasp - 2 Peter 3:15-16.) Attempting to get across difficult and keep Hebrew concepts was an extremely hard thing to do. Shaul's job was NOT an easy one! Read on…

Are you beginning to understand what we mean by the difference between the "Greek" and "Hebrew" mindsets? Here are some actual examples:

The "Greek" mindset imagines a tattoo or something similar on the thigh of Yeshua when he returns as "King of Kings, and Lord of Lords" (Rev. 19:11-13,16). But the Hebrew mindset sees something more in line with Torah: The tzit-tzits (braid/knots/tassels) of Yeshua's tallit (prayer shawl) falling across his thighs when He returns to earth atop a white horse!

What does that mean? Well, each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has a numerical value. Consequently, the knots of the tassels on the four corners of a tallit spell out the name of YHWH....(There are actually different trains of thought about this, depending on how the knots are tied. The Sephardics tie the knots in windings of 10, 5, 6, 5 which spells out the numeric values of "YHWH" while the Ashkenazies use windings of 7, 8, 11, 13 which, adds up to 39, which is the numerical equivalent of Deuteronomy 6:4 which cites the Shema.)

Regardless, the numeric values refer to the only ONE true Name of our ELOHIM - .

Another example of a Hebrew as opposed to Greek mindset can be seen in their respective calendars/timelines. For instance, according to YHWH's Torah, a "day" is from "sunset to sunset" (Genesis 1:5) as opposed to the modern "midnight to midnight". And He called the days of the week the "first day", "second day", etc., whereas "the world" has named its days and months after pagan gods … and paganism does NOT line up with Torah!

While our respective ways of thinking about life, God and the Truth might differ, it is imperative to view SCRIPTURE via the "Hebrew" mindset because YHWH originally presented His Word in the Hebrew and Aramaic (a dialect of Hebrew); NOT in any other language.