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Ephesians 5 echoes the Testament of Naphtali to teach about deception through empty words. Similar language is found throughout the New Testament, suggesting that early Christian tradition was influenced by Jewish texts and traditions.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Testament of Naphtali 3:1
Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs
Pseudepigrapha
1 So do not be eager to corrupt your deeds through greed or to deceive your souls with empty words; for if you keep silent with a pure heart, you will understand how to hold fast to the will of God and to cast away the will of Beliar. 2 The sun, the moon, and the stars do not change their order; so you too must not change the law of God by the disorder of your deeds. 3 The Gentiles went astray and abandoned the Lord; they changed their order and obeyed sticks and stones, the spirits of dishonesty. 4 But you must not be like that, my children. Recognize in the sky, the earth, the sea, and all created things the Lord who made everything, so that you do not become like Sodom, which changed the order of nature.
Ephesians 5:6
New Testament
5 For you can be confident of this one thing: that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be sharers with them, 8 for you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live like children of light— 9 for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth— 10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
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Notes and References
"... This portion of the Torah was very popular and powerful in the intertestamental period, that is the period between the time of Ezra and Nehemiah and the establishment of the royal house of Herod, i.e., the beginning of the 1st Century A.D., or as it is counted by Jews and others, the 1st Century C.E. The reason that this Torah reading was so popular and important is because Jews from the 3rd Century B.C. started to think that the blessings that Jacob gave his sons that are a major part of this Torah portion (Vayechi, “and he lived” in Hebrew) is prophetic and it has to do with the far future or the Messianic Period of the last days. There are important books written during that period called “intertestamental,” books that are based on Jacob’s blessings to his sons. The major one that has some important “messianic” elements is the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. Here are some examples of the use of this book in the New Testament ... A quotation from the testament of Levi 6:10-11 is found in 1 Thessalonians 2:16 ... A quotation from the Testament of Gad 6:10 is found in Romans 12:19 ... A quotation from the Testament of Benjamin 4:3 is found in Romans 12:21 ... A quotation from the Testament of Gad 5:7 is found in 2 Corinthians 7:10 ... A quotation from the Testament of Naphtali 3:1 is found in Ephesians 5:6 ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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