Over the last 12 or so years I have been on the most adventurous, most thrilling journey of my entire life.
I have been delving into the Hebrew perspective of God and His Word. This persepctive can be termed the Hebrew Root (after the olive tree analogy of Romans 11). This has been a process of discovery, repentance, and refreshment unlike any other I have experienced. In essence, Romans 11:18 says that the gentile church does not support Israel (the root) but that the root supports the church; therefore do not boast against the branches. The roots, as the analogy would have it, go very very deep. I have found that they go deep into God's very nature. And as I plummet the depths of the Word of God, which is God, I realize I am looking into His wonderful face and experiencing a glorious renewal in my walk with the Lord. Once I began this journey, I was never to be the same person again.
And I have not been alone on this journey. The Lord has blessed me with compatriots and close friends, covenant friends, who have been on this same journey alongside me and who can attest with me to the wonderful richness that is in our Messiah Yeshua (Jesus), the Living Torah, the Living Word of God.
The messianic Jewish movement of the last 2 or so decades has been the brunt of much criticism and accusations; mostly accusations of false doctrine. Some of it is deserved. However, some of it is not. The messianic movement in America is so wide in scope and diversity of expression, that if one wanted to, one could find any number of heresies taught within. One could also say the same of the American Evangelical and Protestant Church. Digressing here...
Within the messianic movement, I have been priviledged to become acquainted with, through personal involvement as well as reliable reports and biographies, a remnant of followers of the Messiah, both Jews and Gentiles, who cling to the Word of God, rightly dividing the word of truth, and live their lives with integrity and purity. Such people are not "legalistic" or "exclusionists" as some of the critics of the messianic movement claim. Rather, they have a passion for God and a desire to dive into His Word and live their very lives according to that Word.
If you would like to know my testimony of how I came to such a path in my walk, I encourage you to read my previous post entitled, "My Story" from October 26, 2008.
The Apostles and a Savior
The first followers of Jesus were all (with minor exceptions) Jewish. They were raised to know the Torah (the Five books of Moses) and the Tanakh (which includes the prophets and writings, together comprising the Hebrew scriptures). Many of them learned the scriptures from the time they could walk and talk. They read in the prophets about sin, about God's holiness, and about how they had been called out of the nations to be a holy people unto Him. They ate things that were kosher (see Deut. 14), things that were meant to be food. They did not eat things that were not kosher, things not meant for food. They observed the holy days which God had authored. They worshipped God in the manner He prescribed, rather than the manner in which the heathen nations worshipped their gods. They learned how God is a God of separateness, how He separated the light from the darkness, the day from the night, the clean from the unclean, etc.
All of the apostles were Jewish. There has been modern speculation that Luke was a gentile, however, there is in fact compelling scholarly evidence that he was indeed Jewish (for a paper regarding this, please go to the ministry website of Zola Levitt). And the Messiah Himself, the Savior of all mankind is Jewish.
To not acknowledge this truth about Jesus is to leave out a very important aspect of His identity, one which we would be well-served to know and understand.
Many modern Bible preachers, because of a heresy known as "replacement theology", paint the picture that Jesus was anti-everything that is Jewish. Nothing could be further from the truth! They back up their argument with snipets from scripture of how Jesus railed against the pharisees and saducees, the Jewish teachers and leaders of their day, when in fact, in every instance Jesus rebuked them it was because of their man-made traditions (these traditions have been termed 'Fences around Torah', which are still tenets upheld today by many in Orthodox Jewry). These fences were based upon the Oral Torah, rather than the written word of God. The Jewish rabbis and sages prior to Jesus' day wanted to ensure that the Israelites were careful to follow all of God's teachings. So they created a safety net of making sure the people would do this. They in essence created "fences" to ensure the people would obey the Torah. However, in doing so, Jesus accused them of putting a stumbling block in the way of the people so that they could not follow Torah or obey God. They were adding to the Torah, which is expressly forbidden.
Torah= Teaching
The Hebrew word Torah means "teaching". It is God's instructions given to the Israelites through Moses, which includes the Ten Commandments and the Book of Ordinances. Most Christians know that the Ten Commandments is God's moral law given to man. However, the subject of the 10 Commandments in modern times is one frought with confusion and misunderstanding. But what did Jesus Himself say regarding the Torah?
He said, "Think not that I came to abolish the Torah but to fulfill it." (Matthew 5:17). The word "fulfill" means the same as to advocate for, as a lawyer advocates for his client in a court of law. Literally it means to "fill to the full", or fullfill. That is what Jesus did- He advocated for the Torah (the non-twisted version of it) to the Jews. And He came to fill to the full the Word of God. What's more, He is the word of God. After all, it is written in John chapter 1 that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. And in verse 14, "And the word became flesh and dwelt among us". Which word is the apostle John talking about? The Torah! After all, the New Testament had not yet been written. And who became flesh? Yeshua! (Jesus). Yeshua is the living word of God. Therefore, when we consider the words of Jesus, the living word of God cannot be in anywise bad or be abolished. Everything He did and said confirmed God's Torah, God's teaching and fulfilled it.
Paul even says the Torah is not bad, but good. He would have not known sin if it were not for the Torah.
Even when the Jews tried to keep Torah in thier own might, they stumbled and were required to make atonement (prior to Jesus' crucifixion) with the blood of sacrificed animals. When they were not trusting in God and keeping His commandments, they were in sin. For to keep Torah the way it was intended is to trust in God.
Abraham trusted God and it was credited to him as righteousness. God gave the Torah to Abraham's descendants at Mt. Sinai and they said they would do the Torah. Albeit, many of them perished in the desert, a remnant of the Israelites did continue to keep Torah, thus continuing on in the way of Abraham of living by faith. Abraham listened to the word of the Lord and trusted. The children of Israel did the same. The word of God and His teaching as given to the Israelites are one in the same and they are both good.
A good friend of the family and diligent scholar of the Torah puts it this way, "When you consider the Law (Torah), you must consider the intent of the Lawgiver". That says it all right there! God is perfect and just. His intent is perfect and just. Therefore, the law or teaching which He gave, is also perfect and just.
So where does much of the confusion surrounding the Law stem from?
Some of the confusion stems from anti-semitism repackaged and sold in the gentile church. The Roman emperor Constantine did his part by legislating that pagan customs and festivals be observed in the place of the feasts of the Lord, for he said he wanted nothing to do with those "detestable Jews". And he actually made it illegal to be Jewish and be a follower of Jesus. Others followed suit. More on that later. Thus the richness that is the Word of God which has been stewarded by the Jewish people was lost to the newly gentile church. And most interpretation of scripture from that point on has been tainted with error and prideful "boasting against the branches" (Romans 11:18).
Many have incorrectly assumed that since Jesus did away with God's requirement for a blood sacrifice, that He did away with the entire Old Testament. That is patently false! It has been rebutted by Jesus' own words. Moreover, Jesus Himself even said that whosoever teaches these commandments will be called great in the Kingdom of God, and whoseover teaches men to break these commandments will be called the least. Therefore, when a doctrinal concept contradicts the very words of the Lord, one must be willing to question the theological concept and his understanding of it, rather than the truth being plainly stated. It is precisely here that many Christians, rather than searching the scriptures for themselves, have received the inherited religious pride and ensuing error in doctrine passed down by our spiritual forefathers. (David Stern calls such errors 'heresies'. (Jewish New Testament Commentary.)
There are also some technical aspects of the translation of scripture that has lent to this confusion:
In the New Testament, the same concept of Torah has been translated into the Greek for "Law" (nomos). It is a broad term used to include any standard or set code. It is also used in the New Testament to include God's moral teachings, as well as.....man's legalistic perversion of that teaching. In the Greek, the language does not allow for dileneation of the various shades of meaning of the term. Also, there may have been certain biases the translators had. Although it is the inspired Word of God, the attitudes of the earthen vessels it came through may have gotten in the way somehow, much as a prophet brings the Word of God through his or her own personal nuances. Additionally, an anti-semitic interpretation of the verses has perpetuated the misunderstanding of Paul's writings about the Torah.
Paul, the author of 2/3 of the New Testament, uses a very Jewish form of emphasis..that of paralellism, where the same truth is repeated. On the surface, it would seem that Paul is contradicting the points I have outlined here. However, he is not. The more I read the writings of Paul, the more I am convinced that he was not abolishing or even minimalizing God's Torah. But rather, he was dealing with a set of eccumnical issues which crept into the groups of early believers which emanated from a certain group of Jews who were pushing for a legalistic form of observing the Torah. Scripture calls these Jews "Juadaizers". They actually worked against the Torah, not in favor of it, since theirs was an observance by works, not by faith.
History is Key to Understanding
In the first century, the believers heard the good news of the Messiah coming to be the propitiation for their sins. The believed God, repented of their sins, and followed Him, thus perfectly keeping Torah, the way it was meant when God said He would write His law on their hearts (Jeremiah 31). However, a problem arose for these believers and for the apostles in Jerusalem as well, when the Judaizers were coming into their midst saying that the gentile believers must first convert to Judaism, undergoing circumcision, in order to follow the Messiah and in order to be saved. This was contrary to the apostles' teaching. Therefore, the Council of Jerusalem ensued during which the elders addressed the issue and highlighted the things that were important in order to keep following the Messiah. These things included: staying away from blood, fornication, things sacrificed to idols, and strangled animals. They even said that it "seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us..." that the believers not be burdened with any except the aforementioned requirements (Acts 15:28).
This was the climate in which Paul, who, along with Barnabas, disagreed sharply with those Jews trying to put such a yoke on the gentile believers, and the climate in which he wrote his epistles to the fledgling church. He instructed them (see Romans, see also Galatians) to continue on in their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, just as in fact they were doing. There is an idea in Jewish thought that while one is doing teshuvah (repenting from one's own sinful ways and turning to God's ways), that there not be put a stumbling block in that person's way. Paul knew this and he exhorted the followers to continue in their growth in the Messiah, not taking on a legalistic approach to the ways of God, or trying to attain eternal life or even a higher spiritual status through their own vain efforts, after they had already received the good news of what the Savior had done for them with gladness and trust.
Legalism Vs. Holiness
An invaluable tool for me in my journey into the Hebrew root has been "The Jewish New Testament Commentary" by David H. Stern. For more info, go to: http://www.amazon.com/Jewish-New-Testament-Commentary-Companion/dp/9653590111
Leglalism is not the same as trusting in God and His Word. Oftentimes whenever I just bring up the subject of the Torah or the Ten Commandments, I am accused (by modern American Christians) of being legalistic. Just because I have a love for God and His teachings! Was Jesus legalistic? He quoted from Deuteronomy more than any other book. He had a passion for the Holy Scriptures and correctly interpreted those scriptures for the Jews of his day. I would like to think of myself as being on a quest to do the same: to have a passion for God's inspired word, and to help others have a passion for His word also!
When one is legalistic, he is picking and choosing which parts of God's Word to single out and attempt to add to it as a work of the flesh. This is perveritng the original intent of the scriptures. Oftentimes this person is not exhorting others to follow God's teaching at all, but rather is making others feel condemned that they do not do as he does. In effect he exalts the flesh which is religious pride and sin. One who is "circumcised of the heart", with God's instructions in his heart (which includes worship of God alone and there is no room for idolatry, which includes religious pride), will live by faith in the Son of God, will repent when he sins, thus applying the ongoing atoning work of the cross. He will continue on in producing fruit in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8 ). Such a person is not being legalistic, but rather living a holy life by faith in God's Torah. (A good example of this is King David.) His works, the outward manifestation of his faith and the fruit of righteousness are the tell-tale signs of his conversion and renewal. ('For faith without works is dead' see James 2:20; James 2:26). In doing so, he is actually establishing Torah, not abolishing it or in any way diminshing its significance.
Please join me for the next few installments of this topic where we will explore answers to such questions as:
* Isn't there no difference between Jew and Gentile, aren't we all "one in Messiah"?
* Should Christians celebrate the Feasts outlined in the Old Testament? What about Christmas and Easter?
* How important is the Old Testament to God anyway?
*Can Jews be saved by any other way than through the Way, that is Yeshua the Messiah?
*Are there any benefits to studying God's Torah for the gentile Christian and the Body of Christ?
* What does having a "heart for Israel" look like and how can we practically bless God's chosen people?
Stay tuned.
Shalom!
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