Category Archives: Jews for Jesus

Defining Messianic Judaism – What about Hebrew Roots?

As we sadly saw in the Ralph Messer/Eddie Long Torah desecration debacle, the names “Messianic Jewish”, “Messianic Rabbi” and “Messianic Judaism” have been used throughout the press to define the actors in this tragic drama.  As stated by Mr. Messer in his own words, he and his group are NOT Messianic and never will be.  And much of the Messianic Judaism world agree with him on this.

In the world of  Messianic Judaism there are organizations and groups like Messer’s that espouse “Jewish roots”, “Hebrew roots” or the archaic sounding “Hebraic roots”.

These groups seek to teach what they call the “Jewish roots” or “Hebraic roots” of Christianity. This is a common message topic for speakers from various missionary groups like Jews for Jesus and Chosen People Ministries to present in local churches. In doing so they seek to teach that at the earliest followers of Yeshua were Jews who lived within Jewish life, which is true.

The problem with the “Jewish roots” model is that it ignores the fact that what we know as Christianity today was developed after the Jewish believers and their influence was stripped from the Church. Christianity as we know it today as a unique world religion owes it’s roots to Constantine and specifically to the Nicene Council, the formers of the “Nicene Creed”, one of the earliest statements of Christian belief. By the time of Constantine (and especially since him) the Church  no longer  is attached to it’s Jewish roots. The Nicene Council excluded Jewish believers from being involved in the Council and it’s formation of the future of what we now know as Christianity. So then based on Christianity as we know it today as a world religion there are no “Jewish roots” that were allowed in a Post-Constantine world.

People like Messer and others are doing “Hebrew roots” separate from Jewish people, the Jewish world and Judaism and they show in their lack of connection to Jewish norms where it could go as was seen in their disrespect of the Torah scroll both at New Hope Church and other times.  Rather than being horrified like Jews of all stripes at this display, Messer and his flock applauded and were honored to have their “rabbi”, perform this bizarre and blasphemous show.  The disconnection of “Hebrew roots” from the Jewish people and norms of Jewish life does a discredit to them and to the Messianic Jewish wing of the Body of Messiah.  It is these kind of people who are at best ignorant and at worst evil that brings harm to the name of Yeshua, to Messianic Judaism  and those that have devoted their lives to building Messianic Judaism for the future.

So then to Messianic Judaism, we are not a “Jewish roots” of Christianity movement, because we are not within Christianity, we are a Judaism, a 21st century expression of Jewish life and faith. We are not just studying or exploring the experience of the early Messianic Jews, we are daily living within Judaism and Jewish life in the 21st century, with the knowledge that we are following the Jewish Messiah.

Our orientation is toward Judaism, our world is the Jewish world, our faith is within Judaism and our daily practice and way of living is guided by Torah, the way of life for the Jewish people.

We can appreciate the desire for Christians to explore the early Messianic Jews and their life, which would go a great deal toward changing incorrect teachings within the Church like anti-Judaism, anti-Torah and anti-Semitic views, but a true Messianic Judaism is far more than a historical study, it is a living breathing peoplehood, that is lived in 21st century Judaism with a faith trust in Yeshua, our righteous Messiah.

Torah-free repentance: The problem with Jews for Jesus and other Missions to the Jews

iPhoto 005972 2008-01-17

Jews for Jesus affirms Jewish believers who, for the sake of honoring our heritage and developing a Jewish testimony, choose to give up some of what grace allows to conform to dietary standards and various other Jewish practices. As long as such practices are not presented as incumbent upon others in the body of Messiah, Jewish or Gentile, we hope to be an encouragement to those who desire to uphold their Jewish identity in this way.

(from Fall 2003 Havurah, a publication of Jews for Jesus)

In the above sidebar to an article in the Fall 2003 Havurah newsletter addresses the view of Jews for Jesus (and I would say is representative of other Jewish missions groups) on the issue of Messianic Jews observing Torah commands like kashrut, Shabbat and others.  It is a huge statement that lays out their view that the observing of Torah and Jewish practices are seen as acts that one is “allowed” to do and by observing Torah and Jewish practices the Jewish believer is giving up of God’s “grace” that in their understanding no longer requires observance of Torah by Yeshua believing Jews.

In this short paragraph the organization, Jews for Jesus demonstrates that they see the Torah as no longer applicable to the life of Messianic Jews and also that obeying the Torah and observing Jewish practices is not doing an act of obedience to the God who gave the Torah but as an acceptable activity that one can do as “evangelistic shtick” for the sake of witness or some kind of heritage attachment.

This is not an expression of Messianic Judaism and despite Jews for Jesus’ many attempts to try to paint themselves within the Messianic Jewish world the above statement clearly puts them outside the realm of being a part of the worldview of Messianic Judaism and outside a life within Jewish space and at odds with the Messiah that they seek to proclaim.
Beside the sociological problem of the statement is the huge issue of Jews for Jesus (a prominent Evangelical Christian affiliated organization) saying that Jewish believers in Yeshua can obey God if they want to, but obeying God’s Torah should not be seen as incumbent!

Stop and think about this, they are seeking to draw Jewish people to believe in the Jewish Messiah, yet they do not take the Messiah’s own example of the importance of living Torah and therefore they are offering the Jewish community a “Torah free” and “Judaism free” Messiah.

Torah observance is an act of obeying God, it is not just an acceptable “abandoning of grace” for heritage connection or witness. Though it is true that obeying Torah and living Jewish life is a way of connection to Jewish heritage and a witness of God to the world, the obeying of Torah is to be primarily an act of obeying God’s commands and His Torah.

The call of missionaries like Jews for Jesus is for Jews to put their faith in Yeshua as Messiah and repent of their sins.  But what is Jewish sin, other than living outside the bounds of Torah?  What is the sign of true repentance but to turn from violating God’s Torah and seeking to live within it’s boundaries.  A call to Yeshua faith and repentance that does not lead toward a life of walking on the path of Torah is not a true call to repentance and can be an example of what Paul called “another Yeshua and another good news”, but this Yeshua is not the true Yeshua and this good news is at best inadequate and at worst leading people to live in rebellion to God with the stamp of approval from Jews for Jesus and other missions groups.

The shape of Jewish repentance is bound up in seeking to live Torah, a Torah-free life of a Messianic Jew is not a God honoring life.  If we are going to call Jewish people to accept Yeshua as Messiah our message must include that following God for all Jews (especially Messianic Jews) is a life tied to Torah.  If the great Messianic hope is Yom Shekulo Shabbat, a time of unending Shabbat, a time of all creation living in the light of Messiah and ordered by his Torah, should we not now who call Yeshua our Messiah begin now to live our lives ordered by the very Torah that the world to come will be lived?

So then for living God honoring lives and the building of a mature Messianic Judaism we need to obey Torah daily because that is what God commands and it is the Torah that is God’s way of living for all Jews (especially Messianic Jews!).

Welcoming a new blog, Chutzpah, to the blogosphere…

messianicjudaism.me

Today a new blog joined the blogosphere, Chutzpah.  Chutzpah is a guest blog on the newly launched, Messianic Judaism Media site.

The opening blog is entitled, Why the Jewish community is right to reject Jews for Jesus.  It is written by Walter Lieber.

This is a powerful post to kick off this new blog and will be the first of many thought provoking posts to come.

Messianic Judaism – A “Jewish Roots” movement?

Under the umbrella of “Messianic” groups there are “Jewish roots”, “Hebrew roots” or the archaic sounding “Hebraic roots” organizations.

These groups seek to teach what they call the “Jewish roots” or “Hebraic roots” of Christianity. This is a common message topic for speakers from various missionary groups like Jews for Jesus and Chosen People Ministries to present in local churches. In doing so they seek to teach that at the earliest followers of Yeshua were Jews who lived within Jewish life, which is true.

The problem with the “Jewish roots” model is that it ignores the fact that what we know as Christianity today was developed after the Jewish believers and their influence was stripped from the Church. Christianity as we know it today as a unique world religion owes it’s roots to Constantine and specifically to the Nicene Council, the formers of the “Nicene Creed”, one of the earliest statements of Christian belief. By the time of Constantine (and especially since him) the Church’s roots are no longer attached to it’s Jewish roots. The Nicene Council excluded Jewish believers from being involved in the Council and it’s formation of the future of what we now know as Christianity. So then based on Christianity as we know it today as a world religion there are no “Jewish roots” that were allowed in a Post-Constantine world.

So then to Messianic Judaism, where does Messianic Judaism fit in the scheme of things. We are not a “Jewish roots” of Christianity movement, because we are not within Christianity, we are a Judaism. We are not just studying or exploring the experience of the early Messianic Jews, we are daily living within Jewish life with the knowledge that we are following the Jewish Messiah. Our orientation is toward Judaism, our world is the Jewish world, our faith is within Judaism and our daily practice and way of living is guided by Torah, the way of life for the Jewish people.

We can appreciate the desire for Christians to explore the early Messianic Jews and their life, which would go a great deal toward changing incorrect teachings within the Church like anti-Judaism, anti-Torah and anti-Semitic views. But a Messianic Judaism is far more than a historical study it is a living breathing peoplehood, that is lived in 21st century Judaism with a faith trust in Yeshua, our righteous Messiah.

Reaching Jews in the Church

In the February 2005 issue of Christianity Today magazine there appeared an article entitled Jacob vs. Jacob written by Deborah Pardo-Kaplan.

There is much to be taken from her article that is one of the first, if not the first mainstream discussion of the issue of the differences between the Messianic congregational movement (UMJC, IAMCS and others) and the Missions movement (Jews for Jesus, Chosen People Ministries and others). Though this has been an in-house debate and discussion for years within the Messianic world this is the first time for the issues to be aired openly. Though those who are fanatical about unity may be upset at this article, I and others believe that it is important for lines to be drawn and people to honestly deal with what is their identity.

1. Are you a Jew living and practicing Messianic Judaism attending a Messianic congregation and living within Jewish space?

or

2. Are you a Jew living and practicing Christianity, attending a church and living within Christian space?

If you affirm #1 then you are within Messianic Judaism and a part of the Messianic congregational perspective.

If you affirm #2 then you are a Jewish Christian and part of the Christian world and also more than likely aligned with the philosophy of the Missions movement.

Both choices reflect Jewish followers of Yeshua, yet they reflect two different religious expressions and communities of reference.

David Brickner, the Executive Director of Jews for Jesus commented in the article on the 2002 UMJC Defining Messianic Judaism statement which states:

Messianic Judaism is a movement of Jewish congregations committed to Yeshua who also embrace a responsibility to Jewish life and identity


Mr. Brickner said that this definition would exclude the 75% of Jewish believers who attend churches.

Though Mr. Brickner sees this as negative, this is the very point of defining “Messianic Judaism” as being a Jewish congregational movement and a Judaism focused entity. Jews in the churches are participating in Christian life and not Messianic Judaism. What gets lost is the difference from being a Jewish follower of Yeshua and being actively involved in living out that following of Yeshua within a Messianic Judaism context.

I hope that the 75% of Jewish believers who are now outside the world of Messianic Judaism and Torah life will come to see the importance of living their life following Yeshua within Jewish space, living Torah and involved in the life of a Messianic synagogue.

I think for us to make that a viable option we need to be willing to define Messianic Judaism as a living within the life of a Messianic congregation and living in Jewish space and therefore make a clear distinction between those Jews who are currently living within Messianic Judaism and Jewish space and those Jews living within Christianity and Christian space. Only with a contrast can there be an option to choose a new way of living life within Messianic Judaism as a Yeshua honoring, Torah faithful Messianic Jew.

May we all grow more in the image of our righteous Messiah who lived as our example a life within the Judaism of his day and a life devoted to living the Torah. If we live in his example Yeshua will be seen as he truly is the Jewish Messiah who is followed by Torah honoring Jewish people.

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Torah Observance – Covenant Faithfulness or Evangelistic Shtick?

In defining what Messianic Judaism is it is important to deal with the issue of Torah observance and to see what the differing voices in the larger “Messianic Jewish” spectrum say on this issue.

In doing this we can see clearer contrast between those like myself and my friends who affirm a Messianic Judaism that is a Torah honoring movement for Yeshua and those who hold for a Jewish cultural form of Evangelical Christianity like the organization, Jews for Jesus.  This is the divide between Messianic Judaism and the Hebrew Christian/Missions groups.

Jews for Jesus affirms Jewish believers who, for the sake of honoring our heritage and developing a Jewish testimony, choose to give up some of what grace allows to conform to dietary standards and various other Jewish practices. As long as such practices are not presented as incumbent upon others in the body of Messiah, Jewish or Gentile, we hope to be an encouragement to those who desire to uphold their Jewish identity in this way.

(from Fall 2003 Havurah, a publication of Jews for Jesus)

The above quote from JFJ’s Havurah newsletter was looked at in a previous post.

In this post I want to look further at this statement from the organization, Jews for Jesus.

In their statement above they put forward that a Messianic Jew can observe Torah commands if they choose to give up some of what grace allows to conform to dietary standards and various other Jewish practices.

Torah observance is not an “abandoning of grace“, but an embracing of obedience to God.

Observing kashrut, Shabbat, the Holy Days and other Torah commands is an act of obeying God and faithfulness to the covenant God made with all the Jewish People.

If we choose not to obey Torah commands we are not “living in grace”, but “living in sin”.

Non-observance of Torah commands is an act of disobeying God and not walking in His ways, not a benefit of being a follower of the Messiah.

Torah observance like dietary standards and various other Jewish practices is not just shtik to be used for evangelistic outreach (which sadly is the case for Jews for Jesus and other Jewish missions), but it is a matter of obeying God and living lives that honor Him.

I close with a statement by another Messianic Jew on the topic of grace and sin:

What may we say, then? are we to go on in sin so that there may be more grace?
In no way. How may we, who are dead to sin, be living in it any longer?
(Romans 6:1-2)

Let us live in obedience to God and observe His Torah!