Week Two - Responding to Your Questions: Part Two

Friends,

As I said yesterday, rather than inundate you with an avalanche or information, I am continuing to parcel out my responses to your work from last week over three or four days this week, with my last post being on Wednesday. (You will have until midnight Thursday to complete your work).

Your task remains to log on each day to see if I have posted (I will post no later than 2:00 PM Pacific Time each day), to read what I post each day, and to respond to at least one of my essays for that day indicating with some vigor your agreement or disagreement, or perhaps discussing applicability of this essay to your own context, or better alternatives you would propose other than the viewpoint I suggest. In other words, in your comment, I am asking you to engage with what I say and discuss its level of truth and applicability in reference to the MJ Movement and your own context. This will mean that you need to post a minimum of three or four comments this week (one for each day that I post). Please see the previous posting for more details on what is expected this week.

Following are two essays, rather long, one responding to a questioin from John, and one from Cornelius. Your job--interact with one of them, and also interact with each other. And if you are behind this week, catch up!

john said...
Question 1.
Although I thoroughly agree with anyone who seeks Teshuvah(repentance) and a return to a holy life rooted in Halakhah,Talmud Torah,Shabbat observance, etc., I feel that the “greater riches” issue needs to be firmly tempered with the other side of the balance which would seem to me to be “greater judgement”. Isn’t it this issue of a superior destiny, superior rewards, that makes Gentile Yeshua believers very nervous? Haven’t we over-emphasized the rewards stemming from the overwhelming kindness of the Father, at the expense of the “sterness” Rms 14 of the Father to those of whom more was expected because more was given?

John, we cannot escape nor tamper with either side of the equation. If the Laws of Torah are God’s laws to us as Jews, then we do face greater culpability by virtue of our Jewish status, whether we wish to embrace that culpability or not. This is why Paul can say in Galatians 5 that anyone who receives circumcision is obligated to keep the whole Law. It is a covenant obligation—not simply a choice of style. As for whether Gentile believers get nervous or not, is that really the point? I don’t mean that we should be crass and uncaring about the reactions of our Gentile brethren, but neither can we nor should we redraw the boundaries of Messianic Jewish obedience to placate anyone or to include everyone. The laws are God’s laws, the obedience is the responsibility of the family of Jacob. It is our obligation (Gal 5:3), not to be negotiated away.

This does not make us better than anyone else, nor should anyone act as if this is the case. Rather, God has established different households in creation (this discussion in Pauline texts borrows categories from Aristotle). In the Jewish household, these laws, statutes and ordinances are our responsibility—not so for non-Jews. This is why Paul will say that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters, but keeping the commandments of God. This statement comes in the context of discussing his principle that each person should remain in the situation in which he/she was called, Jews to remain Jews and Gentiles to remain Gentiles. When he says that what matters is “keeping the commandments of God,” in context, he is advocating that each should keep those commandments appropriate to his/her station—male or famale, Jew or Gentile, child or adult—in each case the halachic standard varies.

You ask, “Isn’t it this issue of a superior destiny, superior rewards, that makes Gentile Yeshua believers very nervous? Haven’t we over-emphasized the rewards stemming from the overwhelming kindness of the Father, at the expense of the “sternness” Romans 14 of the Father to those of whom more was expected because more was given?” Well, I have never used, nor do I choose to use, nor should we ever use the terms “superior destiny, superior rewards.” This is horrendous language, because if one is superior, then there is no category left for the other but inferior! Horrendous! This is neither Scripture’s language nor mine. Rather, Scripture underscores that Israel and Church from among the nations have differentiated destinies and roles, what I will call in my upcoming book “Converging Destinies.” And again, as for people getting “nervous” about this, what are we supposed to do? Jettison scripture? Soft-pedal obedience? Create a new tailor made lowest common denominator Jew-Gentile Messianic Judaism which offends no one? If the commandments God gave at Sinai retain any mandatory force for the sons and daughters of Jacob, then all of the options just mentioned are a form of apostasy.

Yes, there is a sternness here as well, an unavoidable sternness which we cannot modify away, or trim back. Scripture is always clear on this matter: Amos 3:2 – “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for your iniquities.” Now some will object that with the coming of Christ, we need not fear that punishment. I am not convinced. Should we imagine that with the coming of Christ, since there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, that obedience has become purely a matter of personal preference, “If it’s your style?” Do we believe that Jesus obeyed the Father for us so that we would no longer have to?

Yes, there is a sternness, and there is also an added privilege in being Jews (see Ps. 147:19-20). But it is not legitimate to tailor our religion so as to avoid the sternness, to modify the privilege, to relativize the importance of obedience, or to avoid offending those who resent the uniqueness of Israel’s calling.

Cornelius said...
Just one question for tonight and the rest tomorrow.
Why is it that whenever I introduce the requirement of Torah or “law observance” or better known as a faith obedience to G-d the Father through Yeshua as contingent [you meant “incumbent”] on every believer whether Jew or Gentile as a submission to His Lordship, that this with Gentile Believers hits a raw nerve. The dialogue or perhaps better put, monologue, then becomes a rathered cliched defense that is a hallmark of Church and evangelical bible study teaching that the law is dead and that we are under grace! This despite the commandments of Yeshua in numerous passages, that resound on “if you love me, you will obey my commandments”. I am not negating grace which was always present and I am not negating salvation through grace which by my understanding was always G-d’s standard and I am not advocating that we are saved by lawful behavior without the atonement of Messiah BUT having been saved through Messiah we uphold the Torah led by the Spirit. Now by this, I don’t suggest the supposition or presupposition that Gentiles have to become Jews, but based on my understanding of scripture, we are all called to walk in obedience which Paul designates as a halakhah to the new Gentile believers in Yeshua. Am I missing the point and should be considered legalistic? I bring all this out because, as a Gentile believer in Yeshua, I can’t escape the understanding from scripture that obedience to G-d is of paramount importance and that the whole Bilble is noten haTorah. I can’t help but believe that we as Gentile believers are missing something really big here in our spiritual life and journey. And this is reflective in the anemic quality of Christian church life and outreach to a dying world at large that is desperate for real Bibilical spiritual food but seeks elsewhere because of the failure of the Body in modelling or providing a picture of that way. The search and/or thirst for spirituality is well outlined by Demarest in his second chapter. I sense that Messianic Jews will supply what has been missing all these years in providing a completion and fullness to covenant life through Yeshua that escaped the Body when the schism occured.

Cornelius, I find in your question some matters that require a level of discernment almost entirely lacking in and around our circles. While it is true that there is and must be “a halacha,” that is, a way of life for Gentiles as well as for Jews, it is clear in Scripture that the pathways of obedience are different for Jews than non-Jews. There is much confusion, ignorance, misunderstanding, and heated rhetoric around this issue. But it is necessary for boundaries to be maintained and understood in our movement both for the sake of truth, for the sake of the cause of Yeshua in the Jewish world, and for the sake of the Messianic Jewish Remnant being a sign, demonstration and catalyst of God’s consummating purposes for the descendants of Jacob which involve a Jewish return to Torah obedience in the power of the Spirit and centered in Messiah.

You are right that much (not all!) of the Church world is skittish about commandment-keeping. But equally true, much of the Messianic world, and especially the Jewish Roots movement, is woefully ignorant and confused on these issues. There are too many Gentiles who embrace Jewish lifestyle out of a sense of elitism, superstition, and/or shame or sense of inferiority about being non-Jews. The latter is a scandal! To imagine that being born a Gentile is something to overcome is to slander the One who created you such and to sell short the magnitude of the salvation Yeshua purchased with his own blood! And by the way, Yeshua did not die to make Gentiles Jews, but to redeem them a Gentiles and to bring them into the commonwealth of Israel as Gentiles. This honors God by demonstrating him to be the King of the Nations, not simply of one nation.

On the question of Gentile adherence to halacha, I would say two more things. Surely it is possible for Gentiles with a confirmed calling to the Jewish people to bond with Jewish life deeply and respectfully. However, in and around our ranks, this is not what I usually find. What one finds instead is a kind of minimalism, a Jewish style charismatic culture which is not really a Judaism but rather Calvary Chapel with a tallit. Also, one frequently finds misappropriation and tampering (blowing Shofars to register charismatic excitement comes to mind as but one case in point), strangeness, selectivity, a sense of entitlement (“I’m a blood-bought Yeshua believer and that makes me the seed of Abraham so if I want to put on this tallit who is to stop me?"). One must realize that in trying on Jewish life, Gentiles are in a sense trying on someone else’s clothing. At the very least, one ought to ask permission: that is, one must enter into Jewish life respecting it as someone else’s holy heritage. I don’t find that attitude very evident in these matters, and when I do, I deeply respect the Gentiles who are capable of this level of awareness and respect.

Such awareness and respect inevitably involves being aware of and maintaining boundaries. While every Gentile man should wear a kippah when entering a synagogue, no Gentile man should wear a tallit. Why? Because a tallit betokens accepting the entire yoke of Jewish commandments. That would include the covenant sign of ritual circumcision—brith milah. When an uncircumcised male puts on a tallit he uses a holy Jewish object to tell a lie—that he accepts the yoke of Jewish commandment-keeping as his covenant responsibility, when his uncircumcised status says otherwise. What I find particularly troubling is how such parties do so with a sense of entitlement and resentment toward and who would protest. We see here how too often Jewish sancta become playthings for outsiders. Not good. Again, some things may be done without crossing these boundaries—but some things should be off limits. And the solution is NOT to invent a new religion where Gentiles can wear talleism and the berakah is adjusted accordingly. This to me is both cultic and disrespectful.

Those Gentiles who wish to fully embrace Jewish life should always be free to do so—and we should have a demanding and informed conversion process whereby they may take on that responsibility with integrity [which would include circumcision or at least tippat ha dam—the drawing of blood from the male member, mikveh for females, and a rigorous education program and an interview with an appropriate Bet Din for both]. It is a sobering thing: it involves saying, “I believe God has called me to take on this identity and these obligations for the rest of my life, even to the death.” This is no light thing, and is not the kind of bullhorn shofar-blowing yahoo Messianic Judaism I have sometimes seen (and yes, what I have described IS an extreme, and is not a fair description of everyone).

You are entirely right that commandment-keeping is a necessary aspect of the way of discipleship of all who name the name of Christ. You are also right that too many Christians are skittish about this for naïve and wrong reasons. But all of this must be processed with due respect for the differentiated callings of Israel and the Nations—even in Christ.

And by the way, we must beware of thinking that God is in the business of creating one relgion for everyone. What I mean is we ought not to see Messianic Judaism as superior to various forms of Christianity around us. Each of our communities must instead seek to be faithful to our own callings, without disparaging the callings of other wings of God's people. I must say this because of tne naive elitisim I have encountered from time to time. If one believes that God is creating one religion--one way of life for all people groups, and if one believes that Messianic Judaism is a God-given way of life, it is too easy to progress to the explicit or implict non sequitur of saying that Baptists, Episcopalians, Presybterians, Catholics, all manner of Christians are not only less enlightened, but corrupted by paganism. This kind of arrogance ill behooves a mature Messianic Judaism.

On these matters I cannot recommend too highly the position papers crafted by Dan Juster and Russ Resnik on the One Law Movements which you can find by Googling Juster, Resnik, "One Law Movements"

These are the positions that all in our Union should uphold. But they are fiercely resisted and refuted by people who differ, many of whom I believe to be doctrinally confused, operating out of a need for elite status, or a misbegotten avoidance of the stigma of having been born a Gentile (which stigma should NOT exist!), and, in some cases, driven by financial considerations. After all, who is going to make more money: someone who pedals Torah observance to Jewish Yeshua believers or to Gentile Yeshua-believers?

And yes, I am opinionated. But that doesn’t mean I am wrong, nor does it mean that I apply such opinions to all or even most Gentiles in our ranks. I just want to protect them and our movement as a whole from confused polemicists who may even be unclear about their own motives and conduct.