As is mentioned in one of our dvd’s this week, our tendency is to assume that there is a tension, a contradiction needing to be resolved, between the Presence and gifts-operation of the Holy Spirit and Mitzvah-oriented Messianic Judaism. But think for a moment: is that tension latent in the realities of which it speaks? Or is the contradiction more in our minds and cultural assumptions than anything else?
One thing seems certain—in the Bible, not only is there no contradiction assumed between mitzvah-keeping and the operation of the Spirit, the two are assumed to be coordinate. See for example, Jeremiah 31 – “31 "Here, the days are coming," says ADONAI, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isra'el and with the house of Y'hudah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by their hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt; because they, for their part, violated my covenant, even though I, for my part, was a husband to them," says ADONAI. 33 "For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Isra'el after those days," says ADONAI: "I will put my Torah within them and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people.” As Walter Kaiser points out, the deficiency alluded to in verse 32 is not in the covenant itself. The problem was the people broke the covenant by breaking the commandments. By the way, the covenant is a broader category than the commandments—they broke the covenant—the relational agreement—through breaking the Torah which was the operational standard of the those bound to the covenant. But in the future, in the Newer Covenant envisioned by Jeremiah, what is changed is not the Torah, not the standards of behavior, but the nature of the covenant, that God would so inscribe the Torah on our hearts by the Holy Spirit, that it would become a fully internalized standard.
Similarly, Ezekiel 36:27 looks forward to the day when “I will put my Spirit inside you and cause you to live by my laws, respect my rulings and obey them,” and, in chapter 37, 23 "'They will never again defile themselves with their idols, their detestable things, or any of their transgressions; but I will save them from all the places where they have been living and sinning; and I will cleanse them, so that they will be my people, and I will be their God. 24 My servant David will be king over them, and all of them will have one shepherd; they will live by my rulings and keep and observe my regulations.” Here we have some aspects of the ideal state, according to Hashem—Israel gathered together, cleansed and repentant, filled with the Spirit and walking in the laws, rulings and regulations of Hashem. And of course, there is nothing in the context to give us reason to expect that these laws, rulings, regulation, generically—these mitzvoth, will be fundamentally different from the commandments Hashem gave to our ancestors. And notice again—from the vantage point of Scripture, the work of the Spirit is presumed to be a means toward, not a substitue for, Torah obedience.
I think part of the problem for our movement and for our people Israel as a whole is that we are not yet repentant. We in the Messianic Movement have been taught to repent of our lack of Yeshua faith, but the Bible makes it clear that we must also repent of our failure to keep God’s Torah!
R. Kendall Soulen helps us with this clarifying statement:
"According to the story that unfolds between the Lord, Israel, and the nations. Accordingly, human sin is never merely the sin of the creature against the Creator-Consummator. Human sin is also always the sin of Jew and Gentile, of Israel and the nations.” (R. Kendall Soulen, The God of Israel and Christian Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996:153).
The sins of the Messianic Jewish Movement and of the Jewish people are far more dire and extensive than simply the record of individual human failings. If we would think biblically, these sins include, and indeed are foundationally, our failure communally, familially and individually to live in covenant faithfulness to the God of Israel.
The Older Covenant Scriptures are replete with evidence of this, or course. But does the Newer Covenant bear this out? Consider this: What are the people of Israel indictable for in Stephen’s words in Acts seven:
51"Stiffnecked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You continually oppose the Ruach HaKodesh! You do the same things your fathers did! 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who told in advance about the coming of the Tzaddik, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers! - 53 you! - who receive the Torah as having been delivered by angels - but do not keep it!"
A few questions—and, on this subject, there could be many more!
(1) What role does our movement’s rootage in Dispensationalism, and in Christian thinking in general, have on blinding us to the need to repent from not keeping Torah?
(2) How might our deeply repenting of this failure make the way for the Holy Spirit to work in a new way in our movement?
(3) How much is our expectation for how the Holy Spirit’s moving is manifest shaped by experiences in the Christian world rather than simply by Scripture?
(4) In keeing with passages such as I mention above, what characteristics might a Spirit-filled mitzvah-oriented faithful Messianic Judaism have that we have thus far not been conditioned to look for?
10 comments:
In response to R. Dauermann's four questions:
(1) What role does movement’s rootage in dispensationalism, and in Christian thinking in general have on blinding us to the need to repent from not keeping Torah?
To answer this question directly, the idea that the Spirit "frees us from bondage to the Law," which presupposes that G-d was placing a stumbling block in our path or playing some other underhanded trick on us in our receiving Torah, places us in a man-made dilemma of appearing to abandon what Messiah has done for us through His sacrifice when we respond to what He has directed us to do. In my opinion, this has created a force with much momentum that is carrying us away from what we are called to do. These two ideas are not in competition with one another in Scripture, only in our man-made constructs.
(2) How might our deeply repenting of this failure make the way for the Holy Spirit to work in a new way in our movement?
First, I don’t think “new way” appropriately describes what we may find. I think a better description is “to work unfettered in our movement.” If we are indeed taking G-d at His word in Jeremiah and in Ezekiel, then we are bidden to press in to Torah observance to make a place, a mishkah, for the Spirit. It will look new, but the manifestation, I suspect, may be a difference in degree, not kind. My basis for this contention is that the Spirit is remains constant and, as such, its character. What has really changed is not the Spirit but rather the environment in which it operates.
(3) How much is our expectation for how the Holy Spirit’s moving is manifest shaped by experiences in the Christian world rather than simply by Scripture?
This depends on each individual. I am very much in process here. I went from being a reserved Charismatic to a very guarded stance on the operation of the Spirit. I am now opening up to it again but slowly. As I have explained before, I have seen some very wacky and damaging things done by a “move of the Spirit.” But the tension lies within me, not with the Spirit, which is alive and well.
(4) According to passages such as I mention above, what characteristics might a Spirit-filled mitzvah-oriented faithful Messianic Judaism have that we have thus far not been conditioned to look for?
I am throwing caution to the wind here. If we buy the idea that being Spirit-filled is manifested by Torah observance (both written and oral), then it should look very much like an Orthodox/Conservative shul with respect to observance. Additionally, there would be much grace for ba’al teshuva but it would be coupled with a desire to be a ba’al teshuva.
Robert
(1) I would say a lot, and as Paul stated the Spirit as the one to free us from the Torah has been a large rootage. Another stumbling block is the whole understanding of the true meaning of the word Torah = teaching and instruction as opposed to law. The dispensationalist emphasis on law being bad and Jesus/Spirit being good has crippled our keeping the Torah as commanded.
(2) I see us not only repenting, but acting out in the way we were intended to act out Torah. Maybe this is a picture of faith and actions for us as MJ’s. As stated in my last posting, we can’t really place our finger on how the Spirit will work in a new way. The Spirit works much the same way He worked since I was a young boy, He Heals the sick, free’s the sinner from sinner state, and mends the world in various ways.
(3) I can only speak for myself, but I would say a little bit. One can easily see the various expressions within the MJ movement. Our Congregation tends to use the liturgy and other appropriate ways to be in the quite place of the Ruach.
(4) I see this another way, what has our movement missed or is not ready for in terms of an outpouring of the Spirit in revival? In this outpouring there is effective witness with miracles and signs and wonders (just as the Scriptures depict)and this has a tendency to draw Jews to Yeshua. Shabbat Shalom for sure now
I'm just posting my last question to last weeks work on Kashrut and Study..so I guess I'm a bit behind!
What implications does Mark 7:19 and Acts 10-11 have for us a Jewish-Christians involved with traditional Jews and Gentiles in the wider community?
Can we take a meal at fellow believer's houses ..if they are not Kosher?
Can we eat anything offered?
Should we keep Kosher?
I've read Kinzer on the two passages and very briefly the argument is this:
As for the writings of Mark(written to a non-Jewish audience) it would seem that the purpose was to show that Jews and Gentiles were not on differing levels.If some food was intrinsically impure ...and allowed to Gentiles then it follows that Gentiles would be on a lower level than Jewish believers, in terms of purity (Tohar)
This obviously isn't the message ..so that whilst allowing everyone to eat anything (food is not intrinsically impure) the only difference that remains is a commandment SPECIFICALLY to Jewish believers to remain in Torah as designed for them.(It would follow from this that Gentiles in the Messianic Movement are NOT called to follow Kosher...otherwise the Gospel falls apart at the seams!)
The other passage (Acts 10)is explained by Kinzer as being a vision and as such not really concretely applying to "all food can be eaten".The passage should be understood in the light of Cornelius' request that Kefa rest with him and his household awhile.Thus breaking down the barriers between Jews and Gentiles again(unclean/clean).Now no tribe or people can be looked upon as unclean,etc.Thus ,Kefa must explain why he stayed at a Goyim house..and he recounts how the Ruach Hakodesh fell on Gentiles and blessed them equally as their Jewish counterparts.So the food issue was illustrative,and Jews seem to still be bound by food laws.
My view on this is difficult to put into words.I FEEL it's right to keep Kosher,and in light of the Kinzer argument I suppose he could have a point.It would be a tall order to explain all of this in front of a congregation, however.Further,once we start undoing the basic message of passages and implying hidden things not exactly stated where does it end??
Any offers?
As for visiting Gentile homes..it would seem to me that we must follow what Messiah would have done..and it fits with his caracter that he probably would have broken ALL dietary laws if keeping them would have offended someone or was an obstacle to healing/faith/love..even eating a Ham sandwich on a Shabbat!
You've noticed that I broke my rule of not doing internet on Shabbat...but this seems allowable for once as we're doing Talmud Torah!!
Shalom
John:
I have the think the balance of kashrut and receiving hospitality in Gentile homes will come out a little more on the kosher side. I cannot imagine Yeshua would violate a levitical command to keep from embarassing a host. I have passed up the hospitality of marijuana before even though the offerer was offended.
Nonetheless, I think kashrut can be loosened when visiting others. I just don't think it can be loosened to the point of violating one of God's "you shall nots."
Derek
In relation to this question of how our "Church experiences "have mitigate against Torah obedience,and how a community living more completely in the holy spirit would look like ,I have this to forward:
1.I've been sweeping oover Kinzer's book again.It's marvelous, and original,but I become more and more unsatisfied by the approach.I become less and less convinced of a bilateral eclesiology that is a one-sided conversation.
Kinzer states that the church as to now has been handicapped "trying to breathe on one-lung".I fully agree that the supersessionalist theology has evoked enormous damage over communion with the Jewish community and Israel's position in the escatological end view.His remedy is to have Messianics completely at home in the Jewish world.But isn't this all "pie in the sky".No-where throughout the book do I see any references as to
the advice the wider Jewish community has for us in how to take our place in Jewish society and religious culture.We cannot hope to have a dialogue with somebody ..if they are not there!
2.If the Ruach Hakodesh is fathful and doesn't lead us down blind alleys,and if he does reveal himself and guides us in the real deciesions of life...how is it possible that we may have got things so wrong!)in terms of where we are with the Messianic movement and it's original aims)
My conviction is that this must have happened when the Messianic community decided to come out of the churches ,the "bride".I'm not a great church lover,either,and I could mention things that would make you roll your eyes..but the church is still the bride of Christ and we should respect it as such..(and has kept the tradition of the faith for over two thousand years through all sorts of persecutions,etc)
3.The Holy spirit could help us in turning the christian church back to be our focus.. and our Jewish expression could be much more realistically lived in a subgroup context of the wider CHRISTIAN community.
4.I believe many Jews in the community beg us to be honest and align ourselves either with them(Rejecting Jesus),or at least identifing ourselves with the christian church...then our Jewish expression may be more readily tolerated.
My idea of a Spirit filled Mitzvah-orientated Jewish christianity would be:
Firm obedience to Torah and the practice of Mitzvot as something clearly identifying our Jewish heritage.I don't intellectualise this point..it's just that for the majority of Jewish atheists,Jewish Buddists,Jewish Moslems,doing Mitzvah is a culturally identifying way to claim to be part of religious Judaism.
It would seem to me, the living of exemplar lives, in terms of morality and ethics would also be foundational.
I believe,with the spirit's help and guidance ,and given the right settings,Traditional Jews may even ask us into their sysnagogues to talk,dialogue,give the message.
Why do UI believe this?I take my cues from what Yeshua was all about in his time on earth..teaching in the synagogues ...and they were all amazed at his knowledge and authority(Luke 4.31)
In this way Kinzers metaphor of the one-lung is expanded.It becomes the "TWo_LUNG" model(Church + messianic community) just waiting for the blood transfusion(Jews coming into the wider christian community but keeping firm links with Jewish expression/ritual and the Jewish community)
As to what the new thing that the Holy spirit might do in our communities:
The Jeremiah and Ezekial passages do accent how we will have the spirit of the L-rd in us, but this could be seen as a different Spirit as witnessed after Pentecost.Doesn't the spirit that is worling in our hearts in the older covenant help us to keep the commandmants and obligations better?
T he spirit afetr pentecost,although helping us to lead lives more closely resembling Yeshua,is more geared to empowerment + external individual manefestation(tongues,gifts,healings,etc).
I think we have to be alittle careful if we want to try to "box in" the spirit,..the main influence in our lives being to make us more observant.
Components that would make up "spirit-filled Messianic communities" that would be examples for the Christian churches and Jewish communities alike would be :
1 Humility amongst their members
2 Bastions of Tikkun Olam and charity in the wider context of social life
3 Simple non-materialistic lives
4Spiritually freed from the "Wackiness" of hard-line charasmatics that allow for healings,outpouring of gifts and baptisms in the spirit, to order,with hyped up "one-man shows"
5 This liberty would come through a more honest and thorough discernment process of all that is under the guise of "Spirit-led".
6 Firm leadership from a rabbinical counsel that would welcome genuine spirit led conversion and seek to herald support structures for new Ba'al Teshuvah believers..
I get your point Derek..but didn't Yeshua let an unclean prostitue touch and caress his feet during an apparently otherwise Kosher setting? And what about letting of the hook the woman caught in adultery?
Then there's chatting to a Samaritan woman at the well,and taking a drink from her...
Dr. D:
In responce to the comment in the second paragraph of your post that, "our tendency is to assume that there is a tension, a contradiction needing to be resolved, between the Presence and gifts-operation of the Holy Spirit and Mitzvah-oriented Messianic Judaism." I agree that this is a perceived contradiction. However, where I would disagree is that in reality the halachic structure as it exists under the rabbinic model poses a problem, and as such, there does exist at times a contradiction that must be overcome. For in the rabbinic model (as I commented in the last post), exists a built in responce against any kind of divine guidance in the formation of halachah. For the arguement of the rabbis (see BT, Bava Metzia 59b)is that "the Torah is no longer in heaven," and as such, G-d gave up the ability to any longer have any say in the process. Rather, the authority to interpret halachah rests on the rabbonim. This is a problem if you beleive engagement with halachah must exist with the impartation and influence of the Ruach, and that there is no (or really, should be no) contradiction between the two. I am curious, Rabbi Dr. Stuart, how you see this discussion? I think it could make for some lively pilpul, nu? :)
Derek:
I agree with your assessment that flexibility in regard to eating with others does not have to lead to violating Torah commands.
Paul:
I agree with some of your observations in your first post here, and I especially like the question posed in your fourth question.
However, I disagree with your assessment that "If we buy the idea that being Spirit-filled is manifested by Torah observance (both written and oral), then it should look very much like an Orthodox/Conservative shul with respect to observance."
Part of the gift of Progressive Judaism is reengaging tradition in new ways. Being commited to Judaism and halachah does not have to equal Orthodox/Conservative (like those are the only bench marks one could possibly achieve).
In fact, there are many Jewish thinkers like Rabbi Wayne Dosick that believe that Judaism is about to go through another major transformation. As he states, just as Biblical Judaism once gave way to Rabbinic Judaism, so Rabbinic Judaism is about to give way to a new form of Judaism.
As a Messianic Jew, I would like to think that this new Jewish renewal movement will be that which is a Yeshua centeredand and Ruach embibed Torah Judaism. That is built out of and upon the best of what exists, but brings forth that which is missing. But the answer is not simply that the most optimal will just be what already exists. If that were so, many more people than now would find Judaism meaningful in their daily lives. Rather, I see us upon very prophetic times in which we can become partners with G-d in bringing redemption into the world and being a part of creating a meaningful and spiritually powerful form of Judaism that is able to impart meaning into the Jewish community. Something that Judaism today just isn't able to completly do.
Post a Comment