To: Hebraic-Foundations@yahoogroups.com
From: "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Date sent: Sat, 3 Nov 2001 14:58:44 -0600
Subject: HF046 - Our Lost Hebraic Heritage
Hebraics,
This Bible study has to do with how Christianity began to lose
something of great worth when she took on a Greek-Latin mindset.
The original study was published simply as 'Christians and Jews.' It can
be found on the Christian Challenge web page under that name. On
Hebraic-Foundations the title is changed to "Bible Study HF046 - Our Lost
Hebraic Heritage." The study presented here contains modifications from the
original.
Please take time to read it through. I believe you will be blessed.
Responses and inquiries are welcomed.
OUR LOST HEBRAIC HERITAGE...
Rabbi Steward Rosenberg, after having observed Christians for
years, made this statement; "The stronger a person's Christian
faith, the more Jewish will he regard himself."
The preeminent Christian theologian Carl Barth said, "The Bible is
a Jewish book. It cannot be read, understood and expounded
unless we are prepared to become Jews with the Jews."
Why would two learned men of different religious traditions reach
such a similar conclusion? The answer is because Christianity
finds its roots in ancient Judaism. As one writer said, "Christians
are spiritual Semites." The Lord Himself said that salvation is from the
Jews. The apostle adds, "And if you belong to Christ, then you are
Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise." [Cf. Gal. 3:29]
Does this surprise you? Probably the greatest single need among
Christian today is to learn about their Hebraic heritage. The Church has
been living largely in a Greek-Latin mind set ever since she lost her
Judaic identity. This is not to say that neither Greek nor Latin had
anything to offer to Christianity. The loss was over replacement.
Many Christians are not aware that Christianity began as a form of
Judaism. During the second temple period, which includes the time
of Christ, there were twenty-four major movements in Judaism. You
might say there were twenty-four Judaisms. (Sounds like
Christianity.) After the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, only two of
these movements survived. One evolved into Rabbinic Judaism. The other
movement took on the name Christianity. Christianity became heir to the
ancient Messianic faith. Rabbinic Judaism would yet have her day, but it
would be in the far distant future. (Second coming of the Lord.)
But in all this, we share a deep kinship with the Jewish people.
Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. The apostles were Jews. The
prophets were Jews. The Bible of the early Church was Jewish. In
fact the Bible we love is a Jewish document from Genesis to
Revelations. (This is why when Jews read the New Testament, they
hear a Jewish voice.)
When Jerusalem was destroyed, Rabbinic Judaism, which had its
source in the Pharisees, began to supplant Biblical Judaism, and
became anti-Christian, that is, in the sense that Jesus Christ was
rejected as the Messiah. Of course they continued to believe in a
coming Messiah. But because of the rejection of Jesus, the Jews
would become prey to many false Messiahs. This has been their
history.
The other branch of Judaism took on the name Christian. (Early
Christians were also known as 'Nazarenes.' Cf. Acts 24:5; 24:14;
28:22)
In early church persecutions, the persecutions were Jews
persecuting Jews. Christian Jews were accused of being heretics.
Following the destruction of Jerusalem, the two branches of
Judaism continued with a love-hate relationship. The issue,
however, was that the Christian branch had an atonement in the
Messiah. The Judaists had neither atonement nor temple. A new
religion had been created. It continues that way to this day.
With the temple gone there was little need for a priesthood in
Israel. The Sadducees passed off the scene. Over time Rabbinic
Judaism evolved into modern Judaism with its three major
groupings; Orthodox, Conservative, and Reformed Judaism. No
more blood sacrifices. The Rabbis were at center stage.
As for the other major branch of Judaism, a name change was
foretold by the prophets. Peter, who was most certainly a Jewish
apostle, told the new covenant believers never to be ashamed of
their name 'Christian.' (Cf. 1 Pet 4:16; Isaiah 65:15)
But the picture changes over time. As Gentiles flooded into the
Church, Christianity began drifting from her Hebraic roots. Greek
philosophy filled the Church. Dualism became the norm. The
Church still struggles over this. Sadly enough many parts of
Christianity are yet filled with pagan influences.
But it was when Christianity began centering in Rome, that the
Church started taking on a strange nature. Pagan influences found
entrance. And Constantine helped in this direction a great deal.
The Church took on her imperial vestments. She was now 'the'
religion. She was now 'the' kingdom of God manifest in the earth.
She could now pronounce curses on any who did not agree with
her. And she carried the sword to enforce her will. Saddest of all,
the Jewish element of the Church was treated as a step child at
best.
(It should be noted, however, that there have always been purer
forms of Christianity than that which evolved out of Rome. Keep in
mind that the one who has the votes writes the history.)
What eventually happened is that the Greek-Latin aberration of
Christianity took the place of the Hebraic form. Darkness began to
overtake much of the Church. Paul warned of this. (Cf. 1 Tim. 4:1-6)
Paul had also warned Gentile believers not to boast against the
Jewish branches who were broken off, nor against the Hebraic
nature of the Church.
Paul went on to explain that Gentile believers are wild olive
branches who have been engrafted into God's cultivated olive tree.
This means that Gentiles were partaking of a completed Messianic-
redemptive faith of the Jews. He further says, "For if the Gentiles
have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to
them also in material things." (Rom. 15:27)
It is likely that the olive tree is a particular reference to Abraham. The
root of the tree would be the true Messianic faith which, in turn, would
be the source of God's blessings that flow to the branches. The branches
broken off were those Jews who refused Jesus as Messiah. But Paul
indicates that the rejected branches will be engrafted again.
The point is that our engraft is into a tree that existed long before New
Testament Christianity. Some like to limit the tree to Israel, but this is
probably not the case. Although Paul may have had Abraham in view, the
tree could be said to have existed before there was an Abraham or Isaac.
The olive tree is metaphoric. It could be said to reach back to Abel.
(Many thoughts can come forth from a study on the olive tree.)
As engrafted branches, Gentile believers were to take on the nature
of the olive tree, not vice versa. Perhaps it is in this sense that
Gentile believers began to feel themselves as having Jewish hearts.
(Jewish in the sense of a completed Messianic Judaism.)
While it is true that in God's salvation code being Jew or Gentile is
meaningless, the fact remains that the Church is Hebraic in nature. All
believers are spiritual descendants of Abraham. Abraham was a Semite. But
the primary reason we seem to have a Jewish heart is that our Bible is
written entirely in Semitic thought form. The more you study, the more you
began thinking Hebraically. Paul said that to the Jews alone God committed
His oracles. (Cf. Romans 3:2)
Now let's consider some examples of what we have lost from our
Hebraic heritage. Often when Christians read and study the
Scriptures, our desire is to accumulate knowledge. We gather
data. We study with scholastics in mind. However, in the Biblical-
Hebrew tradition, God's people are taught to study the Scriptures in order
to draw near to God. We need to get back to this.
For the ancient Hebrews the study of Torah was the highest form of
worship. David's Psalm 119 certainly brings this out. It was through study
that a person came to know God in a personal way. But for the Jews who
rejected Jesus, the Torah became a closed book in many senses. All you
need to do is read from the Talmud to see the truthfulness of this. This
is because Jesus Himself is the living Word of God. The Biblical Christian
still meet and worship God by meeting with Him in the Scriptures.
Then we have prayer. Often Christians are taught that the more we
pray the more spiritual we become. The stress is often on long
prayers. Certainly there is a place for longer prayers, yet in the
Hebrew tradition, long prayers were not that common. In fact,
Jesus rebuked the Scribes and Pharisees over their pretence of
righteousness with the use of long prayer. (Matt. 23:14)
The Jewish people were taught that their whole life was an offering
of prayer. Even their work was to be considered worship. The
Hebraic emphasis is more on short prayers of thankfulness. (Cf.
Matt. 6:5-13; 1 Thess. 5:16-18.)
When Paul says we should pray without ceasing, he was speaking
as a Jewish man. As a rule our daily life should to be a continuous
activity of short prayers filled with thanksgivings.
Then there is dualism. Some Greeks felt that anything of the
material world was evil. When Paul said that in his flesh dwelt no
good thing, he was not calling his body evil. He was saying that
there is a principle of sin in fallen man. The Hebrew writers refer to
this as the evil inclination. (Yetzer haRa.) Actually we are to rejoice
in
our humanity.
With the Greeks the highest form of spirituality was to enter into a
monastic form of living. Monasticism comes from a root word which means to
be alone. What did God say about aloneness? He said it wasn't good. (Gen.
2:18) It was this kind of thinking that contributed to extolling celibacy
in the priesthood.
One of the Latin fathers went so far as to say that when a man and
his wife have conjugal relations the Holy Spirit leaves the bedroom.
Nowhere does the Bible teach that a celibate lifestyle is particularly
spiritual. Actually it teaches the opposite. The Bible affirms the
goodness of marriage and the family. A Biblical requirement of a Christian
bishop (pastor) is that he be married.
In the Hebrew tradition the act of love in marriage was and is
considered both sacred and joyful. Love in marriage allows a
couple to express their gift of maleness and femaleness. If you
don't think God wants us to celebrate the romantic side of
marriage, read the Song of Solomon. Because of our western
mindset this book can be embarrassing. It is a love manual. (Cf.
Prov. 5:15-20; Eccl. 9:9; Heb. 13:4)
Perhaps it is enough to say that we Christians are finding ourselves in an
identity crisis. Who am I? What am I about? Where did I come from? You can
be certain that many of these questions have their answer in a rediscovery
our Hebraic heritage in Christ.
But it is not only Christians who are in an identity crisis. Jews are
there also. There is a statistic put out by the Jews that I find quite
interesting. They say that over 50% of Jewish men marry outside their
culture. Most marry Christian woman. Why would a Jewish man be drawn to a
Christian women? Is it possible that it relates to a Messiah hunger in the
Jews? Could this be another indicator of the second coming of Christ? I
think so. Many walls between Christian and Jew are beginning to melt away.
There is a final caution. In our search for roots, we should not reject
everything that is not Hebraic. Neither should we get on a Jewish lust
trip. No person is ever closer to God than being in Christ Jesus. What we
should do is rejoice in the diversity and beauty of Christianity while
seeking to learn more about our true Biblical heritage.
Just a thought - Some time back I was watching a major TV
newscaster speak with people on the streets in Bethlehem. When
he asked a Jewish man what he thought about Christians filling the
city at Christmas time, the man simply responded, "They are Jews
too."
What a simple answer. But is it relevant? Paul did say, "But he is
a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the
heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from
men, but from God." (Rom. 2:29) Of course this Scripture is open
to interpretation.
Yes, we do share a heart with the Jewish people. But we have to
remember that new covenant people have been given a new name.
Christian means those who belong to the Messiah.
Think about it. May the Lord bless you.
The study is open.
Shalom in Christ,
Buddy
Lawrence E. (Buddy) Martin, HF Host
email: Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org
Web: http://www.ChristianChallenge.org
"See to it that no one comes short of the grace
of God; that no root of bitterness springing up
causes trouble, and by it many be defiled." (Heb12:15)