MESSIANIC JUDAISM
Miles J. Stanford
Many Jews are being saved today, but few are established dispensationally; as a result, they are strongly Galatianized. As Christians they are both Judaistic, and Judaizers, constituting a definite contribution to the delinquency of Dispensationalism.
Due to its lack of dispensational, rightly-divided protection, the Messianic Jew movement here in the United States has fallen prey to the two main detrimental factors—tongues, and the law. The entire group is based upon the latter—the legal aspects of the undivided Word. The charismatic integration is primarily due to the ‘Jews for Jesus’ influence.
DR. ARNOLD FRUCHTENBAUM -- Dr. Fruchtenbaum, graduate 1971 from Dallas Theological Seminary, [now adjunct professor at both Tyndale and Chafer Theological Seminary] has written a 142-page book titled Hebrew Christianity. His thesis is typical of American Messianism. This will be brought out from the book, along with our brief comments.
What then is a Hebrew Christian? He is a Jew who believes that Jesus Christ is his Messiah. He must acknowledge that he is both a Jew and a Christian (p. 12).
Need one go further? This is an attempt to create a dichotomy in Christ that does not exist. "There is neither Jew nor Greek… for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28).
If a Jew accepts baptism solely to lose his identity as a Jew, he is by no means to be considered a Hebrew Christian; he is a renegade, a traitor, and an apostate. A Hebrew Christian is proud of his Jewishness (p. 13).
JUDAIZERS -- Here is the sad key to the Messianists, their true attitude and aim. They are actually Judaizers. They are backing into Christianity—they do not want to know where they are going in Christ, but only where they have been in Judaism.
The Bible does not teach that there is a Hebrew Christian distinctive in the Body of Christ. It is the continuity of the Abrahamic Covenant that provides the first basis of the Hebrew Christian distinction. Since that Covenant is still very much in effect, these four features also involve the Hebrew Christian both in position and function (p. 17).
The Hebrew Christian seeks to include himself in a covenant belonging to Israel, which will be in effect and find its fulfillment in the Millennial Kingdom and throughout eternity.
First of all, Hebrew Christians are still Jews, for they, like other Jews, are descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Secondly, the homeland for the Hebrew Christian is the land of Israel, and this is where his primary loyalty should be despite his place of residence (p. 28).
Israel is an earthly nation, and forever shall be. The Lord Jesus’ Bride is not of this world. Many Hebrew Christians are confirmed Zionists.
Thirdly, the Gentile relationship to the Jews in the blessing and cursing aspects is as true for Hebrew Christians as for other Jews. Hebrew Christians who are blessed or cursed because of their Jewishness will find the blessers blessed and the cursers cursed (p. 28).
Their entire bent is Judaistic. They fail to realize their scriptural relationship to the Father, the Son, the Spirit, the Jews, the Gentiles, and the world.
CIRCUMCISION
Finally, there is the matter of circumcision. Since Hebrew Christians still fall under the other provisions of the Abrahamic Covenant, they fall under this one as well. It is my conviction that Hebrew Christians should have their sons circumcised on the eighth day (p. 29).
Paul would guide them away from fleshly ritualism of any kind to spiritual reality. "Beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Phil. 3:2, 3).
JEWISH "REMNANT"
The point is that in Israel, past, present, and future, it is a remnant that is faithful to the revelation of God. This is also true in this present Dispensation of Grace; the Hebrew Christians are the remnant of Israel today. The remnant is always in the nation, not outside of it; the Hebrew Christian, the present-day remnant, are [sic] part of Israel and the Jewish people. Their Jewishness is distinct (p. 31).
They would rather be a remnant of presently rejected Israel than to see themselves as, and grow in the benefit of, being an integral part of the beauteous Bride, the heavenly Body of the Lord Jesus Christ. "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory" (Col. 3:1–4). Israel, in all its glory, will never approximate this!
In the early period (A.D 30–68) Christianity was Hebrew, and for all practical purposes it was a sect within Judaism" (p. 35). The Gentile believers were called Christians (Acts 11:29), but the Jewish believers were called Nazarenes (Acts 24:5) (p. 37).
Several waves of persecution against the Hebrew Christians took place between A.D. 32 and A.D. 66; nevertheless, they lived among their own Jewish people, attending the Temple and synagogue services, and observing Jewish religious practices. The policy of Hebrew Christianity was a policy of distinction from Gentile Christianity, but there was still an alliance between them (p. 38).
The Ultra- and Progressive Dispensationalists should certainly relate to the above! Acts is the transition from Judaism and the Law to Christianity and its Life. Christianity was never Hebrew, nor was it ever Gentile. Christianity is Christ glorified, forged on the Cross of Calvary, and instituted by the descent of the Spirit of Christ on its birth-day of Pentecost.
HEBREW CHRISTIAN MISSIONS
In 1866 the Hebrew Christian Alliance of Great Britain was founded on the premise: Let us not sacrifice our identity. When we profess Christ, we do not cease to be Jews; Paul, after his conversion, did not cease to be a Jew; not only Saul was, but even Paul remained a Hebrew of the Hebrews.
We cannot and will not forget the land of our fathers, and it is our desire to cherish feelings of patriotism. As Hebrews, as Christians, we feel tied together; and as Hebrew Christians, we desire to be allied more closely to one another. In 1915, the Hebrew Christian Alliance of America was founded. In 1925, the International Hebrew Christian Alliance was founded in London (p. 49).
There is no question but that reliable missions to the Jews in this country and elsewhere have been the means of many Jews being born again. But it must be said, and should have been pointed out long ago, that these ministries to the Jews are working on a faulty, if not false, premise.
The nation of Israel, as such, has been set aside by God during this Church/Grace dispensation.
Therefore, to present Christ as Messiah to the Jew is to orient him to Judaism and its Kingdom Gospel, instead of Paul’s heavenly Gospel of Grace, which will position the Spirit-convicted Jew upon heavenly ground in the glorified Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour.
Paul, who received his new life and Gospel from the glorified Lord Jesus, immediately "preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God" (Acts 9:20). "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received [not from the apostles, but from the glorified Lord], that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3, 4).
The believer in Christ is free of the Law of Moses. He is also free to keep parts of the Law of Moses if he so desires (p. 88).
The fact of the believer’s life in Christ, and Christ’s life in him, to say nothing of the admonitions of Galatians and Hebrews, precludes any such thought. The Law is a complete modus operandi—one cannot pick and choose.
Modern Judaism is not the same as biblical Judaism, nor is it the ‘father of Christianity.’ At best it can be called its brother, and biblical Judaism is the father of both (p. 106).
Dr. Chafer maintained that "Judaism is not the bud that blossomed into Christianity. [Progressive Dispensationalism is trying to make it a flower in the same pot!] Each sets up its ground of relationship between God and man—the Jew by physical birth, the Christian by spiritual birth; each provides its instruction on the life of its adherents—the Law for Israel, the teachings of Grace for the Church; each has its sphere of existence; Israel on the earth for all ages to come, the Church in heaven (IV: 248).
JEWISH FEASTS
There are certain advantages for a Hebrew Christian in keeping some or all of the Feasts. First, they are good opportunities to share the faith with unbelieving Jewish people [rank accommodation], showing them how the particular Feast points to the Messiahship of Christ (p. 107).
Dr. Chafer pointed in the scriptural direction: "To the Jew and Gentile alike the Gospel is to be shared and, without reference to any former estate or promises, they are to be confronted with the glory of heavenly realities. All Jewish advantage and Gentile disadvantage is set aside to the end that the heavenly purpose may be accomplished" (IV: 320).
Secondly, the Feast presents a good way of identifying ourselves with Jewish people. This matter of identification is very important as a testimony to the Jewishness of our faith (p. 176).Here is the consummate compromise of all mission work to the Jews: “Stooping” to conquer the poor lost Jew—who needs the living witness to Christianity to win him to the glorified Son of God. If the Hebrew Christian knew of his identification with the Lord Jesus Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, he would not be so eager to identify with earthly Judaism.
Thirdly, the Feasts provide a basis for teaching Jewish culture and history. This is especially important for instilling Jewishness in the children of Hebrew Christians.The more Jewishness for the children, the greater the barrier and prejudice for them regarding Christianity.
Fourthly, the Feasts serve as an opportunity to worship God and to thank him for what he has done in the course of Jewish history; and for what he has done for us in the Messiah’s fulfillment of the Jewish Holy Days (p. 107).Although all Scripture is profitable, all Scripture is not directed to, nor incumbent upon, members of the Body of Christ. The glorified Bridegroom speaks to His beloved Bride primarily through the Pauline Church Epistles.
Dr. Chafer wrote long ago, “All Scripture is not of primary application to a particular person or class of persons which the Bible designates as such. All Scripture is not about angels, nor is it all about the Gentiles. In like manner, all Scripture is not addressed to the Jew, nor is it all addressed to the Christian.” (Dispensationalism, p. 417).
Mr. Paul Wilson states, “A Christian cannot pick up his Bible and read just anywhere and find direction for his feet. If he does not read discerningly, he may think it his duty to help rebuild a temple in Jerusalem today, or do any of thousands of things that would be totally inconsistent with his position as a Christian, whose life, commonwealth, and hopes are in heaven.”
Remove Paul, neglect him, or fail to build a Pauline and hence a Christ-centered life or church on dispensational truth, and there is little left apart from the laws of Moses and of the Millennial Kingdom. There is nothing in the entire Scriptures concerning Christian growth that Paul did not set forth—and that on the heavenly plane.
Dr. Newell pointed out that “Paul received all his teaching from heaven, from the Lord Jesus Christ in glory, rather than from Jesus on earth in His pre-Cross Jewish connections. Paul’s Gospel of Glory has nothing Jewish about it—whether for birth, or for growth.”
When Hebrew Christians refer to Paul, they endeavor to keep him as Jewish as possible. But Paul repudiated all that was of the flesh. “If any other man thinketh that he hath reasons for which he might trust in the flesh, I more; circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal [without knowledge], persecuting the Church; touching the [self] righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them as refuse, that I may win Christ” (Phil. 3:4–8).
“That I may know Him” (Phil. 3:10). Here Paul was referring to the glorified Lord Jesus Christ. He, and our heavenly position in Him, will never be found in anything Judaistic.
Dr. Chafer wrote: “Much divine blessing is determined for Israel, all of which is anticipated in her covenants and prophecies; but no covenant or prophecy brings that nation into heavenly citizenship, or makes it the Bride of Christ” (IV: 142).
Dr. Newell concurs: “Paul’s Gospel is the Gospel of the ascended Lord Jesus Christ, and of God as the One who raised Him from among the dead and is now working on resurrection ground only. Christ appeared to Paul as the ascended One, outside Jerusalem, independent of the Twelve, and apart from Judaism absolutely. The Church has no connection with Israel whatsoever!” (Galatians, p. 24).
This distinction is the hallmark of Pauline Dispensationalism!
Donald Grey Barnhouse stated, “While freeing believers from the bondage of Rome, the Reformation brought them back, in large measure, under the bondage of Sinai. The Church came out of the Middle Ages like Lazarus from the tomb—alive but bound in graveclothes. The Reformers took away one set of bindings, but bound believers in another, the Law—and this has atrophied the spiritual life of multitudes.”
Miles J. Stanford
Select
comments from Dr. ARNOLD G. FRUCHTENBAUM's 1994
book
ISRAELOLOGY: The Missing Link In Systematic Theology