American Messianism

American Messianism Miles J. Stanford
Dear brother and sister in Christ, We are much interested in the new direction of your ministry, as we've always been impressed by the Lord's accomplishments through you during your 32 years in the Philippines. And, of course, the end is not yet in His development of your work out there. Your having been "away" for a generation, I don't know how aware you might be of the dispensational decline that has been going on here for many years, from the seminary level on down. When the doctrinal divisions of the Word of truth are taken for granted, as with most dispensationalists today, a theological vacuum occurs. Another, more serious, cause of this vacuum is a result of efforts to blur, if not obliterate, the doctrinal distinction between Israel and the Church, Law and Grace. Dispensational vacuum is naturally filled on the left by the non-dispensational Charismatic element, and on the right by the anti-dispensational Covenant movement. Due to its lack of dispensational protection, the Messianic Jew movement in the States has fallen prey to both of these detrimental factors--tongues, and law. The entire movement is based upon the latter--the legal aspect of the Word. The charismatic integration is mainly due to the Jews for Jesus influence. With every intention of being helpful to you concerning the Hebrew Christian problem, although you may be fully aware of it, I'll share excerpts from a book recently read, accompanied by my dispensationally-based comments. The title of the 142-page book is Hebrew Christianity: Its Theology, History, and Philosophy. It was written by Arnold Fruchtenbaum [Dallas '71], while he was living in Israel in '83. I believe his thesis is typical of American Messianism. What I have to say will be very brief, and without doctrinal detail. It will be simply a matter of bringing out the contrast between Hebrew Christianity and the Church. Statements from the book are on the left in italics.
Hebrew "Christianity"		Pauline Christianity
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).
		This is an attempt to create a dichotomy that does not exist in Christ--there is but "one New Man," the "one Body" (Ephesians 2:14-16).
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).
		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, but only where they have been. If you attempt to teach them the doctrinal truth as to who and where they are as members of the Body of the ascended and glorified Lord Jesus Christ, sans Judaism, you will encounter, in almost every case, total rejection--both of you, and your message. The experience will be similar to the fierce and adamant hatred that erupts from the charismatics when their tongues-toys are rejected, and eternal security is injected. Such reactions and attitudes toward vital truth and those who share it are certainly not of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible does teach that there is a Hebrew Christian distinctive in the Body of Christ (p. 17). 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.
		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.
		Israel is an earthly nation, and forever shall be. The Church is heavenly; heaven is her Home, and ever shall be. His 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 are 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.
		Their entire bent is Judaistic. They fail to realize their scriptural relationship to the Father, to the Gentiles, and to the world.
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. 28,29).
		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).
The point is that in Israel, past, present, and future, it is the 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; and Hebrew Christians, the present-day remnant, are 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 heavenly Body of Christ. "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our Life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory" (Colossians 3:2-4). Israel, in all her kingdom 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 11:26), 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).
		Acts is the transition from Judaism and her Law to Christianity and her Life. Christianity was never Hebrew, nor was it ever Gentile. Christianity is Christ glorified, instituted by the descent of the Spirit of Christ on the day of Pentecost.
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 insisted upon 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 the Messiah to the Jew now is to orient him to Judaism and her Kingdom. It is Paul's Christian Gospel, not the Messiah's kingdom Gospel, that will position the Spirit convicted Jew upon heavenly ground in the glorified Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. He is the Head and Life of the totally exclusive Body and Bride --altogether apart from earthly Israel and her Kingdom. 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 disciples, 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 Corinthians. 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 such a thought. The Law is a complete modus operandi--one cannot pick and choose, not even a Jew.
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).
		Biblical Judaism may be the father of modern Judaism, but the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ is certainly not its offspring. The Church's Source is in heaven, which is its eternal position and abiding place. Dr. Chafer said that "Judaism is not the bud that blossomed into Christianity. Each sets up its ground of relationship between God and man--the Jew by physical birth, the Christian by spiritual birth; each provides its instructions 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" (Systematic Theology IV:248).
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, showing them how the particular Feast points to the Messiahship of Christ.
		Dr. Chafer points in the scriptural direction. "To Jew and Gentile alike the Gospel is to be shared and, without reference to any former estate or promises, these people are confronted with the glory of heavenly realities. All of Jewish advantage and Gentile disadvantage is set aside to the end that the heavenly purpose may be accomplished." (Systematic Theology 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.
		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 the Christianity of our faith, to win him to the glorified Son of God. If the Hebrew Christian knew more 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 (2 Timothy 3:16), 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. Apart from Paul we can know nothing of the exact meaning of most of the vital doctrines for the Christian, such as Propitiation, Reconciliation, Justification, Identification, Sanctification, the Church, and her Rapture. Remove Paul, or fail to build on Pauline Church truth, and there is comparatively little left but the laws of Moses and of the Millennial Kingdom. There is nothing in the entire Scriptures concerning the Christian's growth that Paul did not set forth--and that on the heavenly plane. As my old friend William Newell put it: "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. He had been so completely taken out of Judaism and all connections with 'old things,' that the Jews would never recognize him again. And the Jewish converts constantly misunderstood him--to say nothing of most Christians today!" 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, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal [without knowledge], persecuting the Church; touching the [self] righteousness of the Law, blameless. "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, 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 but refuse, that I may win Christ" (Philippians 3:4-8). Paul is referring to the glorified Lord Jesus Christ--"That I may know Him" (Philippians 3:10). He, and our heavenly position in Him, will never be found in anything Judaistic.
I well remember, and I believe you do, too, a Hyack Sunday School class under the trees on the Wheaton campus, some 45 years ago, when I blandly stated that the Ten Commandments were not for the Christian. And I remember something of the shockwave that went through the College Church family, as a result. Ol' Red done it again! Ever since Paul, however, it is essential for the Church to be kept distinct from Israel, and to realize who and where she is: "hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). That is the special need for the so-called "Hebrew Christian," a misnomer in itself. Knowing something of the mind-set of the present Messianic Movement, I believe the most hopeful move is to start from the beginning--gaining converts to clear-cut Christianity, completely off Messianic ground, and totally upon heavenly ground. Gentile converts could use some of that, too! You will find your way in this exotic realm, as the Spirit guides you. Adjustments are a part of the process, as you well know from Philippine years. You don't want to point down to the Messiah, and thereby contribute to their doctrinal and dispensational delinquency--we have all too much of that in the Church as it is. It is for you to stand inextricably for the glorified One who stood before Steven, who looked up and exclaimed, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56)! We'll keep praying for you and yours. Let us know whenever you might have need for literature, etc. Resting in Him, Miles J. Stanford P.S. "There is no scholarly reason for applying the Scriptures which bear upon the past, the present, or the future of Israel to any other people than that nation of whom the Scriptures speak. The real unity of the Bible is preserved only by those who observe with care the divine program for Gentiles, for Jews, and for Christians in their individual and unchanging continuity." --L.S. Chafer (Systematic Theology IV:12)

American Messianism

Messianic Judaism