Why study the Jewish roots of the Church?

Even though there does seem to be an increased interest in the Church's Jewish roots, there are several issues that must be addressed if one is going to properly come to balance. In my view, this is what must be sought for, a balance. But a balance of what?

When you begin to dig into the Jewishness of the Church, you by necessity are going to be digging into areas where you are going to have to use wisdom. To use a Biblical phrase, you will need to learn to "chew the cud". You will have to discriminate between what comes from apostolic theology and what was rejected by them.

The New Covenant Teachings Concerning the Person of Messiah Jesus Must Always Be Your Guide.

Just because something is Jewish does not make it right, nor does it make it wrong. It must be judged against the revelation of the Messiah in the New Covenant writings.

I have been studying the New Covenant from a Hebraic perspective for over 20 years now. This does not make me an expert by any means, but it has taught me how to discern what is relevant to the New Covenant revelation concerning the Messiah, and what is not.

For instance, there are certain bodies of work in the Jewish library that you should approach with extreme caution, namely the Mishnah and the Talmud. Why? Because these bodies were compiled in an era in which Rabbinic Judaism was extremely hostile to Messianic Judaism and Christianity in general. [footnote: We must understand that in the beginning centuries of the Church's life, there was as much anti-Christian feelings in Judaism and there were anti-Jewish feelings in the Church.] That is not to say these works cannot shed light on first century Jewish thought, for they can. However, any insight must be judged by the revelation of the Messiah as it is found in the New Covenant writings and they should be used with extreme caution.

In my studies, I have tried to steer clear of these works and concentrate on the works that would be considered contemporaneous with first century Judaism - works such as the Targums. I know, I can hear some argue that the Mishnah was in existence in the first century. Yes, I understand that, but the difference is that it only existed in oral form. It is this oral tradition that Jesus refers to as the "traditions of the elders" or the "traditions of men". This "tradition of the elders" later became codified into written form and became the Mishnah - a supposed commentary of the Torah.

A Good Rule To Follow Is That Which Jesus Condemns as "making the Word of God of none effect" Should Be Avoided.

What Do We Look For?

What are we looking for when we study the Jewish roots of our Faith? To put it as simply as possible, I look for that which was original to the Faith and Practice of the First Century Apostolic Church ¹, which was later changed by the Church Fathers and their councils. Why? Because that which was changed, is not true to the New Covenant record. For instance, we know that the later Church Fathers and their councils:

• Changed the day of worship from the Sabbath to the Sun's Day.
• Consequently, they changed the time of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
• Changed the date of the observance of Passover, which those who were taught by the Apostles called observing the Passover on the 14th day of the first month, "the rule of the Gospel".
• Developed a theology of God that was not founded in the revelation of God to His Covenant People, but was based more in a platonic framework.

It is of historical record that the first such of these councils, the First Council of Nicea in A.D. 325, was presided over by the Emperor Constantine. Constantine cared nothing for remaining true to the Faith, "delivered once for all to the saints". His motivation was uniformity and peace in the empire. Where there is uniformity, even forced uniformity, there will be peace. This was Constantine's goal, a unified empire - unified politically and unified religiously.

Now there are those who believe that the changes made by these later councils was the work of God. If this is your position, then that is fine. Just don't use the Scriptures as your basis of authority. The only authority you have to stand on are the traditions of men, which Jesus warned against. Which brings us to another point.

Basis of Authority

When Jesus told the Scribes and Pharisees that their traditions made the Word of God of no effect, He was warning them that by using their own concocted traditions, they were making the Word Of God subservient to their words. They were placing the words and opinions of men above the Word of God. This is what the Church has done. The Church is guilty of the same thing that Jesus accused the Jewish leaders of His day of doing.

If you accept the authority of the Fathers and their councils above the Authority of the Word of God, then you are as guilty of nullifying the Word of God as they were. All of the changes that the Councils made as mentioned above, are in opposition to the Word of God. By accepting these changes as authoritative, you nullify the Word of God as revealed in the Holy Writings.

One way that many try to get around this opposition to the Word of God, is by arguing that these later councils had the authority from God to make such changes. In one large group that holds to this opinion, they claim that their leader, the so-called Holy Father, has the divine right to interpret the Scriptures as he sees fit, for in his office he is infallible. In this system it is advocated that only its priests can truly understand the Holy Writings. This is only a remaining vestige of the Dark Ages, where the common man had no personal access to the light of the Word of God.

Summary

So why care about or study the Jewish roots of Christianity? Firstly, because it is what was original and God-given. Secondly, through this study we can cut through all the garbage that men's traditions and opinions have piled on top of the Wells of our Fathers.

Am I advocating a return to the practice of first century Judaism? Absolutely Not!! The point of this study is not a clarion call to exchange one taskmaster for another - to slip from the chains of one prison only to be entangled in another.

There are those in the Messianic movement that do seek to return to a more rabbinic observance of Christianity. That is to say, they seek to put us back under the yoke of the law, "that neither we nor our fathers were able to bear". So then what is the purpose?

When one understands that the purpose of the Law was to point us to Messiah (the lesson of Paul's Schoolmaster), and that the Messiah is the fulfillment of all that the Law and the Prophets spoke, then it should be clear what is the goal. We do not seek to put the Body of Jesus under the yoke of the Law, the First Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) made this clear. We do seek to abide in the Way which is God Given, not Man Created. For instance . . .

You may ask, "Why does it matter whether the Church changed its day of worship from the Sabbath to Sunday"? If one does even a simple study of the Scriptures, you will see what importance God placed on the Sabbath, with never a mention of Sunday. So what is so important about the Sabbath?

It is a Shadow of the Messiah. Its observance is a recognition of the Messiah as our Rest. The Sabbath, at least in the Scriptures, is not a day of Worship, but of Rest. It is a picture of the Messiah as Our Man of Rest. In Him we rest from the labors of the flesh, and rest in what He has done on our behalf. This is the Picture that the Sabbath gives us.

Some have gone well beyond the limits of God's Word in seeking to make the Sabbath a restriction of manual labor. The restriction of physical work commanded in the Scriptures served to place in the minds of God's People that the Sabbath was holy and that their work and effort was not needed on that day. This is what Jesus fought against, the imposition of men's opinion of what the Sabbath was instead of what God intended it to be.

So as you study the Jewish roots of the Church, let the revelation and person of the Messiah Jesus be the plumb-line by which all things are judged. This avenue of study is not easy, for there are many pitfalls one must avoid. But the rewards and treasures that you uncover are priceless.

These principles, along with good, basic Biblical hermenuetics are what guided me in the study and writing of Redigging The Wells Of Our Fathers. May this be your guide as you seek to dig into the treasure that is the Word of God.

Dig Deep - Dig Carefully - Dig Joyfully

Yours In Messiah,

Larry Wishon

When a people or individual rejects Truth, all that is left to them is Lies. When we reject the Truth of God's Word, all we have left to us is the Lies of the Father of Lies, The Adversary of God, Satan. When we reject God's Truth, we cannot be His Children. That only leaves us the children of the Father of Lies, hence we become children of the Devil.

¹When I use the term Apostolic Church, I am referring to the Church that adhered to the teachings of the original 12 apostles of Jesus. It is not a reference to any denominational position or group.