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Unityby Rav Sivan "Listen
to me, you who pursue righteousness, Who seek the Lord:
No
doubt this is one of the passages Rav Sha’ul (“Paul”) had in mind when he
wrote his letter of admonition to the believers in Galatia. In Galatians, Rav
Sha’ul referred to Believers (and quite generically by the way) as “children
of Abraham.” In his mind, Abraham is the father of all who believe; of all the
faithful in Messiah Yahshua-Who is THE Seed of Abraham through Whom “all the
nations of the world would be blessed.” Note also that relative to believers,
he doesn’t call them “adopted seed” or “spiritual children” of
Abraham.
Adoption
is mentioned only five times in the New Covenant (Romans 8:15; Romans 8:23;
Romans 9:4; Galatians 4:5; Ephes. 1:5). And each and every time it is a
reference to G-d adopting Abraham’s children (Believers) as HIS own “children”!
We have only ONE “spiritual father” and that’s the one we call “Abba;”
our Father in Heaven! Our Abrahamic sonship is a Divine reckoning (if not an
actual fact!). To reckon means: to consider as being; to regard as so; it’s a
settlement of accounts after careful consideration. And, what G-d says is…is.
Plain and simple.
As
Jacob (“Israel”) adopted the children of Joseph, in like manner does G-d do
with those who belong to His Son, Messiah-“children of Abraham.” He gives
them the place of His firstborn-with all the privileges, duties, and
responsibilities that go with it! He adopts them as His own out of sheer love
for His own once “dead,” but now exalted and living Son, Yahshua and because
of His promise to Abraham. Those that belong to Yahshua-the “children of
Abraham” (Gal.3:29)-now belong to Him!! According to Paul, non-Jewish Believers had a new history. Israel’s history was now their history too-
Paul also
described believing non-Jews as those who were at one time: uncircumcised [in
heart], excluded from citizenship in Israel, foreigners to the covenants of the
promise, without hope, without G-d (Ephes. 2:11ff). Formerly, they “…were
pagans, …led astray to the dumb idols…” (1 Cor. 12:2). Previously they
were instinctively wild and fruitless (Ro.11). This is what he meant by “formerly
Gentiles after the flesh” (eph.2). “BUT NOW.” Now, however, in Messiah
Yahshua, it was all different. They were now in intimate association with,
indeed included in, G-d’s believing, Israelite community! In Paul’s
estimation, any Messianic fellowship that removed itself from biblical Israel
and their Jewish brothers was nothing less than a contradiction of G-d’s
salvation plan! There were
several critical developments that contributed to the tension and eventual
schism between the Messianic community and the Synagogue. First,
there were their theological differences; centering on the teachings of Yahshua. Then, the
Messianic community allowed “gentiles” into their fold (an offense in itself
to the greater Jewish community) without requiring them to undergo adult
circumcision or adhere to the Jewish rituals and regulations-many of which were
merely traditions created by Judah’s religious elite over the years. (This
also allowed a rapid changeover to a reconstituted community.) The third development was the persecution and ostracizing of Jewish believers from the synagogues by Judah’s religious elite-who also convinced the community at large to hold them at arm’s length. Then,
there were the two Jewish revolts against Rome (ad 66-73, ad 132-135); in which
Jewish Believers refused to fight and rejected the messianic claims of Judah’s
military leader, Bar Kochba. In so doing, the Jewish believers jeopardized their
allegiance with the greater Jewish community; as well as their identity with the
Jewish State. For all intents and purposes, this shut the door between the two
groups. Lastly,
the destruction of Jerusalem, the Temple, and the disappearance of the major
sects of the Pharisees forced a reformation of Judaism. Eventually a new
Judaism-one that had no room for heretical Jews, namely, Messianic
Believers-emerged. Today, that restructured and reformed Judaism is called “Rabbinical
Judaism.” Rabbinical
Judaism was deliberately designed to contradict, and be separate and distinct
from “Christianity.” Believers were looked upon as persona non grata-“unwanted
and unwelcome” in their synagogues. Now the door was locked. What started only
as a family dispute, or interfamily debate, was now a major schism within the
community at large. The Messianic community and the Synagogue were now rivals. With this,
plus the fact that the Messianic community was becoming overwhelmingly
non-Jewish, a “new” Israel emerged. When the
non-believing Jewish community detached and disassociated themselves from the
Messianic community, the ever increasing non-Jewish wing of the Messianic
community…returned the favor. Paul’s warnings to non-Jewish Believers about pride and elitism (Ro. 11:17-24) began to fade from memories. As it did, a new spirit of arrogance and supersessionism arose. In light of the intense Roman persecution and exile of the greater Jewish community, they claimed to have replaced Jewish Israel. This displacement resulted in many institutions and concepts of Israel’s faith being de-Judaized (or “Hellenized”---a term relating to Greek thought, etc.). Ultimately, Christianity embraced and started to interpret Scripture through a Greek philosophical framework. Thus began our march towards “Mars Hill.”
Fortunately,
however, Judah’s version of the national faith, Yahwehism, did not
significantly change when it originally developed into Judahism (Judaism). Its
institutions, concepts, culture, and mind-set remained distinctively
Hebrew/Israelite. But this is for another time and article. For now, suffice it
to say that: Up until the locking of the door, so to speak, between Messianic
Believers and the Jewish community, Believers defined themselves in terms of
continuity with the Jewish people; that is, as an extension of Israel. All of
them considered themselves part of the national body of biblical srael. Jewish
Believers viewed themselves as repatriated into G-d’s Israel (the “Olive
Tree”).
Non-Jewish Believers also regarded themselves grafted into Israel (Ro.
11:23-24). Both were the believing remnant within Israel (Ro.11: 25-26). This
remnant was not a separate people from, or independent of, the Jews and Israel.
Neither did they believe that they replaced Israel. They were echad (Heb.--A
compound unity; a collective noun: one, made up of others: a set). The ekklesia,
the “called-out” Messianic community, viewed itself as the believing remnant
within Israel, participating in New Covenant life, inside a regenerated,
Messianic Israel-the “Israel of G-d” (cf. Gal. 6:16)…a redeemed,
diversified, but unified religious fellowship. Since many
Believers didn't have a clue as to their ancestry, Messianic Israel’s
sociological structure would not-indeed could not-rest on the tie of “tribal-kinship.”
Its sociological structure would rest on the tie of “fellowship in Messiah
Yahshua.” Through the inspiration of His Holy Spirit, G-d told Paul that all
(Jewish or not) who responded to the call of the Messiah-the Great Shepherd of
Israel-were “Abraham’s seed and heirs, according to the promise” (Gal. 3;
Ro. 4). This reality was to be believed and accepted just as one believed and
accepted his or her Salvation: via faith in G-d’s Word! Reckon it so. If G-d
says you’re “Abraham’s seed and heir,” then you ARE! (What’s to
argue?) And, as far as Paul was concerned, the non-Jewish Believer was not a
para-family person (paroikos). Rather, he was to be given the same standing as a
blood relative and Israelite! (Eph.2:19) Actually,
Paul would be appalled by the deep divisions that exist among Messianic
Believers today; as well as by the number of Believers who feel no connection
whatsoever to Judaism, the Jews, and Israel! He could not conceive the possible
existence of two, separate groups of Believers who refused to recognize each
other; hold each other at a distance, make distinctions between themselves, or
look down their noses at each other, because of their traditions, supposed
genealogy, or (i.e., Pharisaic) denominational theological “scruples.” In
fact Paul rebuked Peter straight to his face when Peter’s actions implied that
such distinctions existed (Gal. 2:11)! In Messiah’s community, in this “Israel of G-d”-there was no place for ethnic bias, social discrimination, or sexual prejudice- “For you are all sons of God through faith in messiah Yahshua. For all of you who were baptized into Messiah have clothed yourselves with messiah. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, There is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Messiah Yahshua.” (Galatians 3:28) Mutual
trust; mutual acceptance; mutual recognition-symbolized by the right hand of
fellowship-not birth records, supplemental rites or ordinations, was Rav Sha’ul’s
platform. The history of the church was, for him, an extension of Israel’s
history. And, what we today have come to refer to as “the church,” was, in
Paul’s mind, simply an extension of Israel. Paul may
have been a revolutionary, but his revolution never attacked the norms of his
faith. He didn’t view Messianic faith as a religion distinct from his own
Judaism. He understood it as a form of his ancestral religion or as a further
stage of its development; however “new.” Nor was Paul’s theology
essentially “new.” He simply integrated and reinterpreted (not ignored) the
rich traditions of his people, in the new light of Yahshua Messiahship. All
throughout Paul’s life and ministry: Israel was G-d’s “people,” the
Tenahk was Paul’s “Bible,” Yahweh was the El (Heb. “G-d”) of his
people, his Messiah was “G-d incarnate”-a Jew: born of a woman, under the
Law, of the tribe of Judah. From the believing Jewish community emerged the
Messianic community: “the Israel of G-d” (in contradistinction to
non-believing Israel). G-d only had (and has) one people, not “two.” There
was (and is) one Olive Tree; not “two.” There was “One body and one
Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one
faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all who is over all and through all
and in all.” (Ephes. 4:4-6). The Israel
of G-d and Paul’s Israel, were not two opposite and divided “peoples of G-d.”
Paul perceived Messianic Israel, in its highest, spiritual aspect, as a people
who are essentially one despite their sometimes apparent diversity; a reflection
of G-d’s own Oneness (Heb. echad). This
Messianic community was to pervade and transform the Jewish community, and
expand. As yeast is the agent of transformation and increase in a lump of dough,
so also was the Messianic community to be G-d’s pervading agent for
transformation and increase in Israel: He spoke another parable to them,
This “agent,” however, was made up of a believing remnant from Judah, and
“all the goyim [gentiles] who have been called by My (G-d's) name” (Acts
15:17b). Even Israel’s ultimate, national redemption is conditioned upon “the
fullness of the goyim [Gentiles] coming in” (Ro. 11:25,26). Then, and only
then, “will all Israel be redeemed.” Non-Jews would embrace a Jewish Messiah. And, just as with Jewish Believers, they would be divinely reckoned as “Abraham’s children and heirs according to the promise.” Believing Jews and Believing non-Jews were being reunited into one body. They were becoming mishpochah (family), “brothers,” “one new man,” “joint heirs,” “fellow partakers of the promise in Messiah Yahshua,” and “fellow citizens of one body.” Jews and “Gentiles”…on even ground, with equal standing, and sharing the same divine promises as G-d's people, “Israel.” This was “the mystery of the Gentiles” that Paul spoke of
TO CONCLUDE:
The Messianic community is the King’s Kohanim. The King’s Priesthood: “a royal priesthood.”
Ancient Israel was to be “a kingdom of Priests and a holy nation.” Yahweh said:
In contradistinction to non-believing Israel, this is Paul’s “Israel of G-d” in Galatians 6:16. It was not suppose to bifurcate into Israel and “the church,” the Jews and “the church,” or to forsake Judah and the Jews and claim for itself, solely, the title “Israel.” “How far have we traveled from Mt. Zion?” Shalom
u’beracha, b’shem Yahshua. Olive
Branch, A Messianic Israel fellowship |
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