It is no coincidence that two persons – one a Malaysian
brother and another a sister from India – asked me questions that are related.
The brother-in-Christ
asked about the “One New Man Bible” while the sister asked why the book of
Exodus is known as “שְׁמוֹת”
(meaning,
names) in Hebrew.
“The Hebrew
book titles are usually what is found in the first few words of the text,” I
wrote. “Our English titles are translated from the Septuagint (which is the
Greek translation of the Old Testament). Hence, Genesis is the English translation
for Bereshith (בְרֵשִׁית).”
In the case of Exodus, the word appears in Exodus 1:1.
“Both are not
wrong,” I continued. “They are just preferences made by men. They are not part
of the original text in the word of God except words that can be found in some
part of the scriptures. For example, toledot (תּוֹלֵדוֹת) from where we get the word ‘Genesis’ is
translated into English as ‘genealogy.’
“The titles
are supposed to summarise the entire book and what it is all about. Nothing
more, nothing less. This is a good example I can use, especially these days
when people want to go into the so-called Hebraic roots and they always like to
say that the Hebrew way of thinking is the only right way, while Greek thinking
is not.”
To the brother
who asked about One New Man Bible, I replied: “Personally, I would not get it.
There are a lot of these so-called Bible translations, claiming to provide the
Hebraic roots to Christianity.”
What is Hebraic
Root?
While Christianity
can be traced to its Hebraic root, it is wrong to make it as the only way of
life or culture that is acceptable. I have even heard people talking about “de-Greecing”
ourselves so that we can become more Jewish in our way of thinking. After listening
to David Pawson’s lecture, I saw how even Pawson’s teaching has been
misconstrued to mean everything Greek is wrong to the point that someone even
told me that she would not study Greek. This shows a lack of spiritual
maturity.
In itself,
there is nothing wrong with the Hebraic root. Even before the so-called revival
of Hebraic roots, seminary students have to study the background of the Old
Testament to be able to interpret the Old Testament text; however, the concerns
that I have these days is the way how some people hype up the Hebraic roots.
The truth is
not everything Jewish or Hebraic is pleasing to the Lord. For example, a lot of
Jewish traditions have been discontinued when the Lord came. The Lord’s first
advent as Messiah has set aside or “made obsolete” the Old Covenant; hence, the
New Covenant unfolds (see Hebrews 8:13).
For example,
Yom Kippur is no longer observed by Christians after Christ came. We no longer
have to sacrifice a lamb every year, since Christ who is the Lamb of God was
sacrificed. Whereas a lamb was sacrificed once a year for the atonement of the
sins of Israel, our Lord sacrificed Himself as the Perfect Lamb once and for
all. Instead of Yom Kippur, the Lord Jesus Himself instituted the Lord’s Supper
to remember His crucifixion until He returns.
In fact, the
Jewish culture – or Hebraic root of the apostles – is contrary to the missional
God we worship. Someone like Peter, with strong Jewishness ingrained in him,
had to be “detoxified” of his Jewishness before God could send him to Cornelius’
home (see Acts 10). If Paul, who was a zealous Pharisee to the extreme before
his conversion, had to be “detoxified” before he could be sent to the other
nations.
Hence, I find
it hard to understand that many of us who are not Jews by birth want to claim
our Hebraic root, when this is hardly even taught in the Scriptures.
Is it Scriptural?
The Scriptures
says that Abraham (אַבְרָהָם) will be the `father of many nations’ (אַב־הֲמ֥וֹן גּוֹיִ֖ם). In fact, his name
is a play of words between his original name, אַבְרָם (Gen
17:5). The plurality of the word גּוֹיִ֖ם is clearly understood here as the nature in which God
wants every nation to preserve its own cultural identity. There is no
indication whatsoever that we will become one nation, adopting the cultures or
trace our root to the Abrahamic culture or way of life.
In fact, not
every Jew will be saved but the remnant who are fellow believers in Christ. This
remnant of the people of Israel who believe and us will be one; and our
only link with our Jewish brothers and sisters is through faith in Christ
Himself. The Branch (יִצְמָח)
in Zech 6:12, and later in Paul’s theology expounded in Romans 11, tells us
literally that the LORD of Sabaoth will truncate the old tree trunk and allow a
new branch to emerge. Those of us who are non-Jews (גּוֹיִ֖ם) are now able to be grafted in through our faith in Christ
(read Gen 17, Zech 6, Rom 11, Gal 3, Col 2, Heb 8 and other related passages).
Our
inheritance is the Covenant of Promise which God gave to Abraham, not the
cultural heritage or even the Laws that is uniquely the identity of the Jewish
people.
Gal. 3:18 For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise;
but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.
I have
elaborated elsewhere in this blog how the apostles deliberated in the Jerusalem
Council that the non-Jews should not be saddled with the encumbrances that came
with the Jewish way of life which has its basis the Torah or the Laws (תּוֹרָה).[1]
Paul, in his epistles, continued to expound his theology and his apostleship to
the non-Jewish nations; he did this because there were some Judaizers who were
still actively promoting the Jewish cultures and traditions, urging the
non-Jewish believers to follow the Jewish practices of circumcision, new moons,
festivals, Sabbath day and so on. Paul clearly said that the non-Jews are to
remain as they are without adopting the cultural identity of the Jews.
Col. 2:16 Therefore
no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a
festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day —
Col. 2:17 things
which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to
Christ.
When I reached
this point of my article, I did a search for a good definition of Hebraic roots
and found this interesting article. Another writer, Tim Chaffer had, in fact,
written about the “Dangers
of the Hebrew Roots Movement” back in 2018 in an article published in
AnswersinGenesis website, linking it to the “Seventh-Day Adventism and the
Worldwide Church of God during the lifetime of its founder, Herbert W. Armstrong”
and of late, the “practices of (some) Messianic Jews.” In fact, I find that
Chaffer has covered most of the themes that I have covered in the past in both
my blog stephenngtheologicalmusings.blogspot.com and learnhebrewtogether.blogspot.com.
Getting it Right!
In order to understand
where we are as believers in Christ, we must understand the relationship
between the various covenants and how it was progressively obvious what God
had in mind.
After understanding
the covenantal relationship between God and us, we then try to understand how
and why God gave the Laws to the people of Israel. Paul made this very clear:
Gal. 3:19 Why the Law then? It was added because of
transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a
mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.
Christ came to
basically fulfil all the requirements under the Law. Having been found blameless,
He laid down His life on the Cross as the perfect Lamb of God for the atonement
of our sins. When hanging on the Cross, He said, “It is finished!” (τετέλεσται). He has accomplished what He came
to fulfil: the Law and all its requirements. With this, we are now set free
from the bondage or slavery to the Law.
For this
reason, Paul warned us against the influence of the Judaizers:
“You foolish Galatians,
who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as
crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive
the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the
Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”
(Galatians 3:1–3
NAS95)
[1] Read these blog posts: Should Christians be circumcised? The Marketing Hype for Jewish paraphernalia. Questions & Answers about the Jewish feasts. How it all Connects: We are all children of Abraham by virtue of our faith in Christ. What is the hype about Gematria? Those under the Torah are under a curse? Aligning with Christ: not with the House of Israel.
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