Monday, November 23, 2020

TRACING THE HEBRAIC ROOTS?

 

 


 

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)

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