The Importance of One

Biblical Unity Versus Divine Invitation Theology

I therefore, a prisoner for the L-rd, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit  - just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call - one L-rd, one faith, one baptism, one G-d and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Messiah's gift.

Ephesians 4:1-7

Audio discussion for this teaching

Introduction

• The Messianic Movement is divided over an issue that divided believers in the First Century – Gentile-inclusion
• Recently, a Messianic teaching and publishing group revised their views regarding the Gentile’s relationship to the Torah. In an apparent attempt to soften their change of position, they wrapped it into what they called “A Divine Invitation.”
• Divine Invitation Theology (DIT) uses Acts 15 as its proof text, in an attempt to explain that Gentiles are only “obligated” to the “moral” commandments, plus the “four prohibitions” of Acts 15:20; 29; and 21:25.
• On the other hand, DIT proposes that the remaining commandments of the Torah are an obligation to “Jews.”
• This new theology opens up a First Century debate, but not the debate the proponents of DIT think. It is not the debate of what Gentiles must do (as opposed to what Jews must do); but rather, can Gentiles be considered part of the covenant people of G-d  - can Gentiles be a part of Israel?
• Biblical identity is always framed in what someone does. HaShem introduces Himself to us in the Torah by telling us what He does. He is the Creator: He created all. He is a Friend: He walks with man. He is the Judge: He unequivocally maintains His standard of righteousness. He is a Covenant Maker: He unilaterally strikes covenant with those of His choosing. He is the Covenant Keeper: He remembers His promises across generations.
• Having different standards of righteousness (different covenant obligations) directly impacts identity. Consider the classical identities:

• Christianity and Judaism both say: Jews who follow “Jesus” become “Christians” and are no longer obligated to the Torah
• Christianity and Judaism both say: Gentiles who “convert to” Judaism become Jews and now are obligated to the Torah (“the whole Law”)
• DIT says: Jews who follow Messiah keep moral plus the “Jewish” parts of the Law; Gentiles who follow Messiah keep only the “moral parts of the Law” plus four additional prohibitions – and both groups can easily be identified by what they do.

The History of Gentile-Inclusion in the Modern Messianic Movement

• When the modern Messianic movement emerged from the Jewish evangelism organizations, much to the dismay of some of its Jewish leaders, the majority of congregations were Gentiles. Not only that, the Gentiles were adopting a Torah lifestyle, making them look “Jewish.”
• To some of these leaders, the Torah was merely a cultural identity. Some still operated within the dispensational mindset, where there was no covenant obligation of keeping the commandments. But rather as a matter of ethnic identity, it was important to retain elements of a Torah lifestyle for the sake of “Jewish identity.”
• While others considered that the Torah observance was a covenantal obligation for Jewish people. This group saw Gentiles participating in Torah observance as a threat in their desire to be more accepted within normative Judaism, which has an extremely negative view of Gentiles living according to the Torah.
• DIT proponents, apparently in a move to appeal to a broader category within the Messianic movement, because their shift in theology, have now found much greater acceptance within certain camps of Messianic Judaism who have been opposed to “One Law Theology.”

Acts 15: The Birth of Christianity?

• Classical Christianity has seen Acts 15 as the theological shift in the thinking of the Apostles, that eventually gave the “Church” its distinct identity – no longer seen as a “Jewish” entity – but a “Christian” entity.
• In reinterpreting Acts 15 as they have, DIT proponents have gone back to this tired, and demonstrably false view of what occurred in Acts 15.
• Resting upon a wrong view of what the Apostles did in Acts 15, DIT undermines the inspired Torah.
• Roman Catholicism uses Acts 15 as evidence for its doctrine of Apostolic Succession. This teaching says that Jesus gave Peter the leadership of “the Church” – along with it, the authority to make, modify, and abolish divine law. This leadership and its authority are then passed to subsequent leaders through modern times.
• The Protestant Reformation repudiated parts of “Apostolic Succession” – but still held that the Apostles continued to modifying “the law” as they had observed Jesus do.
• Both Catholicism and Protestantism assume that the Apostles could make new law – and they read Acts 15 that way. DIT falls into this serious error.
• Only three possibilities for Acts 15 exist:

1. The Apostles were given the authority to make new law
2. Acts 15 simply records the Apostles’ actions, which were not authorized by G-d (much like the accounts throughout Scripture, where men made the wrong choice, but it is recorded for us for our edification).
3. Acts 15 requires greater historical context to correctly understand it. The traditional (and DIT) interpretation of Acts 15 is incorrect. This is our view.

Who is Israel?

• A response to the insidiousness of Hellenism, which appeared in the Third Century BCE, Judaism sought to make “Jewish” identity more well-defined.
• With Hellenism, cultural identity markers began to disappear. Jews increasingly looked and acted less like “Jews.” Too many Gentiles living in the Land made identifying covenant members (Israel) all the more difficult.
• The Maccabean Revolt (~ 160 BCE) made “Jewish identify” one of survival. The covenant mark of circumcision became the cultural mark of community loyalty.
• From the Second Century BCE on, circumcision became the cultural identity marker for those Gentiles who wanted to be a part of the covenant community (Israel). After that time, Gentiles had to undergo ritual conversion to Judaism to be considered a part of the covenant community (Israel). This ritual conversion consisted of:

1. Agreement to live by both Torahs (Oral and Written), i.e. the “Whole Torah”
2. Ritual circumcision (for males)
3. Ritual ablution [immersion]
4. Pay Temple tax

• This ritual was given the short-hand of what was seen as the most identifying mark – the enduring mark of loyalty to the community: “circumcision.”
• All those who were born of a Jewish father, or had undergone ritual conversion were identified as Israel – and members of the covenant community.

Acts 15:1, 5

• Acts 15:1; 5: a  Pharisee faction of believers were advocating that all Gentiles undergo ritual conversion to Judaism in order to “be saved.”  They correctly saw that there was only one people of G-d. They understood the Scriptural promises were only given to “Israel”  - however, they assumed that they only way for a Gentile to become a part of Israel was through the traditional and man-made ritual conversion process called “circumcision” – but remember, this is not the same thing as the commandment of circumcision in the Torah – which was not used to join anything – but simply a mark of the covenant. Although the Pharisee point is understandable, it was grounded in a traditional (and incorrect) view of who is Israel.
• In the Torah, there are numerous references to the ger toshav [sojourner who dwells among you]. The ger was always considered a part of Israel, not by ritual, but by simple fidelity to the G-d of Israel. Throughout the Torah, many of the commandments are given not as identity markers for physical descendants or Jacob, but rather as the righteous standard for all Israel – both the descendants of Jacob, and the gerim that dwelled among them.
• Numbers 15:13-16: One Torah – for all Israel, both native-born and Gentile. Even making offerings in the Tabernacle. Gentiles were to have access into the very Presence of HaShem.

Proselutos: “Proselyte” or “One Who Came Over”?

• About 270 BCE, a group of 70 Jewish scholars translated the TaNaKh into Greek. The Septuagint (LXX) is a remarkably valuable translation because it can give us insights into the original Hebrew text. It was likely the Bible used by the majority of early believers – especially the Gentiles.
• Because the word ger simply means “sojourner,” and does not always identify a covenant member, the LXX translators carefully examined the context of each usage. If the context of the word ger was referring to a covenant member they used the Greek word proselutos. This was a word that they created for this purpose, much like modern English speakers make new meanings by joining words by hyphen. They took pros [toward] and joined it to erxomai [to come] to indicate those Gentiles who had “come toward” and joined the covenant people. Over time, this word came to indicate those who converted to any other religion. It is where we get the word “proselyte” from.

Acts 15:5-11

• The Pharisees saw all the Gentiles entering their congregations and immediately recognized the problem. First, the rest of Judaism would see these “unconverted” Gentiles not as covenant members, but as dangerous and unclean usurpers. Also, how could they be sure that these former idolaters were loyal to the covenant?
• In their minds, it was a small matter for all these Gentiles to fulfill the culturally accepted ritual conversion process (remember, “circumcision” and “keep the whole law” were used to refer to this man-made process). This same matter had come up with the Gentiles in Galatia.
• Paul, the insightful Torah scholar, understood that the identity of the covenant community members could never be founded upon a man-made ritual.
• Peter remembers his vision in Acts 10. HaShem accepts all, not on the basis of man-made rules such as the Talmudic “Eighteen Measures” (not the Torah, see Shabbat 13b ff) which defined Gentiles as “unclean.”

Acts 15:10: What is the Yoke that Cannot be Borne?

• The classical Christian explanation of Acts 15:10 is that the “yoke” is the “burden of the Law.”
• DIT makes a baffling error in siding with the traditional Christian explanation – identifying the yoke as the Torah. While it is true that the word “yoke” is often used in Rabbinic language to refer to the Torah, it is also used to refer to the interpretative rules that a Rabbi expects of his disciples.
• Is the Torah a burden?

• Deuteronomy 30:10-14: It is not too hard
• 1John 5:2-3: The commandments are not burdensome

• Ezekiel 20:25-26: When men refuse to obey the simple instructions of HaShem, He turns them over to man-made instructions that are ever more demanding, and do not give life.

• Peter, the one who had the vision in Acts 10, knows that the burden is in man-made rules such as the “Eighteen Measures” that placed division between Jew and Gentile.

The “Four Prohibitions”

• Acts 15:20: Do these comprise new commandments? DIT, by applying these distinctly to Gentiles, have taken the traditional Christian explanation (which has difficulty with the Apostles making new law).

• Deuteronomy 4:1-2: Do not add to, or take away
• Deuteronomy 12:32-13:10: If the Apostles added or took away, they were false prophets.

• Ezekiel 33:25-26: These same commandments are evident in HaShem’s list of Israel’s failings. These are not new – they are reiterations from the Torah.

• These four prohibitions are broad categories that give a basic outline of the Torah. Instead of resorting to the unbiblical division of the Torah into “moral, ritual, civil” as traditional Christianity and DIT does (for the purpose of not keeping “some” of them) – these categories are meant to promote obedience to all the commandments.

The Key Verse

• Acts 15:20-21: These four prohibitions give an outline of righteous living, in much the same way that traditional Judaism give a starting place.
• Acts 15:21: This goes back to the real identity of the ger toshav (the Gentile covenant member), they are a part of Israel. They are learning the Torah alongside the native-born. All Israel together.

How Gentiles Become A Part of Israel

• Ephesians 2:1-10: By grace, through faith. Not by ethnic origin. Not by man-made ritual.
• Ephesians 2:11-12: Former Gentiles (but not any longer!) – aliens of the politeia [citizenship] of Israel and strangers of the  covenants of promise.
• Politeia is not “commonwealth” as used in English today! It refers to citizenship – having all the rights and responsibilities of the citizens of a community. It is making a direct reference to being a part of the covenant community – Israel.
• Apart from HaShem’s gracious work – none of us had any hope!
• Ephesians 2:13: Those far off (“Eighteen Measures”) are brought near (original meaning of proselutos).
• Ephesians 2:14-16: Abolishing the dividing wall – those man-made rules [dogma] that keep Jew and Gentile separate [“Eighteen Measures”].
• Ephesians 2:17-21: Not just peace between an individual and HaShem, but equally important, peace in the household of G-d - the covenant community, Israel. Gentiles are fellow citizens [sumpolites], having the same covenant rights and obligations.

The Mystery – One Body

• Ephesians 3:1-6: This is the way the Torah always intended it – Gentiles are fellowheirs.
• What is the “One Body”? There is only one people of G-d. It is Israel.
• An equality in citizenship does not exist when there are different citizenship rights and obligations. Not only does sociology teach this, the Scriptures themselves teach this.
• When DIT, traditional Christianity, traditional Judaism, and others seek to divide Jew and Gentile, no matter the reason, it is an attack on the very plan of HaShem.
• One King, One People, One Torah: Echad

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.

John 17:16-22

 

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