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A Good Beginning

Friday, May 31st, 2013 | Author:

Do not in any way forsake the commandments of the Lord; but keep what you have received, neither adding thereto nor taking away therefrom.  Didache, Chapter 5, Roberts-Donaldson translation

Adding/ taking away – The Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) is one of the earliest Christian documents, dating from the late 1st or early 2nd century.  It is the oldest surviving written summary of church doctrine and was undoubtedly used to instruct Gentiles coming into the faith.  What is important about the Didache is its very close connection to themes in the Tanakh, not least of which is this instruction based on the Torah commandment of Moses.  Our efforts to recapture the thought of the earliest assemblies of Messianic believers recognizes just how crucial this instructional manual is for it clearly connects the early “church” to the existing Torah-observant Jewish community.  With this background, we might reasonably ask, “When did the believing community decide that Torah no longer applied?”  It certainly wasn’t true of the 1st century and early 2nd century instructions.  So, what happened?

The answer is that Marcion happened.  Marcion was the first to suggest that the “Old” Testament was obsolete.  In fact, as far as Marcion was concerned, all of the Bible was useless and unnecessary except Luke and the letters of Paul.  In other words, whatever contradicted Marcion’s theology was deemed unfit for spiritual consumption.  For the first time, one of Christianity’s own theologians questioned the continuing authority of the sacred text.  And even though the Church officially condemned Marcion, the seed for the distinction between the “old” and the “new” testaments was planted.  Marcion believed that the God of the Old Testament was angry, vindictive and legalistic.  In order to combat this Jewish, Old Testament God, it was necessary to jettison the documents that portrayed Him in this way as obsolete and culturally-dependent.  Christians were not Jews and should not live according to Jewish customs.

It didn’t take long before men like Justin Martyr began to assert that the “Church” had replaced Israel and the “new” covenant of the Church made the covenant of the God of the Old Testament with the nation of Israel a thing of the past.  Irenaeus capped off the trend with the connection between Adam and Christ, bypassing all of the history of Israel in one fell swoop.  By universalizing the Genesis story so that it no longer presented a tribal storehouse of memories as exemplars for living but was now the grand principles of creation, God’s “intermission” with Israel could be rejected as a failed experiment subsumed under the Adam-Christ connection.  Irenaeus shifted the foundation of the Old Testament by reinterpreting the prophecies of the Tanakh as though they applied to the Church.  Soulen, Dacy and Dozier all document this transition.  Amazingly, in spite of the good beginnings, it appears as if Christian thinking today is much more in line with these early Greek/Gentile fathers than it is with the Messianic Jews and Gentiles of the first century.  Did you ever wonder why the Reformation didn’t really reform much of anything?

Topical Index:  Marcion, replacement theology, Deuteronomy 4:2, Didache 5

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , ,  | 16 Comments

El Corazón del Tema

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 | Author:

No penséis que he venido para abolir la ley o los profetas; no he venido para abolir, sino para cumplir. Mateo 5:17

Para Cumplir – En 144 DC la Iglesia tacho de hereje a Marcion y rechazó su Biblia truncada. Marcion enseñaba a los cristianos que ya no existía requerimiento adicional de las Escrituras hebreas excepto como interés histórico. También rechazo gran parte del Nuevo Testamento por ser demasiado “judío.” Acepto el evangelio de Lucas y las cartas paulinas como el único canon verdadero para los cristianos. La iglesia rechazo su herejía, pero no demolió la posición teológica detrás de la aseveración de Marcion. La herejía de Marcion se basaba en su creencia que la Ley, y consecuentemente todo lo judío, había sido eliminado con la muerte y resurrección del Cristo. EN otras palabras, Marcion leyó este versículo de esta manera: “No penséis que he venido para abolir la ley o los profetas; no he venido para abolir, sino para terminar.“  Marcion creyó que Jesús completó la Ley convirtiéndola en innecesaria o esencial para los cristianos. La Iglesia excomulgo a Marcion, pero guardó su teología.

Hace un par de semanas, una persona me escribió lo siguiente:

“Las únicas partes de las Escrituras que son para los gentiles son las cartas de Pablo. Lo demás se dirige a Israel. SI, cada palabra que dijo Jesús mientras fue el polvoso nazareno aquí en la Tierra fue para Israel, no para nosotros… Skip, ¡la gracia es lo único que debe estrujarse de todo esto! ¡Esta es la administración de la gracia! ¡La administración de la Ley ha terminado! Cristo es el fin de la ley, Romanos 10:4… La ley de Moisés es una “dispensación de condenación” diseñada para llevarnos a la desesperanza en Cristo. No debemos regresar a seguir la ley, Gal 4:9-11.”

Marcion ha regresado de la tumba. Escribe Abraham Heschel, “Marcion permanece como una amenaza formidable, un reto satánico. En la comunidad moderna, el poder de Marcion esta más vivo y disperso de lo que generalmente se comprende…”[i]

Quizás podemos poner fin a esta herejía de una vez por todas si tan solo comprendiésemos lo que dijo Yeshua en hebreo. Nuestra confusión proviene de la palabra griega pleroo. El verbo griego significa “hacer pleno, llenar” y específicamente en cuanto a profecía “completar, cumplir o llevar al final.” Allí reside la confusión. Este verbo griego también puede leerse con el significado de “finalizar,” pero Yeshua no hablo en griego. Mateo es una traducción del hebreo y en hebreo  el significado viene de la raíz kiyem que significa “causar que se levanto o mantenga.” Así que el sentido hebreo de la declaración es sobre la interpretación correcta de la Escritura. Anular la Ley es malinterpretar la Escritura. Cumplir la Ley es interpretar correctamente la Escritura. En cualquiera de los casos, la Escritura permanece.

Notaras que el ministerio de Yeshua se preocupo por corregir la interpretación de la Tora y cuando la Tora se interpreta apropiadamente, esta exige acción. Cumplir la Ley es hacer lo que es dictado por la Ley. Esta es una consideración perpetua que obviamente no fue depuesta por la muerte y resurrección de Yeshua. Cuando la Iglesia se removió de las raíces hebreas, adopto el espíritu de Marcion aun cuando resistió a Marcion personalmente. A pesar de tildar a Marcion de hereje, la Iglesia ha adoptado su punto de vista. La idea que la Ley ha sido eliminada es una hacer bastardas las palabras de Yeshua. Desde la perspectiva hebrea, ese pensamiento es absolutamente imposible. Dios fue el autor de la Ley y no hay nada que pueda anularla, ni aun si dejaran de existir los cielos y la tierra.

¿Vive Marcion en tu asamblea religiosa? ¿Se esconde entre las páginas del himnario, o levanta la cabeza desde detrás del pulpito? ¿Es el autor del material de escuela dominical o de tus devocionales? Hasta que lo entierres para siempre, serás anfitrión silencioso de Satanás, a quién nada lo complacerá más que tu rechazo de la Tora de Dios.

Ley, anular, cumplir, Mateo 5:17, pleroo, kiyem, Marcion

[i] Abraham Heschel, La Inseguridad de la Libertado, citado en Brad Young, Pablo el Teólogo Judío, p. 61.

Category: La Palabra de Hoy  | Tags: , , , , , ,  | One Comment

The Heart Of The Matter

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 | Author:

“Do not think that I came to annul the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to annul, but to fulfill.” Matthew 5:17

To Fulfill – In 144 AD the Church branded Marcion a heretic and rejected his truncated Bible. Marcion taught that Christians had no further use of the Hebrew Scriptures except as a matter of historical interest. He also rejected a great deal of the New Testament books as too “Jewish.” He accepted the gospel of Luke and ten Pauline letters as the only true canon for Christians. The Church rejected this heresy, but it didn’t quite demolish the theological position behind Marcion’s claim. Marcion’s heresy was based on his belief that the Law and, consequently all things Jewish, was done away with in the death and resurrection of the Christ. In other words, Marcion read this verse as follows: “Don’t think I came to erase the Law and the Prophets; I did not come to erase but to finish.” Marcion believed that Jesus completed the Law making it no longer necessary or essential for Christians. The Church threw out Marcion, but it kept his theology.

A few weeks ago, someone wrote to me with the following statements:

“The only parts of the scriptures that are for the Gentiles are Paul’s letters.  All of the rest is directed to Israel.  Yes, every word that Jesus said while he was the dusty Nazarene here on planet Earth was for Israel, not for us. . . . Skip, grace is the only thing that’s supposed to squeeze through! This is the administration of grace! The administration of law is over! Christ is the end of the law, Rom 10:4. . . The law of Moses is a “dispensation of condemnation” designed to drive one to helplessness in Christ. We are not to go back and follow the law, Gal 4:9 – 11.”

Marcion is back from the grave. Abraham Heschel writes, “Marcion remains a formidable menace, a satanic challenge. In the modern Christian community the power of Marcionism is much more alive and widespread than is generally realized . . .”[1]

Perhaps we could put a stop to this heresy once-and-for-all if we just realized what Yeshua said in Hebrew. Our confusion comes from the Greek word pleroo. The Greek verb means “to make full, to fill up” and specifically with prophecy “to fulfill, accomplish or bring to an end.” There’s the confusion. This Greek verb can be read to mean “to end,” but Yeshua wasn’t speaking Greek. Matthew is a translation from Hebrew and in Hebrew the meaning comes from the root kiyem which means “to cause to stand or uphold.” So, the Hebrew sense of this statement is about interpreting the Scripture correctly. To annul the Law is to misinterpret the Law. To fulfill the Law is to correctly interpret the Law. In either case, the Law remains.

You will notice that Yeshua’s ministry is concerned with correcting the interpretation of the Torah and when the Torah is correctly interpreted, it demands action. To fulfill the Law is to do what is dictated by the Law. That is an on-going consideration obviously not set aside by Yeshua’s death and resurrection. When the Church removed itself from its Jewish roots, it adopted the spirit of Marcion even as it rejected Marcion himself. In spite of branding Marcion a heretic, the Church has adopted his point of view. The idea that the Law has been set aside is a complete bastardization of Yeshua’s statement. From a Hebrew perspective, such thinking is simply impossible. God authored the Law and nothing will annul it, not even the passing away of heaven and earth.

Does Marcion live in your religious assembly? Is he hiding between the pages of your hymnal or peaking over the edge of the pulpit? Is he authoring your Sunday school material or your devotionals? Until you put him in the grave for good, you will be playing silent host to Satan who would like nothing better than your rejection of God’s Torah.

Topical Index: Law, annul, fulfill, Matthew 5:17, pleroo, kiyem, Marcion

[1] Abraham Heschel, The Insecurity of Freedom, cited in Brad Young, Paul the Jewish Theologian, p. 61.

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