The World Is Not Enough (2)
“I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.” John 17:15 NASB
Take them out – “Judaism is God’s perennial question-mark against the condition of the world.”[1] God has invited us to be His partners in redeeming the world. That means we must question those assumptions that form the basis of the world’s view of itself. No assumption is immune from this project. We are the sponges of our societies. We have absorbed their views simply because we grew up in them. We breathed them. We ate them. We walked in them. They seem to us to be so obvious that there is no need to scrutinize them at all. They are what does not need to be said.
In a recent book, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, authors Richards and O’Brien do an excellent job of uncovering the presuppositions of Western world exegesis of Middle Eastern biblical texts. As an example, the chapter entitled “Captain of My Soul” demonstrates how our Western view distorts the essentially communal and collective biblical texts so that they appear to endorse individualism foundational to the Western mind. The authors do a great deal to “remove cultural blinders” in order that we might appreciate the real meaning of the biblical writers. But it comes as a shock to discover that these authors might be victims of presuppositions that color all of their otherwise excellent work. They assume that the Bible is a Christian document. They presuppose that the texts support the Christian theology of the Church. They never once question they idea that there are no biblical Jewish “Christians.” Their work is what Thomas Kuhn calls “normal science.” It corrects some of the misfits by shaping exegesis into the right forms, but it still uses the Christian box to store the results. “What doesn’t need to be said” in this book is the biggest problem of all.[2]
One example demonstrates the theme. Discussing the misreading of Jeremiah 29:11, Richards and O’Brien dismiss the idea that God’s plans our about us today because it ignores the context and the culture of Jeremiah. They conclude, “A more likely application of Jeremiah 29:11, then, is that God is working to prosper his church. . . He has promised the total consummation of his church. But until that day, we labor faithfully, knowing that God is working his purposes for his church, . . .”[3] Randolph and O’Brien are right that Jeremiah 29:11 isn’t a personal promise of success, but they missed the point that it is not about the Church. It is about Israel, the only corporate entity of God’s unfailing concern. They see only the anomalies that their paradigm allows them to see and they are victims of the same disease.
Yeshua prayed that his disciples would be left behind. That means they were intended to be the contenders. They were to be the misfits, the questioners, the debaters, the non-conformists—in word and deed! Biblical truth is sandpaper. It grinds against the world and all of its assumptions, even religious ones.
The Christian Church, founded in the mid-second century, powered by Rome after Constantine, is not a biblical idea. No author of the biblical text was a Christian. The God of the Bible is the God of Israel, not the God of Rome or Geneva. The Messiah is Jewish and will still be Jewish on His return. There are no cathedrals in heaven and when He returns there will be none on earth. The assumption that this Jewish text, this God of Israel, is the same text and the same God as the ones of Augustine, Theodosius, Aquinas, Luther and Calvin is a fundamental assumption that must be challenged with everything we’ve got. We are here to challenge that cultural assimilation, that osmotic religion. The world is not enough to prevent our voices from crying, “Torah will pour forth from Zion.”
Topical Index: take them out, assumptions, Church, Christian, John 17:15
[1] Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, To Heal a Fractured World, p. 26.
[2]In dialogue with Richards, he assured me that he never intended to suggest Paul wasn’t Jewish. His other book on Paul attempts to prove the point.
[3]E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, p. 202.
Skip, I really do appreciate the work you are doing to get us back to the original olive tree. But I would really like to know what you think God’s view of the Church is. Has He written “ichabod” over it and will have noting more to do with it? If the Church has parented us, should we not honor it for whatever foundation it did lay in our lives? Where is that fine line of constructive criticism, of speaking the truth in love, and unrighteous judgement which fails to see through the heart, not just the mind, of God?
I believe the Church began to get off course way before the time of Constantine. Yeshua warned the church at Ephesus that if they failed to return to their first love (and stop making the testing of apostles their first priority) he would have to remove their candlestick. When we fail to keep the main thing the main thing we will always be headed down the wrong path.
Granted, if our view of God is skewed (too Greek/heathen), then obviously our love and obedience will also be skewed. But isn’t it amazing how God continues to work in us and through us despite how messed up we are, IF our hearts are in the right place (seeking Him and loving the Truth?)? Some of the most amazing statements Yeshua ever made were made were made to a Samaritan woman who had a pretty messed up theology!
I agree, Bruce, the Truth is above our best constructive criticism
and surely forgiving of our “righteous” judgment.
God’s chosen people were and are of His choosing.
Originally Israel. Today whosoever. But always His!
Collectively, are not all these people fully assembled as
the Body of Christ? True believers of all times who have
been directly touched and called by God, and in turn deliberately
love Him back for having done so. Currently they are quite
diverse, but quite united in Him and in love for Him.
Perhaps beyond our comprehension, His kingdom continues
to grow and expand, despite the priority attention the world
receives and the religious confusion that persists within it.
No power is greater than His love.
No mind is more inclusive than the mind of Christ.
“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure
to give you the kingdom.” Lk 12:32
Bruce you asked :”If the Church has parented us, should we not honor it for whatever foundation it did lay in our Lives? ” Since when did the Church become a parent? That doctrine sounds suspiciously Catholic in origin and perpetuation. If we believe that God is our Father then I assume you are saying that the Church is our mother (since that is the only other parental option available) ? I, for one, have multiple problems with that idea. One other option was that of the famous Moravian Count Zinzendorf who used the word “Mother” to describe the Holy Spirit. He believed that “those who experience the Trinity in their hearts know that “a family must be complete. We must have a Father, Mother, and Husband.” In addition, as a human mother cares for her physical children by protecting , guiding , admonishing and comforting her children so does the Ruach haKodesh to ‘her’ children. Of course, this whole line of reasoning smacks of Trinitarinism and Protestantism which are suspect at best. So I’ll leave the whole personification of wisdom as a woman and as a symbol of the Ruach in Proverbs and Song of Solomon to Skip and others better versed in those verses. But as for your question (and quest) “to honor the Church for whatever foundation it laid in our lives” all I can say is that is my goal in my own life is to destroy those false ideas, doctrines of demons and pagen philosophies and not to build them up again. “For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor.” Galatians 2:18
Amen!!!
Should it be any surprise to anyone anywhere in this whole issue that the place the devil would attack the hardest is the Body? So why would any of us let him use us to attack each other? When the disciples rebuked a man for healing in the name of Yeshua, didn’t he rebuke them? Even through the tremendous apostasy of ancient Israel did He ever abandon them? Isn’t anyone who has heard His call, no matter how polluted a voice they heard it through, loved by Him? It is not the issue whether certain PEOPLE are walking or not; the issue is that NO ONE has really gotten the entire direction right yet. I think that if we can separate the individual walk that each person, to the best that they have seen, has been following with all their heart, from the DIRECTION and DOGMA that, to the extent that it has not lined up perfectly yet to the ideal unity of heaven, continues to fracture them from the perfect unity that that walk is supposed to result in – then, and only then, are we going to be able to do this.
It is a fact that we have not perfected a true representation of the love of God, even though He spelled it out clearly for all of us on that Mountain, and again on that Cross. Not the Jews. Not the Christians. Let us ask ourselves why. But let us not go separating possible sheep from possible goats when we do so. There is a reason that the parable states that the wheat field will only be ripe to reap at the end of the age. It is because there is no wheat that is not still growing with tares. I would hope that there is enough spiritual maturity here in this part of the Body that we do not get distracted from the real problem by witch hunts or by trying to identify tares. If we do, then what I feel I need most may get lost. I am desperate for the Body to figure out what is missing, and what has been added, to that great Law of Love, that has left us so confused that we can not even figure out how to love each other, much less the lost. Until we know who our enemy is (false doctrine), we are not going to be able to stand in unity, back to back, and fight what separates us. Until then, I am afraid that the baleful result of that false doctrine, which is DIVISION, will continue to keep us at each others’ throats. So help us, God.
P.S. I am not an advocate for ecumenism. It has been tried countless times before, and it has NEVER worked simply because it does not matter what people get together and think they agree on; what matters is whether or not they are following the blueprint for agreement that was forged for us. Until then, I am afraid we run the real danger of just agreeing to be partners in the crime of insisting that it is WE, and not God, who get to decide what constitutes a true Body. Ecumenism, unfortunately, plays to the lowest common denominator, which is the best the world has ever been able to forge. The Law, however, speaks to the highest ideal. Never the twain can meet.
I think Skip has been called to do some long-overdue surgery on the Body, but if he does it correctly, then I believe that the only pain we will feel will be the pain on letting go the things that divide us. And that is a pain that we should already be feeling.
This is my prayer: “One Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God, and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and IN YOU ALL.” Eph. 4:5,6. Amen.
Hi Bruce. Very much appreciate your posts, having been ‘parented’ by protestant theology. I have over 25 years of experience trying to get to the Scriptural (Hebraic) roots of my faith, primarily learning from those whose ability with languages is far more advanced than mine. That means checking out multiple advisors and praying for discernment as I continue to advance in this area. During this time, I have seen a shift in ‘church’.
We live in a time when it is very hard not to be aware of the lies perpetrated by the ‘church’. For me, it began when every time I opened my Bible, the Sabbath hit me in the face. I wanted answers, but more than that I wanted Truth. Back when I started my journey of questioning, it took volumes of library books and encyclopedia to dig out answers. Today, a simple click of a finger on a computer keyboard will get you to that information in seconds. My initial search took me to reference sources that had no reason to be biased and clearly established origins of ‘church’ traditions as non-Scriptural/untrue. TILT TILT TILT
I am live-in help for an elderly aunt. Do to her disability, a group of ‘church’ ladies meet here on friday mornings for a ‘Blble’ study. It is really a book study, because we order books on christianity and go through them chapter by chapter. When led, I address specific issues of ‘church’ lies. Interestingly, these women, all older than I, can speak to the traditions they keep in the ‘church’ with as much knowledge about their pagan origins as I. Having related Truth, they will invariably add, “but, I do not see it in that light and will continue to do it.” I find this more and more the position of the ‘church’. Why is this? I do not believe it is about them not wanting to give up their traditions as much as it is about not wanting Yeshua as their LORD. Why do you call Him LORD and do not do what He says?
Church leadership is aware. The times I have confronted, they have told me they are the disseminators of Truth and know how much Truth the congregants are able to handle. Woe to the shepherds feeding the flock poison. Woe to the flock refusing to test all things.
The last few years have been interesting. I hear the words of Scripture that what can be shaken will be shaken, so that what cannot be shaken (Truth) will remain and judgement begins in the house of YHVH – church/religion/even misguided Messianics. We have been privileged to be placed in this world for such a time as this. I believe those who are searching for Truth with all their hearts will find it as promised, but that means leaving behind the lie. It means we are (as so eloquently put by Skip) intended to be the contenders. We are the misfits, the questioners, the debaters, the non-conformists—in word and deed! Biblical truth is sandpaper. It grinds against the world and all of its assumptions, even religious ones.
The assumption that this Jewish text, this God of Israel, is the same text and the same God as the ones of Augustine, Theodosius, Aquinas, Luther and Calvin is a fundamental assumption that must be challenged with everything we’ve got. ”
Skip, you called fire down from heaven today! I read your posts everyday, and I am always inspired and or challenged by the things you write. I’ve never written a comment before, but the above comment shot through me like a bullet. You summed up my exact sentiment in one eloquently stated sentence. I am currently completing my Masters of Divinity degree at a well know Christian University. I have read the works of the above mentioned men, and have studied the Bible in depth. I find myself in a small minority, possibly less than 1%, amongst my colleagues who would even consider challenging the traditional teachings of the above men. I’ve discovered, during my time in seminary, that across the board, many Christians are ignorant of their predisposed anti-semitic attitudes. Fortunately for me, I grew up in a home where I was taught that Jesus is Jewish, and that the Jewish people were chosen by God for a purpose. My mind was not poisoned with anti -semitic, anti – Jewish rhetoric as a child, which has now allowed me to be a better student. I do challenge the fundamental assumptions, and will continue to do so, because many of my classmates will leave seminary perpetuating the same theology of old. Unchallenged. Unchanged.
“The Messiah is Jewish and will still be Jewish on His return.”
Skip, in making this statement you prompted me to elaborate a little on it as it may be of interest to the readers.
In His first coming, Messiah came as a descendant of Judah to qualify Himself as King of Kings. (Gen 49:10) The New Testament shows He qualified Himself to God’s satisfaction when His Sacrifice was accepted by the Father on the feast of Bikkurim. But in His second coming Scripture seems to indicate that He is coming playing the role of Joseph to take possession of the LAND which was given to Joseph and his sons as the Birthright inheritance promises. The background to that is recorded in Genesis 48 and 49. Then the following Scriptures link Joseph to Messiah’s second coming:
“Then they took Joseph’s robe, and killed a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood;” (Gen.37:31)RSV
“He (Messiah) is clad in a robe dipped in blood.” (Rev 19:13)RSV
Of course, my point here does not run contrary to Messiah’s Jewish pedigree but it does have other implications about the Birthright and the Land of Israel that have yet to be sorted out by God
It was Yeshua Messiah that brought me out of darkness into His glorious light. It was not a church, it was not even a person. Maybe they had planted seeds but as far back as I can remember, I longed to know Him. When trying to “meet” Him through the church, it never happened. Then He spoke to me. When I came to Sabbath keeping, His ways opened to me.
So many are dependent on the church for teaching and instruction, entertainment, family etc. It is Messiah Yeshua who brings us into the Father’s presence and gives us “family”. His Word is Truth. Ask Him for His instruction. Not the church.
Hallelu Yah!!!!
Yeshua didn’t pacify people. He spoke truth and let them decide which way they would go.
Behind all of these comments, I still hear a tendency to think in terms of Jewish conversion to Christianity versus the need for gentiles to become part of the Apostolic Jewish tree. I think this is the root of the issue. On one side we have the “church” who thinks IT is the tree and all people (Jew and Gentile) need to convert to become one with it. “If you’re a Jew, you can never really be complete unless you become a Christian.”. On the other side, we have groups of “messianic” Jews, who still think in terms of conversion to Christianity as demonstrated by their tenacious protection of the exclusivity of their Jewishness. The parting of the ways also demands that non-Jews understand they can never REALLY be a full part of the Jewish tree.
What a stand-off! Neither scenario presents an accurate picture of the open-ethnicity Judaism (as described by Dr. Anders Runneson) which characterized Apostolic Judaism of the first century. First century Jews did not convert to Christianity — Gentiles converted to become part of the apostolic community. Apostolic Judaism, as defined by James and the Jerusalem council, was ready to receive those gentiles who would leave behind their pagan ways and embrace God, His Messiah AND the people of Israel.
Most of us are still seeing it backwards and still reasoning from the wrong stance. I might be wrong, but that’s what I hear Skip saying today.
Hi Suzanne,
I could be wrong. But many on this blog seem to be
taken by man’s approach to God.
Should we not, rather, be united in God’s approach to man?
It is written.
“Deny yourself”. “Not my will, but Yours be done.”
God’s people are called to be like Him: ONE.
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren
to dwell together in unity!” Ps 133:1
No background checks necessary.