Theological Suicide

Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”   That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.   For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Romans 11:19-21 ESV

Neither will he spare you – We have read these verses for years, but I wonder if we ever understood them. Yes, we congratulate ourselves for being the “wild branches.” We are grafted in (by God’s grace, of course). And we go on to conclude that those poor, unbelieving Jews are now suffering under some kind of spiritual drought because they don’t acknowledge Yeshua as the Messiah. Even if we’re not “Messianic,” we still think that Paul’s glorious statement of inclusion applied to us! We are the blessed ones.

But step back a minute and ask yourself, “What does Paul mean when he writes, ‘stand fast through faith’?” Hopefully we have learned something about Paul’s conception of “faith” in these years of investigation. Now we understand that Paul was a fully Torah-observant Jew, committed to strict monotheism, devoted to the Jewish way of living and completely dedicated to Yeshua as the promised Jewish Messiah. If we have learned this about Paul, then the answer to our question should be something like this: Faith is not a noun. It is a verb that describes a life totally pledged to living according to God’s instructions. That means our doctrines and our practice must represent what God revealed in his prophets Moses and Yeshua. That means, just for clarity’s sake, we no longer espouse those ideas that have crept into Christianity from Greek or pagan roots. That means we reject the notion that God is not interested in “law” (Torah) and has replaced this way of life with “grace.” That means we recognize the Trinitarian dogma is in complete opposition to the monotheism of first century Jews despite the fact that all the earliest believers in the Messiah were Jews. That means we stop separating over the miniscule details of alternate exegesis and pursue unity, that great theme of Pauline literature, as best we can. That means we act before we exegete. That means our lives conform to the characteristics found in Exodus 34:6-7.

Why do we treat “faith” in this supposedly radical way? (It is radical only because it isn’t aligned with Christian dogma). Because of these words: oude sou pheisetai (“neither will he spare you”). Did you get that? If faith isn’t about doctrinal purity, if faith is about acting according to the instructions given by God through Moses (and Yeshua proclaims that it is), then who do you suppose will be broken off in the end? Do you think that those who profess “faith” but deny the fundamental proclamation of Deuteronomy 6:4 will survive? Do you imagine those who believe themselves grafted in but refuse to be nourished by the Jewish root will be welcomed? Can you convince yourself that the adoption of Greek thinking by the Church guarantees your salvation simply because you have been told it does? Can you continue to pretend that Paul was a Christian like you? Good luck with that. No one is saved by committing theological suicide.

Topical Index: oude sou pheisetai, neither will he spare you, Romans 11:19-21