The Raw Data (2)
All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NASB
All Scripture – Lawrence Schiffman offers some much needed insights into the development of Judaism, insights that can be applied to other religious persuasions.
From its beginnings Jewish history has experienced a recurring pattern of meeting, or perhaps “confronting,” some new, “modern” culture and coming to terms with it. This process has so far repeated itself four times. The first was when the Israelites invaded the promised land and came into contact with the superior culture of the Canaanites. The second took place in Late Antiquity when Judaism came into contact with Hellenistic culture. The third took place during the Middle Ages, when a major part of world Jewry found itself under Islamic domination. The most recent occurred in Europe in the eras of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.[1]
The concept of the dual Torah, written and oral, gave Rabbinic Judaism that flexibility, defining the interpretations of the later rabbis as having Mosaic authority and standing in a continuous chain of tradition.[2]
Judaism is fundamentally a revealed religion. It is based on the belief that God revealed Himself to the Jewish people through the agency of Moses. For this reason, its development, both in the biblical period and beyond, can be understood only in terms of a reshaping and reinterpretation of the biblical heritage. The traditions of the biblical world were axiomatic for later Judaism. Meaning and message were debated, but not authority.[3]
What does this mean? Without the oral tradition, Judaism would have fossilized and probably disappeared. Such was the fate of many other ancient religions. The oral tradition allowed Judaism the flexibility it needed to maintain relevance during the shifts in culture, politics, and society. We might say the same for the work of the early Church fathers and the ongoing commentators who dealt with the confessional texts of the Christian religion. A religion that rests entirely on creed and doctrine eventually becomes obsolete and irrelevant. What this means is that if we want to understand contemporary religious thinking we must embrace the historical tradition that has been interpreting the ancient texts since the beginning. Separating text from tradition leaves us only with archaic, scholarly inquiry—not with a living narrative of God’s involvement with Man. We may debate these interpretations but once the authority of the tradition is fixed, the rest is variable, temporal opinion.
Topical Index: tradition, authority, oral Torah, interpretation, Timothy 3:16-17
[1] Lawrence H. Schiffman, From Text to Tradition: A History of Second Temple & Rabbinic Judaism (Ktav Publishing House, 1991), p. 15.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid., p. 17.
Ah, but what traditions?
The New Covenant was not made with the “church”, it was made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah – Jer 31:31-37. It was inaugurated when Messiah came for the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt 15:24), but will not be fulfilled until He returns. He was born a Jew of the Jews and will return as King of the Jews.
What far too many New Testament believers do not understand is church history. The “church” was established as a replacement for the sect of Judaism called “the Way”, primarily made up of Jews (and later Gentiles) who believed Yeshua is the Messiah. Acts 24:14. See also Jer 6:16. All who believe in the God of Israel through their Messiah Yeshua are grafted into Israel (Romans11), not the church.
The question is being asked – How can christians/christianity turn its back on Israel? Simple answer is because it was birthed in anti-semitism (defined as anti-Jewish). Christianity is replacement theology. They replaced Israel with ‘the church’, the body of Messiah with ‘church membership’, Yeshua with Jesus, Sabbath with sunday, Passover with Ishtar, YHVH’s Torah/instruction with a “new” covenant of their own interpretation, the Levitical priesthood with the Papacy, repentance with penitence, faith with superstition. If the root is bad, the tree is bad and the fruit is bad.
Today at sundown marks the beginning of the season of returning – shuv. May all who live return (teshuvah) and sanctify Your Name in Truth.
Right on!
So true. One reason we spent only a short time, a decade, in the Messianic Judaism movement. The movement is still based on replacement theology. If you don’t accept Yeshua as God or the trinity then you are not saved. Christianity is a schism from Judaism and a new religion. I am not saying Christians don’t believe in God or don’t have a legitimate relationship or experiences of God. They just don’t have exclusivity on defining who God is and how to worship or follow God’s instructions. Now this position will most definitely will put me in the camp of heretics by most believers interpretation. But this does not make them, or me, bad but differing in scripture and historical interpretation. All will stand before God and be judged but it will not be on what you believe but on how you have lived.
Just have to put that out there. No theology has it 100% right. We see what we want to see and what comforts us. It does not mean we are wrong or separated from God. God meets us where we are at and loves us all the same.
The relational context of “the traditions” as a living narrative… and as a testament of witness…serves both to solidify and to deliquese as evidence or demonstration in fact the actuality or reality of the event, discourse, experience, or phenomenon put forth.
And why is this so? Because God’s involvement with Mankind is a living narrative that is both expressed and received subjectively; thereby, it is communication that depends entirely upon the spiritual attenuation extant between God and each individual.
Indeed, “May all who live return (teshuvah) and sanctify Your Name in Truth.” Amen.