How Jewish Is Christianity?: 2 Views on the Messianic Movement

by Zondervan, Stanley N. Gundry (Editor), William Varner (Contribution by), Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum (Contribution by), David H. Stern (Contribution by)

Overview

A major issue facing first-century believers was what to do with Gentile peoples who wanted to be part of the growing movement of Messiah followers.

Today, the problem is reversed. Is there space within the scope of Christianity for a Messianic congregation: believers of Christ who maintain a Jewish culture that reflects Jewish background and customs?

Understand the scope of this discussion from six contemporary contributors who have lived and wrestled with this issue as they present their arguments for both sides of the debate:

• John Fischer, a rabbi of Congregation Ohr Chadash and Chairman of Judaic Studies at St. Petersburg Theological Seminary
• Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, who served with the Chosen People Ministries and Christian Jew Foundation and is now the founder and director of Ariel Ministries
• Gershon Nerel, who served as "Israel Secretary" for the International Messianic Jewish Alliance and has also been a member of the executive committee for the Messianic Jewish Alliance of Israel
• David Stern, the translator of the Jewish New Testament from Greek to English
• Will Varner, a professor of biblical studies at the Master’s College, CA, and the director of the Israel Bible Extension campus of this college in Israel

The book concludes with a chapter on the future for Messianic Jews and a directory of messianic movement organizations.

The Counterpoints series presents a comparison and critique of scholarly views on topics important to Christians that are both fair-minded and respectful of the biblical text. Each volume is a one-stop reference that allows readers to evaluate the different positions on a specific issue and form their own, educated opinion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310244905
Publisher:	Zondervan Academic
Publication date:	11/16/2003
Series:	Counterpoints: Bible and Theology
Edition description:	1ST
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.05(h) x 0.65(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Stanley N. Gundry is executive vice president and editor-in-chief for the Zondervan Corporation. He has been an influential figure in the Evangelical Theological Society, serving as president of ETS and on its executive committee, and is adjunct professor of Historical Theology at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. He is the author of seven books and has written many articles appearing in popular and academic periodicals.

The late Louis Goldberg (Th D, Grace Theological Seminary), general editor, served on the faculty of Moody Bible Institute for thirty years and was the author of Our Jewish Friends, Are There Two Ways of Atonement? and other books.

William Varner (Ed D, Temple University), formerly dean of the Institute of Biblical Studies with Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, is professor of biblical studies at The Master's College in California.

Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum (Th M, Ph D, New York University) is the founder and director of Ariel Ministries.

David Stern (MDiv, Fuller Theological Seminary) is the translator of the Jewish New Testament and the Complete Jewish Bible.

John Fischer (Th D, California Graduate School of Theology, Ph D University of South Florida) is a rabbi and chairman of Judaic Studies at St. Petersburg Theological Seminary.

Gershon Nerel (Ph D, Hebrew University, Jerusalem) has served with the International Messianic Jewish Alliance and the Messianic Jewish Alliance of Israel.

Read an Excerpt

How Jewish Is Christianity?

2 Views on the Messianic Movement

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Zondervan

Copyright © 2003 Louis Goldberg
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0-310-24490-0

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Chapter One

MESSIANIC CONGREGATIONS ARE NOT NECESSARY

William Varner

Anyone writing about Messianic Judaism is faced with serious challenges. Not the least of these is what exactly to call the movement. The term "Messianic" could refer to any Jewish person who believes in a personal Messiah, whether or not that Messiah is identified with Jesus of Nazareth. For example, the Lubavitcher Hasidim fervently proclaim their belief in "Moshiach" (Messiah), some even to the point of identifying their former "Rebbe" (Rabbi Schneerson) with that Moshiach. Does that mean that Lubavitchers are also "Messianic Jews"?

Nevertheless, the term "Messianic Judaism" is here to stay, so it is fruitless to argue about its semantic nuances. This chapter will use the term, even though many may not believe it to be the best title. Likewise some within the movement prefer "congregation" over "synagogue" to describe their local body of believers. Recognizing this diversity of expression, I will simply use "Messianic synagogue" for convenience. Messianic Judaism, whatever the strengths or shortcomings of the title may be, is a fait accompli-and it is that which we will attempt to evaluate in the light of theological, historical, and pragmatic considerations.

The movement, in its modern form, is now about thirty years old. This book, therefore, is probably a quarter of a century late. Most of those in Messianic Judaism have made up their minds by now and will probably not be dissuaded by any arguments that I propose against their position. On the other hand, readers interested in exploring the questions Messianic congregations inevitably raise may find some help here as they sort out those issues.

Consider another obstacle we face in evaluating the movement. Which form of Messianic Judaism am I addressing? In the early 1990s a Reconstructionist rabbi named Carol Harris-Shapiro made an ethnographic study of Messianic Judaism. Ethnography involves the researcher entering a community as both an observer and, to an extent, a participant. While other full-length treatments of Messianic Judaism have been done by non-Messianic Jewish writers, Harris-Shapiro's work is a fairly reliable treatment by someone who, as an outsider, tried to view the movement from the inside. She summarizes the various organizational strands of Messianic Judaism into five basic groups:

1. Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations

2. International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues

3. Fellowship of Messianic Congregations

4. Association of Torah-Observant Messianics

5. The International Federation of Messianic Jews

Referring to the last three as the smaller of the five, Harris-Shapiro adds, "These Messianic margins point to the increasing diversity in the movement, while their small numbers highlight the strength of the mainstream expression of Messianic Judaism."

Therefore, to whom do my observations apply? I will leave this question to be answered by the reader, who must realize that I paint with a broad brush. If I wrongly cover someone, I fully realize that such is inevitable in light of the movement's great diversity.

Before I address my concerns, I would like to share a few personal observations about myself and my interest in this subject. First, I rejoice greatly in the fact that God is preserving a remnant of Jewish believers, as Paul would say, "at the present time" (Romans 11:5). Jewish evangelism has always been a major factor in my life, even after seminary during my seven years as a pastor. I then had the privilege of working with a ministry to Jewish people for seventeen years, ten of which I served as dean of a Bible institute dedicated to teaching students, many of whom were Jewish believers, about the history and culture of the Jewish people both in America and Israel. I received a master's degree in Judaic Studies under the tutelage of a well-known Conservative Rabbinical scholar and gave the valedictory address at graduation in a Philadelphia synagogue. Recently my teaching has been primarily to Gentile Christian students and it has been a joy to introduce them to the culture, history, and spiritual need of the Jewish people. In this teaching connection, I am also the director of our college's branch campus program in Israel and have led thirty-six study trips to that country. There I have tried to familiarize myself with the challenges that "Yehudim Meshichim" (Messianic Jews) face in their homeland.

I write this, not to impress anyone, but to let the reader know that, although I am a Gentile, I write as one who is a sympathetic friend to Jewish believers. One of my ministry goals has always been to educate the churches where I minister about the Jewish people and about Israel and to expose anti-Jewishness wherever it raises its ugly head. So let my criticisms of Messianic Judaism be understood in this light. If I wound anyone, be assured that it is done in the spirit of the proverb: "Faithful are the wounds of a friend ..." (Proverbs 27:6 NASB).

A VOICE FROM THE PAST

Jewish Christianity is certainly not a modern phenomenon, but has existed since the first century. As an identifiable movement within the church, however, it ceased to exist by the sixth century A.D. Arenaissance came during the nineteenth century, when literally thousands of Jewish people came to faith in Jesus as Messiah. Jewish Christian organizations formed, and new Jewish missions appeared in England, in America, and on the Continent. Some of the greatest "giants" in Jewish Christianity lived and ministered in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Among the most notable was the great David Baron, who came to faith in Jesus from an Orthodox European background and went on to found the Hebrew Christian Testimony to Israel in England. Baron contributed major scholarly works that are still read and appreciated today, such as Rays of Messiah's Glory; Types, Psalms and Prophecies; Israel in the Plan of God; and the invaluable commentary, Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah. The editor of this current volume has written, "Many of David Baron's friends testified that he was the most Christlike man they had ever known."

Most of Baron's writing originally appeared in the periodical The Scattered Nation, the magazine of the "Testimony." In 1911 he published an article in that periodical titled "Messianic Judaism; or Judaising Christianity." Reading this article should remind us of the statement made by Qohelet (the Teacher) in Ecclesiastes that "there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9). This article makes it clear that the Messianic Jewish movement is not a new phenomenon but was significant enough at the turn of the last century to cause great concern to David Baron. The concerns he expressed ninety years ago should be noted today, especially since he was such a highly regarded Jewish believer.

Baron writes that the movement's founders, such as Theodore Lucky, advocated

that it is incumbent on the Hebrew Christian not only to identify themselves with their unbelieving Jewish brethren in their national aspirations-as explained, for instance, in Zionism ... but to observe the national rites and customs of the Jews, such as the keeping of the Sabbath, circumcision, and other observances, some of which have not even their origin in the law of Moses, but are part of the unbearable yoke which was laid on the neck of our people by the Rabbis.

Baron cites writers who prepared both a "Minimum Programme" and a "Maximum Programme" for their turn-of-the-century form of Messianic Judaism. The "Minimum Programme" advocated the following:

A Hebrew Christian movement will hold fast to Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, Chanucah, and Purim; will include in its liturgy a good deal of the traditional Synagogue prayer; will be favorably disposed towards every ceremony that has entwined itself in the Hebrew consciousness; ... insists on circumcision; attaches itself to the Hebrew consciousness and holds by the historical and Biblical continuity of Israel's mission.

This was the "Minimum Programme." In Baron's words, the "Maximum Programme" also included "joining in all forms and ceremonies of the Christ-rejecting synagogue, to wear phylacteries and the talith, to use the Jewish liturgy, just as the other Jews do, only to smuggle in now and then the Name of Jesus into their prayers."

(Continues...)

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Table of Contents

	Preface	7
	Introduction: The Rise, Disappearance, and Resurgence of Messianic Congregations	13
1.	Messianic Congregations Are Not Necessary	27
	Responses
	Yes, We Do Need Messianic Congregations!	50
	A Danger of Throwing Out the Baby with the Bath Water	66
	Living the Messianic Jewish Lifestyle	79
	Modern Assemblies of Jewish Yeshua-Believers between Church and Synagogue	92
2.	Messianic Congregations May Exist Within the Body of Messiah, as Long as They Don't Function Contrary to the New Testament	109
	Responses
	Messianic Congregations Should Exist and Should Be Very Jewish	129
	Testing How Jewish We Should Be	140
	Torah and Halakhah among Modern Assemblies of Jewish Yeshua-Believers	152
	In Search of ... a Jewish Identity	166
	Summary Essay: the Future of Messianic Judaism	175
Appendix	Messianic Movement Organizations	193
	Scripture Index	197
	Subject Index	201