Clifford Denton begins a new series on living Hebraically.

Two notable things have influenced relationships between the Christian Church and Israel during the last 70 years. One is the return of Israel to their ancient Land. The second is a desire by Christians to rediscover the roots of their faith.

The latter has grown exponentially over the last two to three decades. Indeed, the former is enabling the latter to take place, with tours to Israel available to millions of Christians and interaction with Messianic Jews helping Christians to research their historic roots.

It is a special time on the prophetic calendar. Many Christians have woken up to the understanding that when the Christian Church began to move away from its association with Israel, Greek and Roman influences infiltrated the doctrines and culture of the Church to fill a theological void.

Eloquent (in human terms) though such theologies have been, and as much as they are somewhat Bible-based, much has been neglected as a result of this, leading many of us today to re-consider what the so-called ‘early Church fathers’ passed on. This is prompting a desire to break from much Christian tradition and to re-connect more firmly with the culture and community of disciples and apostles of the 1^st Century. All that they passed on from the rich heritage that preceded the sacrificial ministry of the Lord Jesus the Messiah (Yeshua HaMashiach) is now being studied afresh.

It is a special time on the prophetic calendar.

On the negative side, in some quarters there has developed an over-fascination for all things Jewish, evidenced by an over-reaction against the historic Christian Church and a move towards practices of the synagogue that are more traditional than biblical.

However, more broadly there is a wealth of good fruit being born as a result of this revival of interest in Jewish roots. The number of ministries and individuals exploring the long-lost foundations of Christianity has burgeoned, and there are some excellent resources and events now available to believers to equip them on their own personal exploration of this topic.

In the 1990s, Prophecy Today was connected to two pioneering works in this respect: one was Tishrei, a quarterly journal; the other was Pardes, a teaching ministry involving both a journal and regular teaching days.

It is time to re-group and consider the fruits of these and other pioneering works. In this short series of articles, we plan to bring fresh focus to the quest to rediscover the roots of our faith.

Hebraic or Jewish?

From the beginning of this ministry it has been difficult to choose words to convey our intent accurately.

In Tishrei we chose to say that we were ‘re-discovering the Jewish roots of the Christian faith’. This had a good ‘ring’ to it, but could be misunderstood. It seemed a good term at the time because it was the Jews to whom Yeshua came, to interpret Torah into New Covenant truth. Indeed, though much could be criticised concerning the way Torah had been interpreted by the Jews, it was nevertheless the Jews who were the custodians of the entire heritage brought by God - first to Israel and then fulfilled through Yeshua for all, Jew and Gentile. Indeed, whatever else we think of Israel and Judah, Yeshua is the King of the Jews.

On the negative side, this terminology can seem to imply that we are blinkered to all except the Jewish heritage. Indeed, if one goes out of balance one can easily fall into ‘the Galatian heresy’ that Paul warned about (Gal 3).

There is a wealth of good fruit being born as a result of this revival of interest in Jewish roots.

Pardes introduced the phrase ‘Biblical and Hebraic’. This phrase does not imply Jewish heritage but emphasises the balanced perspective of being Bible-based whilst interpreting Scripture with a Hebraic mindset.

Over the years, my view is that it is easy to go out of balance towards elements of Judaism that are more traditional than biblical. Indeed, we are at a point where a review of what we are seeking is appropriate. Let us therefore begin to consider what it is to be Hebraic. In this first article of the series we will consider the life of faith.

Going Back to the Start: Abraham

Abraham was the first Hebrew and is considered the father of the faithful (Rom 4:11-12). In that he was considered to be father of both the circumcised and the uncircumcised, here we have a major point of continuity between the Old and New Covenants, and between Jews and Christians. Paul, in Romans 4, made it clear that Abraham achieved this standing through his life of faith.

The word 'Hebrew' (eevrit) comes from the word Avar which means to cross over, pass over, or pass away. Abraham obeyed God and, with his family, left Ur, a prominent city of the ancient world that recognised many gods. Via Haran, he crossed over to the Promised Land that became the Land of Israel, the land given by God to his descendants.

The account of Abraham is from Genesis 11 to 25. It is a simple story in many ways, but touches the depths that all of us experience in seeking to walk out a life of faith. This is the beginning of our search for our Hebrew roots. Abraham moved away from one place to go to another and in so doing gave up security rooted in this life for a life of faith.

In this series we will begin to consider what it is to be Hebraic.

The Journey of Faith

Interestingly, the Hebrew word emoonah can be translated as both ‘faith’ and ‘faithfulness’, teaching us that there is no such thing as static faith – it grows and matures through our actions taken through trust in God.

God is faithful to His people and our lives, motivated by trust (faith) in God are to show faithfulness in all our actions.

Abraham’s life of faith was to be a model for all his physical descendants, the Tribes of Israel, and for all who would be added to this covenant community through faith in Yeshua. His journey of faith was through a real, ‘normal’ human life in this physical world. Yet he trusted God for all that had been promised to him, including Isaac, the son of his old age, and a land for his descendants who would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.

The physical journey was also a metaphor for the spiritual journey. The greater fulfilment of the promise of a land to dwell in was for the coming Kingdom of God – “a city which has foundations, whose maker and builder is God” (Heb 11:10).

The writer to the Hebrews understood that “faith [or faithfulness] is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1). Hebrews 11 then describes many of the great men and women of faith (faithfulness) who, like Abraham, looked forward to the fulfilment of all God’s promises, finally and fully enabled through Yeshua.

Abraham’s model to them and us was to live a life that witnessed to the trust they had in the living God of Israel. Thus, living out a life of faith like Abraham is at the foundation of our faith, whether we are Jews or Christians.

Abraham modelled a life of trust in the living God of Israel.

Growing in Faith

There is an insightful article available in the Tishrei archives, written by Tom Hamilton. It is entitled The Greek Middle Voice. Interestingly and emphatically, Hamilton argued not from the Hebrew language but from using the Greek language of the New Testament how Abraham pleased God because of his faith.

Though the author argued through the Greek, however, it is Hebraic principles that are being studied. Argument through the Greek is necessary because the New Testament comes to us in the Greek language. Whatever Hebrew versions of at least some of the New Testament books were originally written, none are available now, and so Greek translations or originals are all we currently have. This means that there is a principle in our search for Hebraic foundations: that we must read the Greek New Testament through Hebrew principles.

Tom Hamilton highlighted the fact that Greek verbs have three forms: active, passive and middle (neither active nor passive). Here is the section of his article on Abraham’s faith:

Here, in this verse [Romans 4:20], we are told that Abraham "was strong in faith, giving glory to God."

The usual translations indicate a strength in Abraham (by use of the adjective "strong"). In the Greek, however, the verb ENDUNAMO is used, meaning to "infuse strength into something". It is found in the middle voice, and some would term it an example of a "reflexive middle". This would give it the meaning that Abraham “strengthened himself in faith", leaving Abraham playing a very "active" part in the strengthening of his faith. However, such a rendering would have been possible by the use of an Active verb together with a reflexive pronoun. So whether a reflexive middle exists could be open to debate.

We may thus reject such an "active" rendering, but neither was Abraham merely "passive" in the relationship. Relationships can never be totally passive. Abraham was certainly involved and was active in certain respects. However, his activity was always in complete harmony with his dependence upon God Himself. This, perhaps, is our key to understanding what was meant here in the use of the Middle Voice - a dependent and a needful, but not a completely passive Abraham.

How can we adequately translate this verse? Firstly, the word "faith" in the Greek is in the dative case. This has two possibilities. Was it Abraham's faith that was strengthened? Or was it the instrument used in the strengthening of Abraham? (i.e., was it "strengthened in faith", or "strengthened by faith". Faith, in Eph 2.8, is God's instrument whereby He saves us by grace). Secondly, how do we express Abraham's own role in relation to this process of strengthening? We know it was not either totally active or passive. I suggest, with our limited L2 equivalent language, the following two possibilities:-

"Abraham had himself strengthened with respect to his faith" or "Abraham had himself strengthened by faith"

(In each case, a weak and dependent Abraham).

The Hebrew language is verb-orientated, not noun-orientated. Our Western, Greek-influenced minds might consider Abraham’s faith as being a spiritual substance held within his spirit (noun), so that the possession of this substance pleased God.

If we carry this into our theology, faith becomes something to acquire and possibly strive for - we might even judge one another on our strength of possessing this faith. This is a sort of passive, even static idea of faith as an object, with God assessing and measuring how much of it we possess in our inner beings.

If this were how we are to view faith, very quickly the possession of such faith becomes an issue requiring work to acquire it.

Tom Hamilton’s article, however, points out that Abraham did not please God through a commodity he possessed, but by being willing (verb) to let God build his faith. It was Abraham who pleased God, not the faith in him. Abraham was not totally passive, nor was he actively striving; he was willing to obey God on the journey of life and thereby grow in faith.

The Hebrew language is verb-orientated, not noun-orientated. This impacts our theology.

James speaks of Abraham’s faith being active once acquired. The works that James speaks of were a result of a faithful life - not works to acquire faith. Abraham, as a consequence of his walk with God, gave living testimony of his trust in God (James 2:21-23). This is how Abraham pleased God.

Hebrew Root

Faith is the foundational issue for the covenant community. In searching out the foundations of Christianity through the continuity of covenant history, therefore, our primary call is to discover, like Abraham, how to walk with God and please God. This transcends much Christian theology and also much Jewish tradition.

The life of faith is not primarily lived through our attendance at church meetings, but in all aspects of our everyday lives. In that God builds our faith on this journey through life (if we are willing to let him), this is an ongoing experience through many years and in all sorts of ways tailored for us as individuals.

If we separate our concept of faith off from its Hebraic foundations, mistakes can creep in as they have in some branches of the Christian Church today. One mistake is in the movement that sees faith as manifesting itself in prosperity. Another is in the expectation that faith is proved by physical healing, so much so that a person is sometimes made to feel guilty and lacking faith by being ill.

Whilst, in balance, the life of faith can bring seasons of prosperity, success and health, faith often grows through the valley experiences as much as on the mountaintops of life. It is through a journey through the seasons of life that faith grows, as it did for our father Abraham. As for Abraham, so for all God’s people; God will be pleased if we trust him for that journey, which enables him to test and mature our faith in him, step by step. This is being Hebraic.

Next time: Halakhah: Walking with God.