Simon Pease reviews ‘The Case for Enlargement Theology’ by Alex Jacob (2011, Glory to Glory Publications, 2^nd Ed.)

How has the separation of the Church from its Jewish roots affected our faith communities?

In this series we have focussed purposely on personal relationship with God, from which we now move carefully towards the role of community. It is all too easy to place community as a priority over personal relationship with God. This is the way many church fellowships have consolidated, where the weekly Sunday service forms a large percentage of what Christian life is considered to be. It is all too easy to adopt this same mindset and consider that the restoration of our Hebraic heritage must primarily influence the Sunday (or Saturday) service.

This may be the reason why some groups have sought to copy the synagogue, sort of acting out a Gentile version of Jewishness. Personally, I have been surprised and sometimes shocked at what I have seen in some congregations, emphasising Jewish symbolism and clothing – the externalisation of traditional symbols rather than the internalisation of spiritual truth.

More than that, there have been those who have converted to Judaism, which usually requires a verbal rejection that Yeshua (Jesus) is Messiah. I am not against the use of some symbolism from Jewish tradition, of course and, in balance, there is much good in valuing these traditions and building bridges, but not as an end in itself.

Community of Faith

Nevertheless, God is building a community of faith rather than a group of individual believers. A key issue in the restoration of the Hebraic character of community is recognition that the Olive Tree of Romans 11 is a picture of one community of Jews and Gentiles living by faith that Yeshua is Messiah, saved through his shed blood on the Cross.

The Olive Tree of Romans 11 is a picture of one community of Jews and Gentiles living by faith that Yeshua is Messiah.

This re-connection with Messianic Jews re-defines the Christian Church as it was intended to be from the time of the first Apostles of Yeshua. Note, however, that it is faith in Yeshua the Messiah that is our shared heritage, not traditional Judaism which denies Yeshua as Messiah despite our common route to Father Abraham.

The Emergence of the Covenant Community

The writer to the Hebrews made it clear that meeting together is something that believers must strive to do (Heb 10:25). We all, as individuals, look back to “our father Abraham” for the model of individual faith and a personal walk with God, but we are not intended to live this out just as individuals.

Human history can be divided into four recognisable stages in the formation of God’s intended covenant community. First, there was Abraham and his family.

Secondly, Abraham’s physical descendants identified as a nation, learning to walk together with God as they journeyed from Egypt to the Promised Land. Israel was shown Torah in an explicitly communal way, because they now formed an interactive community. As well as the laws that were given to govern all aspects of community life and daily interaction, the Sabbath and Feasts were introduced to draw the community - individually, in families and as a nation - into fellowship with God.

This period of Israel’s history must be studied to find the foundations from which Christianity has since emerged. There is also much value in studying the Jewish community up to the present day (with the cautions I have indicated in earlier articles).

The writer to the Hebrews made it clear that meeting together is something that believers must strive to do.

The third stage of the emergence of the covenant community has been since the time of Yeshua. Yeshua took the “curse of Torah” (Gal 3:13) – the punishment for sin – from those who believe in him so that we could all, both Jew and Gentile, submit to the leading of God through his Holy Spirit to have Torah written on our hearts (Jer 31:33; Rom 8).

We were intended to learn together how to be a worldwide community of faith with the new authority to interpret Torah given to Bible teachers, pastors and elders in local communities throughout the world.

The fourth stage will be the Millennial community following Yeshua’s return. We must wait patiently for this and wonder at just how it will all come together.

Separation from the Roots of the Faith

Satan threw a spanner into the works when he persuaded Christian leaders, from approximately the third century on, that God had finished with the Jews. The result was cultivation of alternative Christian traditions, including modifications of the Sabbath and the Feasts (see for example Tishrei Journal Archive Number 17: From Sabbath to Sunday, Passover to Easter and Dedication to Christmas (Some Historical Background)).

A multitude of Church characteristics and traditions have emerged among the various denominations since the days when leaders of the Church in the Gentile world separated from their historic connection to Israel. Anti-Semitism was a terrible consequence that led to a mistaken pride that the Church had replaced Israel.

In so doing many denominations emerged, some trying to replace the religious order of ancient Israel with their own definition of the priesthood and the Feasts. Eloquent liturgies have emerged, but often robbing church members of their personal walk with God.

Satan threw a spanner into the works when he persuaded Christian leaders that God had finished with the Jews.

Some branches of the Christian Church nevertheless retained much of the true heritage passed on, including baptism and regular remembrance of the Lord through the bread and wine of communion. The Lord has blessed his Church over these years despite much that needs restoration and re-thinking.

Greco-Roman Influence

When the Christian Church distanced itself from the Jews, Greco-Roman influence crept in to fill the vacuum. It is instructive to consider the diocese, for instance, which is Roman in origin and inclines towards a centralised system of administration with local representation. Some hierarchical structures of Anglo-Catholic church leadership, including the priesthood, owe much to Greco-Roman traditions of clergy and laity and centralised control.

Also, the idea of a Greek Theatre has imposed itself more than we realise on a large number of congregational meetings (see, for example, Tishrei Journal Archive Number 42, From the Theatre to the Home). This is a major area for consideration to understand the consequences of the Christian Church departing from its original roots.

Time to Restore the Roots

Now is the time to gradually put things right. We cannot over-ride the authority given by God to local communities of Christians, so at best we can suggest taking counsel together. Since this is the prophetic moment for Christians to re-discover their ancient inheritance and re-root more firmly into the flow of covenant history, neglect of this could lead to greater deviation, even succumbing to deception, in the coming days.

This is the prophetic moment for Christians to re-discover their ancient inheritance and re-root more firmly into the flow of covenant history.

There is already a flood of strange spiritual experience here and there in the Christian Church that seems to come more from New Age spirituality than from the Holy Spirit. Something will always come in to fill a vacuum. It is noticeable how many Christians are thirsting for change, recognising the dryness of much traditional Church experience.

Next week this series will continue by offering some suggestions as to the beginning of an agenda – ideas for how to move forward in collectively re-discovering our Hebraic roots.

Next time: Re-thinking Community

In his letter to the believers in Rome the olive tree is Paul’s chosen metaphor for the covenant family of the God of Israel. We have considered the metaphor itself, so now let us study more fully what Paul wrote in the letter.

A balanced understanding is of great importance here. As we discussed in the previous article, imbalance has contributed to replacement theology and its consequences. Imbalance of other kinds is possible too in our quest to understand the relationship between the Christian Church and Israel.

The God of Israel remembers his Covenant promises to Israel, but these promises are only fulfilled through faith in Jesus the Messiah (Yeshua HaMashiach). There is one way to salvation for both physical descendants of Israel and those called to faith from the Gentile world. This too must be kept in balance.

Romans 11: a picture of the Covenant family

Paul’s letter to the Romans has been held up as his theological masterpiece. In it, he sets down a comprehensive understanding of God’s Covenant community fully and finally revealed in Jesus. In Chapter 11 Paul explores the way God is drawing together his Covenant family from all nations. However, this chapter does not stand alone - we must consider it in relation to the previous chapters of Romans.

The key issue in Paul’s day was a new move of God, whereby Gentiles, through faith in the Son of God, were included in the Covenant family. Chapters 1 to 8 are used by Paul to bring understanding to what God has done through the New Covenant. In chapters 9 to 11, Paul then balances this focus on the Gentiles by exploring God’s continuing purposes for Israel.

In Romans 11, believing Jews and Gentiles are seen as branches of the same body. Paul shows that God had already called many Israelites to faith and also has plans to call others in the future.

The ongoing plan, according to the promises given to Abraham, is that through grace there will be some from every nation in that family and an ongoing inclusion of some from the Tribes of Israel.

God’s timing

Since the time of Jesus there has been a partial blindness on the nation of Israel regarding God’s purposes in and through Jesus the Messiah, yet God still has a plan and a purpose according to all that he has promised. Paul asks:

I say then, have they [Israel] stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! (Rom 11:11-12)

Paul sees a door of opportunity for the Gentile world opened by God. He is clear that he has been called as an Apostle to the Gentiles, but the Gospel to the Gentiles is not at the expense for God’s ultimate plan for Israel.

Paul’s ongoing love and concern for his physical family, the biological descendants of Jacob (Israel), is also very clear.

Paul’s ongoing love and concern for his physical family, the biological descendants of Jacob (Israel), is also very clear. He looks forward to the time when God will restore believing branches of Israel to himself, and though branches were cut off like branches cut from a tree, they can be grafted in again.

Believing Gentiles join, not replace, an existing family

Those who have been brought from the Gentile world into the family of God must realise they were brought into an existing family, just as a branch is grafted into an olive tree. They must recognise fully what God has done by their inclusion and not think that they have become a new family. Rather, they are a new part of an old family.

Particularly, by knowing this they must not boast but be aware of their position. They must in all humility understand that God has ongoing plans for the Israel. An implication is that Christian branches can also be cut off unless they are drawing the true life of the olive tree and producing true fruit, becoming what the deep soil and nourishment of Covenant history intended them to be.

Application

When Paul first used the metaphor of the olive tree there were misconceptions about the relationship of the new Christians in Rome to the roots of their faith. This may have been the reason for the clear exposition in his letter to the Romans. Be that as it may, the letter has also been bound into our Bible as a teaching for all generations.

Despite this, however, there has been neglect of chapters 9-11 of Romans (even in some Bible schools), so that the tendency of Christians through the centuries has been to misunderstand the roots of their faith. As a result, issues like the following are often side-lined or poorly understood:

• The Middle Eastern background of Christianity: Christianity developed out of Israel at the time of Jesus, and was founded on the long history that had paved the way to the coming of the Messiah. God’s covenant was made with Abraham; this is the foundation for all who come to the Father through faith in Jesus the Messiah.
• The Hebraic roots of Christianity: The language of Israel was Hebrew and the culture was Hebraic. This context became the foundational setting for the Christian faith. To study the Hebraic nature in the background to Christianity one should study the cultural and historical settings of the patriarchs and the Israelites through Old Testament times, and also study the Hebrew language to gain insights into Hebraic thought processes.
• The influence of Greek culture on the Christian faith: The Gospel went out to the Gentile world in the framework of the Greek language. This encouraged the Hellenisation (Greek emphasis) of the Church and the infiltration of Greek philosophical ideas that in turn caused separation from the true roots of the faith. The more meaningful approach has always been to trace back the Hebraic background to better understand the Gospel message as an invitation to join the Covenant family of God.
• Paul’s Jewish background: Paul came from a Torah-based, Rabbinical community. One should look into both his biblical and cultural roots to see the background from which he conveyed his message to the Gentile world.
• The Gospel call: The Christian Church emerged from a pagan world, but the Gospel message came from the nation of Israel, which was where God had made himself known by revelation. The call was to join God’s Covenant people through faith in the Messiah, not to interpret the Gospel message into the practices of the pagan world.

For Study and Prayer

Read the entire Letter to the Romans and consider the balance of Paul’s message. How might we ensure that we have the balanced perspective on our place in the Covenant family of God?

Next time: We will consider how aspects of ancient Middle Eastern culture help us understand the background to the Bible.

These studies are developed from the course 'Christianity’s Relationship with Israel and the Jews', first prepared for Tishrei Bible School.