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The NT clearly opposes adding anything to Christ Jesus, or to the new covenant of grace,
and or to the law of Christ (1Co 9:20-21; Gal 6:2), which is the law of love (Mt 22:37-39),
and which fulfills the Mosaic law (Mt 22:40; Ro 13: 8, 9, 10), so there is no reason to practice the law,
except that one prefers doing things their own way instead of the way revealed by the Son (Mt 22:40),
the law having been set aside because it was weak and useless to make righteous (Heb 7:18-19).
This revelation spoken by the Son in these last days (Heb 1:1-2) through the NT writers, they reject.
True Christianity does not pick and choose what to accept and reject in the NT.
and or to the law of Christ (1Co 9:20-21; Gal 6:2), which is the law of love (Mt 22:37-39),
and which fulfills the Mosaic law (Mt 22:40; Ro 13: 8, 9, 10), so there is no reason to practice the law,
except that one prefers doing things their own way instead of the way revealed by the Son (Mt 22:40),
the law having been set aside because it was weak and useless to make righteous (Heb 7:18-19).
This revelation spoken by the Son in these last days (Heb 1:1-2) through the NT writers, they reject.
True Christianity does not pick and choose what to accept and reject in the NT.
Yes, but when the schoolmaster brings us to Christ, the schoolmaster is no longer needed,
for his purpose has been served, and now we are followers of Christ's law of love (Mt 22:37-39),
which fulfills the law of the schoolmaster (Mt 22:40), so that there is no need to practice it anymore.
We can't serve two masters, the schoolmaster and Christ.
for his purpose has been served, and now we are followers of Christ's law of love (Mt 22:37-39),
which fulfills the law of the schoolmaster (Mt 22:40), so that there is no need to practice it anymore.
We can't serve two masters, the schoolmaster and Christ.
L
The term "Messianic Christians" is a misnomer. Here is a quote from the Q & A of one of The Berean Call Newsletters explaining why:
Read the entire Q & A on that link.
Here's the original question:
Nov 1 2007
Question: In your article concerning Messianic Jewish practices and/or Messianics...you write on a subject that you are not really qualified to speak on....It is correct that the Passover was given to the Jewish people as a remembrance of the Exodus and...was obligatory to Jews only....However, as part of our freedom in the Messiah, both Jews and Gentiles may observe it or not and you have no biblical authority to say otherwise.
When you say that you "reject categorically the very word ‘Messianic,'" you are showing the very ignorance you have affirmed elsewhere: that you have no knowledge of the original Hebrew and Greek. You...reject the word because "it is not found in the Bible." Do you realize how foolish that argument is? The word "rapture" is not found in the Bible, nor the word "Trinity"....
The terms "Messianic" and "Christian" mean the same thing, but one originates from a Hebrew source, the other from a Greek source....To be strictly biblical, you should drop the word "Christian" and use the term "saints...." You also say, "Unfortunately, ‘Messianic-whatever' implies that observing Jewish practices insures that one will be closer to God-and often becomes an excuse for imposing the Law and Jewish observances upon Gentile Christians." This is simply nonsense. Those who make such claims will be a small minority. Many of us Messianic Jews do not impose the Law and Jewish observances on anyone including ourselves since we firmly believe the Mosaic Law ended at Messiah's death...you are free to do it or not and you cannot claim it is forbidden [without] a clear Scripture...and [there is none].
Jesus is the Messiah and Jesus is the Christ...one is free to use the term "Christian" or "Messianic" and both mean the same thing. But we Jews who suffered heavily at the hands of those who called themselves "Christians" choose not to identify ourselves unnecessarily with the persecutors. "Messianic" does not carry that kind of baggage and we are free to use it...and you have no biblical basis for claiming that it is not a permitted word....
One other incredible statement you make is, "it is presently impossible for anyone to be ‘Messianic' because all who believe in Christ (Jew or Gentile) are in the church, with Christ ruling as Lord in their hearts." This is an incredibly ignorant statement....You may just as well say it is "presently impossible for anyone to be Christian, because all who believe in Christ...etc."
Again, you have written an article you are not really qualified to speak to and was certainly not helpful for those of us who are dispensational and Messianic Jews....Based upon the letters I am getting, you have disturbed a lot of people....In the future you might want to stay in your own area of expertise....Dispensationalists have not understood the position or role of Jewish believers in this age, and the kind of article you have chosen to write will [not] help the matter.
Read the entire Q & A on that link.
Here's the original question:
Nov 1 2007
Question: In your article concerning Messianic Jewish practices and/or Messianics...you write on a subject that you are not really qualified to speak on....It is correct that the Passover was given to the Jewish people as a remembrance of the Exodus and...was obligatory to Jews only....However, as part of our freedom in the Messiah, both Jews and Gentiles may observe it or not and you have no biblical authority to say otherwise.
When you say that you "reject categorically the very word ‘Messianic,'" you are showing the very ignorance you have affirmed elsewhere: that you have no knowledge of the original Hebrew and Greek. You...reject the word because "it is not found in the Bible." Do you realize how foolish that argument is? The word "rapture" is not found in the Bible, nor the word "Trinity"....
The terms "Messianic" and "Christian" mean the same thing, but one originates from a Hebrew source, the other from a Greek source....To be strictly biblical, you should drop the word "Christian" and use the term "saints...." You also say, "Unfortunately, ‘Messianic-whatever' implies that observing Jewish practices insures that one will be closer to God-and often becomes an excuse for imposing the Law and Jewish observances upon Gentile Christians." This is simply nonsense. Those who make such claims will be a small minority. Many of us Messianic Jews do not impose the Law and Jewish observances on anyone including ourselves since we firmly believe the Mosaic Law ended at Messiah's death...you are free to do it or not and you cannot claim it is forbidden [without] a clear Scripture...and [there is none].
Jesus is the Messiah and Jesus is the Christ...one is free to use the term "Christian" or "Messianic" and both mean the same thing. But we Jews who suffered heavily at the hands of those who called themselves "Christians" choose not to identify ourselves unnecessarily with the persecutors. "Messianic" does not carry that kind of baggage and we are free to use it...and you have no biblical basis for claiming that it is not a permitted word....
One other incredible statement you make is, "it is presently impossible for anyone to be ‘Messianic' because all who believe in Christ (Jew or Gentile) are in the church, with Christ ruling as Lord in their hearts." This is an incredibly ignorant statement....You may just as well say it is "presently impossible for anyone to be Christian, because all who believe in Christ...etc."
Again, you have written an article you are not really qualified to speak to and was certainly not helpful for those of us who are dispensational and Messianic Jews....Based upon the letters I am getting, you have disturbed a lot of people....In the future you might want to stay in your own area of expertise....Dispensationalists have not understood the position or role of Jewish believers in this age, and the kind of article you have chosen to write will [not] help the matter.
L
During the last 5 years or so, Jews for Jesus has been kind of "moving over" to the "Hebrew Roots" movement. I used to support their ministry and still play some of their music, but sadly that ministry has some members who do lean towards HRM.
As for Ariel Ministries (Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum), the have been influenced by Reformed/Calvinistic theology. However, Dr. Fruchtenbaum has written some excellent books...Footsteps of the Messiah and Israelology...the Missing Link in Systematic Theology are two of his best. I have met Arnold Fruchtenbaum in person and he is a very learned man who loves the Lord and Israel!
As for Ariel Ministries (Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum), the have been influenced by Reformed/Calvinistic theology. However, Dr. Fruchtenbaum has written some excellent books...Footsteps of the Messiah and Israelology...the Missing Link in Systematic Theology are two of his best. I have met Arnold Fruchtenbaum in person and he is a very learned man who loves the Lord and Israel!
Seems to me that what needs to be understood is that the "Messianic movement" is Jewish, was in the beginning anyway. And it was a good thing (and still is), Jews coming to Christ. There's nothing wrong with this movement that is based on grace, not on works/law. What I'm interested in is grace based Messianics. I will no longer use the term Messianic Christian, I guess that "movement" is one that re-institutes the law and I'm not interested in going back to the law. (And I don't know if anyone here means that they are observing the law in that way.) But something else to consider is that the whole bible Torah + Brit Hadasha, OT+NT, is ALL the inspired Word of God. The new is the completion of the old. What was done away with was the Mosiac laws, the precepts of righteousness (right living) contained within the laws are still good to live by, but not for gaining righteousness, that can only be done through Jesus, faith/grace. Paul said the law was good and holy.(Romans 7:12) But he also said that to legalistically observe the law was to "set aside the grace of God". (Galatians 2:21) The book of Romans, and Galatians really address this. If a person wants to be kosher, or celebrate the festivals or such there is no problem with contradicting the scriptures or the gospel, as long as it is not to re-institute the law as a means of righteousness/justification. I don't think Gentile Christians need to adopt Jewish customs, but I think Gentile believers can be a part of grace based Messianic congregation, with judicious desernment. I know not everyone here will agree, but this is what I've concluded for myself.
Romans 2:16; Galatians 3:10-12
Romans 2:16; Galatians 3:10-12
All of the people who are true to this movement are grace based, for grace is the foundation of God.
Paul has always been accused of being against the first five books of the bible, called the Torah. That accusation was proven to be false in Acts, and it can be proven to be false today. Paul was a man of God, and could not at the same time be a man against God's word. Christ wasn't against it, for in the Gospels and Acts, Moses is mentioned 56 times. The organized church made the word "Judaism" and use it as a sort of whipping boy against learning. When there is a good grounding in the words of the Torah, there is no danger of being carried away by the use of certain worship practices that takes you from true worship, as Paul speaks so against.
Keep in mind this scripture when someone points a finger at you and shouts "Judaism", and as you learn what Paul means.
2 Peter 3:16 He speaks about these things in all his letters in which there are some matters that are hard to understand. The untaught and unstable twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.
As you go to this church, you will not be among the untaught and unstable, but you will be able to hear what Paul warns about.
Paul has always been accused of being against the first five books of the bible, called the Torah. That accusation was proven to be false in Acts, and it can be proven to be false today. Paul was a man of God, and could not at the same time be a man against God's word. Christ wasn't against it, for in the Gospels and Acts, Moses is mentioned 56 times. The organized church made the word "Judaism" and use it as a sort of whipping boy against learning. When there is a good grounding in the words of the Torah, there is no danger of being carried away by the use of certain worship practices that takes you from true worship, as Paul speaks so against.
Keep in mind this scripture when someone points a finger at you and shouts "Judaism", and as you learn what Paul means.
2 Peter 3:16 He speaks about these things in all his letters in which there are some matters that are hard to understand. The untaught and unstable twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.
As you go to this church, you will not be among the untaught and unstable, but you will be able to hear what Paul warns about.
I haven't given up on searching for a true to the gospel Messianic church, but I know I don't want to go to one that tries to make Gentile believers into observant Judaism...ist as the Orthodox Jews. I don't go in for all the dancing around and shofar blowing either, that does not seem like my idea of worship. I'm not charismatic. Us Baptists could use a bit of lightening up, but to me that's going too far. 
I haven't given up on searching for a true to the gospel Messianic church, but I know I don't want to go to one that tries to make Gentile believers into observant Judaism...ist as the Orthodox Jews. I don't go in for all the dancing around and shofar blowing either, that does not seem like my idea of worship. I'm not charismatic. Us Baptists could use a bit of lightening up, but to me that's going too far.
If you become so against the shofar, making it into something ritualistic, you are playing into their hands of making it represent something bad instead of what God meant it to represent. We are told the trumpet will sound in the last days. We don't know what that means in how it will be done, but to be against all of shofar completely is not right. Trumpet and Shofar are related.
Remember Judaism is a word that the world made up, and it stems from all Paul taught about how to worship. If we get caught up in the world's ideas, we can't hear the Lord.
Don't let these worldly people talk you into rejecting the words of the Lord, just be sure you hear Christ, Paul, and the Torah with an open mind. God spoke of dancing, God spoke of the shofar, and Paul told us how to put it into perspective. Don't reject any of God's word.
L
Some sites give more time to correct typos; others kind of reckon that one's bloviating is itself representative and if ppl want to bloviate more, they can always do so...
(I guess...)
Blessings.
(I guess...)
Blessings.