With First Fruits of Zion’s recent theological shift, which says Jews and gentiles in Messiah have different obligations to the Law, part of me wants to not-care.
The pragmatic, practical Messianic in me says, “it doesn’t matter”. I’ve never called myself a “One Law” advocate – that label has been put on me by others. For a very long time, I have been uncomfortable with the idea that, for example, it is a sin for gentiles to eat pork. In fact, a co-worker asked me this very question earlier this year, this Spring,
So, do you think it’s a sin for Christians like me to eat pork?
I stammered. Eventually I answered, “Well. I don’t know.”
My own wife and son don’t eat kosher. Not that I don’t want them to – I very much want to have them see eye-to-eye with me on this issue – but they weren’t eating kosher when I married my wife and adopted my son, and to this day, they don’t eat kosher.
And my own observance of Torah is lacking in many areas – in kosher matters, I’m not stringent. An Orthodox Jew wouldn’t approve. (Not that I’m looking for approval, praise God.) A conservative Jew might. I don’t regularly wear fringes as a sign of the covenant. (Commandment #84, in case you were wondering.) Instead, I wear them only on shabbats and holy days. My own commandment-keeping is a bit lethargic. I’m hesitant to be so bold and brassy as to say, “failure to keep God’s commandments is sin”, when clearly I do a poor job of it myself. I’m compromised.
But, but, but…
On the other hand, I’ve seen the other side, and I don’t like it.
On the other side is greater division between Jews and gentiles. MJTI chief honcho rabbi Stuart Dauermann will tell you a gentile shouldn’t be welcomed in a Messianic congregation unless he is married to a Jew, or has some legitimate service to give to the Jewish people (Read: the gentile may be welcomed if he gives finances and sits quietly in the back.)
The other side doesn’t know what to do with gentiles in the Messianic movement. For many, they aren’t looked at as a blessing. “Oh, to have more Jews, and fewer gentiles!” is the quietly-held desire.
Some on the other side are vehemently opposed to gentiles keeping commandments. “Don’t keep Passover, like Yeshua did”, they say, “because that’s something only for Jews. Instead, you can celebrate your own holidays, like the 4th of July, and do it in remembrance of Messiah.”
Oiy.
The other side blames the independent Messianic movement, as is currently trendy to do so, for many of the ills of Messianic Judaism. “If only we could get rid of those crazy gentiles, and all those independents, and their theologies, Messianic Judaism would be pure as water.” It’s akin to the Medieval Roman Church lamenting those crazy Protestants.
The other side denies having any bias against gentiles, then accuses us of being anti-Jewish or opposing the God-ordained Jewish leadership of religion.
The other side wants organized religion done well, in pure fashion, without gentiles with gentile financial backing, and lots of Jews in the pews.
I’m certain this whole viewpoint is wrong, wrong wrong. Certain it’s not what the apostolic community intended. I’m confident in opposing it. And First Fruits of Zion has taken a step in that direction, the direction towards that other side.
Maybe it was needed, maybe the independents are too far to the right, maybe the independents made one too many mistakes, and FFOZ needed to take a step to the left. Maybe the One Law folks are really crazy, theologically amplifying a handful of commandments without really keeping them, and without focusing on the weightier matters of the Torah: mercy and justice, for instance. That’s probably true.
But it is a step toward that other side nonetheless. The other side where we know to exist abuses on the same scale as we have on this side. The way I see it, it’s a trade for people honestly trying to walk in God’s ways, and all the division and instability that causes, for organized religion in boxes, and all the division and instability that causes.
Imagine you’re a supporter of Barack Obama, and he just ceded healthcare to the Republicans. That’s how I feel right now, as if a dear friend and respected colleague ceded an important issue to “the other side”. One may say it was necessary, one may say there are valid reasons for the change. They may be true, but it is a shift towards the other side nonetheless, a side which is none better than that the side its dear friends remain on.
One Law and FFOZ
I remain unconvinced of FFOZ’s arguments. They have tried to say the apostles were united in agreement on the matter of gentile adherence to Torah, and that their agreement was simply the 4 laws of Acts 15. To me, this is an over-simplification. To me, Acts 15 is a compromise between Peter and James, with the Holy Spirit approving of that compromise. That compromise was not one-sided, yet today, the other side makes it out to be.
To me, the FFOZ view is one that doesn’t properly consider that in the 1st century, gentiles were hearing Torah preached weekly in the synagogues. That doesn’t happen in modern times. Instead, we have Moses being disregarded, or in some cases, spoken against, weekly in the churches. While FFOZ has amplified the fact that the Torah was given to Israel, a distinct people-group at a distinct time in history, it doesn’t not properly apply the same standard to apostolic writings, which had been given to a distinct people-group at a distinct time in history.
And while FFOZ explains the view as nothing more than the difference in commandments between e.g. men and women, it does not account for the fact that Messiah changed the relationship of gentiles to the Law. Before, gentiles were apart from the covenant. Now, they’re near, grafted in, and fellow heirs. In Messiah, Jews and gentiles are held to the same standard before the Lord, all equals. With FFOZ’s new view, such cannot be said with a straight face. I cannot harmonize these without much theological hoop-jumping.
Conclusion
God does want all his people following all his commandments. In the Messianic kingdom, it will, in fact, be a sin for gentiles to skip out on the Feasts. The thrust of the Scriptural goal is to create a single, holy people before God, and that people is Israel.
I am utterly uncomfortable and uneasy with the idea that, for gentiles, a long, loose line is cast out for walking in Godliness. The line is, “Hey, God’s invited you to keep his commandments.” That sounds good, but it sounds bad when the full story is told, “Hey, God’s invited you gentiles to keep his commandments. But you Jews, you have no option, you must keep God’s commandments.”
Yet, the pragmatist in me keeps me from saying these things too loud. Maybe it doesn’t matter in real life, in the day-to-day practical living of this Messianic. But it sure feels like it matters in the long-term Spirit-leading of this movement.