If your life is not in jeopardy
for what you believe, you’re probably on the wrong side!
If you don’t believe Genesis 1-11,
how can you possibly believe John 3:16?
“Indeed, all who want to live a godly
life united with the Messiah Yeshua will be persecuted.” (2Tim 3:12)
It is what you actually believe that determines how you walk out your faith,
“but avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, quarrels and fights
about the Torah; because they are worthless and futile.” (Titus 3:9)
Please Note: Absolutely nothing on this website should be taken as anti-Church or anti-Rabbinic. I am not anti-anything or anti-anyone. I am only pro-Torah and pro-Truth (see “Philosophy”), but sometimes the Truth upsets our long-held beliefs. I know it certainly upset mine! For example, see “Why Isn’t My Theology Consistent Throughout the Website?”
Developing a
Systematic Messianic Theology
“The purpose of careful theological formulations is not to put barriers in the way of people who are seeking salvation, but to define clearly the truths upon which genuine [Biblical] faith rests, so that people will not be misled by false doctrines.” [Bowman]
“It must be clearly and unequivocally stated that theology cannot save you. Only faith in Messiah Yeshua can save you. Theology can only give you sound doctrine.” [RLS]
Unless otherwise specified, throughout the Theology section of my website I use the term “Torah” in the wider sense of including the entire body of inspired Scripture: both the Tanakh and the Apostolic Writings. I personally do not consder any other so-called “sacred writings” either inspired by God or authoritative for the Believer’s walk of faith. Thus, I do not consider the Mishnah (the “Oral Torah”) as part of Torah. You should make up your own mind.
[Explanations of rabbinic citations are HERE]
The Biblical Yeshua,
the Church, and Torah
Since the Scriptures are clear that nobody has seen God at any time except as the Son has revealed Him (John 1:18), it is my firm contention that all physical manifestations of God, regardless of when they occur or the form taken, are appearances of God the Son.
Understanding this one fact is both foundational and absolutely critical to the correct understanding of the relationship between Israel and God and the relationship between the Church and God’s Torah.
“The Church” insists that any person (particularly any Jew) who fails to accept the grotesque caricature of the Jewish Messiah they call “Jesus” is damned for all eternity. The Church also insists that they are exempt from obedience to God’s Torah.
Yet the Scriptures, both the Tanakh (the so-called “Old Testament” and the Apostolic Writings (the so-called “New Testament”), clearly state that “whoever calls on the name of ADONAI [not “Jesus”] will be saved” or delivered (Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13).
Yeshua (God the Son) said, “I AM (one translation of the sacred Name of God יְהוָֹה) the Way-- and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” Yet “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Rom. 4:3; Rom 4:9; Gal. 3:6; James 2:23; Gen. 15:6; cp. Rom. 4:20-22).
If Yeshua is God the Son from all eternity, and if all physical manifestations of God are in the “Person” of God the Son, then:
• It was Yeshua Who walked in Eden with Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:8).
• It was Yeshua Who established the covenant with Noah (Gen. 6:18-19; Gen. 9:1-17).
• It was Yeshua Who called Abram out of the land of Ur (Gen. 12:1-4).
• It was Yeshua Who walked alone between the pieces of the covenant animals (Gen 15:9-17).
• It was Yeshua Who promised the land to Abram and his descendants forever (Gen. 12:7; Gen 15:18) and later confirmed that covenant with Isaac (Gen. 17:21) and Jacob (Gen. 35:11-12)
• It was Yeshua Who promised Abram he would have a son (Gen. 5:1-5; Gen. 17:17-22; Gen. 18:10)
• It was Yeshua Who established the covenant of circumcision with Abram (Gen. 17:1-15)
• It was Yeshua Who had lunch with Abraham near the oaks of Mamre (Gen. 18)
• It was Yeshua Who met in the wilderness with Hagar (Gen. 16:7-11).
• It was Yeshua Who called to Abraham from heaven (Gen. 22:11,15)
• It was Yeshua Who confronted Balaam (Num. 22:22-25)
• It was Yeshua Who spoke with Elijah (2Kings 1:3,15)
• It was Yeshua Who appeared to David above Jerusalem (1Chron 21:15-16)
• It is Yeshua Who encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them (Psalm 34:7)
• It was Yeshua Who struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians (Isa. 37:36)
• It was Yeshua Who appeared to Moshe in the burning bush (Exod. 3:2).
• It was Yeshua Who wrote the commandments in stone with His finger (Exod. 31:18; Deut. 9:10).
• It was Yeshua Who dictated the very words of the Torah to Moshe (Exod. 24:1-4).
• It was Yeshua Who said, “If you love Me you will keep My commandments” (the ones that He dictated to Moshe) (John 14:15).
• It was Yeshua Who said, “Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete. Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud [the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet] or a stroke will pass from the Torah-- not until everything that must happen has happened. So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot [commandments of Torah] and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matt. 5:17-19)
It is impossible to comprehend these facts and not realize that Israel has been worshipping Yeshua (the true biblical Yeshua, not the Church’s Gentile caricature of Him) for the past 4,000 years, that it was Yeshua who established the Torah, and it is the obligation of everyone who claims to love and worship Yeshua to obey to the best their ability all the commandments Yeshua gave at Sinai (understanding that not all mitzvot apply to all people, we are obligated to obey those mitzvot which do apply to us).
To claim that a Jew cannot be “saved” without accepting the Gentile version of Messiah, or to say that the Church is exempt from being obedient to Torah, simply does not match what the Scriptures say. So the real question is not “can a Jew be saved without excepting Jesus?” The real question is “can a Gentile be saved without accepting and submitting to Yeshua’s Torah?”
See also: “Jesus Christ”-- A False Prophet
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