Hebrew Root Movement
By: Bahram Khozairy
Copyright © 2019 by Bahram Khozairy. All Rights Reserved.
One of the most emerging and rapidly growing cults
in our present time is known as the Hebrew Root Movement or HRM. There are various groups that fall under
the same umbrella of HRM, which hold different titles and names, but share the
similar doctrines, message and goals.
They are known by various names, such as “Hebrew Root Assemblies”,
“Hebraic Roots Awakening”, “Hebrew Root Churches”,
“Messianic Congregations”, “Messianic Jews”,
“Messianic Movement”, and others.
However, there might arise confusions due to some of
the genuine Protestant Christian groups and churches that may hold on to titles
such as Messianic Christians, which
are not part of the Hebrew Root cult.
Such groups and churches oppose the Hebrew Root cult and their theology,
message and practices and as such they adhere and follow the mainstream
essential Orthodox doctrines of Christian faith. They do not accept any of the tenants of
the HRM doctrines and they claim that they are born again Christians, just like
all other Protestant Christians.
However, it is important to emphasize that the
doctrines, theology, message, culture and practices of such groups will
determine their stand as to whether they are truly genuine Protestant
Christians of the New Testament or not.
Regardless of their title, one must examine their core belief systems
and put them under the spectacle of Biblical revelation and test.
Much like the New Age Movement, HRM is a cult that does not have a centralized figure, or a specific set of statements of faith; but spreading their voices through their various groups, leaders and teachers, they share common denominator of doctrines, theology, purpose and goal. It is one of the most dangerous, insidious and deceptive movement currently in existence today, which attacks the New Testament Christian Doctrines, Christian Culture, Christian World View and the Core Message of the Gospel. It has sadly penetrated the churches and even seminaries quite rapidly and continues to do so.
Since their doctrines touch on many areas of
theology and spread into many parts of Christianity, we will attempt to touch
on each of their important heretical teaching to some extent. Due
to their tremendous zeal and their dangerous growth, I feel the urgency for us
as the body of Christ to respond systematically and swiftly to their
claims. This will also help us to detect which cultic or heretical group
or even Church or an individual Christian have been affected and influenced by
their teachings and doctrines.
Before we begin, I want to be very clear that this
article is not a crusade against people, race, culture or language. And it is certainly not a personal
attack upon any personages. This
thesis is, however, a defense against heretical and false doctrines that so
often plaque the body of Christ, which in the case of our subject is the
HRM. So often, apologetic and
anti-cult works such as this is misunderstood and construed as an attack upon
people or their heritage. Nothing
could be further from the truth. As
part of the body of Christ we have an obligation to make clear the doctrines of
the Christ our Master and not only not participate in the unfruitful deeds of
darkness but instead, even expose them (Ephesians 5:11) and give ready and well
reasoned answers to everyone with gentleness and love, but in the Truth(1 Peter
3:15).
Ø
Laws
Ø
Sabbath
Ø Feasts
New
Testament language, Titles
- The Root
Hebrew Root Movement as its title suggests is a movement of groups and congregations sharing identical message and purpose. Their root can quite easily be traced back to the time of the Christ’s apostles. In a broad sense, Hebrew Root Movement is the reemergence of the old Judaizers which arose during the time of the Apostles. The Judaizers were sternly dealt with particularly by the Apostle Paul, Apostle John and the writer of the book of Hebrews. Their message has not changed, although their target of attack upon the body of Christ has enlarged and has become more sophisticated and deceptive. They are getting more organized, more funded and more vocal in their attack on the New Testament Theology and Christianity.
Various cults that embrace much of their legalistic and heretical doctrines and practices are: Jehovah Witnesses, Seven Day Adventists, various Church of God denominations, particularly the Boston Church of God, United Church of God, United Oneness Pentecostal International, remnants of the Herbert W. Armstrong (Armstrong is the founder of the original World Wide Church of God (WCG). Original WCG should not be confused with the reformed WCG which is an evangelical sect of protestant denomination.)
- False Theology – False Gospel
What is the Theology of HRM?
Their theology is quite involved, however, from a macro view; it is the basic denial of the Gospel of Freedom of Christ. It is the reversal of what Christ came to impart to us as believers, which is liberty from the curse and bondages of all the Old Covenant laws and rituals. Their message is basically Christ Plus! Meaning, the followers of Christ must maintain the practice and observance of the Old Testament laws, the Old Testament Festivities, the new Moon & Sabbath, Old Testament Dietary laws and other various elements and titles for sanctification purpose in order to live a holy and acceptable life. They don’t call it the Old Testament, rather the Torah observances and anything associated with the Hebrew or Jewish culture and language.
We see some of the samples of the apostle Paul
warning to the Christians in various cities with regards to the heretical
Judaizers: (must read them
in context in order to grasp the full impact of Paul’s message)
2 Corinthians 11:4
“For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel, which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.”
Galatians 1:6
“I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;”
Galatians 5:1–3
“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law.”
Apostle Paul even went so far as to oppose Peter for
his hypocrisy, which goes beyond the expressed words in these passages. It was a rebuke that was meant to
express to Peter to avoid going back toward old Judaism and its pre-Christ-pre-Cross
legalism and not forsake the liberty that Christ came to impart to us as
Christians.
But when Cephas came to Antioch,
I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the
coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but
when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself
aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that
even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.
It was a reminder to Peter, as Peter had that
tendency to go back to his old way of life, as we saw him doing in between the
period of death and resurrection of Christ (John 21:1-3).
HRM teachings are basically the Old Covenant, Old
Laws, Old Rules, Old Traditions and old Legalism all over again; this time
laced with new verbiage, vocabulary and methodologies. They don’t
label their religion Judaism, rather Hebrew Root / Messianic etc. Meaning, the Hebraism and all
of the traditions must be enforced, practiced and maintain by all
Christians (Jews or Gentiles). They try to resurrect the first century
Jewish root and culture and brand and package that as the true Christianity,
with the emphasis on Jewish culture, Jewish practices, Jewish laws and even
Hebrew language and titles.
Much like the Witness Lee and the Local Church cult that have their own versions of the bible called “The Recovery version”, not surprisingly, HRM also have various versions of their own bible such as “Restoration” and “Cepher”!
As ludicrous as it sounds, they even maintain that Gentiles after accepting Christ are considered Jewish!
In a sense, they annul and make void much if not all of doctrine and teachings that the Lord Jesus Christ, the apostles and the church fathers, particularly the Christian reformers who gave their lives to protect and defend the faith, as well as the simplicity of the New Testament Christian gospel.
Their primary appeal and their supreme plank to defend their position is the fact that Hebrew race is the sole chosen people of God and anyone wishes to be a Christian must likewise adhere and follow their Jewish path; otherwise, they are not Christians and will not be accepted by God! They rest on their Jewish heritage and stab Christianity with the sword of the Old Testament laws and commandments and traditions.
Some of the HRM groups have also embraced and incorporated the occultic practices and teachings of Kabala. We will not cover Kabala in this article. However, for study on this subject, please consult the suggested studies in the last section of this article (Further Study).
Once again, Hebrew Root Movement, and all their other associated assemblies and groups, when thoroughly examined and analyzed is nothing but the ancient heretical cult of Judaizers with much more added vocabulary, metaphors, power and dominancy. They are the modern-day Judaizers cult, which crucifies the Lord Jesus all over again!
Here is the general outline of their theology in a simple format:
· Denial and rejection of the doctrine of Trinity
· In some cases, denial of Jesus’ Deity
· Rejection of the English or Greek or any other languages for the names and titles of Deity (Jesus, God, etc). Jesus and God must be addressed by Hebrew title, Messiah, Jehovah, etc.
· Denial of the Full meaning of the Salvation by Grace Alone, through fail alone, in Christ alone
· Denial of the SOLE authority of God the Holy Spirit in a life of a Christian as the ONLY means for Godly and Christian living
· Denial and total confusion and rejection of the Full meaning of Christ Atonement on the Cross
· As a Necessity for Sanctification and a Christian living, HRM believe that a Christian MUST:
o Embrace and observe the Old Testament Mosaic Laws (some all, some selected)
o Embrace and observe the Old Testament Dietary Laws (i.e. abstaining from eating Pork, Shrimp, various seafood, etc)
o Embrace and observe the Old Testament festivities, holidays and new Moon celebration
o Embrace and observe the Saturday Sabbath as opposed to the Sunday worship
· Insistent and emphasis that the New Testament books of the Bible were originally written in Hebrew and not in Greek
· Rejection and twisting of the New Testament Covenantal doctrines and principles
· Rejection of the apostle’s teaching, particularly the apostle Paul when it comes to the laws, Festivities, Sabbath (rejection of book of Romans, Colossians, Galatians and Hebrews, and other New Testament passages in this regard)
· Rejection of the Christian traditional holidays
· Rejection of the Christian practice of Communion
· Rejection of the Christian Scholars and theologians
Do you see a pattern in the outline above?
In summary, HRM preaches another Jesus, a different Gospel and another Spirit (2 Corinthian 11:4).
We possibly could not
get into detail of all of their doctrines for that would occupy large volume of
books. However, we will attempt to touch on some of the very troubling
aspects of their teachings and doctrines.
One final note: I am not suggesting a Christian cannot or should not learn Hebrew in order to understand the Old Testament scriptures better, if desire to do so. Understanding and deciphering the Hebrew and Greek languages are necessary, as they are part of good hermeneutical skills and practices for a Christian. Moreover, a good student of the Old Testament needs to have a good understanding of the Hebrew language and its idioms, as they are also taught in most seminaries. Seminaries teach Hebrew and Greek, as they are the two main languages of the Bible; apart from some of the passages in Ezra and Daniel that are purportedly written in Aramaic. However, learning Hebrew or to dig deeper into the etymology of the Old Testament is not the same thing as being taught and seduced by the HRM heresies.
- Bewitching Christians
One of the most troubling aspects of this cult is the fact that they have and continue to work their way in order to penetrate the body of Christ, meaning the Christians mind and conscious and even some pastors and their message at the pulpit.
There are some churches
that have blindly accepted (some without even knowing it) some of the HRM
doctrines and practice and preach those at the pulpits. They start using
Hebrew terms as opposed to Greek terms when it comes to New Testament
teachings. They emphasize and inject the importance of the Hebrew
traditions and culture in most of their sermons as well as displaying much of
the Jewish symbolism as depicted in the Old Testament rituals in their
churches. They proudly display the Israel flag right alongside of the
cross in their churches (some even display the Star of David alongside of the
cross). Their songs and worship have morphed completely into Hebrew songs
(even though no one understands their meaning). More and more they exemplify
the teachings of HRM and as such, start slipping away from the true
Christianity and Christian world view.
There is a big difference between the Hebrew cultures and language that are referenced in some sermons verses and the HRM influence and their twisted and unbalanced affects and doctrines on the Christian pastors and teachers in the church. Learning about the Hebrew culture as it properly relates to the sermon message or the portion of the scripture becomes necessary at times in order to grasp the full picture of the Biblical meaning of the passages. Much of the western Christian population does not understand the near East Asian culture of the ancient Jews. Explaining and presenting Eastern antiquity cultures are necessary part of a good Christian hermeneutics and teachings.
And yet, Hebrew Root Movement and all of their associated and derivatives groups and assemblies’ prey on and take advantage of the love of Christians for Israel and the Jewish nation and subtly, one by one, piece by piece by utilizing their false, heretical and divisive gospel, penetrate the innocent mind of the Christians and conscious in order to convert them into their un-Christian ideological ethos.
Since Christians naturally develop a love and appreciation or even a curiosity over the Jewish and Hebrew culture due to their Biblical connections, they become an easy target and vulnerable victim for the HRM to hook on to and proselytize into their deceptive movement. Christians unknowingly (being ignorant of the HRM intent and purpose) become convert through a slow and rather steady and deeply rooted process. Due to curiosity, by listening, reading and watching the HRM leaders, teachers and advocates, after a period of time a Christian not being aware of it becomes deeply trenched into their legalistic bondage driven heretical mind-set.
Christians eventually takes on the very shape of what HRM is purposed to achieve, namely: (the affect of the HRM leads a Christian into the following thinking, doctrine and behavior pattern)
· Will not accept New Testament terminologies (English or Greek) any longer; the names and titles Jesus, Christ, God, etc become taboo and will be rejected. Instead the Hebrew terms are used exclusively, such as Yeshua, Jehovah, Elohim, Yahweh, Ha-Mashiach, etc.
· Will start doubting and eventually rejecting the authorities and importance of the church Fathers, including the Protestant reformers
· Will start doubting and rejecting the teachings, writings and authorities of the Christian scholars, pastors and teachers
· Will start rejecting the liberty in Christ and instead replacing it with Jesus Plus works for Sanctification purpose
· Will Start embracing and practicing the Old Testament Law (some all, some selected) for keeping
· Will Start embracing and practicing the Old Testament Dietary Laws
· Will Start embracing and practicing the Old Testament Feasts Days
· Will become critical of the Sunday worship and instead Start embracing the Saturday Sabbath keeping ritual
· Will Start embracing and practice the Jewish Calendars instead
· Will Start embracing the Hebrew language and rejecting anything associated with the Greek language for the New Testament (start considering Greek language as pagan and corrupt)
· Will start rejecting the Christian holidays, such as Christmas and Easter; labeling them as pagan and cultic; and in fact, develops hatred toward these events and the Christians that practice them
· Will become more and more isolated and separated from the mainstream Christianity and Christian brothers and sisters
· Will become paranoid of anything with Christian terms and New Testament language
Does this sound familiar with someone you know? These are the signs by which you can determine if someone has been affected by the HRM cult. Christians that have been conned and brainwashed by the HRM and all of their associated groups may display some or all of the listed outline above.
Apostle Paul mentions this affect in the book of Galatians and addresses the Christians that had been seduced by the Judaizers at that time:
Galatians 3:1-3
“You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (emphasis added)
The world foolish (“anoétos” Greek “ἀνόητος”) translated to “not thinking, not reasoning, un-mindfulness, having no logical or rational thinking”. Basically acting purely out of emotion without properly analyzing or utilizing the brain, logic or rational.
The word bewitched (“baskainó” Greek “βασκαίνω”) translates to “casting a spell using evil power”.
Much like today’s Christians, the New Testament Galatians Christians were given to the emotion and apathy toward the Jewish traditions and the Judaizers hypnotic spell. They were conned into not understanding or rather forgetting the liberty and simplicity of the Christian gospel and were exchanging it with the works and bondages of the Old Testament laws and traditions. They were crucifying the Lord all over again.
The power of the spell that was working on the Galatians Christians, which is the same spirit that is being used by the HRM cult was the anti-Christ spirit and anyone familiar even slightly with the New Testament teachings, can recognize that the apostle John mentioned in the book of 1 John for us to exercise discernment by testing the spirit in order to determine if the spirit that is behind the teaching is from God or not:
1 John 4:1
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
Apostle Paul writes regarding the same spirit, which not only works in the sons of disobedience (those that continue to resist and reject the doctrine of Christ and the New Testament), but works through them to affect the innocent Christians in order to pull them away from the simplicity that is in Christ:
Ephesians 2:2
“in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.”
Judaizers may have proclaimed that ‘yes, Christ died on the Cross for our sins…’! However, they taught the lie that Christ death was not able to sanctify people. It wasn’t sufficient to maintain salvation and sanctification without practicing the Old Testament (Torah observance) laws, festivities and traditions. They added the works of the Torah into their brand of Christianity, thus turning the faith of Christians in Galatia and surroundings. As a result, they hated the apostle Paul for confronting them severely and rebuking their heretical gospel. It was a slipping back toward the Old Testament laws and traditions, which led them into bondages, which in affect made Jesus’ value become annulled. This by itself even denied the actual atoning power of Christ death on the cross. They didn’t understand that Christ death was not partial fulfillment of the Torah and Old Testament laws and traditions, but a FULL and ONE TIME fulfillment, which ended the Old Testament Regime.
1 Peter 3:18
“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit”
Matthew 5:17-18
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”
Romans 10:4(this
shows that Christ is the beginning and the end of the law for Christians)
“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
Hebrews 9:11-12 (this
placed Christ as the real and ultimate priest that made atonement with His
blood for our sins)
“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”
Hebrews 7:23-24 (this
among other passages abolished human priesthood and their offices and pointed
toward Christ as our ultimate eternal priesthood )
“The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently.”
John 4:21 (this
took care of a legalistic geographical place of worship)
“Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.”
John 4:23 (this emphasized the Holy Spirit life in a Christian)
“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”
Mark 7:18-19 (this took care of the dietary laws)
“And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.)”
- Legalism
Legalism is one of the most binding and incarcerating of all the heretical ideologies that a Christian can be caught into. It is a progressive mental disease, which leads into spiritual and soon physical bondage that eats away of the very fabric of liberty that the Lord Jesus paid for us to have through His blood on the Cross. It is the antithesis of the New Testament theology and the gospel of freedom. It was this very issue that the Judaizers during the apostle times were forging into the Christian community and the churches.
HRM being a modern face of the Judaizers doctrines and their corrupt anti-Christian teachings are pushing and promulgating this very mental and spiritual disease among today’s Christian. Much of HRM doctrines and teaching rest on the bedrock of legalism.
Once understanding the variation of the legalism, we should be able to recognize and resist this heretical principle and help those that are caught in them affectively; all by the power of God the Holy Spirit, as promised by the Lord Jesus,
John 16:13
”But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.”
By relying on the Power and Wisdom of the Holy Spirit, through proper Christian Hermeneutics, and properly utilizing the sword of the spirit which is the word of God, we can crack this bondage and help to deliver our brothers and sisters that are caught up in legalism, so they too can enjoy the freedom and liberty offered in Christ’s gospel.
What is Legalism?
Old Covenant in its entirety is considered Laws, Rituals and Ordinances. And in the context of Biblical Christianity, legalism (also known as nomism) for a Christian could be identified as acceptance and adherence to the Old Testament laws, commandments & rituals, which are non- required and unnecessary.
One may be tempted to attach ‘excessiveness’ to this definition; but that would also give a false indication that non-excessiveness or moderation is allowed and OK, which is absolutely NOT.
Another way I can define Legalism in the context of Christian vernacular would be: ‘considering, accepting, adhering to as well as putting the law and any other traditions, ordinances or rituals above Christ’ gospel, for salvation requirement and-or for sanctification & holiness requirement.”
Legalists are usually thought of as more zealous for holiness and their behavior (unfortunately) are more tolerated and overlooked in the church than any other form of sin. They are not viewed as an adulterer, cheaters, liars and the like. Yet, they looked at as more righteous, religious or pious. Legalists have been having it easy throughout the centuries, since their sin is so subtle and not a show stopper for the leaders; at least not in the beginning. And yet, nothing could be further from the truth!
We can zoom in on the topic of the law (including Festivities, Sabbath and Dietary laws, FSD henceforth), which are the main focus of our discussion here with regard to the HRM.
There are 3 main Legalism (in a very broad sense) that we discern in the New Testament. All three are heretical and false doctrines and condemned by the New Testament theology.
1. Trying to follow and keep the law & FSD and OT traditions to be saved.
2. Trying to follow and keep the law & FSD and OT traditions to maintain salvation and gain favor with God (sanctification).
3. Judging other brothers and sisters in the body of Christ for not following #1 and/or #2 above.
However, a legalism boundary can be expanded beyond the 3 points above.
For example:
· Some Christians do not like to drink wine. Yet, they poke at and look down at a brother or sister that has a glass of wine.
· Some Christians only like traditional music and sing the old hymns. Yet, they poke at other Christians for listening to Christian rock or Contemporary Christian music.
· Various Christians believe in the Pre-Tribulation rapture, which is a peripheral and non-essential doctrine. Yet, they bar other Christians from speaking, talking and expressing their opinion if they hold to the Post-Tribulation view. They are forever hostile toward them and even break fellowship with them once knowing of their Post-Trib position!
Thus, non-essential doctrines if carried too far are also turned into a legalistic practice and belief system.
In general, traditions can very easily become legalistic; even if the tradition is not condemned by the New Testament.
I admit in certain cases, legalism is more difficult to define, but for the most part, the above examples and their concepts need to be understood and considered, in order to identify a legalistic spirit, which is anti-New Testament principle and a false and condemned dogma.
Response:
Jesus adamantly detested legalisms, which was so clearly depicted through the Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians and Scribes. Legalists were forever on His case and they were the most vocal, vicious and daring of all His antagonists and enemies that He faced. I agree with Pastor Steven Cole, when he says that Christ main issue wasn’t with adulterers, text collectors, liars, not even the Roman Government, but it was with the legalists.
Pastor Cole puts it very succinctly:
“When you study the life of Christ, it is noteworthy how He deliberately did things to provoke the legalists. He could have healed people on any other day of the week, but He often did it on the Sabbath. He could have been more discreet in violating the Pharisees’ rules, but He did it openly. When a Pharisee invited Jesus to dinner, He could have gone along with their elaborate hand-washing custom, but He deliberately ignored it. When they questioned Him about it, He could have been more polite, but He blasted them for their hypocrisy. When a lawyer pointed out that Jesus had offended them as well, He didn’t say, “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to offend you good folks.” He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well!” Jesus confronted legalism as sin.”
He goes on to say,
“And yet many Christian churches today are riddled with legalism, but the pastors are too “nice” to stand up to the legalists and say, “You’re not going to do that in this church!” The evangelical church today is plagued by “niceness.” Somehow we’ve gotten the idea that to be like Jesus means always being nice, never offending anyone, never confronting anyone. But clearly, if we want to be like Jesus, we must confront sin. And, legalism is sin!”
Steven J. Cole, “Lesson 57: Why Jesus hates legalism (Luke 11:37-54)”, June 12th 2013
Now, as for the first 3 points of discussion, here are the responses:
Point #1: Trying to follow and keep the law & FSD and OT traditions to be saved.
The Scriptures say absolutely NOT.
Romans 3:28
“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”
Romans 4:5
”But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness”
“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”
Point #2: Trying to follow and keep the law &FSD and OT traditions to maintain salvation and gain favor with God (sanctification).
Again, the Scriptures declare absolutely NOT.
Romans 3:10-12
“As it is written, There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”
Romans 3:28
“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”
“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”
“For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.”
“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.”
Point #3: Judging others if they don’t follow the law and FSD keeping.
Our calling as Christians is to judge righteously and fairly, but not self-righteously. We are to judge sin, in whatever form it appears: lying, cheating, adultery, pornography, idol worshiping, etc. Not because we are righteous, but because the scriptures have already judged those matters.
If we smoke, we cannot judge a brother or sister for smoking. If we have a certain unhealthy addiction, we cannot point at a brother or sister for doing the same thing. If we are involved in drunkenness, we cannot judge other brothers and sisters for practicing the same behavior.
Lord taught us that we must show no partiality in judgment, because by the same measure we will be judged. We first need to judge ourselves in that particular matter, before we make an opinion and pass decision on others in similar matter.
Before we can clearly see how to help a brother or sister in a particular matter, we must first and foremost examine ourselves to make sure we are not caught up in the same sin or bondage. Like the old adage goes, ‘a blind cannot lead a blind.’
Matthew 7:1-5
“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
Romans 2:1
“Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”
Paul admonishes us to help other brother and sisters that are caught up in sin:
Galatians 6:1
“Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.”
Romans 14:1-12 is a great passage that deals with proper judgment/decision on various actions of others.
The person that is caught up in legalism is already in sin, as legalism is a form of sin and bondage.
Finally, the following are just some other characteristics that a legalist may possess:
· Legalist Lack of true Joy.
o A legalist is always uptight, and has a difficult time to relax, enjoy the life God has graciously provided. A Christian enjoyment embodies ‘joy’, which a legalist lacks.
Romans 14:17
“for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
· Legalist have difficulty in self-forgiving and forgiving others.
o That’s a blow on a legalist spirit, since he or she tries to do things on their own. Man made works will lead to man-made bondage and spiritual blindness, where they eventually cannot see the grace of God which covers multitude of sin. As God forgave us, how much more we ought to forgive others and ourselves!
1 Peter 4:8
“Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.”
· Critical and Complaining attitude toward others.
o A legalist is always looking and nitpicking for faults on others. Some faults might be legitimate, but a legalist attitude toward those faults are not solution seeking. No matter how much solutions are offered, a legalist forever paints the issue with another issue; the fault with another fault and always complaining no matter what the solutions are. No solution is ever enough, as the mind is always looking for more faults.
James 5:9
“Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.”
Philippians 2:14
“Do all things without grumbling or disputing;”
· Unhealthy and Unproductive lifestyle.
o A legalist is in mental bondage thinking, unless he or she is not reading the Bible today, going to church on Sunday, pray at regular intervals, he or she is fallen from God’s grace and has lost God’s favor! Though all those things listed above are important and necessary, they are not a harsh or regiment requirement. Christianity is not a religion; is not a specific set of dos and don’ts at regular intervals, based on some formula or ritual. Christianity first and foremost is a relationship. God is a loving Father that wants our heart. Since Lord came to earth and took a form of a man and lived as a man among men, He fully understands and sympathizes with our lives. God cares about our heart and not so much the dos or don’ts of our appearances.
1 Samuel 16:7
“for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
· Bondage to old ways of doing things.
o A legalist cannot adapt to the new ways of doing things. He or she is stuck in the past. Although God never changes (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8), His ways toward humans’ changes and as such humans need to adapt to God’s new ways. A legalist is so narrow minded that is always paranoid and afraid of adapting toward new things (anything at all). Thus, that will cause the legalist to not grow (mentally, spiritually). A legalist doesn’t understand the liberty and grace of our God that is offered only through the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ecclesiastic 3:1
“There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven”
2 Corinthian 3:17
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
Final Point:
Spirit of legalism is a spirit of anti-Christ. Legalism has no place in Christianity or in Christian lives. Since Legalism encourages, enforces and enslaves the believer into works for salvation, works for sanctification, works for justification, works for holiness, works for/as obedience or works for gaining favor with God, it goes completely against the finished works of Jesus on the Cross and the full Grace that Christ offers in return. Grace of Christ and works of man DO NOT coincide with each other; because our works nullifies the works and Grace of Christ. We see this throughout the New Testament teachings and apostle’s doctrines that works of man are as filthy rags in God’s eyes. To gain favor in God’s eyes or foolishly thinking that by being a legalist, by keeping the laws, feasts, Sabbath or any of the Old Testament rituals, which all have been fulfilled and satisfied by Christ on the cross already, one becomes holy & justified in God’s eyes, is an affront to Christ and what the Lord Jesus has done on our behalf. It is nothing but a deceptive attempt to deny and oppose the Grace of Jesus. It pushes a person away from His Grace and results in void of bearing fruit.
- Law, Sabbath, Feasts
The issue of the Old Testament Law vs. New Testament Grace is one of the most clarified and written of all the doctrines of Christian faith. And one that has direct link to the essential doctrine of Christ Atonement and Salvation by Grace alone, through faith alone, through Christ alone.
Moreover, the doctrine of Law and Grace directly impacts the Justification by Faith alone doctrine. Along with Deity of Christ and The Doctrine of Trinity, the doctrine of liberty and Grace has been copiously explained and spelled out in the New Testament.
Holy Spirit being the author of the holy Bible, made sure that the issue of Law is fully elucidated and no confusion is left behind for the Christians that read and study the New Testament seriously, which again goes at the heart of Christ Atonement.
Why Christ Atonement and the Law are related?
For the simple reason that Christ on the cross paid the penalty of sins for all those that believe in Him; the penalty that the Law could never pay. In fact the ultimate purpose of the law was not to pay penalty but to eventually be a guide, pointer or tutor toward the coming of Messiah (Galatians 3:24).
When Jesus the Messiah came, He nailed the sins to the cross and bore the punishments of the sins in His Body and with it, the bondage and pain or sting of the law were all paid. He fulfilled what the Law was meant to accomplish, since no human could ever keep or fulfill it. When the law giver Himself came, the Same fulfilled the very Law He introduced in the Old Testament. Thus, by the coming of Christ, the Old Covenant became obsolete and eradicated and no longer valid as the New Covenant made by the blood of God’s holy Lamb, the Lord Jesus Himself was now established and administered.
Now, what was the Law that Christ came to
fulfill? Everything that was introduced during the Covenant Law and all
that the Law had encompassed, including all of the commandments and traditions
that were enforced with the exception of the moral laws. And even the moral laws have been
clarified and explained by the Lord Jesus in the New Covenant in a twofold; Love for God and Love for humans.
Matthew
22:34-40
But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had
silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher,
which is the great commandment in the Law?” And
He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great
and foremost commandment. The second is like
it, ‘You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the
Prophets.”
Please
note, that Christ omitted the Sabbath commandment from the 9 commandments
above. More on Sabbath later…
Christ atonement wasn’t partial and His fulfilling of the law was not fractional. It was full and fully fulfilled. Since Christ is God and the only One that can ever keep, complete and fulfill the law, all that we had seen in the Old Covenant can be looked at Him now as He completes all things in Himself. In Christ, the Entire Law was fulfilled. Again, that entire would include, ENTIRE with nothing left behind.
And yet there are still few end time prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled; prophecies including the 2nd Advent of Christ. However, apart from those, the entire laws, commandments, sacrifices, festivities (which were all a shadow) were all completely fulfilled in Christ.
God never changes, but His ways with people has a time line and as the time line reaches its consummation, His ways with people takes on a new way, all based on His perfect infinite plan. He sets His divine clock for each of His works and when the clock reaches its appointed time, Lord’s work for that era, for that period of time reaches its end and His new way, new plan starts. Though God lives beyond our time and space, His works towards human and His people are displayed through time and space.
Now, Apostle Paul’s number one enemies were the Judaizers; the very ones that would cry out Jesus Plus.
Plus what? Plus works of the laws of the Old Covenant. They had some understanding that Jesus may have been the Messiah, but they didn’t understand what Christ atonement on the Cross really meant.
What did Jesus fulfill on the cross? Just to shed blood for the sake of humility? No. It was a predetermined plan that God had appointed, to allow His Christ, the perfect sacrificial Lamb to die and pour out His blood for the sins of the world; the world that would believe in Him that is, and including in that sin was the stain, pain and sting of the Covenantal Law.
The Judaizers which were of the Hebrew race were observing the new things God was doing through Christ, and yet, they were the zealots of the Old Testament; prejudice and narrow minded with tunnel vision that still wanted to live in the past, under the Old Covenant. They attached the laws, which included everything, such as rituals, festivities, Sabbath and the traditions to the finished work of Christ.
And as such, Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, dealt with them very sternly and quite thoroughly. Paul’s discourse and his epistle to the Galatians is a masterpiece of one that is an expert in the law, trying to open the mind of a group of blinded Judaizers to the grace, mercy, liberty and freedom that is offered in Jesus.
He hammered the issue of the law and grace in the book of Romans, book of Corinthians, book of Colossians, book of Galatians in its entirety and other books, such as the book of Hebrew (most likely Apollos, the Apostle Paul’s companion was the writer of the book of Hebrew).
Apostle Paul didn’t mince words when he rebuked the Judaizers down to their blood corpuscle level. And he clearly without holding back, explained and demonstrated the purpose of the Law and its contrast to the Grace of Christ and explained what the purpose of the law was and why was it all fulfilled in Christ.
When the writer of the book of Hebrew said, the Old Covenant is obsolete, that put the last of the coffin nails to the idea that Christians are obligated to any part of the Law. Let’s look at some of the most important passages that deal with this issue.
ØAll the Scriptures are about Christ and bear witness to Christ
John 5:39, 46
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;”
“For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.”
Luke 24:27
“Then Beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”
ØChrist came to fulfill the Laws and the Prophets & Delivered us from the bondage of the law
Matthew 5:17-18
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”
It is true that Christ did not come to destroy or abolish the law and Prophets. But Jesus makes it very clear what He came to do was to FULFILL or satisfy ALL OF THE LAW for us.
The word fulfill (“pléroó” Greek “πληρόω”) translates to “fulfill, complete.”
Fulfill: [a
compound of full and fill]
(1) To accomplish or to carry into effect, as a Prophecy or a Promise; (2) to
satisfy or meet the requirements; (3) to bring to a finish or completion; (4)
to bring the conditions of a law to realization; (5)to bring to a consummation.
By fulfilling the entire law, Christ satisfied all of its requirements in our place. In other words, the 'required' obedience to such laws is accomplished in Him. Therefore, "in Christ" we keep all the laws faithfully and cannot be accused of any of it. In this way, we can no longer be judged by any of the laws, because those laws have now been satisfied, as we are now under the Grace of God. So that in the Spirit of Christ, the law does not condemn us.
2 Corinthians 1:20
“For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.”
Romans 8:1-2
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
ØChrist kept the law perfectly and is the end of the law
Again, the Law was not destroyed, but was fulfilled in Christ. Christ is the culmination of the law. For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God.
Romans 10:4
“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
ØNo one can keep the law, except Christ
James 2:10
“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.”
Galatians 3:10
“For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.””
Galatians 2:16
“nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.”
ØChrist came and Changed all things
o Blood Sacrifices Ceased
Hebrews 9:12
“and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”
o Priesthood of man ceased – Christ is our High Priest now
Hebrews 7:23-24
“The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently.”
o Geographical place of worship changed and is now Christ through the Holy Spirit
John 4:21-23
“Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”
Matthew 18:20
“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
o Sabbath ritual/day law changed - Christ is our Rest (Sabbath) now
Legalist and Heretical cults such as Hebrew Root Movement, Jehovah Witness, Seven Day Adventist and others instill fear in Christian’s mind and conscious, telling them that they still need to keep the Sabbath Ritual Law. They falsely use various scriptures, such as John 14:15 and Colossians 2:16 to support their legalistic mindset and continue to put guilt and fear in the heart of Christians.
Response
Before we begin, I would like to address the two passages mentioned above.
1.
Jesus Said in John 14:15
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
HRM take the above passage and interpret it as:
“if you love Me, you will keep my 10 commandments.”
First of all, this passage doesn’t mention 10 commandments, nor was Jesus referring to the laws of Moses.
Secondly, reading the full context of John 14 which is in series with chapter 13 and follows with chapter 15 will make it abundantly clear. Just prior to this chapter (though chapters are for our benefits, the original writing is one continuous narrative without chapters), Jesus in Chapter 13 mentions His new commandment:
John 13:34-35
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
And again, He reiterates this right after John 14:15 passage,
John 14:21
“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”
The commandment Jesus is referring to is Love, and NOT the MOSES LAW.
He repeats it again after John 14:21,
John 15:9
“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.”
And makes it extremely clear as to what His commandment is:
John 15:12
“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.”
Paul sums up Christ’s law, the law of Love, and describes it in the book of Romans:
Romans 13:10
“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Emphasis added)
Legalism and law keeping works brings about fear that leads to punishment, but Love stands opposite offear and punishments:
1 John 4:18
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”
2.
Second passage is Colossians 2:16
“Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day”
Hebrew Root cults take the above passage and interpret as Apostle Paul supporting and encouraging the Christians to keep the Sabbath day ritual!
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Colossians 2:16 by itself needs to be interpreted by its pre-& post passages and not out of its context.
First, the entire book of Colossians is about Paul emphasizing and demonstrating the superiority and all-sufficiency of Jesus over every other teacher, philosophy or religious system. Much like Apostle John in his epistles, Apostle Paul in this book, is fighting against multiple heretical philosophies and doctrines.
Secondly in Chapter 2, Apostle Paul deals with various teachings and doctrines that are a threat to the Christians in Colossae. Here is the breakdown of what they include:
§ Worldly man-made philosophies (Colossians 2:1-10)
§ Jewish Legalism (Colossians 2:11-17)
§ Mysticism (Colossians 2:18-19)
§ Gnosticism (Colossians 2:20-23)
All of which were heretical and all of which were condemned by the teaching and doctrines of the apostles and Christ.
Beginning of the chapter (Colossians 2:1-10), Paul is refuting the man-made philosophies and tries to establish the faith of local Christians, so they can affectively avoid such teachings.
The next section (Colossians 2:11-17), Paul is refuting the Jewish Legalism of the Old Testament. When considering the context of verse 16, we can see clearly what Paul is referring to:
Colossians 2:11-17
“and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”
Paul hammers on the principle of shadow vs. substance, by first contrasting the circumcision of the flesh, which was no longer necessary vs. the circumcision of Christ and mentions that death, burial and resurrection of a Christian with Christ signifies the putting of the old, obsolete elements (Judaism practices) behind, due to Christ having nailed them to the cross. Paul having laid that foundation, now brings about the other accusation of the local Jewish teachers against Christians. Verse 16 starts with the word “Therefore”, which grammatically concludes his earlier premises (facts), which are from verse 11 thru 15. Paul is now concluding that these false teachers were trapping the believers into legalism by attempting to instill fear in their conscious about such practices that had already passed away (shadows), namely,
· the dietary laws (food and drink),
· feast and new moon day celebration and rituals (festival or a new moon),
· and Sabbath keeping law (Sabbath day).
Paul is admonishing the Colossae Christians to not pay attention to these heretical teachers and ignore their indictments and instead focus on Christ, which is the substance (body), because the Shadow (outline) has passed away.
In the next two
sections of the chapter 2, Paul then deals with the Gnostic and Ascetic
(self-denial) teachings of these false teachers and warns the Christians to
likewise avoid such doctrines and philosophies.
Now, let’s deal
with the subject of Sabbath.
§ THE LAW
The first rule of Christian Hermeneutics is that we interpret the Old Testament (OT) in light of the New Testament (NT) and never the reverse. New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old Testament and for us to understand texts, passages, contexts and messages in the OT, we must first understand what NT says about them. It is no different when it comes to Sabbath.
God introduced the Sabbath Law as part of the 613 commandments/laws and was spelled along with the other 9 moral commandments.
As mentioned earlier, one must bear in mind that of the 10 laws/commandments, 9 commandments were given for relationship purpose (between humans to humans and humans to God) and only one of the non-moral-based commandments (4th) was given for the benefit of the Jews.
Lord Jesus Himself confirmed that,
Mark 2:27-28
” Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Not so with the other 9 moral laws/commandments. They are divided in two segments:
§ Horizontal Relationship – humans toward humans
§ Vertical Relationship – humans toward God
Understanding the OT Laws and their purpose, we can see why Lord made the Sabbath Rest as part of the restricted rituals that Jews had to follow.
Day in and Day out Jews had the laborious tasks of trying to follow the laws. A very restrict set of rules, under the OT theocracy was not easy to follow. As a result of that constrained and labor intense life style, God graciously provided a day of rest. A very ritualistic and ceremonial legal based day that Jews had to follow, in order to put all their labors aside and rest their mind and bodies as well as worship God.
As with all the other laws, God in the OT implemented them in order to demonstrate that no one, no human, could ever satisfy His standards and maintain and obey all the laws. Jews could not be justified by works of the law. The law demonstrated the sinfulness of the humans and that’s why they had animal sacrifices to atone for their sins. And the ultimate purpose of the laws was to direct the attentions of the Jews for the coming of the Messiah,
Galatians 3:24-25
“Therefore, the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.”
So now, since Christ came and went to the cross, He fulfilled or “satisfied” the requirements of the laws; and not just one, or two hundred or three hundred. He satisfied them all; with no exception, and that included the law of Sabbath. He ended the Old Testament Regime and as a result, established a New Covenant through His blood,
Romans 10:4
“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
Old Testament: External è Laws è Sabbath REST
New Testament: Internal è Grace è Christ REST
As we no longer need to labor to keep the laws, we no longer need a restricted day to rest. As we no longer look to the OT rituals and laws, we now look to Christ that has satisfied them all on our behalf.
§ REST
When it comes to Sabbath or Rest, the ritualistic or ceremonial and time bond aspect of this law is no longer applicable for us as Christians.
Then, what exactly does Rest means for Christians?
Rest for Christian is not just one day, but every day, every moment, since our Rest, just like the place of our worship is not fixed on a certain day or certain location.
John 4:21
“Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.”
As Christians, we have a perpetual non-stop Rest, which is not based on any geography, time or space. It is an internal Rest that we have all the time, everywhere in Christ through the Holy Spirit, which is no different than our worship.
John 4:24
“ God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
And this is the very liberty that we have in Christ to rest or worship at anytime. The Jews had to worship on the Sabbath day. We as Christians, however, can worship anytime, all the time, with no restrictions, all because of the Blood of Christ.
Once again, the Sabbath commandment has changed its ritualistic nature, due to the finished works of Christ. Legalist and heretical cults, such as HRM have falsely convinced themselves that by keeping the Sabbath Day ritual, they earn favor with God. And yet, nothing is further from the truth.
The fact is that the more they or any Christian try to work their way to earn favor with God, and the more they put efforts to follow the laws or selected numbers of the laws, such as Sabbath Day, the more they quench the Holy Spirit and shun the Grace of God.
They in turn throw this stance to the face of Christ, implying that Christ is not good enough or does not have the ability to provide the Rest they need. They need to maintain their effort, in order to gain their sanctification, which would falsely result in so-called holiness.
Trying to keep Sabbath is nothing but hindrance to fully trust Jesus for what He can provide.
Sure, our bodies need to rest. That is part of the rhythm of life which will never change. Its unchanging implication is that our bodies, mind and soul all require a break, a rest from daily or hourly routine. Even Lord Jesus, while living among man on earth, worked during the day, but rested at night. The fact that our bodies and mind need a break from daily or hourly routine is not a religious commandment or hard core principle to understand; but rather a natural one. Just as much as we need oxygen to breath, we need rest to continue to live.
However, what has changed is the ceremonial, geographical and time based legalistic religious law of Sabbath. The ceremonial law of the Rest has been nailed to the Cross by the Lord Jesus Himself, The Lord of Sabbath and now we look to Christ for Rest.
Once again, our rest is not dependant on a specific day, but specific Person of the Lord. It is not dependent on a specific time, but a perpetual time that is available to us at any moment. It is boundless beyond time and space.
When Jesus was on Earth, His presence was limited, based on His physical nature of men. That is because He purposely limited Himself so He can live among men as a Human, though His Deity never ceased. And yet, He told His disciples that it is beneficial for Him to go back to Heaven and to send the Holy Spirit instead, and the reason was obvious.
John 16:7
“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”
John 14:16-17
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”
Due to the coming of the Holy Spirit, God’s presence is now everywhere. God the Holy Spirit, which is beyond time and space is now living among God’s people; living on and inside the Christians, as we are His temples. And this will allow us to have access to the throne of God, micro-second by micro-second, through the blood of the unblemished Lamb, the Lord Jesus, who gives us Rest; not just for our spirit, but for our mind and bodies as well.
§ APOSTLES
If any early Christians or even the Apostle Paul went to the synagogue during Sabbath, it wasn’t for ritual keeping. It was purely for the evangelistic purpose; as they all knew Jews would gather together in Synagogues during the Sabbath. What better place and time to evangelize and reach out to the mass assemblies of Jews, than in a synagogue during Sabbath! Much like now, where the world knows as Christians we gather together on Sunday in a Church.
Acts 17:2-3
“And according to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.”
Acts 16:11-14
“ So putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis; and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for some days. And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled. A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.”
§ ASSEMBLIES SHIFTED TO THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK
Early Christians shifted the time of their worship from Saturday to Sunday, which was due to Christ’s Resurrection day. However, as Christians, we do not view a worship day like Sunday as the new Sabbath. If so, that would fall again under a legalistic heresy and bondage. Sunday is a day of worship, as any day is for Christians. However, assembling together as Christians is on Sunday, mainly because Sunday, the first day of the week was the day that Christ rose from the Grave.
Apostle Paul instructing the churches to meet on Sunday,
“On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.”
§ APOSTLE PAUL AND CHRIST
Apostle Paul’s rebuke was for the Galatian Christians that wanted to keep the Sabbath to gain favor with God; the very Christians that were being brainwashed by the Judaizers.
“However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years.”
John 5:18 gets explicit when it comes to Jesus and the Sabbath:
“ For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.” (Emphasis added)
The word breaking (“luó” Greek “λύω”) translates to “loose, untie, release, break, destroy, annul.” Clearly indicating that Christ purposely brought to closure the law ritual keeping of Sabbath and set us free from the Sabbath keeping on Saturday or last day of the week ordinance; because He was pointing toward himself as the Place and the Person of the Rest.
Christ purposely broke the Sabbath to demonstrate that He is the owner, God, Lord and Master of all His creation, commandments and laws, including the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8). He demonstrated that our mind and heart must be fixed on Him and not a physical place, location or ritual, because Christ is the One that provides us Rest now.
Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
The word rest (“anapauó” Greek ἀναπαύω”) translates to “give rest, give intermission from.”
And the writer of the
book of Hebrew goes in length in explaining that our Rest is now in
Christ. He writes to warn the Christians of dangers of falling back to
Judaism. And to stop striving to please God by the works of the
flesh.
HRM and the legalist
use Matthew 24:20 passage as their defense for keeping the Sabbath. They claim
Jesus is referring to the Christians that are keeping the Sabbath at that time.
Matthew 24:20
“But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a
Sabbath.”
Response:
First, not in this passage nor in any other passages in the New
Testament for that matter, is Jesus ever referring, inferring, implying or
commanding that Christians are to keep Sabbath! Not from the composition of the
text, nor from its implication. It
is simply not there. It is not
there in Greek nor in English. All
Jesus is saying is that pray that your flight
(“foogay Greek φυγὴ”,
running, fleeing) is not during that time.
Secondly, gospel of Matthew was written by a Jewish apostle, a Levite
named Matthew to the Jewish audience.
It is noteworthy to point out that Mark being the oldest of the Gospels
also have the exact phrasing except without the word “Sabbath”. All if not most of the scholarly opinions
are that Matthew’s audience were the Jewish Christians, as opposed to
Mark’s audience, which were Gentile Christians. Thus, that makes perfect sense why Mark
omits the word Sabbath, whereas Matthew includes it.
Mark 13:18
“But pray that it may not happen in the winter.”
And now, why would Jesus be making such a warning to the
Christians? Considering the full
context of Matthew 24, Jesus is warning the Christians in response to a
question from the apostles as to the time and sign of His (Christ) return.
And the Matthew’s narrative is leading his audience toward the
climax of that sign, which would be the coming of the anti-Christ.
What is the anti-Christ mission?
To kill and destroy the Christian believers and to proclaim himself as
God. And Christ’s warning in Matthew
24:20 passage is that Christians should be praying that the time of anti-Christ
ushering his satanic placeholder in the temple (Abomination of Desolation)
would NOT come in the times and seasons that would be difficult for Christians
to run away, such as:
During Pregnancy
– very difficult to run and flee when a woman is pregnant with a baby.
During Winter –
very difficult to run away when the weather temperatures are freezing, cold and
snowing.
During Sabbath
– why during Sabbath? For the simple reason
that Jews will be keeping the sabbath during that time. They had already built their temple,
re-instituted all the mosaic laws, including the animal sacrifices as well as
their Sabbath ritual keeping law.
When Jews kept the Sabbath in the Old Testament, they had many
restrictions, and among them was closing the gates of the city (Nehemiah
13:19). The restrictions during the
Sabbath day also included limited travel from home (1000-2000 paces or 1 to 2
miles), long enough to reach the temple; shops being closed; gates of the city
being closed and other forceable legalistic restrictions.
These restrictions during the time of anti-Christ would make it
extremely difficult for Christians living among non-believing Jews in Judea
(Matthew 24:16) to run away from the city.
This forewarning is only for the Christians that are limited and
restricted by their neighboring Jews that are enforcing Mosaic laws, which
would include the Sabbath legalistic restrictions.
An example of this occurrence happened once during the time of war
between Israel (Judea) and Rome during the first century (66-70 AD),
which ended with Titus destroying and burning Jerusalem, in 70 AD.
Nowhere in this passage Jesus is telling or commanding (implicitly or otherwise)
Christians that they should be or will be keeping the Sabbath ritual
law. Once again, the composition
and the subject of the text is very clear that Christ is warning the Christians
regarding running away from anti-Christ during certain difficult circumstances
and conditions (bodily, seasonally, religious-social).
§ SABBATH REST FOR GOD’S PEOPLE
The late Dr. Donald Grey Banrhouse, a pastor and a great theologian of the late 20th century used to so appropriately say,
“The book of Hebrews was written by a Hebrew to tell the Hebrews to stop being Hebrews and start becoming Christians!”
The narrative in Hebrews chapters 3 & 4 in context deal with the Children of Israel as to how they failed to enter the promise land and thus, missed God’s Rest.
The writer makes a beautiful connection between the reaching the promise land in terms of Sabbath Rest and Christ’s death on the cross in terms of the ultimate Sabbath Rest in Christ.
Hebrews 4:1-11
“Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said,
“As I
swore in My wrath,
They shall not
enter My rest,”
although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.” Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before,
“Today
if you hear His voice,
Do not harden
your hearts.”
For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.”
In verse 11 of chapter 4, the writer admonishes the Christian Jews to learn from the failures of their forefathers that didn’t enter the promise land as a result of their disobedience, and instead they should be diligent to enter God’s Rest which is Christ Himself.
Robert L. Deffinbaugh from Dallas Theological seminary and in his article “Defining Rest (Hebrews 4:1-10)” puts it in a very cogent way,
“There are two keys to understanding the argument of chapters 3 and 4. The first is the superiority of the Son – Jesus Christ – to Moses. This is introduced in 3:1-6. The second is the superiority of the rest which Jesus has achieved to the “rest” which Israel, under the leadership of Moses, did not attain (indeed, a rest to which Moses himself did not attain). This superior rest is the focus of verses 7-19. A few observations of these verses will prove helpful when we come to our text in chapter 4.
First, verses 7-19 continue the theme of the superiority of Christ to Moses. We can see from the incidents underlying Psalms 95 that neither the first generation of Israelites nor Moses himself entered into the rest God had for them.
Second, these verses address the danger of falling back into Judaism. If the danger facing the Hebrews was drifting from Christ and the New Covenant and falling back into Judaism and the Old Covenant, then verses 7-19 deal with this issue.
The concept of rest is such a beautiful thing to one who is weary of striving to please God in his (or her) own strength. To trust in Jesus is to cease from one’s own labors, one’s own efforts, and receive the fruit of the work which Jesus did on the cross of Calvary. For a Hebrew Christian to entertain thoughts of retreating back to Judaism, of going back under the law, was to set aside rest for fruitless works.”
And again, it is well said in the Scriptures, that if we are indebted to one law, we’re indebted to all the laws.
“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.”
But, praise be to God that Christ fulfilled “all” the laws, and that includes the law and ritual of God’s 7th day Rest.”
Another Christian author by the name of Tony Warren puts it this way:
“In other words, if we're going to keep Old Testament laws, then we better make sure we keep all of them, including all implied laws of adultery by thought and murder by hate. Which of course is impossible, except in Christ. What Christian do you know today who claims to follow the Old Testament law is going to Jerusalem three times a year? Because that is the law of God. What Christian follows the law of splashing blood on the door posts? That also is the law of God. But you see, there are some groups who want to pick and choose (depending upon their traditions) what Old Testament laws they want to keep, and which ones they exclude themselves from. But the law isn't a salad bar where we take what we want and leave the rest. If we are indebted to one law, we're indebted to all the laws. Thank God Christ fulfilled "all" the law, and that includes the law of God's Sabbath rest. This is illustrated for us in passages like Hebrews 4:1-11. That true rest is of the Kingdom of God. We keep the everlasting Sabbath by being in Christ, our true Sabbath of Rest... The seventh day Sabbath was a shadow looking forward to Him. And with the coming of Christ (the True), the shadow preceding this Real is passed away. The requirement of the Old Testament law is then satisfied. ie., Christ came not to do away with the law, but to satisfy it. He came to bring the conditions of the law into completion. ..to fulfill it!”
Final word:
It is an affront to Christ trying to keep the Sabbath ritual day; because basically a person is casting Jesus’ Rest Offer back to His face, saying Christ death wasn’t good enough and His constant offer of rest is not good enough; I must contribute to it. Again, it is Christ plus works. Legalistic obligation to keep Sabbath ritual is exactly opposite of Resting in Christ. Rest by logical definition is not obligation; rather freedom. Hebrew cults and others such Jehovah Witness are forever uptight and tensed up that live in constant fear of ‘not obeying’ the ritual laws including Sabbath, which then goes completely against the New Testament theology with regards to Sabbath. Sabbath keeping ritual is not only NOT the New Covenant doctrine, but it is against-Christ doctrine that forces a guilt via legalistic mindset in the conscious of a Christian.
o Dietary Law ceased
Matthew 15:11
“It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”
Mark 7:18-19
“And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.)”
The Greek actually reads: “Purifying all the food”.
The word purify or clean (“katharizó” Greek “καθαρίζω”) translates to “make clean, to declare clean, removing all admixture or filth, according to context.”
The wordCatharsis and Cathartic in English comes from the Greek “Kathairein”, which means “to purge, to cleanse”.
The word food (“bróma” Greek “βρῶμα”) translates to “food, meat of any kind”.
“Likewise, the laws concerning unclean meats which were an illustration that nothing unclean was to come unto the children of Israel, was completed in Christ. With the New Testament, that veil of mystery concerning it has been lifted for us. "The Old Testament concealed is the New Testament revealed!" If one does not accept the authority of the New Testament, then the Old Testament is still concealed to them. The fact is, the Gentiles "were" seen as heathen Dogs and Swine, the animals deemed unclean. Those Old Testament laws illustrated that the Children of God were not to mingle themselves with them. Jesus himself used that very same idioms for Gentiles in the book of Mark:
Mark 7:27
“And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
Tony Warren
Thus, concluding that when God told Peter to get up and kill and eat the animals in the vision (Acts 10:13, 11:7), Holy Spirit was expressing to us that by abolishing the dietary laws, which was a separation flag for Jews and Gentiles, He is also brining Jews and Gentiles together as one and no longer separate; co-joining them in Christ, for everyone that is in Christ is one. Therefore that incident with Peter had a double purpose.
Apostle Paul reiterated this new unity principle set forth by Christ later on in the book of Romans:
Romans 10:12
“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;”
And again in Galatians 3:28
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
o Civil law based on the Old Testament Theocracy has ceased – Jesus is now the beginning and end of the civil law
Romans 13:1
“Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
John 18:36
“Jesus
answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If
My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would
be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My
kingdom is not of this realm.”
o Christ Fulfilled the Feasts days rituals
There were a total of 7 Feasts days that had their rituals and purpose in the Old Testament. There were all considered Ordinances. Christ on the Cross, through His flesh, not only satisfied all the requirements of the laws and commandments, but also the ordinances of the Feasts days.
Ephesians 2:15
“by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,”
An Ordinance (Greek “Dogma”), was basically an edict or decree that had to be maintained, and the feasts were identified with those.
Numbers 9:12
“They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break a bone of it; according to all the statute of the Passover they shall observe it.”
In Hebrew it actually reads the “Ordinances of the Passover”.
The word statute (“chuqqah” Hebrew “חֻקָּה`”) translates to “something prescribed, an enactment, fixed pattern, ordinance, fixed order, appointed.
And it was this ‘fixed pattern’ and ‘decrees’ of the feasts days’ rituals that Jesus did away with on the cross.
Colossians 2:14
“having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
In Greek, it actually reads:
“having blotted out the handwriting in the decrees against us, which was adverse to us and He has taken it out of the way having nailed it to the cross.”
And the apostle Paul tells the Christians in Colossae that these ordinances (feasts) and the rules were only a shadow pointing to the substance, which is Christ.
Colossians 2:17
“things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”
And now that Christ has come, we don’t go backward chasing the shadow that has already passed.
Now, for the sake of our discussion, let us see how Christ fulfilled each one of the feast.
§ Passover Feast (Leviticus 23:5)
Christ fulfilled this by becoming the Passover Lamb Himself.
1 Peter 1:19
“but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”
1 Corinthians 5:7
“For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.
§ Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:6)
Christ fulfilled this by being a pure, undefiled Bread of life and sinless Lamb. Leaven in the bible is the picture of sin. And Jesus being the perfect sacrifice died and was buried in the grave during the first days of this feast.
John 6:48
“I am the bread of life.”
2 Corinthians 5:21
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
§ Fruits (Leviticus 23:10)
Christ fulfilled this by becoming the first Fruits from the dead. Jesus the Messiah was resurrected on this very day.
1 Corinthians 15:20
“But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.”
§ Weeks or Pentecost (Leviticus 23:16)
This was fulfilled by the coming of the Holy Spirit, as was promised by the Lord Jesus. Holy Spirit also established the Church on this day.
Luke 24:49
“And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
This promise was fulfilled in book of Acts chapter 2.
§ Trumpets (Leviticus 23:24)
There are several Trumpet calls in the New Testament and they all relate to the Christ as He is the center of them all.
Various scholars differ in the interpretation of this feast, but general consensus is that this is pointing to the coming of the Rapture of the church.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-17
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.”
§ Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:27)
Christ fulfilled this on the cross, by offering Himself to bear the punishment of our sins and thus, blotting out our sins and nailing them to the cross.
Hebrews 9:12
“and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”
1 John 2:2
“and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”
The word propitiation (“hilasmos” Greek “ἱλασμός”) translates to “atoning sacrifice, offering to satisfy.”
Lord Jesus will complete the work of redemption, when He returns the second time for His people; those that have placed their full trust in His finished works on the cross and have been Born Again by the Holy Spirit.
§ Tabernacles or Booths (Leviticus 23:34)
First of all, Jesus fulfilled this feast by first appearing as a form of a man, in His incarnation.
John 1:14
“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The word dwelt (“skénoó” Greek “σκηνόω”) translates to “tabernacle or spread his tabernacle, encamped, to live or pitch in a tent”.
And as Christians, we are the temple of God the Holy Spirit, as He dwells (tabernacles) among us.
1 Corinthians 6:19
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?”
Secondly, Christ will return the second time (2nd Advent of Christ) to physically dwell or tabernacle among His people.
‘Forever’ Argument
HRM argue that God in the Old Testament made an unalterable command for the Jews to keep the feasts forever. Meaning, it is a never-ending ordinance that must be kept for eternity. They pull their argument from following such verses:
Exodus 2:14
“Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it asa permanent ordinance.”
Exodus 2:17
“You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance.”
Response
The word for permanent (“olam” Hebrew “עוֹלָם”) translates to “long duration, futurity, perpetual”.
1. Logical fallacy
If at face value, one were to ignore the Hermeneutical basis for understanding this term, one would arrive at a conclusion that not only it should be translated “forever”, but ‘for-eternity’. Which would then include until the arrival of the Messiah the first time (which has happened already), and then until the second coming of Christ (which hasn’t happened yet), and then until the new earth and new heaven are created according to the Revelation 21:1, and even after that until eternity future! If one were to think a bit rational, one would understand that it is impossible for this type of meaning and translation to be accurate. It would be absurdity at best to think that in the new heaven and new earth, God would want everyone to maintain the rituals of the feast of Unleavened Bread, or the feast of Passover or the feast of Pentecost and etc! So, it is obviously not rational nor is it logical to put such interpretation as “eternal” for this term.
2. Nature of Object
The correct Hermeneutical interpretation for determining the length of this term would have to include the nature of the object that is described. In Hebrew and English and even in Septuagint Greek translation, it would bring the meaning toward a more rational and partial substance. In looking at various other passages that reference ‘forever’ within their text, we can easily see that.
For instance,
Daniel 6:6
“King Darius, live forever”.
Here, the same word (“olam” Hebrew “עוֹלָם”) is used. And yet, we know that doesn’t mean for ‘eternity or endless’, but simply a long life. It is more of a metaphor for majestic references than an actual ‘never-ending-eternal’!
The length and period for “olam” is based on the object described in the text and its wider context.
Or another example:
1 Samuel 1:22
“But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “I will not go up until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord and stay there forever.””
Here again the word “olam” that is translated forever only means, “lifetime”, since Samuel eventually died (1 Samuel 25:1).
The nature of the Object described in the verse, and its relationship to its wider context will determine the meaning of the word “olam”.
3. Western Understanding vs. Eastern Expression
In the Western mentality, various terms, such as ‘never-ending or forever” may come across as a direct translation, as opposed to their abstract expression. Eastern thoughts however, don’t always think that way. At times Hebrew & Greek languages use various metaphors to express their meaning, as opposed to a blunt and direct translation. Christians that are not aware of the correct Hermeneutics can get in trouble reading and interpreting such passages. They interpret them directly and literally as opposed to understanding their poetic or metaphoric meaning.
Let me site 2 examples:
Isaiah 9:6
“For
a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government
will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be
called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,Eternal Father,
Prince of Peace.”
The above Isaiah passage is a prophetic passage about the coming of Messiah. Lord Jesus fulfilled this prophecy, 2000 years ago, when He stepped into this planet as the God-Man. However, various cults and even uninformed Christians may look at this verse and interpret it as Christ being the same Person of God the Father as well. They look at the title “Eternal-Father” and argue against Trinity, saying that Jesus is both Persons: God the Father and God the Son. Oneness Pentecostals (UPC International) and various other non-Trinitarian cults successively use this verse to support their attack against Trinity.
However, utilizing the correct Christian Hermeneutics will drive one to analyze the structure of this sentence, the culture of its composition and its full intended expression. When done so, its correct interpretation would not be the “Eternal-Father”, but instead the “Father of Eternity or Father of Everlasting”. Isaiah, through the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit is describing the Nature and Role of the Christ, which is the Mighty God, Ruler, King that lives perpetually forever and will Rule and Reign for all Eternity. The Eternity is in His Control, as He is the Owner or Father of the Eternity, Father of the Everlasting. Isaiah is not suggesting that Jesus the Messiah is also God the Father!
Here is second example:
Psalms 91:4
“He
will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you
may seek refuge;
His faithfulness is
a shield and bulwark.”
At face value, an uninformed Christian maycome to a conclusion that David is describing God as a Chicken or a Bird; since he is mentioning the word “wings”! And the word pinions (“ebrah” Hebrew “אֶבְרָה”) comes from the Hebrew word “eber”, which means feathers.
As ridiculous this sounds, is that what David is portraying? Of course Not! He is describing in a beautiful Hebrew metaphoric and poetic sense the faithfulness of our God. He is elucidating that our God is a shield and a protector for those that take refuge under His shadow, or wings. He is using the natural love and protection that we see in nature, such as birds, eagles, etc to describe the faithfulness of our God.
Jesus expressed this exact idiom in Luke 13:34, when He talked about His desire for Jerusalem.
Finally, it is noteworthy to mention that in Persian language, the same word is used for ‘eternity or for-all-ages’ (Persians pronounce it “awlam”). And yet, the structure, object and context of the sentence will determine its true length, whether it is ‘eternal’, or ‘until a designated period’. All Persians, when they hear this term, understand what the intent of the speaker actually is.
- Christian Holidays
This
section is not necessarily New Testament doctrines that a Christian must adhere
to. They are not mandated upon us
as Christians to observe them; otherwise they would be regarded as legalistic
observances, which as we have covered earlier, have no place in
Christianity. Christ came to set us
free from all forms of legalisms.
As Christians we have liberty to observe these two holidays. Each Christian can observe them in their
own unique way, according to their conscious. The purpose for covering these sections
here are to refute the underlying and convoluted beliefs and doctrines of
groups such as HRM, Jehovah Witnesses and others that hold to common worldview,
which penetrates deeper than just attacking the traditional celebrations of
these two holidays. Thus,
let’s approach the following sections, namely, the Christmas and Easter
with this objective and thought in mind.
ØCHRISTMAS
Christians celebrate the Birth of Christ on December 25th. For us Christians, it is a time to reflect and meditate on one of the greatest event in the history of mankind that is the penetration of God into the form of man, or incarnation. God invaded the planet earth over 2000 years ago by sending His Son, the 2nd person of the holy Trinity into becoming a man and taking the form of man. Throughout all the churches, this event is played and remembered with many of its majestic and glory, presenting the prophecy of the prophets in the Old Testament.
Christians, take this time to appreciate, thank and praise our God for what He did for us as a form of sacrifice. Sacrifice of limiting himself and taking on a form of a man by becoming obedient, even death on the cross which followed the incarnation nearly 30 years after Jesus Christ became man.
For a true born-again-Christian, this is a time of rejoicing, happy and celebration of our God.
And yet, HRM argues that this is a pagan and corrupt holiday and attempts (very successfully I might add) to pollute the minds of Christians by turning them off from this event, and instead dividing them from their families and love ones and even the church and isolate and crush any happy and rejoicing spirit that the Christian has for Christmas. As I mentioned in the section of Bewitching Christians, that’s exactly what HRM does.
Hebrew Root cult doesn’t come out and say “hey, let’s look at what other possible date could Christ have been born.”
Searching for other alternative dates (though Bible never tells us exactly when we He was born, as we shall see later on), doesn’t need to impose a hatred, disgust or vile attitude toward Christians and Christmas. HRM completely miss the objective of Christmas, which I said earlier, that is the celebration of our God’s incarnation. HRM put such subtle division and hatred in the mind of a vulnerable Christian, to the point that Christian doesn’t even realize, he or she is been infected with a spirit of hate and division.
Like any cult, when a Christian is drenched into that cultic spirit and ideology, Christian would be willing to sacrifice everything to maintain their allegiance to that cultic system; including family, husband, wife, children, friends church and other members of the body of Christ.
A best way for Satan to neutralize the Christian witness, unity and peace is to divide and isolate; since he knows he cannot have the Christian spirit.
Hebrew root cult goes on to pulls the dogmatic and legalistic bondage driven argument that unless we celebrate the birth of Christ in September, we are not celebrating it at all. If we celebrate on Dec 25, we are caught up in witchcraft and paganism! This is yet another common denominator among the HRM theology and doctrinal heresy. Legalism as we discussed earlier is a form of a sin and it shows its ugly head again even in this holy Biblical event, the celebration of incarnation.
Now, in order to answer and analyze it, at least from a macro view, let’s look at 3 of the arguments against and for winter and autumn celebration time. And then we see if any of those will bring us to any sort of reconciliation.
First, it is a fact that we don’t know exactly when Jesus was born. Bible nowhere describes the exact date and month of His birth. And I might add, Bible nowhere points to Mid Winter either. The other alternatives are any other seasons, including the most popular view by the HRM which is toward September. However, there are some facts and issues with autumn (August / September) just as there are facts and issues with winter (December / January).
I am not going to get into the detail of autumn facts vs. winter facts vs. summer date fact. There are great many articles and books done by many scholars in this regard.
However, merely for the sake of review, here are 3 of the most popular objections that I have encountered and their counter arguments:
Temperatures
Against winter: Weather was cold and shepherds would not have been watching their flocks during winter (Luke 2:8).
Counter argument: The temperatures in winter in Bethlehem have been known to be around 40’s Fahrenheit; thus making it possible for shepherds to be able to withstand the temperature and watch their flocks. Even if it was truly so cold, such an event as the birth of Christ would have inspired them to flock outside to witness the bright star.
Censes
Against winter: Weather was cold and Census would not have been issued during winter by the Roman government (Luke 2:1-4).
Counter argument: Did the Roman government care about the people of Israel to make sure they would have convenience and comfortable weather conditions when they walk toward the census booths? Roman government could have cared less about the people’s feeling or their conveniences. Did Herod care about the people when he ordered the execution and massacre of the innocent children of up to 2 years old (Matthew 2:16)? Brutality doesn’t know compassion.
John the Baptist
Against winter: Birth of John the Baptist is used as a measuring tool for determining Jesus’ birth in the autumn season around September time frame. Here is their argument in a chronological fashion:
1. Luke 1:8-13 – Angle Gabriel announced to Zachariah the priest (John the Baptist father) about conception of his wife Elizabeth.
2. Luke 1:5 - Zachariah belonged to the priestly division of Abijah, according to David’s arrangement during Solomon’s reign (1 Chronicles 24:7-18) prior to the Israel’s Babylonian exiles. Prior to Israel exile, the division of Abijah (for Zachariah’s service) was the 8th order and it would fall in June for one week.
3. Luke 1:23-24 – Elizabeth conceived after Zachariah return home.
4. Luke 1:26, 36 – Angle Gabriel announced to Mary the conception of Jesus – 6 months after the Elizabeth’s pregnancy.
Using the above order, assuming Elizabeth conceived after angel Gabriel announcement to her husband, her 6th month would be December or January, the same time Mary visits her. Assuming that Mary delivers the baby Jesus 9 months after the angel’s announcement to her, Jesus would have been born nine months later, in autumn time frame, August or September.
Counter argument
First of all, all of the above arguments for September are assumptions… as we are not given the exact date (Month, Week, Day) of the Jesus’ birth.
Secondly, some scholars have determined that with the Babylonian exile came a requirement for resetting the priestly divisions and their rotations (Ezra 2). Some were rearranged and reordered. Zachariah’s division prior to the exile was determined to be in June time frame, but various scholars determine that Abija’s course to have ended on October 9 of that same year. October conception of John would have placed Christ’s birth in winter timeframe, December or January.
Below is a chart by Kenneth Frank Doig (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Meller Press, 1990), describing various options and their timeframe.
Chart XIV
Service of the Division of Abijah
8-5 BCE
|
Division
of |
Conception |
Conception |
Birth |
|
5, Sept. 3-10 |
Sep. 10 |
Feb. 25 |
Nov. 25, 4 |
|
5, March 19-26 |
Mar. 26 |
Sep. 11 |
June 11, 4 |
|
6, Oct. 3-10 |
Oct. 10 |
Mar. 25 |
Dec. 25, 5 |
|
6, April 18-25 |
Apr. 25 |
Oct. 10 |
July 10, 5 |
|
7, Nov. 1-8 |
Nov. 8 |
Apr. 23 |
Jan. 23, 5 |
|
7, May 17-24 |
May 24 |
Nov. 8 |
Aug. 8, 6 |
|
7, Jan. 18-25 |
Jan. 25 |
July 10 |
Apr. 10, 6 |
|
8, Aug. 3-10 |
Aug. 10 |
Jan. 25 |
Oct. 25, 7 |
We can also include in the chart above the Division of Abijah prior to the exile in Mid June Time Frame (before the exile and prior to the resetting) and again it would put Birth of Jesus in August or September timeframe.
Once again, all of the time frames above are interpolations and assumptions and not concrete facts.
§ The name ‘Christmas’
HRM opposes Christmas stating that the meaning and the name of Christmas takes its root from the corrupt Roman Catholicism, and therefore should be avoided.
Response
It is true that the word Charismas is no where found in the bible. Just as there are many other terms and words that we as Christians accept that are not found in the Bible, such as the Rapture or Trinity. But, their concept and meaning and proof texts are certainly there.
Secondly, the etymological breakdown of the Christmas first recorded in 1038 is a Middle English term, short for “Christ-Mass”. The word Mass means “celebration” or “worship”. Putting it together, it means the celebration of Christ, or worship of Christ in regard to the Birth of Christ, better yet known as the Advent or Incarnation.
Is that indicative of paganism and pagan worship?!
Thirdly, the fact is that Christians throughout the centuries have always fought against paganism and have tried to redeem the pagan dates and events by pushing Christian holidays, celebrations and meanings over them.
Every one of us writes down and utilizes the Months of the calendar, such as (January, February, March, etc) and Days of the week (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, etc). And yet the fact is that every one of those titles have pagan root for their origins.
We don’t hesitate to write them down and use them in our calendars. Why? Because, in this time and space that we live in, none of their original roots have any meaning or affect on our daily lives. They have lost all of their original meaning and place in the society. Much of the western culture and civilization comes from the ancient Greek mythologies and its philosophers.
Time and culture changes things in our society. For instance:
· Thales of Miletus is the first Greek philosopher, which have contributed to the scientific philosophy of the west.
· Eucild and Archimedes as well as Pythagoras Greek philosophers contributed to the mathematics and geometry.
· Greek philosophers, such as Homer and Sophocles have greatly influenced the writings of the western literatures.
· Athens in Greek is the known for the birthplace of democracy.
· Other noble Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle have contributed to the important thinking and rationality of the west, such as logic, ethics and social issues.
The fact is all truth is God’s truth; no matter who said it. Because God is the source of all Truth (John 14:6), all truth that man discovers find their source back to the author of Truth, which is our Triune God.
WHAT’S THE FINAL POINT?
Do the above speculations prove anything at all? Yes. The only thing they prove is that the dates of the Christ birth are not known and setting any exact dates are merely based on assumption and conjecture.
Arguing about the date is nothing but futility and non-sense. The lost world doesn’t care at all about any of this. What they do see and care is the love and unity among Christian people in a form of witness. That is the Satan’s tactic to bind the Christians into non-essentials and peripherals in order to divert them from the essential and objectivity; which is preaching Christ and His Gospel to the lost and dying world. Satan never ceases to bind the Christians into focusing on minors in order to divert them form the majors.
Some important points Christians should consider from the Scriptures as a counsel:
· Lord said: The world will see you when you have love for one another.
· Whatever you do you do it for the Lord, whether you die or live, you are the Lord’s.
· Do not give an offense to the ministry.
· Do all in the name of the Lord.
· Christians brothers and sisters glorify Christ collectively much stronger than being isolated and individually.
· Our actions burn much hotter together as a body of Christ and the world will see it strongly, but not when we isolate ourselves alone and create our own private doctrines in a sheltered hole.
We can draw all sorts of speculations and assumption from the scriptures. However, we cannot be dogmatic about the date, nor are we ever asked to from the scriptures!
Just as the Holy Spirit didn’t reveal the exact date of the second coming of the Lord (Matthew 24:36), God the Holy Spirit also chose NOT to reveal the exact timing of the Lord Jesus’ birth in the Bible, because He does not want people to worship the date and the time. He wants us to rather focus on Christ and His incarnation instead. (John 4:24).
What matters to God is our heart.
Humans have a tendency to have the focus of their attention shifted toward irrelevancies and away from God. God, for the same reason didn’t reveal the exact place of Moses’ burial; knowing that the Israelites would have made pilgrimage to his burial site and turn him into an idol; an object of worship. When looking at the current Israel, one can’t miss the fact that people do what they can to flee and run toward what they believe is the burial place of Christ. And invariably and unknowingly worship the site instead of Christ. That’s the unfortunate nature of human being which is undeniable.
Holy Spirit knew full well ahead of time before He inspired and developed the Scriptures that if He would have revealed the exact day and time of Christ’ birth in the Bible, Christians would have invariably focused their attention on that date and time, rather than toward Christ; they would end up worship the date rather than the Creator of the universe, God the Son.
As for Christmas celebration, anyone, who names the name of Christ as their Lord and Savior and is a true born-again Christian of the New Testament Theology Does Not worship Christmas nor anything traditional associated with it. Their object of worship is and always will be, Christ and the Triune God of the Bible.
Dr. Walter Martin always used to say about the 2nd coming of our Lord:
“The important thing is not when He comes, but that He comes.”
I declare the same maxim that:
The important thing is not when He came, but that He came.
§ Christmas Tree
Hebrew Root Cult and their legalist associates claim that Christmas tree is a pagan practice. They pull their polemics using the following passages:
Isaiah 40:19, 20
As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, A
goldsmith plates it with gold,
And a silversmith fashions chains
of silver. He who is too impoverished for such an offering
Selects a tree that does not rot; He seeks out for himself a skillful
craftsman to prepare an idol that will not totter.”
Isaiah 44:12-19
“The man shapes iron into a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strong arm. He also gets hungry and his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary. Another shapes wood, he extends a measuring line; he outlines it with red chalk. He works it with planes and outlines it with a compass, and makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of man, so that it may sit in a house. Surely he cuts cedars for himself, and takes a cypress or an oak and raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow. Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also makes a fire to bake bread. He also makes a god and worships it; he makes it a graven image and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire.” But the rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god.”
They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend. No one recalls, nor is there knowledge or understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then I make the rest of it into an abomination, I fall down before a block of wood!”
Jeremiah 10: 2-10
“Do not learn the way of the nations, And do not
be terrified by the signs of the heavens Although the nations are terrified by
them; For the customs of the peoples are delusion;
Because it is wood cut from the forest, The work of the hands of a
craftsman with a cutting tool. “They decorate it with
silver and with gold; They fasten it with nails and with hammers So that
it will not totter.
“Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, And
they cannot speak;
They must be carried, Because they cannot walk! Do not
fear them,
For they can do no harm, nor can they do any good.”
There is none like You, O Lord;
You are great, and great is Your name in might. Who would
not fear You, O King of the nations? Indeed it is Your
due! For among all the wise men of the nations And
in all their kingdoms, There is none like You. But they are
altogether stupid and foolish In their discipline
of delusion—their idol is wood! Beaten silver is brought
from Tarshish, And gold from Uphaz, The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a
goldsmith; Violet and purple are their clothing; They are all the work of
skilled men. But the Lord is the true God; He is
the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth
quakes, And the nations cannot endure His
indignation.”
Response
As Dr. Walter Martin used to so often cry out: “CONTEXT, CONTEXT, CONTEXT!!”
What is the context of those passages? What is the Object of those passages? Answer: Idolatry!
Let’s define what Idolatry is:
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as: “the worship of a physical object as a god”.
Apostle Paul defines Idolatry and its origin in the book of Romans:
Romans 1:21-28
“For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
“Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
“For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,”
The Jews in the beginning were a tribe that was accustomed to idolatry. Initially, they did not have the understandings of Monotheism, the belief in One God.
As a result of their nature, God put in place His system of theocracy, a restrict system of the laws, rules, and much rebuke when it came to their practices and the way of life. They had to be driven out of idolatry and become convinced of Monotheism.
Passages in Jeremiah, Isaiah and alike were all part of God’s process of rebuking, correcting and directing the Jews to not continue to practice the old Canaanites habits and other Idol worship tribes that they came out of.
Question: Do you know of any Christian that bows down to a Christmas tree (inside the home or outside their home) and worship it? I don’t. I have never seen anyone do that. If they do, then, they are engaged in idolatry. If a Christmas tree, Christmas gift, Christmas light, Christmas decoration and any other elements during Christmas time have become more important than Christ and become the center of people’s lives, then those things have become an idol.
That is no different than a Car, House, Sun, Moon, natural Creation, man-made Creation, etc. If we put anything above our God and worship it, we are practicing idolatry.
What does a Christmas tree represent in a Christian’s home during Christmas?
Just as there are arguments against Christmas trees, there are arguments that support it. God created the nature, which includes tree.
A Tree is not evil. What man does with that tree can become evil. Likewise, Money is not evil, but the love of money is considered the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10). Car, house, possessions are not evil by nature, but the excessive love and adoration for them can become evil, as that love will pull a person toward grief and heartache (metaphorically and literally) and not to mention that it angers the Lord, because it not only pulls people away from God, but it turns that ‘thing’ into an idol, which is an abomination in the sight of our Lord.
The scripture is very clear that in everything, food or drink or practice, we MUST keep Christ at the center of it.
1 Corinthians 10:31
“Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
Colossians 3:17
“Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”
“As God is exalted to the right place in our lives, a thousand problems are solved all at once.” – A.W. Tozer
I agree that there are Christians that pull a Christmas tree to their home, and yet, their hearts are far from God. They may go through the motions of singing or even acting as if they are honoring Christ’s birth during Christmas, and yet their hearts are from God:
Matthew 15:8
“This people HONOR Me with
their lips,
But
their heart is far away from Me.”
If a Christian chooses not to have a Christmas tree, then he or she should have other reasons, than using the earlier passages. HRM cult, use anything to oppose and go against Christians theology and Christian life styles.
Tree in the Scriptures appear numerous times as various symbols, such as Righteousness (Psalm 92:12-15), Strength and Sturdiness (Psalm 92:12-15), Steadfastness that bears fruit (Jeremiah 17:7-8) and others.
Finally, Christmas trees and their decorations have symbolic and Biblical meaning, such as the STAR on the top of the tree representing the star that Magi followed toward Bethlehem (Matthew 2:2), or the GIFTS at the bottom that represents the gifts that Magi brought to Mary and Joseph for Christ’s birth (Matthew 2:11), etc.
Conclusion
Is it wrong to have a Christmas tree? Certainly not based on the arguments we discussed above. Whether a Christian chooses to have or not have a tree is a matter of personal preference. However, the point I want to emphasize is this: not wanting to have a tree should not be based on the Jeremiah or Isaiah passages that we discussed earlier. For that would be based on a totally false hermeneutic and wrong interpretation. Again, those passages are about idolatry and not just brining a tree inside the home and decorate it in the honor of Christ’s Birthday. Choosing not to have a tree should be based on other factual or conscience reasons and certainly should not be based on the faulty arguments and the fear that cults, such as HRM and others impose and imprint on the heart and conscious of the innocent Christians.
ØEASTER
Easter or the Resurrection Sunday is a Christian holiday, where Christians all around the globe celebrate the physical, bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead on the 3rd day. Hebrew Root Cults and their associates attack the name EASTER, claiming its origin is pagan.
Response
Admittedly, the root origin of the word Easter is not completely clear. It is used in German and English languages and the opponent of the name Easter claim it was derived from a pagan goddess Eastre/Eostre. The only place that has some reference to this is in the writings of the eighth-century monk and historian named Bede (673-735AD). Bede’s writing has references to the Eostre goddess by their named Eostre. However, Eostre is not mentioned in any other ancient and antiquity writings. There are no physical hard core elements ever discovered except only in some of the writings of the Bede. Where did Bede get that name from is unknown and cannot be confirmed.
A research conducted by an 18th century German philologist by the name of Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm on the origins of the German name for Easter (Ostern) showed he could not find any link between Easter and the pagan influence, made his final assumption that Ostara (Old High German name) was most likely the name of a German goddess, which was a German mythology. Karl Grimm writing (Deutsche Mythologie (Gottingen, 1835, 3rd ed., 1854, 2 Vols) is the only source that the mythological name of Ostara appears, which again is based on assumption.
Admittedly, the world always tries and attempts to paganise the Christian holidays, Christian traditions and Christian world view. One example is a typical marriage ceremony of the non-Christians. They celebrate and marry in the churches, and yet, void of any Biblical belief in that ceremony. Marriage ceremonies in the churches have become a tradition, varied in their practices by the non-Christian society. And yet, the pastor’s words, reading off the scripture and exchanging of the vows in a Christian environment means nothing to most of the world. Divorce rate is still high; unfaithfulness is still being practiced and loyalty has disappeared for the most part.
Much like Christmas, which is meant to celebrate the Incarnation of Christ (apart from the date controversies) that the secular world has commercialized and utilize to indulge in their worldly passion, Easter Sunday, which is meant to signify the celebration of the Lord Jesus’ resurrection, has also become a secular celebration by the world to indulge the kids with coloring eggs and bunny rabbits, which have absolutely nothing to do with the Resurrection Celebration.
WHAT’S THE FINAL POINT?
Resurrection Sunday is one of the most important and significant of all the holidays for the Christians, as that is at the heart of the Christ’s gospel. As Christians, our love for our Lord is not shaken by the mockery of the world. Nor, should Christian develop hate or bitterness, because the world has inducted non-Christian practices into Christian holidays, such as Resurrection Day and Christmas.
A legalist and bondage driven spirit, such as those emanating from the HRM cults and their supporters tend to become isolated, non-involved and as a result, bear dried up fruit or no fruit at all for the Lord.
Using or not using the name “Easter” does not change the Resurrection fact and the Resurrection Celebration of our God and Savior. Times and culture changes things in terms of their meaning and affects.
However, just like the name Christmas that bears Christ name in it, I suggest the name Resurrection Day to be used more by Christians, in order to signify the significant of the Resurrection Sunday and in order to be a witness to a lost and dying world that is thirsty for the love, affection and the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Inviting friends, family and those that we love to Church on the Resurrection Sunday is an incredible opportunity to share one of the most cataclysmic events in the history of man-kind that changed the course of humanity for all eternity.
We celebrate Christ’s victory over death and sin during the Passion Week proceeding to His physical Resurrection from the dead on Sunday, by remembering the words of the Scripture:
Mark 16:9
“Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons.”
Romans 1:4
“who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,”
Hebrews 2:14
“Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil”
1 Corinthians 15:54-55
“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
1 Corinthians 6:14
“Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.”
- The New Testament Language, Titles
HRM leaders claim that New Testament was not written in Greek, but in Hebrew. As a result, they claim all the Deity Titles and Names such as God, Lord, Jesus, Christ, etc, must be pronounced and written in Hebrew. They attack the Greek and English translations by claiming their creation are of a sinister plot and mock the Greek titles as pagan and English titles of God, Jesus Christ, etc as having their origin from the corrupt and pagan Roman Catholicism.
Response
First of all, the earliest New Testament copies (we don’t have the originals) are all written in Greek. Spoken languages during the time of Christ include Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek as well as Latin. Ever since the Babylonian captivities, Aramaic was more spoken than the Semitic Hebrew. However, all of the linguistic education of that time was based on Koine Greek. From historical facts, we detect that people during the time of Christ were tri-linguist and some quad-linguist; all depending on the region they came from. But at minimum, people spoke 3 languages, Aramaic, Semitic Hebrew and Greek, including the Hellenistic Jews.
Also, the Old Testament manuscripts were translated to Greek around between 300BC – 200BC (the first 5 books – Torah were translated 300BC and then the rest of the Old Testament were translated around 200 BC) before the coming of Christ, by a group of 70 Jewish scholars. They painstakingly translated word by word the Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament and formed them in a very concise and accurate translation, better known as Septuagint. Thus, even the Old Testament version that was used during the time of Christ was mostly in Greek and not Hebrew.
Now, the copies of the New Testament that are available to us run well over 25000 in total and their approximate breakdowns are as follows:
5800 – Greek (earliest 95AD-125AD)
10000 – Latin
9300 – Syriac, Slavic, Gothic, Ethiopic, Coptic and Armenian
The earliest manuscript is in Greek, dating between 95AD-125AD. Since the New Testament Canon was completed in the 1st century (40AD-100AD), the time span of the earliest manuscript is around 25AD. That makes it one of the most accurate manuscripts of the ancient writings, with the accuracy of 99.5%.
Moreover, the entire New Testament can be reconstructed from the church fathers writings, minus about 11 verses.
The main point is this: The earliest manuscripts copies of the New Testaments were all written in Greek and not in Hebrew or Aramaic. There is not one single copy of the Hebrew or Aramaic manuscript that has been determined by the scholars that would date as early or even earlier than the 5800 Greek (some complete, some partial) manuscripts that we have at our possession.
As to the titles, it is quite obvious that since the Greek being the original language of the New Testament, the titles, names and terms will all have to be in Greek. And English titles and take much of their roots from Greek or Latin.
I will only cover the Lord Jesus’ Name in this section; as this is an extremely lengthy topic, deserving an entire thesis by itself.
Jesus
Greek: Ἰησοῦς
Transliteration: Iésous
Noun, Masculine
Definition: God is Salvation or God Saves
Hebrew: Yehoshua, Joshua
Aramaic: Yeshu
Late Latin: Iesus
Middle English: Jehesus
The pronunciation of Jesus Name in Greek is derived from Hebrew. Since Hebrew and Greek use different alphabets and their rules of grammar are different, one can understand the writing and formation of the names and their titles in each language. However as different the two languages are, the transliteration from Hebrew to Greek is extremely accurate and their meanings are exactly the same. Thus, English name “Jesus”, takes its root from Late Latin to Latin, which driving it down to its original root, which is Greek and pronunciation and formation taken from Aramaic and Hebrew.
In summary, Greek language is the language of the New Testament and not Hebrew. Moreover,
God understands the variation of languages in the world and the sovereign Lord knows who is calling Him in what language or ways. Lord knows the intent of each and every person’s heart. There are those cultist and legalists, such as the Hebrew Root Movements and their associates that only want to stick with the Hebrew titles of God and Jesus and mock down the Greek and other languages; and yet, their hearts and minds are as far from Him as is the east from the west!
Lord said of those people:
Matthew 7:21a, 22-23
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven…”
“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”
- Conclusion
Do you see a theme in the above analysis? Do you notice the contrast between Christianity and the HRM cult? It is truly a contrast between bondage and freedom.
Hebrew Root Movement
and their associates are dangerous cults that need to be avoided at all costs;
otherwise the consequences can be dire for their victims. They affect is
like a cancer that spreads through the body of Christ.
Yet, at the same time, as Christians, our job is to pray for those that have been affected by them, love them, reach out to them and help them escape their heretical bondage, so they too can be set free into the liberty that is only in Christ.
If you have been
affected in any way by the HRM teachings, I greatly hope that you would
prayerfully consider the material in this article. It is no accident that
you are here reading this material. Holy Spirit desire is to bring you to
His unfailing truth; and His truth is not based on any religious sets of
dos-don’ts. It is freedom, joy and peace all empowered by the faith
you entrust in Christ’s finished works; which is all by His Grace.
If God had required humans to still work for their salvation, work to maintain their salvation, then Christ died for nothing.
Prayerfully ask the Holy Spirit to show you and give you wisdom as you research each section and in the process, ask the Lord to remove away any emotional dependencies you might have developed in the past, so you can study it with a clear mind, objectively without any pre-supposition.
This work was not an overnight product. It was a labor of love. Long period of research and analysis, with much prayer has gone into this thesis.
Also, pray about each
aspect of the teachings you have been affected by. Seek out the help of
other Christian apologists, theologians, teachers, pastors, elders and other
brothers and sisters in Christ. God put all of us in His Body for the
purpose of edification and support so we can help each other and carry one
another’s burden. Remember, Jesus paid a dear price for yours and
my salvation and He is duty bound to come to help us, when we are in
need. He promised if we ask for wisdom, He will answer. He also
promised that no one will snatch us out of his hand; that’s
security. We don’t need to
worry about working to keep our salvation. His promise is eternal and
unfailing. He is faithful to save
us and is faithful to maintain us in His hand. He is the Faithful God that has
never failed anyone. Trust Him with
your salvation and rest on Christ to keep you and preserve you and to give you
rest. Allow the Holy Spirit to do
His work through you. It is not our
works that counts, but us trusting in His finished works on the cross and
allowing the Holy Spirit to live His precious life through us that counts.
May Lord bless you as you seek His wisdom and continue your growth in His Word.
James 1:5
“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
- Further Study
· For the Manuscript evidence
The book – Evidence that demands a verdict (volume 1 & 2), by Josh McDowell Christian Apologist
· For Hebrew Root Movement - including the HRM Occultic side
o Mike Hoggard
Sermon audio.com
o Sheila Zilinsky
Weekendvigilente.com
o CARM - Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry
carm.org
o Rob Zins
youtube.com/watch?v=wdTxde_shDQ&list=WL&index=74&t=0s
· For Legalism
o Steven Cole – Lesson57: Why Jesus Hates legalism (Luke 11:37-54)
bible.org
o Nick Kennicott – “Many Faces of Legalism”
alliancenet.org
· For Sabbath
o Dale Ratzlaff – author of 'Sabbath in Christ'
nonsda.org/egw/mystory2.html
lifeassuranceministries.org/about.html