The Positive Aspects And Hidden Dangers
of the Jewish Roots Movement (Pt. 5)
Rock of Offence Special Commentary
Examining a Problem that has Plagued
the Church Since the First Century
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This is Part 5 of a seven-part Bible study.
Click on the links below for the next part
or return to the homepage.
Pt. 1
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Pt. 2
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Pt. 3
Pt. 4
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Pt. 6
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Pt. 7
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The Indwelling Presence of
God's Holy Spirit Now
Replaces the Previous
Program of Old Testament
Law Based on the Torah
If God has truly annulled Old Testament law (and He has) ... something must take its place. Scripture reveals that the Spirit of God is the living and holy embodiment of the previous written law of the Torah (or "the letter"). When the Holy Spirit arrived to indwell the 120 believers gathered in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2) - they are receiving 'the Holy and Living embodiment of the law' ... without its curses and condemnation for sin which were removed through the cross. Sin, that originally prevented us from obtaining eternal life, received its power from the previous program of the law (or law of the Torah). It continued to govern only until the crucifixion of Christ and the arrival of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2.
But ... sin loses all of its power
to condemn us when the law is
permanently 'taken out of the way
and nailed to the cross of Christ'.
This is why God now offers eternal
life as His free and unmerited
gift (Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 6:23,
Romans 4:4-8). Another name for
this new divine program is ...
'Grace'
which literally means;
God's-Riches-At-Christ's-Expense
As a result, the law now operates in its new and living role through "the administration of the Spirit'. But, before this could take place, the old written institution of the law found in the Torah (known as "the letter or the Law of Moses") - along with the sin and condemnation it empowered - had to be "taken out of the way and nailed to the cross" (Colossians 2:13-14). This is why the Apostle Paul told all believers in the Church;
"There is therefore now no
condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus."
For the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus has
set me free from the law
of sin and death.
(Romans 8:1-4)
Paul is revealing an amazing truth.
The Christian can no longer be condemned for breaking a law that God has previously 'annulled'. As Hebrews 7:11-22 clearly points out; God had to annul (invalidate) the previous program ... since He now considers it to be obsolete after the 'New Covenant' was initiated through His Son's death on the cross (Hebrews 8:6-13).
God - through the prophets Ezekiel, Isaiah
and Jeremiah - gives us a preview of this
future 'administration of the Spirit'
that Jesus would set into motion at the
cross. This new administration changes
all the previous Old Testament rules that
govern how salvation is obtained and kept.
"Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." (Isaiah 43:19)
"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—-not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.
But this is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after
those days, says the Lord:
I will put My law in their minds,
and write it on their hearts;
and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord.
For I will forgive their iniquity,
and their sin I will remember no
more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
Important Note: God offered the New Covenant to Israel first, which is why the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, whose words are repeated by Paul in the 8th chapter of Hebrews, seems to indicate that it is only intended for "Israel and the house of Judah”. However, after Israel rejected Christ’s salvation, as described by Paul in Acts 13:44-52, God “went around” their disobedience and extended the incredible spiritual benefits of the New Covenant, revealed by Jeremiah, to all Gentile races - who He now brings into the New Testament Church beginning at the house of Cornelius in Acts chapter 10 (as previously discussed in this study).
Shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus
provides even more information to His
disciples about what the cross would
accomplish - and the role of the Holy
Spirit in His future New Covenant
administration.
"And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." (The words of Jesus from John 14:16-17)
The arrival of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2) set into motion what Paul refers to as 'the administration of the Spirit.' Scripture also refers to this new administration as;
The New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6-13)
The law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1-4)
A Better Hope (Hebrews 7:18-19)
The new and living way of Christ
(Hebrews 10:19-23)
A Massive and On-going
Spiritual Crime and
Coverup
When anyone attempts to subvert or overthrow an earthly system of government, the courts often refer to it as treason. Yet, many church leaders (but thankfully not all) and even whole denominations are doing the same thing within Christendom. Through skillfully designed sermons using out-of-context Scripture, they subvert or redefine Christ's new governmental law (the New Covenant) connected to His position as the believer's High Priest (Hebrews 7:11-22).
From the perspective of these
ministers, this action must be
taken to protect their own
ministry (or the reputation of
a denomination) that would
otherwise be discredited ...
if their followers ever discovered
that God did indeed 'take the
law of the Old Testament out of
the way'.
An overwhelming majority of Biblical teachings within Christendom are based on the very system of laws that God declared - by royal edict - to be 'annulled' through the cross of Christ. The credibility of countless personal ministries and whole denominations is at stake, which is why this internal 'war over doctrine' continues today and can be traced all the way back to the first century. Contrary to popular opinion; it's not something new.
Anyone who claims to 'believe the Bible' should know that this 'subversion or perversion of the gospel' was condemned by the ruling apostles of the Church in Acts chapter 15. It involved the practice of illegally merging Old Testament Judaism (ruled by the law of the Torah) with New Testament Christianity governed by Grace. In other words, Christ's New Covenant is declared to be just a continuation of the Old Testament program of the law (or the law of the Torah) - where both continue to operate. A few years later, this same theology nearly destroyed the faith of an entire congregation under the care of the Apostle Paul. As a result, Paul was motivated to write his 'Epistle to the Galatians' in an effort to stop the error and warn future generations. This is why various modern-day Bible scholars refer this condemned theology as; 'Galatian religion or the Galatian error'. Some go even further and call it; the Galatian heresy.
However, despite Paul's best
efforts the theology he
condemned in his epistles
now dominates Christendom.
As a result, a majority of modern-day Christians embrace what they believe to be 'the gospel of Christ' ... but is actually one of the many variants of 'Galatian religion’. In the first century, the Galatian Church was introduced to this doctrine by certain 'Jewish evangelists' - who insisted that obedience to the law of the Torah (or Old Testament Law) - in addition to faith in Christ - was necessary to obtain true salvation. Yet, this belief is condemned by the Apostle Paul, which is why his New Testament teachings are often ignored or 'explained away' by the modern-day counterparts of these first century 'Jewish evangelists' (also called 'Judaizers').
Hebrew roots theology is closely
related and in many cases nearly
identical to the Galatian religion
that Paul condemned in his
Epistles to the Church.
The Hebrew Roots Movement,
Along With All Other
Expressions of Abberant
Christian Theology, Ignores
or Totally Rejects This
'Royal Decree' From God's
Throne Concerning the Change
of the Priesthood and its
Law
Unthinkable consequences of an eternal nature immediately take place when ministers reinsert the law of the Torah into their evangelistic message ... after God takes it 'out of the way'. The first thing that happens is that the finished work of Christ at the cross is made void (or meaningless). The Apostle Paul said it this way ...
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2:20-21 - Note: The word vain means that Christ's sacrifice becomes meaningless.)
The first warning that this 'illegal reinsertion of the law' has taken place occurs when church leaders insist (or subtly suggest) that God deals with sin the same way today (after the cross) - as He did before the cross during the administration of the law. Various Old Testament Scriptures are cited that demonstrate how God hates sin and severely punishes all sinners. We are falsely led to believe that God continues to treat sinners the same way today ... and hasn't changed from the way He treated sinners under the Old Testament law of the Torah. Yet, there's one overlooked problem with this popular brand of theology:
The Lamb of God took away the sin
of the world at the cross and
changed all the previous rules
concerning how God treats sin
and the sinner.
The error of the Hebrew Roots
movement - along with nearly all
other expressions of counterfeit
Christianity and Galatian religion,
occurs when they base their faith
on a system of laws that God has
declared to be 'taken out of the
way, nailed to the cross' and is
therefore ...
'Obsolete'
(Colossians 2:13-14, Hebrews 8:6-13)
This is why God's proclamation of
the law's annulment in His Royal
Decree of Hebrews 7:11-22 becomes
the official dividing line between
true Christian doctrine and the
error of Galatian religion and all
forms of 'Judaized Christianity'.
For all those who seek truth, the danger here is obvious. How does God respond when we approach Him using an obsolete system of faith? Answer: We are in severe danger of experiencing God's rejection, while being convinced that we possess true salvation. Rejection occurs when we seek to be saved through the old system of religious law that God no longer honors - rather than through Grace and true faith in Christ that is now based on the New Covenant. The Apostle Paul said it this way;
"You have become estranged (separated/cut-off) from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; You have fallen from Grace." (Galatians 5:4 - Emphasis Added)
It is certainly correct to say that God hates sin. However, He hated sin so much - and loved the sinner so much - that He sent His Son to permanently take it away.
In the following paragraphs we will discover how this 'new and living way of Christ' is designed to operate. (Hebrews 10:19-23)
The Pauline Revelation Reveals
How the New Administration of the
Holy Spirit Permanently 'Seals'
the Believer and Guarantees Their
Salvation Until Christ Returns
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
One of the most striking differences between Old Testament Judaism (the religion of the Torah) and New Testament (or New Covenant) Christianity is what Paul refers to as ‘the sealing of the Holy Spirit’.
This ‘sealing’ was only possible
after the cross ... and after the
arrival of the Holy Spirit on
the day of Pentecost, which
officially started the new
'Administration of the Spirit'.
"In Him (Jesus Christ) you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession (given to all true believers), to the praise of His glory." (Ephesians 1:13-14 - Also Read About “God’s Guarantee” In 2 Corinthians 1:22 and 2 Corinthians 5:5)
According to the New Testament, the instant you believe on Christ through the Gospel - you are both saved and sealed with the Holy Spirit through a faith - apart from works - until the day of Redemption. This is a future day when Jesus returns and fulfills His promise of eternal life by transforming your body from a mortal state - to immortal - and removes you (at the rapture) from the earth to live with Him in heaven. (Romans 4:4-8, Ephesians 1:13-14, John 14:1-3).
After the cross, the Apostle Paul provides more insight into this incredible security, which is only available - not through the law of the Torah, but only through the cross of Jesus Christ and the New Covenant it initiated. When the Holy Spirit comes to indwell the believer’s body, Scripture refers to it as “sealing”. You could envision this event as the Holy Spirit entering your house (or body) - locking the door behind Him and throwing away the key. For God, it’s a one-way trip, where he doesn’t change His mind. This is why Jesus said that once His Spirit enters – He stays forever. Paul stated this truth in the following way;
"For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. [He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call.]" (Romans 11:29 Amplified Bible)
When an individual is sealed in this manner - it is to 'permanently protect and preserve' something of great value. In this case the sealing protects our inheritance (or salvation).
God performs the sealing
only once, when we first
believe ... or place our
faith in Christ. The seal
remains in force until
Jesus returns on the day
of our redemption.
(Ephesians 1:13-14)
Contrary to some popular, yet wrong church teachings ... we are not sealed, and then unsealed when we sin ... and then sealed again when we confess our sin and repent. Confessing and turning away from sin should be performed for other important reasons. Yet, under the New Covenant of Jesus Christ and according to the words of both the Lord Jesus Christ and Saint Paul - the failure to perform these acts does not have the power to unseal the believer, where the Holy Spirit leaves - resulting in the loss of salvation. When our Heavenly Father uses the word 'eternal' in describing His gift of 'eternal life' - He means exactly what He said. This New Covenant “sealing”, which is only available after the cross, is the reason Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will come to live in you ...
AND WILL ABIDE (REMAIN)
FOREVER (John 14:16-17)
We must always remember that in whomever the Holy Spirit resides, eternal life (or salvation) also resides. This is why, under the Old Testament program of Judaism (or the Old Testament program of the Torah), when the Holy Spirit left an individual, He always took salvation with Him. This is why King David, after his sin with Bathsheba, pleaded with God "not to take His Holy Spirit from him". Jesus had not yet died on the cross ... which also meant that the Holy Spirit would now depart from anyone who sinned - or broke the law of the Torah.
But, all of this changed
after the cross.
Many within Christendom illegally merge or combine Old Testament Judaism (or the religion of the Torah) with Christ’s New Covenant. This is why many insist that salvation is conditional and can be lost if we misbehave (or fail to obey the law).
Yet, Jesus changed all of these
previous Old Testament rules when
He took the law out of the way
and nailed it to the cross.
(Ephesians 2:11-22 and
Colossians 2:13-14).
For those who read and properly interpret the Bible, this is wonderful news. But, to those who dogmatically hold to the various popular expressions of a ‘Christianized brand of Judaism and Hebrew Roots theology' (theologians call it 'Galation religion'); these words are offensive.
More detailed information is available HERE
Christ's new 'administration of the Spirit' offends overly religious people because it contradicts their Old Testament brand of ‘Christianized Judaism' based on Torah law ... which they are convinced is authentic Bible-based Christianity. It teaches a conditional salvation that opposes the Grace-based changes Jesus brought into existence through His sacrificial death at the cross. Critics attack the Grace of Christ (God’s unmerited and undeserved favor) by labeling it ‘the false doctrine of eternal security’. Others label it a heresy known as ‘Once Saved Always Saved' which often travels under the acronym; OSAS. However, it is certainly not a false doctrine or a heresy. According to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, the core benefit of His redemption is the eternal, or never ending and ever abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life. The Holy Spirit represents the life of God, which is why His presence also brings eternal (or everlasting) life.
Is it really eternal (or everlasting
and forever) as Jesus said; or did He
lie about these things?
It's shocking to see how many professing Christians refer to themselves as ‘Bible-believers’ yet refuse to believe what the Bible (and in this case the Lord Jesus Christ), said would take place as a result of the cross. These blatant assaults on the core truth of our salvation expose the dangerous and misleading nature of what is often referred to as 'Judeo-Christianity, Biblical Christianity, Holiness theology, Calvinism, Messianic Judaism and Hebrew Roots theology'. Yet, we now know that these popular sytems of religious faith do not represent authentic Christianity – but a counterfeit brand of 'Christianized Judaism’ that is condemned in the New Covenant - and the Pauline Revelation.
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This is Part 5 of a seven-part Bible study.
Click on the links below for the next part
or return to the homepage.
Pt. 1
---
Pt. 2
---
Pt. 3
Pt. 4
---
Pt. 6
---
Pt. 7
Return To Home Page
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