B"H
As the Admin. of the forum I was inspired to take this opportunity to make an exception to our normal restriction on lengthy posts and share an at-length d'rasha that I taught at our synagogue on this subject that I believe will be helpful here, and for Messianic Judaism in general...Feel free to comment on my teaching.
Just as Yochanan (John) 3:16 is one of the most famous and well-known scriptures amongst believers in Messiah Yeshua, Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:4 is one of the most famous verses in Judaism. What does it say?..."Sh'ma, Yisra'el! ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI echad - Hear, O Yisra'el! The LORD our God, The LORD is one". Since the giving of
at Mt. Sinai, this has been at the pinnacle of Judaism's statement of faith. Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:35 states, "This was shown to you, so that you would know that HaShem is God, and there is no other beside him." It this monumental truth that the Jew is supposed to be a witness of. In fact, on the each sefer
the last letter on the word "shema", the ayin, is enlarged, and the last letter of the word "echad", the dalet, is enlarged. The two enlarged letters together spell "eid", which means "witness".
In Judaism, when it comes to belief in the true God, and rejecting all other beings proclaimed as God...it is a foundation that is strongly defended, and rightly so. Therefore, if a Jewish person who believes in the God of Yisra'el hears someone speaking about "Jesus" or "Yeshua" as God...this naturally creates problems for the Jewish person that stands on the truth that there is only one God and refuses to believe in another foreign god. When mixed with the message that "Jesus" or "Yeshua" is the promised Messiah...for most Jewish people it is a no-brainer...the message is to be rejected. And, can we really blame them? After all, they are just striving to be faithful Jews, and they are only rejecting what they see in scripture as a contradiction. In fact, to the observant Jewish person, to reject the message of a Messiah that someone also claims to be a god...would even be considered a great mitzvah to perform, and in a way, by rejecting this message...it is a confirmation that such a one is a faithful Jew.
Because of how Christianity has historically described Yeshua (Jesus)...it is one of the number one objections to why a Jewish person won't even consider Yeshua as The promised Mashiach (Messiah), as seen in the TeNaKh. For in their minds, to accept Yeshua as The Messiah, and as God...would mean that they would be guilty of either idol worship or of worshipping another god. In addition, to the Jewish person, the doctrine commonly taught that the three persons, God The Father, God The Son, and God the Holy Spirit, are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, and who are co-eternal is a confusing and foreign concept to have to accept as a pre-requesite to believing that Yeshua is The Messiah. And, even though it is also taught that the three compromise one God...speaking about three, yet equal Gods that comprise one God, still seems wrong for many Jewish people, as it paints a picture of a monstrous three-headed God. And, because much of Christianity seems to make the belief that Jesus is God to be one of the pre-requesites in their statements of faith, and because no-where amongst the Messianic prophecies as found in the TeNaKh does it make it a pre-requesite to salvation, that is, to beleive that Messiah is actually God...it is a major stumbling block to a Jewish person accepting Yeshua as their Messiah.
So, when did this doctrine become such a defining and foundational part of the Christian faith? It wasn't until 325 CE that the Council of Nicea set out to officially define the relationship of the Son to the Father and established the doctrine of the "trinity" amongst the "church". But, if these things weren't even clearly defined as a doctrine for believers in Messiah to adopt as part of their definitive statement of faith until the third century...and it was certainly not well defined in the 1st century amongst Jewish believers coming to Messiah, and it wasn't a prerequisite to belief in Messiah in the 1st century amongst those preaching the B'sorot Tovot (Good News)...how is it that today we would require a Jewish person who would consider Yeshua as The Messiah to first believe these deep and mysterious concepts to qualify them as a true believer in Messiah, or for them to be truly "saved" in many people's eyes?
Where does the scriptures ever make this requirement or statement...namely that one must believe that Yeshua is God in the flesh to be saved, or to be considered a true believer? Isn't this more of an advanced understanding that they would study and come to understand later? The Emissary Sha'ul's (Paul's) letters were not circulating in collected form until the end of the 1st century CE and the full cannon of scripture that we understand as the "Brit Chadashah", "the New Testament", or "the Apostolic Scriptures" was not fully compiled and agreed upon until around the 3rd century CE. And again, the concept of the "trinity" wasn't fully developed and universally accepted by the "church" until around the third century at the council of Nicea. Prior to this in the 1st century CE we read the following account in Acts 21:20 which states, "On hearing it, they praised God; but they also said to him, "You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of believers there are among the Judeans, and they are all zealots for the
". So, we see tens of thousands of
observant Jews who were coming to faith in Yeshua The Messiah and there was no prerequesite to believe the Yeshua was God to qualify them as believers or for salvation. But, if the subject of Yeshua being God in the flesh wasn't made an integral part of the Message of the Good News and wasn't made a salvation issue in the 1st century, than why do many denominations, including both Christian and Messianic, seem to be doing this today?
What was being taught as the Message of the "Good News" in the first century, which resulted in one's salvation if someone trusted in it? The book of Acts 2:21-39, 47 presents us with an accurate description of this original message that was going out, as we see it being proclaimed on the day of Shavu'ot (Pentecost). It says; "...whoever calls on the name of HaShem will be saved."' "Men of Yisra'el! Listen to this! Yeshua from Natzeret was a man demonstrated to you to have been from God by the powerful works, miracles and signs that God performed through him in your presence. You yourselves know this. This man was arrested in accordance with God's predetermined plan and foreknowledge; and, through the agency of persons not bound by the
, you nailed him up on a stake and killed him! "But God has raised him up and freed him from the suffering of death; it was impossible that death could keep its hold on him. For David says this about him: 'I saw HaShem always before me, for he is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. For this reason, my heart was glad; and my tongue rejoiced; and now my body too will live on in the certain hope that you will not abandon me to Sh'ol or let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the ways of life; you will fill me with joy by your presence.'
"Brothers, I know I can say to you frankly that the patriarch David died and was buried - his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him that one of his descendants would sit on his throne, he was speaking in advance about the resurrection of the Messiah, that it was he who was not abandoned in Sh'ol and whose flesh did not see decay. God raised up this Yeshua! And we are all witnesses of it! "Moreover, he has been exalted to the right hand of God; has received from the Father what he promised, namely, the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit); and has poured out this gift, which you are both seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into heaven. But he says, 'HaShem said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."' Therefore, let the whole house of Yisra'el know beyond doubt that God has made him both Lord and Messiah - this Yeshua, whom you executed on a stake!" On hearing this, they were stung in their hearts; and they said to Kefa and the other emissaries, "Brothers, what should we do?" Kefa (Peter) answered them, "Turn from sin, return to God, and each of you be immersed in the authority (name) of Yeshua the Messiah into forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit)! For the promise is for you, for your children, and for those far away - as many as ADONAI our God may call!"... And, vs 47 states, "...And day after day Adonai kept adding to them those who were being saved".
In Acts 5:29-32 we read, "Kefa and the other emissaries answered, "We must obey God, not men. The God of our fathers raised up Yeshua, whereas you men killed him by having him hanged on a stake. God has exalted this man at his right hand as Ruler and Savior, in order to enable Yisra'el to do t'shuvah (repentance) and have her sins forgiven. We are witnesses to these things; so is the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), whom God has given to those who obey him." And, in Acts 10:36-44 we are told, "Here is the message that he sent to the sons of Yisra'el announcing shalom through Yeshua the Messiah, who is Lord of everything. You know what has been going on throughout Y'hudah, starting from the Galil after the immersion that Yochanan proclaimed; how God anointed Yeshua from Natzeret with the Ruach HaKodesh and with power; how Yeshua went about doing good and healing all the people oppressed by the Adversary, because God was with him. "As for us, we are witnesses of everything he did, both in the Judean countryside but and in Yerushalayim. They did away with him by hanging him on a stake; God raised him up on the third day and let him be seen, not by all the people, but by witnesses God had previously chosen, that is, by us, who ate and drank with him after he had risen again from the dead. "Then he commanded us to proclaim and attest to the Jewish people that this man has been appointed by God to judge the living and the dead. All the prophets bear witness to him, that everyone who puts his trust in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." Kefa was still saying these things when the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) fell on all who were hearing the message".
This was the simple message; it was the proclamation to turn from our sins (breaking God's mitzvot), and that Yeshua was the promised Messiah who died for our sins, resulting in our salvation. I am not saying that I am denying that Yeshua The Messiah is God manifested in the flesh...This is a deep spiritual truth that if one looks closely...I believe definitely can be found throughout the scriptures. I am only saying that we shouldn't make such a mystery a prerequisite to salvation, or make it a stumbling block, to the Jewish people who may otherwise consider Yeshua as The Messiah of Yisra'el, when the scriptures themselves and the original Emissaries of Yeshua didn't do this.
But, even if we don't present the stumbling block of The Messiah being God in the flesh when speaking to a Jewish person about Yeshua being The Messiah...inevitably because of what most Jewish people have been told about Yeshua for so long...they will present the common objection; “Jews don't believe in a trinity, we believe in one God, not three”. At this point, we do need to address the objection and do some explaining. For Yochanan (John) 1:1-2 states, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning". Yochanan (John) 1:14 goes onto say, "The Word became a human being and lived with us, and we saw his Sh'khinah, the Sh'khinah of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth". From these passages we can see that it says that Yeshua is the "Word" of God, and that the "the Word was God".
Furthermore, speaking of Yeshua The Messiah Collosians 1:14-17 states, "It is through his Son that we have redemption - that is, our sins have been forgiven.
He is the visible image of the invisible God. He is supreme over all creation, because in connection with him were created all things - in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, lordships, rulers or authorities - they have all been created through him and for him. He existed before all things, and he holds everything together". Again, these are some deep spiritual truths, but not salvation prerequisites. So, how do we speak to a Jewish person who doesn't believe in Yeshua, and who will immediately reject a message that says he is God, while still being true to what the scripture says about these things?
The simple answer to their objection, when they say they won't believe in any other God than the God of Yisra'el, is to explain to them that just as people probably misunderstand what they personally believe when it comes to God...so too it is conceivable that a non-Messianic Jewish person may misunderstand what we believe. First of all, we need to make it clear that we don't believe in three separate God's, we believe in only the one true God, the God of Yisra'el. We believe what the Shema states, “Shema Yisra'el, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai echad”. God is one! While we stand firm in our mono-theism, and to our faithfulness to the God of Yisra'el, we can also explain that we also believe a few deep spiritual truths that teach us that God has several different aspects to His being. We believe that our one God reveals himself in several different and specific ways that could be described as different manifestations of the one God of Yisra'el. God the Father of all, often manifests himself through the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), but He also has chosen to manifest Himself through HaMashiach (The Messiah).
The scriptures speak of Mashiach as the “Arm of The Lord”. The Jewish sages have also understood this to be a description of The Messiah, so why would we want to understand it any differently? As apposed to Yeshua (Jesus) being one of three Gods, we see him as being what the scriptures call him, “The Arm Of The Lord”...simply just a different part of the same God. If The Messiah is truly "The Arm Of The Lord", than what is the problem with understanding from the TeNaKh that The Messiah is simply a part of the one true God? A few examples where we see the Arm of The Lord equated with Adonai's salvation (in Hebrew: Yeshua) are as follows...
Yesha'yahu (Isaiah) 51:9-10 states, “Awake! Awake! Arm of HaShem, clothe yourself with strength! Awake, as in days of old, as in ancient generations! Wasn't it you who hacked Rahav to pieces, you who pierced the sea monster? Wasn't it you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; you who made the sea bottom a road for the redeemed to cross?” In Yesha'yahu (Isaiah) 52:7-10 we read, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, proclaiming shalom, bringing good news of good things, announcing salvation and saying to Tziyon, "Your God is King!" Listen! Your watchmen are raising their voices, shouting for joy together. For they will see, before their own eyes, HaShem returning to Tziyon. Break out into joy! Sing together, you ruins of Yerushalayim! For HaShem has comforted his people, he has redeemed Yerushalayim! HaShem has bared his holy arm in the sight of every nation, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation (Yeshua) of our God”. The passage says, “for they will see before their own eyes, HaShem returning to Tziyon”. What will they see? The passage says, “HaShem has bared his holy arm in the sight of every nation, and all the ends of the Earth will "see the Salvation (the Hebrew word there is “Yeshua”) of our God". So, who will they see?? The Hebrew says they will see "Yeshua".
Furthermore, in Yesha'yahu (Isaiah) 53:1 we read, “Who believes our report? To whom is the arm of HaShem revealed?”. So, the question we need to ask our Jewish friends is, how is the arm of Adonai revealed to you? And, if it is truly The Arm of Adonai, isn't the arm directly a part of The Lord?? Think of Messiah as representing Adonai's Arm. He is not separate, but a part of God. We can ask the question, "Is your arm separate from you?" Of course not, it is one part of your anatomy. It literally is an extension of yourself. So too is it with Adonai. I believe this also has its connections to Yeshua The Messiah when he is referred to as the "Son Of God", a mysterious title that is used at least 45 times throughout the Apostolic scriptures. Although when we review some of our previous scripture passages and we also take a look at the Hebrew word for "son", the Hebrew word "bein" has the general meaning of "son (as a builder of the family name)". When we look into the etymology of this Hebrew word "bein" we find that it comes from the Hebrew root "banah", which means "to build". As The Arm Of The Lord, the "bein" is what Adonai uses to build and create. Indeed, "The Son Of God" is the primary builder of Malchut HaShamayim (The Kingdom Of Heaven) and of the family name. When the scriptures describe Yeshua The Messiah, it often uses building terms. Acts 4:11 states, ""This Yeshua is the stone rejected by you builders which has become the cornerstone". In fact, the word "stone" in Hebrew (eben) shares the same root as "bein", the Hebrew word for "son".
Therefore, just as an arm is part of the same being, so too, in the spiritual realm, the Son is part of The Father, as the Father uses "The Son" to accomplish His work. The fact is, the Shema teaches us that Adonai is “echad”. The Hebrew word “echad” actually can communicate a compound unity, such as one cluster of grapes – several grapes belonging to one cluster. B'midbar (Numbers) 13:23 states, “They came to the Eshkol Valley; and there they cut off a branch bearing one (echad) cluster of grapes, which they carried on a pole between two of them”. If God didn't have some type of plural aspect as evidenced in the Hebrew of B'reishit (Genesis) 1:26 where it says, “Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, in the likeness of ourselves...” than another Hebrew word could have been chosen to describe an absolute unity. Moses Maimonides expresses this for us clearly when he said that the Jewish people must believe that God is “yachid”, an “only” one, as apposed to "echad", which can communicate a compound unity. This was stated no doubt as an over-reaction to the perception amongst the Jewish people that Christians worshiped three gods.
The following are a few things that will be helpful for both ourselves and our non-believing Jewish friends to understand. The Hebrew Bible speaks of God occasionally manifesting himself on Earth, apparently in human form at times. Yet, as God, He sits enthroned in the highest heavens. How can both of these things be true? The Hebrew Bible makes reference to God's Word as a concrete entity, worthy of praise, sent on divine missions, and active in the world. What is meant by this “Word”? The Hebrew for “word” is “davar” and it can mean “word, thing, or matter”. So, in Hebrew thought the Word Of Adonai could manifest itself as a "thing".
The Targums, the Aramaic versions of the TeNaKh that were read in many of the ancient synagogues, used the word “memra” (Aramaic for “word”) all throughout the Targums to describe Adonai's interaction with mankind. Because they understood that man couldn't deal directly with Adonai without dying, they understood that their had to be some type of intermediary that was directly connected to Adonai. Therefore, the Targum translations use the word “memra” hundreds of times as an intermediary throughout the scriptures to describe Adonai's interaction with mankind. A few examples of the contrast between what is stated in the Hebrew and what is stated in the Aramaic Targums are as follows:
B'reishit (Genesis) 1:27 states, “God Created man”. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan states, “The Word Of The Lord created man”. B'reishit (Genesis) 6:6-7 states, “And it repented HaShem that he made man on the earth”. The Targum states, “And it repented HaShem through his Word that he made man on the earth”. B'reishit (Genesis) 9:12 states, “And God said, “This is the sign that I set for the covenant between me and you.” The Targum says, “And the Lord said, This is the sign that I set for the covenant between my Word and you”. Shemot (Exodus) 20:1 states, “And HaShem spoke all these words”. The Targum states, “And the Word of HaShem spoke all these words”. Devarim (Deuteronomy) 31:3 states, “HaShem your God will pass before you”. The Targum states, “HaShem your God, his Word will pass before you”.
Again, there are many more examples of this thus showing the Jewish thought that God's "Word" acts as an intermediary between God and His people. One last striking example of this is in B'reishit (Genesis) 28:20-21 where it reads; “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then HaShem will be my God.” The Targum says, “If the Word of HaShem will be with me...then the Word of HaShem will be my God.”. Dr. Michael Brown states the following about this; “The Word of the Lord will be Jacob's God! And this was read in the synagogues for decades, if not centuries. Week in and weak out, the people heard about this walking, talking, creating, saving, delivering Word, this Word who was Jacob's God.”.
In reading the Targums you will also see that the rabbis did a similar thing with the word “Shechinah”. For example, in Shemot (Exodus) 25:8 God says that he will dwell in Yisra'el's midst. The Targum translates this to mean his Shechina will dwell among them. In Shemot (Exodus) 24:9-11 it states that Moshe (Moses) and a group of Yisra'elites saw God, who lived and didn't get stricken down. But, how does the Targum handle this? It says that what they saw was “the glory of God”. Why is this important to understand? Because, the idea that Yeshua is described in the scriptures as the “word of God made flesh” would not have been too foreign to many of the Jewish people of Yeshua's day. These Targums were read by many Jewish people in Yeshua's day...So, the concept of the following passage making regular use of the phrase "the Word" and "Shechinah" in Yochanan (John) 1:1-5 would have not been completely out of the question and takes on a new significance when compared to the Targums and how the Emissary Yochanan (John) chose to describe Messiah Yeshua to the Jewish people of the 1st century.
It says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing made had being. In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not suppressed it.”. And, in Yochanan (John) 1:10-14 it goes on to speak more of the “Word” of Adonai as it states, “He was in the world -- the world came to be through him -- yet the world did not know him. He came to his own homeland, yet his own people did not receive him. But to as many as did receive him, to those who put their trust in his person and power, he gave the right to become children of God, not because of bloodline, physical impulse or human intention, but because of God. The Word became a human being and lived with us, and we saw his Shechinah (Glory), the Shechinah (Glory) of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth.”.
In conclusion, as we fulfill the great commission and making talmidim (disciples) of all the Nations, as Yeshua The Messiah exhorts us to in Mattityahu (Matthew) 28:19-20, including making talmidim of our people Yisra'el for Yeshua our Master, we are to proclaim the B'sorot Tovot (Good News) to them and what Messiah Yeshua came and accomplished on their behalf to secure their salvation. And, instead of complicating the Message of the Good News, we should present Messiah to our people, as the Jewish Emissaries did before us, as "The Son Of God", "The Arm Of Adonai", "The Word Of Adonai" and even the "Shechinah" or the "Glory" of Adonai, who suffered and died on behalf of our people Yisra'el. We should make sure we point to the TeNaKh and even to some of the traditional writings of our people when speaking of these things to present an authentic case within a Jewish context that we are advocating for the Jewish Messiah, The Word Of God...The Intermediary for the One True God, The God of Yisra'el.
Shema Yisra'el, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai echad!
to Moses. And I threw that book away rather than keep it or give it to someone else when we were done as I came to view it as pure evil.
C
