Why should Christians learn about Jews and Jewish traditions? The answers to this question can not only be informative and enlightening, it can also be somewhat challenging because it forces us to rethink centuries of tradition and stereotyping regarding Christianity and Jews. In this lesson, we want to answer the question, “Why Jewish Roots?”
Most do not realize there was a vital connection between Christianity and Judaism that was severed by the Christian church centuries ago. Once that severing took place, biblical Judaism and biblical Christianity, which God intended to be one, went their separate ways with tragic consequences for both.
But we are living at a time when the Lord is calling both Jews and Christians back to their biblical roots. The biblical root of Christianity is Hebraic. “Hebraic” is not a word that we commonly use in Christian circles. It sounds old and foreign.
The word Hebrew simply means to “cross over” and refers to the fact that Abraham crossed over the Euphrates when he left his land for the land God promised him. There God made an everlasting covenant with Abraham which Christians have become part of through faith in Jesus.
So, the phrase “Hebraic/Jewish roots of Christianity” simply means there were 2,000 years of Hebrew history, culture, language, traditions and customs that were the roots from which Christianity grew. In order to understand the New Testament the way the writers’ intended for us to understand it, we must study it within the context of its Hebraic/Jewish roots.
It was a Jewish rabbi from Tarsus, known as the apostle Paul, who wrote these words to the Christians in Rome, “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning...” (Romans 15:4).
Paul also wrote to those same Christians, “Do not boast against the branches (Jews). But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root (the Hebraic origins of our faith), but the root supports you (Christianity)” (Romans 11:18).
The root is the origin, the cause, and the source that establishes and gives life to that which is attached to the root. The more we learn about our Hebraic/Jewish roots, the more fruitful we can be in our Christian lives.
Discovering the Hebraic/Jewish roots of Christianity can bless us in many ways. I have listed some of the more obvious ways in the following discussion.
While we Christians in America view life with a Western mind and worldview, the Bible was written by Abraham’s descendants who had an Hebraic culture, language, and worldview. This presents a real problem and challenge. We have a Middle-Eastern book that we seek to understand from our Western culture.
It is difficult for Westerners to understand the Middle-Eastern culture and worldview from which the Bible was written. It is foreign to us. Furthermore, the Western mind has been more influenced by Greek philosophy than Hebrew thought. This is why it is important to study the Hebraic/Jewish roots of Christianity.
Reading the Bible through Hebrew eyes gives us a fuller, richer, and clearer understanding of the text. It enlarges, clarifies and gives detail to the meaning of what we are reading.
Most of us are familiar with the 3-dimensional drawings that have recently become popular. When you first look at these drawings, you only see them a certain way on the surface. But if you look past the surface, you can see a full rich, background of detail that you would never know was there otherwise. You are seeing it through the eyes of the artist. It is simply a matter of perception.
When we see the stories of the Bible through Hebrew eyes, the Bible become much richer, deeper, and clearer with more detail than we could ever imagine. We gain new, and powerful insights and clarity of vision and understanding because we perceive the Bible through the eyes of the writers.
2. Exciting New Insights About the Teachings of Jesus
While Christians have a good understanding of the divinity of Jesus, few know Jesus the man. Every culture makes Jesus over into their own image. Westerners get upset when they discover that Jesus was not a European. Religious groups get upset when they discover that Jesus was not a member of their denomination. The PLO is trying to make Jesus into a Palestinian.
Jesus was a Jew born into a Jewish family in the Jewish village of Bethlehem in the land of Israel. His heritage was Hebraic and He kept all the laws of God as well as the customs and traditions that honored God and benefited people.
Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day and was dedicated to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the Temple in Jerusalem (Genesis 17:12; Leviticus 12:3; Luke 2:21). Jesus was raised in Nazareth in a very poor Jewish family (Luke 2:24). He had four step-brothers and two step-sisters (Matthew 13:55-56).
Jesus read the Jewish Scriptures (Luke 4:16-21), spoke Hebrew (Acts 26:14), wore Jewish clothes (Matthew 9:20), ate only biblically kosher food (Matthew 26:26-28), kept the Jewish Sabbath (Luke 4:16), celebrated the Jewish feasts (John 7:1-10, 37-39), followed Jewish customs (Matt. 8:1-4), and lived His entire life as a Torah (Hebrew for law)-observant Jew (Matthew 2:22-23; Luke 2:39-40).
Jesus ministered as an itinerant rabbi to the poor and needy (Isaiah 61:1-2; Luke 4:16-21). He performed miracles similar to those performed by other rabbis plus other miracles ordinary rabbis could not perform (Isaiah 35:4-6; Matthew 11:1-6). He presented Himself as the Jewish Messiah and Savior to the Gentiles (John 10:22-23). Jesus was rejected as Messiah by a small handful of powerful Sadducean priests (Matthew 27:1,20; Luke 2:22), but the masses gladly followed Him (John 11:47-50,53).
Jesus’ followers were Jewish. They worshipped on Saturday (the biblically appointed day), attended the Synagogue and kept the feasts. They acknowledged Jesus as the Jewish King and Messiah, wrote the “Jewish” New Testament, and lived a Torah-observant lifestyle (Acts 21:20).
When the church was taken over by the Gentiles, the Jewish believers were forced to deny their Jewishness and conform to the Greco-Roman beliefs and practices, which were being incorporated into the organized church. The Jewish believers either conformed or stayed to themselves and practiced their New Testament Judaism in secret. They were not accepted by rabbinic Judaism nor by Gentile Christianity.
Some Jewish believers assimilated into the Gentile church while others maintained their Jewish identity until the fourth and fifth centuries when they passed from the scene. For that time, until the late nineteenth century, the New Testament Jewish way of life ceased to exist. Jewish believers thereafter had little choice but to become part of the anti-Semitic, Greco-Roman, Gentile led church.
Jesus and all His early followers were Jews who were deeply rooted in the rich Hebraic soil of their ancestors. They thought, taught, and lived out of this soil. It should be obvious that when we Christians study the Hebraic/Jewish background and culture of the New Testament we will gain exciting new insights about Jesus.
Other than Jesus Himself, the apostle Paul is probably the most misunderstood person of history. Both Christians and Jews believe Paul was an anti-law Jew who established a Gentile brand of Christianity that was different from his ancient faith. We learn otherwise when we study Paul’s writings.
Paul was a Jew whose name was Sha’ul, the Hebrew form of the name Saul. He was born into a Jewish family of the tribe of Benjamin in Tarsus. He was circumcised according to the law, considered himself a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and was a zealous Pharisee (Philippians 3: 5-6).
Because Paul was an extraordinary student, he was taken to Jerusalem where he was privileged to study under Gamaliel, who was the leading moderate Pharisee teacher of his day. Gamaliel was the grandson of the great rabbi and teacher, Hillel. Gamaliel had about 1,000 students in Jerusalem and Paul was at the top of the class. Paul was fluent in both Hebrew and Greek (Acts 21:37-40).
Years after becoming a follower of Jesus, Paul circumcised Timothy (Acts 16:3), regularly attended synagogue (17:2), took a Jewish vow (18:18), hurried to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Pentecost (18:21; 20:16), paid for other Jews to offer sacrifices at the Temple (21:23-27), and claimed to have kept the laws and customs of his people (25:8; 28:17).
Furthermore, Paul assumed the Christians in Corinth would celebrate the Feast of Passover and exhorted them to do so in the proper attitude (1 Corinthians 5:6-8). This certainly does not sound like one who was against the law of God. Because of the misunderstanding of the meaning of law, and its role in the life of the Jews, Paul is accused of being anti-law.
Yet Paul wrote, “Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good” (Romans 7:12). He said, “For we know that the law is spiritual...” (vrs. 14). He also said, “For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man” (vrs 22).
When we realize who Paul was and the background and education he had, certainly we see the need to study what Paul studied, our Hebraic/Jewish roots, in order to understand his letters as he intended for us to understand them. We must do our best to put ourselves in his culture and think his thoughts. If we study Paul through our Western eyes, we will certainly misunderstand him. Unfortunately, this is what our early church fathers did, and they passed down their misinterpretations of Paul from one generation to the next, even to our own times.
Another benefit of studying our Hebraic/Jewish roots is a clearer comprehension of God’s plan of redemption and prophetic seasons. These are best understood in the Feasts of the Lord. While Christianity considers the Feasts as “Jewish” holidays, they are actually the Lord’s holidays He gave to the Jews as teaching aids for all believers (Leviticus 23).
The major moves of God in the Bible happened on Feast days, which were spiritual pictures of God’s redemptive work in Jesus. Jesus not only kept every feast, He accomplished all of His redemptive activities on Feast days.
Jesus was crucified on Passover, buried on Unleavened Bread, and resurrected on Firstfruits. He sent the Holy Spirit on the Feast of Pentecost and will return at the Feast of Tabernacles.
The seven Feasts of the Lord are visual aids teaching believers the seven steps of redemption in our walk with God. Passover teaches us how to find peace with God through Jesus, our Passover Lamb. Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits teach us how to identify with Jesus in His burial and resurrection so we can walk in the fruit of the Spirit. Pentecost teaches us the necessity for the power of God to live under the Lordship of Jesus.
Trumpets teaches us that Jesus is the Horn of our Salvation who gives us victory in spiritual warfare. Through the Feast of Atonement, we learn that Jesus cleanses us as we humble ourselves and repent of sin. Finally, Tabernacles teaches us that Jesus is our rest and source of joy as we trust and obey Him.
The Feasts of the Lord also teach us God’s prophetic seasons so we can discern the times in which we are living. The reformation was the prophetic season when God used Martin Luther to restore the spiritual reality of Passover to the church. God restored Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits with the Wesley’s. God restored Pentecost at the turn of the 20th century. God is now restoring Trumpets and Atonement in preparation for Tabernacles and His soon coming.
When we understand our Hebraic/Jewish roots, Christians will know how to walk with God. We will realize that salvation has a definite beginning, a specific process, and a glorious ending both personally and corporately.
We will be able to discern the spiritual times and seasons in which we are living and what this means for our lives. This will help us move forward from what God did in the past to what God is currently doing in His on-going work of redemption.
One last benefit of studying our Hebraic/Jewish roots is being a better follower of Jesus. Paul reminded Timothy that the “Holy Scriptures” makes us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:15).
The only Scripture available in Paul’s time was the Hebrew Scriptures, the First Testament of the Bible. The New Testament did not become Scripture until later. Studying the Hebrew Scriptures makes us wise for salvation through faith in Christ [Messiah] Jesus. But the Hebrew Scriptures were not written in a vacuum. They were written in a Hebraic culture that carried them through the centuries to the first century and time of Jesus.
By the time of Jesus, the Hebrew Scriptures were organized into three divisions. These were the Torah (Law of Moses), the Nevi’im (Prophets), and K’tuvim (Psalms). After Jesus was resurrected, He said to His disciples, “ ... These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me” (Luke 24:44).
Luke then adds, “And He [Jesus] opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ [Messiah] to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things’ ” (Luke 24:45-48).
Jesus said that the Hebrew Scriptures were about Him. Then He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures. That is, He taught them how the First Testament, with all of its surrounding culture, pointed to Him.
Jesus wants to open our understanding in this same way. He wants us to learn the Hebraic/Jewish roots of our faith so we can know Him better and be better disciples.
Jesus also said to two of His followers, “ ... ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?’ And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:25-26).
Luke explains, “Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him. ... And they said to one another, ‘Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?’ ” (Luke 24:31-32).
When we learn our Hebraic/Jewish roots, the Spirit of the Living God will open our spiritual eyes to know the real Jesus more clearly and more intimately. His words will burn within our hearts with a fresh fire that cannot be quenched.
The Bible will open up to us with a richness and depth that will inspire and energize us. We will better understand God’s Word and be able to discern the prophetic times and seasons in which we are living. May God make it so!
A. Why do you believe the Lord is calling believers back to their Hebraic/Jewish roots?
B. What significance or impact do you think this will have on the Christian church in
general?
C. How can you apply this lesson to your life?