This is an accusation posed by many
Jewish apologists, or anti-missionaries, since the 2nd century. The question of the validity of Yeshua’s
claim to be the Messiah of Israel is less based on the scriptures themselves, than on traditional Christian doctrines that are supposedly based on
those scriptures. These doctrines which claim, among other things, that Yeshua “fulfilled” the
law, so the law is now done away with.
That through His crucifixion, He has “set us free” from the law and we
are under no obligation to keep it; that the commandments of the Old Testament
have been replaced with the commandments of the New Testament. So how do we answer this question in such a
way that satisfies the Jewish apologist and maintains the integrity and
consistency of the entire body of scripture?
The first thing that we must
realize is that all of scripture, from Genesis to Revelation is the word of
God. And that all the scriptures must be
self consistent and all doctrinal teachings of the Church must be inline with
them. For example, if a doctrine or
teaching is consistent with one part of the scriptures, say the words of Paul
the Apostle in the New Testament, those same doctrines and teachings must also
be consistent with the words of Moses the deliverer in the Old Testament. The basic problem and reason for the
development of contradictory doctrine is the failure to understand the
important Jewish or Hebraic concepts which are transmitted to us in the Greek
language of the New Testament writings; a language foreign in every way to the
language, culture and religious concepts of the Jewish people and therefore to
the 1st century disciples and to Yeshua Himself.
Essentially what we have in the
Greek New Testament are foreign concepts being transmitted in a language that
does not best translate the same religious and cultural concepts. As an example and guide to understanding the
Greek New Testament we refer to the Septuagint, the third century BCE
Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures.
In the Septuagint we have a guide as to what Greek words are used to
translate the Hebrew original. By
carefully examining the chosen words, we can then examine the Greek New
Testament to derive the true meaning of the teachings of Paul and the rest of
the writers of the New Testament and ascertain their Hebrew cultural
perspective and understanding.
So let’s try to answer the question
of Yeshua being a false prophet by examining the scriptures using this premise.
Deuteronomy 12:32 NKJV 32 "Whatever I command you, be careful to
observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.
We are not to create new
commandments, nor are we to cancel out any existing commandments. What is a
commandment? When we think of a
commandment, we tend to think of something akin to a hard and fast law or rule
that is not to be breached in any way.
This is true, but in the Hebrew there is a slightly different but all
too important difference in the definition.
The Hebrew word translated most often as commandment is מצוה pronounced mitzvah. It is defined in the Strong’s as:
#4687. מצוה mitsvah,
mits-vaw' from 6680; a command, whether human or divine (collectively,
the Law):--(which was) commanded(-ment), law, ordinance, precept.
#6680. צוה tsavah,
tsaw-vaw' a primitive root; (intensively) to constitute,
enjoin:--appoint, (for-)bid, (give a) charge, (give a, give in, send with)
command(-er, -ment), send a messenger, put, (set) in order.
The concept of mitzvah in the
Hebrew mindset would be better understood if it were translated as precept,
ordinance or good works as defined in the Jewish Encyclopedia.
A false prophet would be one who
takes away or adds to God’s word, or commandments. But from the early 2nd
century onward, the Gentile (Greek and Roman) followers of Yeshua have done
exactly that! A central doctrine of
mainstream Christianity since the 2nd century is that Yeshua has set us “free”
so we are no longer obligated to follow the commandments (Torah or Law). Christians generally equate following the
commandments as defined in the Torah to be “legalism.” This stems from the belief that Jewish
theology teaches that in following the commandments one will achieve salvation.
This is not the case and never has been.
We misunderstand this because of our misunderstanding of the Hebrew
concepts being transmitted by the use of the Greek language that is foreign to
the original Hebraic religious concepts.
In this way, from a Jewish theological perspective, Christianity has
been guilty of taking away from God’s word. We selectively uphold certain commandments, or
precepts/ordinances contained in the Torah and totally dismiss others, all to
suit our preconceived, long standing ideas, customs and doctrines. When we present a teaching that Yeshua
“fulfilled” the law, that is the commandments of the Torah, and as a result of
this fulfillment, we do not have to keep those same commandments, then we are
presenting to the Jewish people and to the entire world, by Biblical
definition, a false prophet! Naturally
the Jews will reject Yeshua as so presented, because we show them a Messiah who
violates Torah, the very word of God!
In Christendom, we have a Bible which
we believe to be the Word of God. In it, is the entirety of the Jewish
scripture known as the Tanakh. The
Tanakh is made up of three parts: The Torah, which is the first 5 books of
Moses, the prophets and the writings. If
we believe that it, what we call the Old Testament, along with the New
Testament, Matthew to Revelation is, in its entirety, all the Word of God, then
why do we reject or ignore the major part of its teaching? And when reading the story of the exodus of
the Children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt,
it is central to note this very important point: The Torah (Law) was not given to
them while still in Egypt,
in bondage and slavery, but was given to them AFTER they were redeemed from
their bondage! AFTER they passed through the waters (a kind of baptism) of the Red
Sea! The Torah, the
commandments, were given to a people already redeemed!
So what is this Torah (law)? Torah,
in Hebrew means precept or statute:
#8451. תורה towrah,
to-raw' or torah {to-raw'}; from 3384; a precept or statute, especially
the Decalogue or Pentateuch:--law.
It is derived from another Hebrew
word, which means to flow as water. When
used as an archery term it means to shoot.
It also means to point out or to teach:
#3384. ירה yarah,
yaw-raw' or (2 Chr. 26:15) yara; {yaw-raw'}; a primitive root; properly,
to flow as water (i.e. to rain); transitively, to lay or throw (especially an
arrow, i.e. to shoot); figuratively, to point out (as if by aiming the finger),
to teach:--(+) archer, cast, direct, inform, instruct, lay, shew, shoot,
teach(-er,-ing), through.
You can think of the Torah as
divine instruction or teaching from God.
Sin comes from another Hebrew word,
chattah which means to “miss the mark.”
The Torah is not a way to achieve
salvation, but is a set of instructions, precepts or teachings in
righteousness. It is God’s divine
instruction on how to live a sanctified life after salvation has already occurred!
It is how we are to live out our lives
before the one true God AFTER He has redeemed us from our slavery to sin! It is how we can draw near to Him, have a
relationship with Him and be holy as He is holy. What then, are we to do with this Torah? We are to keep it, of course! Yeshua set the example and showed us the way,
the truth and the life! Remember what He
said in John 14:15
John 14:15
NKJV 15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments."
So the natural question is, what are His commandments? To discover what His commandments are, we need to look no further than the entire passage in John 14 beginning in verse 7, through verse 21.
John 14:7-21 NKJV 7 "If you
had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him
and have seen Him." 8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father,
and it is sufficient for us." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with
you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen
the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 "Do you not
believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak
to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does
the works. 11 "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or
else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. 12 "Most assuredly,
I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and
greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 "And
whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified
in the Son. 14 "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. 15 "If
you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 "And I will pray the Father, and He
will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever-- 17 "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. 18
"I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19 "A little while
longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live,
you will live also. 20 "At that day you will know that I am in My Father,
and you in Me, and I in you. 21 "He who has My commandments and keeps
them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and
I will love him and manifest Myself to him."
Right off the bat in this passage
Yeshua is stating that He and the Father speak as one. Yeshua and the Father are
of one mind and one purpose. They are
literally one! The Hebrew word is echad:
#259. אחד 'echad,
ekh-awd' The Hebrew concept of
this word is a combination of a plural and singular form. You could think of this concept as a kind of “composite
unity”.
Yeshua said in verse 7, “If you had
known Me, you would have known My Father also”. In verse 10 He states that His words are not
His own but are the words of the Father. If His words are not His own but are the words
of the Father, then His commandments are the commandments of the Father! Just look again at verse 21. Yet there are many people, when looking at the
commandments of Yeshua, will look no further than Gospel passages such as that
found in Matthew 22:34-40 or the parallel passage in Mark 12.
Matthew 22:34-40 NKJV 34 But when
the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.
35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,
36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 37 Jesus
said to him," 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with
all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 "This is the first and great
commandment. 39 "And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor
as yourself.' 40 "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the
Prophets."
Here Yeshua is quoting a passage of
scripture that is commonly known as the “Shema”. It is a central teaching in Judaism and a
part of a prayer recited everyday by every observant Jew, both in Yeshua’s day
and to this day as well. It is found in
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and Leviticus 19:18.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NKJV 4
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 5 "You shall love
the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
strength. 6 "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
7 "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of
them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down,
and when you rise up. 8 "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and
they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 "You shall write them on
the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Leviticus 19:18 NKJV 18 'You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any
grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as
yourself: I am the LORD.
Yeshua said in verse 40 of Matthew
22 above, “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” The
primary misunderstanding here is that Yeshua was not expounding His own “new”
commandments with this statement, but what He was doing was giving a summation
of the entire Torah. He did this on other
occasions as well, such as that found in Matthew 7:12
Matthew 7:12 NKJV 12 "Therefore, whatever you want men to do
to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
In the opening chapter of the
Gospel of John, it is clear that Yeshua and the Father are one. Again think of the Hebrew concept of
echad. The Apostle John writes that
Yeshua was with the Father in the beginning, from the foundation of the world!
John 1:1-14 NKJV 1 In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the
beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing
was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. 6
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a
witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He
was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the
true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. 10 He was in
the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as
received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who
believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of
the Father, full of grace and truth.
Yeshua IS the living Word of God! He IS the commandments! Never once in the New Testament is it
recorded that Yeshua taught His disciples to abandon any of the Torah or
commandments. What He fought against was
the common practice by the Jewish leaders of adding to the commandments with
extra burdens and requirements not found in scripture. He lived and breathed the Torah day in and
day out. The early believers were
keepers of the commandments, just as Yeshua and the Disciples taught them. This is shown in the Book of Acts where Paul
is speaking before the Apostles in Jerusalem.
Acts 21:18-20 NKJV 18 On the
following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.
19 When he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done
among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 And when they heard it, they
glorified the Lord. And they said to him, "You see, brother, how many
myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the
law;
And they were “all zealous for the
law (Torah)!” WOW! Now if Yeshua had taught His disciples to disregard
any of the commandments, then He could not possibly have been the Messiah and
the Son of God! Such actions and
teaching would have made Him a liar and a false prophet as defined in the
Torah, the Word of God itself. Something
to think about isn’t it?
שלום ברוך
Shalom and Be Blessed
Dan & Brenda Cathcart
Visit our web site at www.moedministries.com
