There are a lot of 'Messianic'-type groups that have popped up over the last several years. Where do you fit—what do you think of Messianic Judaism, Hebrew Roots, Torah Observant, Pronomian Christianity, One Torah, Two House, Black Hebrew Israelites, dispensationalist Charismatics, etc.?

In order to answer this question, we have to go back to the concept of Biblical Faith. I explain the background for this in What is a Judeo-Christian?  and Where is God Taking Us? When a person's heart is awakened to the reality of the continuity of Judaism and Christianity as one story and one faith in the One true God, all kinds of questions naturally arise about many of the teachings and practices with which they were raised; and many of these groups began simply as attempts to answer these questions. On the one hand, this is a good and natural thing—because it helps us learn; but it also opens the door for Satan to create doubt and introduce error. This is where good, solid scholarship of the Bible is key: we have to go back to the Word of God, and study it in its original language and context to get God's original roadmap for His people.

I would say the biggest difference between what I call a Judeo-Christian and all of these other groups is the understanding of what the Torah is foundationally and our relationship to it. Most Christians don’t realize that the Judaism of today is not the Judaism of the Bible—the rabbis even agree that this is the case. Modern Talmudic Judaism began with Pharisaism, which developed during the Maccabean Period and persisted through Jesus’ day; after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D., it evolved into the Judaism that we know presently. The main feature of Talmudic Judaism is its focus on the attempt of a perfect, hyper-literalistic obedience to the Mishnah discussed in the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmudim; this is the codified version of the ‘oral Torah’ (these traditions were finally cemented into place as 613 laws by Moses Maimonides, a medieval Jewish scholar). See What Do We Mean By ‘Torah Observance’?, our Jewish tradition article from the FAQ page, and this blog post for more details.

Many people who call themselves Hebrew Roots/Torah Observant have followed the spirit of Talmudic Judaism in that they view ‘Torah observance’ from a hyper-literalistic perspective, believing that the Torah is a set of rules creating a debt we must pay in order to keep God happy and/or receive salvation. This is not our approach. We believe that any proper obedience to the Scriptures—the Torah included, is enabled by and results from our relationship with YHWH through the Holy Spirit, having come into covenant through Yeshua. It is a love-filled, grace-oriented response of worship to YHWH’s love for us displayed in His reconciliation with us by Yeshua’s death on the cross. Furthermore, there are many places in Scripture that require a deeper understanding beyond a plain reading of the text in order to figure out what YHWH is wanting from us and why. In the Upside-Down Kingdom and in Paul Misinterpreted?, I outlined four ‘filters’ we can use when studying Scripture to get to the bottom of pretty much every passage where the LORD is issuing a commandment to us:

  1. Use the ‘lens of love’: analyze what the commandment is asking and figure out God’s love for us through it, as well as how He may be asking us to love others as we approach this commandment.

  2. Who is the commandment speaking to and what is its purpose?

  3. What is the context of the commandment?

  4. Does the New Covenant have an influence on how this commandment is interpreted?