Messianic Jewish Emuna: Redemption
“So are we Jews better off? Not entirely; for I have already made the charge that all people, Jews and Gentile alike, are controlled by sin. As the Tanach puts it, ‘There is no one righteous, not even one! No one understands, no one seeks God, all have turned away and at the same time become useless; there is no one who shows kindness, not a single one! Their throats are open graves, they use their tongues to deceive. Vipers’ venom is under their lips. Their mouths are full of curses and bitterness. Their feet rush to shed blood, in their way are ruins and misery, and the way of shalom they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:9-18)
This portion of scripture really shows the necessity of redemption in our lives from a life of sin, by the blood of our Rabbi Yeshua. Rabbi Shaul in the beginning of the portion shows us that just being Jews does make us any better off than gentiles, but rather we just alike because we are all human and all controlled by sin. We all need the Messiah in our lives and we need to reject all sin, darkness and wickedness that will just cultivates the grounds of our hearts for the seeds of darkness to grow.
“Moreover, we know that whatever the Torah says, it says to those living within the framework of the Torah, in order that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world be shown to deserve God’s adverse judgements. For in his sight no one alive will be considered righteous on the ground of legalistic observance of Torah commands, because what the Torah really does is show people how sinful they are.” (Romans 3:19-20)
In our observance of Torah we cannot have a legalistic mindset in thinking that we will obtain salvation, or maintain our salvation strictly by observance of the commands. The Torah reveals to us the sin in our lives and the need for redemption and atonement which we have received from Yeshua our Messiah. (Romans 6:23) “For what one earns from sin is death; but eternal life is what one receives as a free gift from God, in union with Maran Yeshua the Messiah.”
Who is greater than the God of Israel, who has given us such a precious unconditional free gift, Yeshua the Messiah who is the light of the world, the way the truth and the life, and the perfect example of a sinless Torah lifestyle.
“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth, so that you have a sincere love for your brothers, love each other deeply, with all your heart. You have been born again not from some seed that will decay, but from one that will not decay, through the living Word of God that lasts forever. For all humanity is like grass, all its glory is like is like a wildflower – the grass withers, and the flower falls off; but the Word of HaShem lasts forever. Moreover, this Word is the Good News which has been proclaimed to you.” (1 Kefa/Peter 1:22-25)
By putting our Emuna (faith and trust) into the redemptive work of atonement that was fulfilled by the Lamb of God Yeshua, we purify ourselves by obeying the Word which is the Good News. As purified born again believers, we need to live a holy lifestyle just like our Messiah did, which is given to us in the Torah. Rabbi Hillel, a great Torah teacher from around the time of Yeshua was once approached by a gentile who wanted the Rabbi to teach him the Torah while he stood on one foot, the Rabbi’s answer to him was “That which is hateful to you, do not do unto others. The rest is just commentary; now go and study.” This is the same as when Yeshua said you shall love your neighbour as yourself. We are a holy community and we, just like any other human expect others to respect and honour us especially when we are sharing the Good News of the Messiah and His Torah (teachings) but we are commanded to love one another and just as Rabbi Hillel commented, we should not do to others what we would consider hateful to us.
A very sad reality is that the Messianic Jewish community is divided in many aspects and even the communities of the various sects of Judaism and Christianity and this is not the will of God because we all should be one just as the Yeshua and the Father are one. What we all have in common in one way or another is the Torah; whether it is observed fully or partially, we all have read it and have applied its morals to our life in one way or another. Even our secular governments and legal systems have elements of the Torah of the God of Israel. The fullness of the Torah however is not how many of the commands we all follow or how well we may think we follow them, but rather it is love that is the fullness of the Torah. (Yochanan/John 3:16) “For God so loved the world that He gave His only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed.” Our Father in Heaven has shown us His ultimate expression of love by giving us His Son Yeshua as an atonement for sin, even though we are undeserving sinners. If God can show that much love for the undeserving sinners of the world, then who are we to show anything other than love to the sinners of the world, most people don’t even show true love to their brothers and sisters in faith, this is missing the mark of fullness of the Torah, in other words, it is sin. Just as Kefa/Peter stated in the portion of scripture above “have a sincere love for your brothers, love each other deeply, with all your heart”, this does not mean a secular worldly love that is insincere, but rather it is the love from God, true love which we covered in the study of Essential Love. All of us, Messianic Jews, and the other sects of Judaism and Christianity need to stop looking for ways to divide from each other just because of vain issues that will pass away with this world, but rather we need to unite in the Torah (teachings) of God and the Messiah of Israel, Yeshua. Our Rabbi Yeshua commanded to love each other, the Torah (teachings) of God commands us to love each other, this is the Torah of God, are you truly living it?
“Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, of all deceit, hypocrisy and envy, and of all the ways there are of speaking against people; and be like newborn babies, thirsty for the pure milk of the Word; so that by it, you may grow up into deliverance. For you have tasted that HaShem is good.” (1 Kefa/Peter 2:1-3)
Categories: Emuna, Jewish Studies, Mashiach
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