The gosple of the Kingdom vs. Hebrew Roots part 2

 

Galatians 2:1-5

1 Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.

² And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.

³ But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised:

⁴ And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:

⁵ To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

 

It’s important to remember that there is only one gospel and this is the gospel that was preached by Paul to the Gentiles. Paul went to Jerusalem (Acts 15) and presented his gospel message to the apostles to get confirmation that what he was preaching was of apostolic tradition. Titus was not compelled to get circumcised even though false Judaizing brethren went to Antioch to spy out the brethren’s liberty and put them under the law of Moses which Paul calls being put under bondage (verse 4).

 

Paul states in verse 5 that he did not give the time of day to these Judaizers so that the real gospel would continue in the Gentile churches. The gospel of the Kingdom is a gospel of liberty in Messiah whereas to put oneself under the law of Moses is to be in a yoke of bondage under that law. These false brethren came in privily with stealth to try and rob the church of their freedom in Messiah. This is important to note also as this is usually how deception creeps into churches. Lets now go to that counsel in Acts 15 and see the clear testimony of the apostles concerning the question regarding the law of Moses.

 

Acts 15:1-11

1 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.

² When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.

³ And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.

⁴ And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.

⁵ But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

⁶ And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.

⁷ And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.

⁸ And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;

⁹ And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

¹⁰ Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

¹¹ But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

The Hebrew roots controversy is nothing new as brethren from the Jerusalem church were already telling Gentiles that unless they be circumcised according to the law of Moses they could not be saved. We see that Paul and Barnabas did not take kindly to this pervasion of the gospel and disputed with them. In verse 5 after Paul and Barnabas went to the Jerusalem church to resolve this issue, the Pharisee’s that were in the church reiterated that the Gentile brethren had to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be saved. Here we see the first Hebrew roots controversy take place, let’s see how it is dealt with.

Verses 6-9, the apostles confer together and after much discussion Peter takes the floor and said that God was putting no difference between the Gentiles and Jews, as both were being purified by faith. Note that Peter didn’t say that their hearts were being purified by the law of Moses. Peter cites Jehovah giving the Gentiles the holy Spirit as evidence that they were on equal footing with the Jews in terms of salvation.

Verses 10-11, this one verse is the kryptonite of the Hebrew roots movement as Peter clearly states that to command the Gentiles to keep the law of Moses is to tempt Jehovah God. They (Judaizers) are tempting God by trying to put the disciples under the yoke of the law of Moses that even the Israelites themselves could not bear. Note that Peter refers to the Gentile believers as disciples too as there is no difference between Jew and Gentile in terms of status before God. Pter says that both Jew and Gentile will be saved by the grace of the Lord Jehoshua Messiah. Grace means “divine gift and benefit, a divine influence upon the heart to lead a holy life”. Grace is God’s free gift to mankind to have relationship with Him and His Son as well as the empowerment of His Spirit to lead a holy life. This gift is given upon faith in the testimony of Jehoshua Messiah (1 John 5).

This should be enough to refute the Hebrew roots movement but just in case some are not satisfied, James the Lord’s brother gives his sentence upon the issue:

Acts 15:13-18

¹³ And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:

¹⁴ Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.

¹⁵ And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,

¹⁶ After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:

¹⁷ That the residue of men might seek after Jehovah, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.

¹⁸ Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.

James in verses 16-17 quotes Amos 9:11-12 which is significant as he is identifying the coming in of the Gentile’s into the church as a fulfillment of bible prophecy that the Kingdom of David is being restored. This is further evidence that there is no separate faith or church for Jew and Gentile but as Jehoshua stated in John chapter 10, they comprise one sheepfold. James makes it clear that Jehovah called out the Gentiles for His name (glory). Please take note that this is without them having been circumcised or keeping the law of Moses. The Gentiles being part of the restored Davidic Kingdom shows that they are kings and priest right along with their Jewish brethren. James said that God had predestined this inclusion of the Gentiles into the Kingdom of David.

James gives his decree:

Acts 15:19-21

 ¹⁹ Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:

²⁰ But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

²¹ For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

First Peter makes his statement that to put the Gentiles under the law of Moses is to tempt God and now James the bishop of the Jerusalem church gives his sentence that the Gentiles believers are not be troubled by the Hebrew roots crowd with their attempts to put them under the law of Moses. James gives a few commandments for the gentile’s observe and these touch on elements from the decalogue (10 commandments) in terms of loving God and our neighbor. James statement that Moses is preached in the synagogue every Sabbath day has been used by the Hebrew roots crowd to suggest that James was saying that the Gentiles will learn the law of Moses as they keep gathering on the Sabbath at the synagogues and then start to keep it. However, this is making an assumption as we need to not come to that conclusion without clear testimony. James is simply stating that the law is heard every Sabbath day as these four prohibitions he is giving the Gentiles is nothing different than what the Jews learned every Sabbath as part of the law. Also, potential Gentile converts would have heard these things as they attended synagogue on the Sabbath day. Nowhere here does James say for Gentiles to go to the synagogues and learn more of the law so that they could eventually keep it all. This is absent from the text so the HR crowd have no leg to stand on here. Also, James later makes a statement that refutes their idea that the Gentiles were to learn the law progressively so that they could keep it.

Acts 21:20-21

²⁰ And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:

²¹ And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.

The rumor going around about Paul, that became an issue, was that he was teaching the Jews who were among the Gentiles that they did not need to keep the law of Moses. The issue here with James had nothing to do with the Gentiles as he says a few verses later (verse 25:

^”As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.”

It is crystal clear that James upholds the Jerusalem council decision in that the Gentiles are not required to observe any such thing (Moses). James restates the things that the Gentiles are required to observe. James says that they wrote and concluded that the Gentiles do not have to observe the law of Moses. The Gentiles not having to keep the law of Moses is the conclusion of the matter according to James. Nowhere in scripture do we see the decision of the Jerusalem council reversed or altered.

If Paul was not teaching Gentiles to keep the law of Moses but yet was teaching them the gospel of the Kingdom then this show that the law of Moses does not equal the gospel of the Kingdom. The Hebrew roots insistence that go back to the law of Moses puts them at odds with the gospel of the Kingdom.

Acts 28:30-31

³⁰ And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him,

³¹ Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.

Paul received all that came to him while he was in prison. This likely included both Jew and Gentile. Verse 31 says he preached to them the Kingdom of God and things concerning the Lord Jehoshua Messiah.

Certainly Paul used the law of Moses and the prophets to prove that Jehoshua was the Messiah

 

Acts 28:23

 

^“And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.”

 

If Paul was not preaching the law of Moses and was preaching the Kingdom of God then the law of Moses is not the Kingdom of God. Yet Paul was using the law of Moses to prove that Jehoshua was the Messiah as He did in Berea (Acts 17;10).

 

Galatians 4:21-26

²¹ Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

²² For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.

²³ But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.

²⁴ Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.

²⁵ For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

²⁶ But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

 

Paul compares the old covenant and new covenant to two women, Hagar who symbolizes the covenant made at Sinai (Mosaic) and Sarah who symbolizes the new covenant instituted by Jehoshua. The old covenant lends itself to bondage as those who put themselves under it are bound to keep all of it. The new covenant however leads to freedom in Messiah and the law is spiritual rather than by the letter. Earthly Jerusalem represents the old covenant and is currently in bondage with her children i.e. Messiah rejecting Jews who are still trying to be justified by the law of Moses. The new covenant is represented by New Jerusalem which is in heaven and is the mother of us all who are in the new covenant. This means we as believers in Messiah do not look to earthly Jerusalem for a anything but rather New Jerusalem which is where our citizenship is (Philippians 3:20). New Jerusalem is free because its citizens recognize that they are free in Messiah and in a better covenant with better promises. The law of Moses, which is Hagar, genders itself to bondage by placing oneself under a heavy yoke which even the forefathers in Israel couldn’t bear (Acts 15:10). To place oneself under the old covenant is to be outside the new covenant and to have your citizenship in earthly Jerusalem not New Jerusalem. It’s no wonder then that the Hebrew roots crowd follows closely and pins their hopes on what’s going on in earthly Jerusalem. In fact, they almost never mention New Jerusalem and downplay or even mock it’s significance.

 

The author of Hebrews actually tells believers not even to bother with earthly Jerusalem and to come out from her spiritually:

 

Hebrews 13:13-14

¹³ Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

¹⁴ For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

 

The context of this passage is to come out of the abolished Levitical system of worship with its animal sacrifices done in the temple in earthly Jerusalem. The author of Hebrews clearly says that we as believers in Messiah have NO continuing city here, specifically speaking of earthly Jerusalem. For us, we seek the city to come which Jehoshua said is New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven unto the new earth (Revelation 3:12).

 

Galatians 4:30-31

³⁰ Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.

³¹ So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

 

Paul says that the children of the bondwoman (Hagar) will be cast out and not have inheritance with the freewoman (Sarah). This inheritance is the Abrahamic covenant which is the land grant promised to Abraham that is fulfilled in the new heavens and new earth with New Jerusalem as its capital (Hebrews 11). Those still under the old covenant Mosaic law will not have part in the Kingdom to come because they have rejected the new covenant brought in by the Davidic King Jehoshua. They have chosen to be citizens of earthly Jerusalem and thereby be in bondage rather than citizens of New Jerusalem and thereby free in the Son of God.

 

Paul says that believers in Jehoshua are not children of Sinai i.e. the old Mosaic covenant and earthly Jersusalem but rather children of the freewoman i.e. New Jerusalem which is our mother and the much more glorious new covenant.