Hebrew Roots

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Hebrew Roots is a movement of modern-day Christians and Jews partnering together and returning to the perspectives and beliefs of first-century faith.

The Hebrew Roots movement widely distances itself from the Messianic Jewish movement^{[citation needed]} and strongly emphasizes the completion of the unified "House of Israel"^{[citation needed]} in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus), made up of both Jews and non-Jews alike. Hebrew Roots teachers do not believe they have replaced "natural" Israel, but have become a co-heir and equal member of God's chosen people through the blood of Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah.^{[citation needed]}

Some Hebrew Roots teachers assert that returning to the mindset of the first century church will provide deeper and more authentic insights into Hebrew idioms and first century cultural understandings^{[citation needed]} lost when Constantine made "Catholicized Christianity" the official religion of Rome around 325 C.E., at the First Council of Nicaea, outlawing Sabbath observance and introducing into the Christian church a myriad of pagan customs^{[citation needed]} and Greek viewpoints still found in certain churches today.

[edit] Theology and the Faith of Abraham

The theology of the movement is explained through a Hebrew understanding of the role of Torah (traditionally the first five books of the Bible) as "Teaching and Instruction," a word that most Greek interpretations shorten to "Law." This socio-cultural interpretation has caused the contemporary Christian church not to use Torah to a great extent in discipleship.

The movement advocates a return to Torah observance, including keeping the Sabbath and celebrating the feasts and festivals of God. This is not advocated out of legalistic bondage similar to some earlier Messianic movements, but because adoption and ingrafting into Israel has now made it the right of every born again believer in Jesus the Messiah to participate in the lifestyle of the Israelite people. (see also Christian Torah-submission)

Hebrew Roots teachers emphasize the adoption of all believers in Jesus Christ into the faith of Abraham, often called in the Bible the "Unified House of Israel;"^{[citation needed]} made up of Jews and Non-Jews who maintain faith in Jesus Christ while maintaining strict adherence to the Torah, God's Teaching and Instruction, as a lifestyle of faith and love. This, Hebrew Roots Teachers contend, is the same message that was taught by the Apostle Paul and other New Testament writers.

[edit] History and critics

In Jeremiah, God gave the northern kingdom of Israel a writ of divorce (Hebrew "get") for her idolatry and told her that he would scatter the nation to the ends of the earth (Jer. 3:8), a promise fulfilled in the Assyrian conquest and dispersion of the nation. The Southern Kingdom, made up of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and half of the tribe of Levi, was exiled for 70 years but returned to the land of Israel under the leadership of the prophet Ezra. However, God promises in the last days to unite "the stick of Ephraim" and "the stick of Judah" (Ezekiel 37:15-28), ending a 3000 year long separation between the ancestors of the 10 and 1/2^{[citation needed]} northern tribes called "Ephraim" or "The House of Israel" (Jer. 31:31) in the Bible, and the 2 and 1/2^{[citation needed]} tribes of the southern Kingdom that are commonly known as "The House of Judah" (Jer. 31:31) in Bible accounts.

Hebrew Roots teachers believe that their ancestors may be made up of the 10 lost tribes that are now returning as was prophesied in the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Isaiah after being culturally assimilated into every nation and language listed in the Genesis account of the table of nations.^{[citation needed]} However, they see this fact as unnecesssary to the status of one's covenant with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They teach that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob accepts all who repent in faith and turn to Him for deliverence.

Critics contend the movement resembles British Israelism,^{[citation needed]} a complex theory dependent on direct ethnic descent from the Ten Lost Tribes exiled from Israel after conquest by the Assyrian Kingdom in 721 B.C.E. Critics are also apprehensive that the movement is closely related to Replacement Theology, which states the church has replaced ethnic Jews as God's chosen people. However, Hebrew Roots teachers have unanimously and strongly denounced both these beliefs as flawed theories.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] God's teaching and instruction

Proponents of Hebrew Roots teachings^{[citation needed]} believe Christians have the testimony of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, but are often found innocently to be living lawlessly (1 John 1:9) according to the erroneous idea that Jesus died to do away with the Torah by fulfilling it.

Hebrew Roots teachers further believe^{[citation needed]} that Jews have been the safekeepers of God's Teaching and Instruction (the Torah), but have not yet recognized Jesus as the Messiah, and will not do so as an entire nation--until the full number of former Gentiles has come into faith in Jesus and begins following the discipleship of the Torah.

Prominent teachers in the movement include Rabbi Ralph Messer of STBM in Denver, Colorado; Pastor Nick Plummer of Beit Tehila Congregation in Brandon, Florida; Pastor Curtis Taylor of Beit Lechem Congregation of Grand Junction, Colorado; Rabbi Stan Farr of Kehilat Sar Shalom (St. Paul, Minnesota) and Beth Yeshua (Duluth, Minnesota); and Rabbi Edward Chumney of Hebrew Heritage Ministries International, Strassburg, Ohio.