From:          Hefley MSgt Larry M
To:              heb_roots_chr@hebroots.org
Subject:       RE: Israel = ONE PEOPLE (natural born and adopted)


>
>Eddie,
>
>Thank you very much for your response.  This new information is blowing me
>away and it is nice to discuss this with someone who believes that the Torah
>has the same standard of righteousness as the New Testament.
>
>The next question that begs asking is where do you draw the line?  If there
>is no difference between Jew and Geyr in their standard of righteousness,
>then what is the practical purpose of the letter in Acts 15.  If for example
>a Geyr is working on Shabbot, and it is brought to his attention that it is
>a sin using the procedure of Matt 18, is he then required to change (repent)
>or get kicked out of the congregation, just like a Jew?  In this case, the
>letter in Acts 15 seems worthless.  Or if the Geyr is allowed to continue as
>he chooses in this case, is it then acceptable for a Geyr to never go any
>farther than the 4 initial commands of Acts 15? This has been basically the
>position of the Gentile Church.  One sage of Traditional Judaism gives one
>year to finish studying and convert, but I know of no such line in the
>Bible.
 >
>Eliyahu Hefley
>
>

   Eliyahu,

   I believe that the best way to BEGIN to answer your question is to
give you the Hebraic/Jewish background of the events of Acts 15 and
to share with you the BIG issue which was being discussed.

     There was / is a Jewish expectation that when the Messiah would
come that non-Jews would join themselves to the Jewish people, accept
the Jewish Messiah , embrace the Torah and worship the God of Israel.
Exactly how all of this would come together was / has always been an
issue of debate in the Jewish community. I have in my possession a
book written by Professor Joseph Klausner. Professor Klausner worked
at the Hebrew University in Israel. He wrote a book around the 1920's
in Hebrew which was translated into English and printed in 1955 by
the Macmillan Publishing Company of NY entitled, "The Messianic Idea
in Israel". The book examines the Messianic concepts and ideas among
the Jewish people from the Torah, Prophets, Talmud and extra-biblical
writings such as the Apocrypha and Pseudopigrapha. One of the
chapters in the book is entitled, "The Ingathering of the Exiles and
the Reception of Proselytes."

    The "Ingathering of the Exiles" refers to the house of Israel
(Ephraim) and the house of Judah (Judah) reuniting in the end of days
(Ezekiel 37:15-28).

    On commenting about the view of the Rabbi's regarding receiving
proselytes on page 477 it is written:

"If at the present time a man desires to become a proselyte, he is to
be addressed as follows: 'What reason have you for desiring to become
a proselyte? Do you not know that the Jews of the present time are
oppressed, harassed, mortified, rejected and overcome with
afflictions.' If he replies, 'I know and yet am unworthy,' he is
accepted forthwith.

  It continues:

"There was apprehension about proselytes, for whom it was naturally
difficult to forget inherited pagan practices, and thus impossible to
carry out strictly the many burdensome requirements of the Jewish
religion."

  While there was apprehension about embracing proselytes among some
in the Jewish community, TRUE proselytes with a PURE heart to become
a proselyte were accepted within the Jewish community. In Matthew
23:15 we can see that the Pharisees (Rabbi's of the common people)
embraced proselytes as it is written:

"... for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte ..."

   There were different categories of proselytes. Those who fully
embraced and practiced the Jewish customs were called 'full
proselytes'. Those who only embraced and practiced PART of the Jewish
customs and ways were known as 'half-proselytes'.

   On page 479 of the book, "The Messianic Idea in Israel", it is
written about 'half-proselytes':

  "[half-proselytes] were called variously, 'devout ones, fearers,
God-fearers, worshippers of God' and the like. They are mentioned a
number of times in the Acts of the Apostles and also in the works of
Josephus [Antiquities 14:7:2, 20:8:11]. These 'God-fearers'
appropriated only the loftier ideas of Judaism such as monotheism and
the ethics of the prophets. Most of them kept the Sabbath and
refrained from eating swine's flesh [pork], but they did not observe
the numerous ritual rules of Pharisaic Judaism."

  "Some of the Pharisees had low regard for the half-proselytes
because they did not fully follow Pharisaic [Rabbinic] Judaism
because they had a light regard for the ceremonial [Rabbinic] laws
... because for them the Law is a heavy yoke and they are in haste to
throw it off." (page 479-481)

   God wanted to break down this wall between Pharisaic Judaism and
their willingness to accept proselytes if they did not fully practice
their faith in the God of Israel according to all of the ceremonial
[Rabbinic] laws of Judaism. This can be seen in Acts 10 with the
story of  Cornelius and Peter. Cornelius was a 'half-proselyte' as it
says about him in Acts 10:1-2:

  "There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion
of the band called the Italian band, a DEVOUT MAN and one that FEARED
GOD ..."

  So from the language "DEVOUT MAN" and "one that FEARED GOD",
Cornelius is described as being what the Jewish community would call
a 'half-proselyte'.

  In Acts 22:12, Ananias, the one who laid his hands upon Paul to
receive his sight is described as being a 'half-proselyte' as it is
written:

 "And one Ananias, a DEVOUT MAN ACCORDING TO THE LAW and having a
GOOD REPORT of all the Jews which dwelt there"

  So, there was a Jewish expection in the first century that when
Messiah would come that there would be proselytes (non-Jews) accepted
into the Jewish community but the debate was HOW they would be
accepted and what conditions would be upon them to be accepted into
the Jewish community.

 With this background and mindset, we can now read the debate in Acts
15 with a greater awareness and understanding. In Acts 15:1-2 it is
written:

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

   The issue was NOT literal circumcision. Circumcision was an idiom
or code word for Jews who fully followed the Torah. The issue was NOT
"salvation" in the evangelical way we have come to accept it and
understand it today [John 3:16] but 'Salvation' was a
term used to describe being a member of the redeemed community of
Israel which meant forsaking pagan practices, embracing the Jewish
Messiah, embracing the Torah and worshipping the God of Israel.

  In Acts 15:2 it is written:

"When therefore Paul and Barnabas had NO SMALL dissension and
disputation with them ..."

 What was being HOTLY debated was not literally circumcision or John 3:16
but what was being debated was HOW the PROSELYTES were going to be
received into the Jewish community and what requirements were to be
accepted of the proselytes before they could be accepted into the Jewish
community.

  A certain group demanded that they keep the ENTIRE law including the
ceremonial laws before they could be accepted (Acts 15:1).
Furthermore, a certain SECT of the Pharisees who believed that Jesus
was Messiah also had this view. In Acts 15:6, they came together to
have a halachic ruling. In Acts 15:7, Peter affirmed that God has
accepted non-Jews [proselytes] into the Kingdom of God and poured out
His Holy Spirit upon the non-Jews [proselytes] BEFORE they made any
attempt to keep the fullness of the Pharisaic ceremonial laws. In
Acts 10:44 it is written:

"While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them
which heard the word. And they of the circumcision [full fledged
Torah observant Jews] were ASTONISHED as many as came with Peter
because that on the Gentiles [proselytes] also was poured out the
gift of the Holy Spirit."

  When Paul gave witness that God called him unto the Gentiles
[proselytes], the Jews were OUTRAGED. In Acts 22:21-23 it is written:

"And he [Jesus] said unto me [Paul], Depart for I will send thee far
hence unto the Gentiles. And they gave him audience unto this word
and then lifted up their voices and said, AWAY with such a fellow
from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live. And as they
cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air
..."

   So, we can see that certain groups of Jews were AGAINST EASILY
accepting non-Jews [proselytes] as EQUAL members among their midst.

   There is STILL a BIAS today toward among Jewish believers in
accepting non-Jews as EQUAL members in Messiah today. Even in
the MJAA (Messianic Jewish Alliance of America], non-Jews have
"associate" [second-class] status within the organization and only want
to have believing Jews within the organization in positions of
leadership. Furthermore, they are OUTRAGED about accepting non-Jews
as Ephraimites or the non-Jewish house of Israel as EQUAL members
with them.

   The ruling among the Jerusalem Council was based upon the words of
the prophets that non-Jews [proselytes] SHOULD BE ACCEPTED into the
Kingdom as members of those of the REBUILT tabernacle of David. In
Acts 15:14-17, it is written:

  "And Simeon [Simon Peter] has declared how God at the first did
visit the Gentiles [proselytes] to take out of them a people for his
name. And to this agree the words of the prophets, as it is written:
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 that the residue of men might seek after the Lord and
all the Gentiles [proselytes] upon whom my name is called, saith the
Lord, who does these things."

   These "Gentile" believers not only included proselytes but they
also included the assimilated house of Israel (Northern Kingdom or
Ten Lost Tribes). In the Jerusalem Council ruling, James quotes Amos
9:11-12 in showing the reception of Gentiles [proselytes /
assimilated house of Israel] as part of the rebuilt tabernacle of
David that was fallen. This comes from Amos 9:11-12 as it it written:

"In that day [a reference to the days of the comig of Messiah] will I
raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen [the original
tabernacle of David included ALL 12 tribes in the United Kingdom
under King David] and close the breaches thereof [the breach was the
departing from following the Torah so if the breach was to be
repaired then proselytes or the assimulated house of Israel would
have to once again return to Torah] and I will build it as in the
days of old: they they may possess the remnant of Edom and of all the
heathen [goyim or Gentiles in Hebrew] which are called by my name
saith the Lord that doeth this".

   The ULTIMATE purpose is to regather these people and take them
back to the land of Israel. Amos 9:14-15 continues as it is written:

"And I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and they
shall build the waste cities and inhait them and they shall plant
vineyards and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens
and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land and
they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given
them, saith the Lord, thy God."

    Amos 9:14-15 is part of the Gentiles [proselytes and assimilated
house of Israel] becoming members of the family of God and the
rebuilt tabernacle of David and participating in the Messianic
redemption / Ingathering of the Exiles or the restoration of both
houses of Israel (Amos 9:14-15 is linked with Ezekiel 37:15-28) in
the end of days.

   In the book, "Mashiach: The Principles of Mashiach and the
Messianic Era in Jewish Law and Tradition" by Jacob Immanuel Schochet
who is a Chassidic Ultra-Orthodox Jew published by Sichos in English
copyright 1992 whose ISBN is: 1-8814-0000-X and can be purchased from
barnesandnoble.com on pages 20-22 it speaks about the Ingathering of
the Exiles as it is written:

"Through Mashiach shall be effected the Ingathering of the Exiles
(Beresheit Rabba 98:9, Midrash Hagadol on Genesis 49:11) ... The Ten
Tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, exiled by the Assyrians
before the destruction of the first Bet HaMikdash (II Kings 17) and
dispersed beyond the river Sambation and the 'Mountains of Darkness'
will aso return (Sanhedrin 110b, Bamidbar Rabba 16:25, Tanchuma, ed.
Buber, Shlach-ossafot:6 (and see the editor's notes there); Pesikta
Rabaty 32:10 (ed. Friedmann, ch 31). Cf, Ramban, Sefer Hage'ulah,
sha'ar I).

  One of the proof texts cited for the above Orthodox Jewish belief
is Amos 9:14-15 as given on page 21 of the book.

  Therefore, the decision in Acts 15 by the Jerusalem Council was to
not go against God who outpoured the Holy Spirit upon the Gentiles
[proselytes] thus accepting them into His midst. They decided to accept
them into the Jewish community when they showed that they had
forsaken the worship of pagan gods (Acts 15:19-20) rather than
embrace the more stringent Jewish view that proselytes could not be
accepted into the Jewish community unless they FIRST kept all of the
Pharisaic ceremonial laws.

  By beginning with common ground for table fellowship (Acts
15:19-20), they would visit the synogogues, be taught the Torah and
thus by greater knowledge and understanding would begin to embrace in
the process of time greater degrees of Torah observance as mentioned
in Acts 15:21 as it is written:

"For Moses of old truth has in every city them that preach him being
read in the synogogues every sabbath day."

  How does this ruling apply to us today who are seeking to embrace
our rich Hebraic heritage in Messiah? If you have accepted Jesus as
Messiah and have the indwelling Holy Spirit, God has fully accepted
you into His Kingdom on the basis of having a pure heart unto Him
(Acts 15:8-9). We should be seeking among the believing and
non-believing Jewish community BASIC common ground to establish table
fellowship (Acts 15:19-20). We should continue to seek, study, learn
and understand about our rich Hebraic heritage in Messiah and begin
to implement greater degrees of Torah observance into our lives as we
hear those that "preach Moses" among us (Acts 15:21).

   We should see ourselves as being members of the rebuilt tabernacle
of David (Acts 15:13-17, Amos 9:11-15) who will one day return to the
land of Israel upon the days of the Messianic redemption /
Ingathering of the Exiles or restoration of both houses of Israel.

   As we teach, as we share, as we study, as we understand, we need
to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) and walk in love with
brethren of the faith (John 15:12) and not judge others in how they
are trying to keep and celebrate the Sabbath and Biblical Festivals
(Colossians 2:16-17).

    I pray that I have given you some insight and some guidelines in
your walk in Messiah and that I have answered your question. May God
continue to bless you in your studies.

   Eddie Chumney
   Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int'l