The Courts of the Church, the Courts of the Church, the Courts of the Church

The Courts of the Church, the Courts of the Church, the Courts of the Church

Why this title? Did I hit a special repeat bar on my computer keyboard? No, it was my emphasis. Rather, this repeat shows my emphasis and my sorrow that much of today’s Church does not understand, embrace, or establish the courts of the Church. I use the term “church” to include Messianic Jewish congregations, but I use the term because I am speaking to the larger Body of the Messiah. Proverbs 119:136 says, “Stream of water runs down from my eyes because they do not observe your Torah.”

The Torah provides us with a constitution for ancient Israel and principles for all societies. Fair and true courts to adjudicate disputes were foundational to ancient Israel. There was no distinction between religious courts and civil courts. It was one body politic and one court system for all important issues. In the Roman period, Jewish courts were limited and could no longer exact the death penalty. There were categories that could be heard in the religious courts (divorce and remarriage, inheritance, heresy, etc.) and categories that had to be dealt with in Roman civil courts, such as all capital crimes. Jewish courts were still very important, and Yeshua taught that the scribes and Pharisees of the synagogue were a legitimate court sitting in the seat of Moses. The elders of the gate formed Israel’s ancient local judiciary, and then there was appeal to the high priesthood in Jerusalem or their supreme court. In New Testament times, the high court was the Sanhedrin, but courts of the synagogues replaced the elders of the gate. Here are just some of the texts that speak to the issue of courts. You can read as many as you desire.

Bible Justice Texts

You are to do no injustice In judgment. You are not to be partial toward the poor nor show favoritism toward the great, but you are to judge your neighbor with fairness. Lev. 19:15

Deut. 1:16, 17. I commanded your judges at that time, saying ‘hear cases between your brothers and judge fairly between a man and his brother and the outsider with him. You must not show partiality in judgment—you must hear the small and the great alike. Fear no man for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me and I will hear it.

Deut. 17:6. By the mouth of two or three witnesses, the one who is to die is to be put to death. No one is to be put to death by the word of one witness.

Deut. 17:8 Suppose a case is too hard for you to judge, – – over bloodshed, legal claims or assault, matters of controversy within your gates. Then you should go up to the place Adonai your God chooses and come to the Levitical kohanim and the judge in charge at that time.

V.10. “You are to act according to the sentence they tell you from that place Adonai chooses and take care to do all that they instruct you. . . You must not turn aside from the sentence they tell you, to the right or the left. The man who acts presumptuously by not listening to the kohen who stands to serve there before Adonai hour God, or to the judge, that man must die.

Ex. 23. 2, 3. Do not spread a false report. Do not join hands with the wicked by becoming a malicious witness. Do not follow a crowd to do evil. Nor are you to testify in a case, to follow a crowd and pervert justice. On the other hand, nor should you take sides with a poor man in his case.

Deut. 19: 15-21. A single witness shall not rise up; against a person for any offense or sin that he commits. By the word of two or three witnesses is a case to be established. Suppose a hostile witness rises up against someone to accuse him of wrongdoing. Then both people who have the dispute will stand before ADOANI, before the kohanim and judges in charge at that time. The judges are to investigate thoroughly, and if indeed the witness is a false witness and has testified falsely against his brother, then you are do to do him just as he had plotted to do to his brother. So, you will purge the evil from your midst. Those who remain will hear and be afraid, and they will no longer do such an evil thing as this.”

Deut. 25:1 Suppose there is a dispute between people, and they approach the court, the judges hear their case and declare one righteous and the other guilty. You are to justify the righteous and condemn the wicked

Proverbs 18:17 The first to present his case seems right until another comes and cross examines him.

The context for the warning against gossip is to spread accusations and judgments, destroying reputations, and not having recourse to the courts to settle disputes. “You are not to go up and down as a talebearer among your people. You are not to endanger the life of your neighbor. I am Adonai.” Lev. 19:16. Note that the Torah presents mobs agreeing on false testimony together and this is strictly forbidden.

Roman law sometimes was right in its standards for justice and is commended. Festus says, “It is not Roman practice to turn over anyone before the accused meets his accusers face to face and has opportunity to make his defense concerning the charges.” Acts 25:16

Parallel to this is the statement of Nicodemus, “Our Torah doesn’t judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he’s doing.

The New Covenant Scriptures present the same orientation to courts, but now they are the courts of the Church. Few realize the context of Matthew 16 where Peter is given the keys. The keys of the Kingdom is the right of judicial decision making. Binding and loosing in Matthew 18 is judicial language. The court binds or forbids and disciplines or looses from penalty. In these two texts, Yeshua is transferring judicial authority from the synagogues and the Sanhedrin to the Apostles and the elders that will be appointed after them.

In the epistles of the New Testament, we see this judicial principle. When elders are appointed, it is understood that they have a foundational judicial function. By the early second century each city had its elders of the city that functioned with a head elder (bishop) as the court of the city for believers.

Ecclesial Courts

While there were different forms in Church history, ecclesial courts were universal in Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant associations. In the early second century the courts were under the Presbytery of the elders of the city and the bishop. The level of authority between these ecclesial courts and the civil courts varied over the centuries, but in the democratic West the distinction because quite defined. Ecclesial courts had authority over morals and doctrine. They could not weld the sword but could ex-communicate. They could remove from Church leadership and enforce penalties and standards for restoration and inclusion. Crimes were punished by the civil courts. This leaves a large area for church courts. The synagogue maintained the Rabbinic courts or the system of bet din.

As we read in Deut. 25:1, those with a serous dispute were to approach the court and have the dispute settled in the court. The court was to be revered and not reversed by public rebellion. The same standard is presented in I Cor. 6.1-8 where we are told to settle disputes in the community and to choose judges (this would normally be elders) to hear the dispute so that civil courts in non-capital cases would not need to be involved.

I was ordained in the Presbyterian Church over 50 years ago. I was so deeply moved and inspired by the righteous application of these texts. Every local congregation had is eldership that formed a court. Then there was an appeal court in the elders of the city (the Presbytery), and another level of appeal in the Synod (regional representation body) and finally an appeal to the national Permanent Judicial Commission of the General Assembly. We had to learn the judicial processes of the Church for our ordination. When I was elected President of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations in 1979, we established that every local eldership was a court for the congregation but there was an appeal to the Judicial Board of the UMJC. As in civil courts, appeal courts decide if there is sufficient grounds for them to hear an appeal.

The Present Chaos

Having abandoned the courts of the Church, especially in independent churches, what do we have? A mess, chaos. There is divorce and remarriage without elders issuing certificates on the grounds for divorce and the right to remarry. One case in Israel involved a former leader who was living with his future second wife before his divorce went through. There was no determination of the legitimacy of his divorce. Now he has divorced the second wife and is in his third marriage “Tell it not in Gath.” Another leader has had a problem with multiple adulteries but is still invited to teach. Another who is very prominent in media teaching is divorced but no determination was made on the legitimacy of his divorce.

Social Media Prosecutions

Finally, we have the huge problem of social media prosecutions. This is a problem for all accusations of gross sin for which there is no civil law violation. The problem is especially bad for accusations of sexual abuse. One is declared a victim prejudging the case, who should be called the accuser. The “Me Too” movement in the secular world now is rampant in the Church, and we are told like in the secular world of a few years back to believe all women. It is true that the overwhelming percent of women who accuse men of abuse are telling the truth, but the Bible says we are not to favor the poor in judgment, and the one claiming abuse may well look like the poor one. But we are not to favor the rich or the poor. And for those who are innocent, it is a terrible advice to believe all women. And we know of cases where false accusation of abuse were made as way of revenge. Media prosecution is bad for the abused who are telling the truth and for the abuser because without witnesses and cross examination, we can never be sure. So, a cloud hangs over both.

We have seen the media prosecution of innocent people. Think of the Duke Lacrosse players that were found innocent or Supreme Court Justice Judge Kavanaugh. What can look so true in social media presentations is later found to be false. But meanwhile reputation are ruined.

But there is another side. The accused can be viscous in response and in some cases the accused has presented testimony on social media to discredit the accuser. A social media battle takes place. Without the courts of the Church, we only have a handful of sand that slips through our fingers. In addition, if there is to be an investigation, it should be subject to the elders’ court to weigh it. The investigator is not the judge but rather the court judges. This is another mistake some make..

Appealing to the Courts

When there is a serious dispute and serious accusations, it is crucial to have recourse to the court. It is best if the people are in an association or denomination that has such courts in place. But if not, a court can be assembled of quality people. For claims of sexual abuse there needs to be an advocate to protect the accuser for it can be traumatic for her to face an abuser. Going privately according to Matthew 18 does not apply in abuse cases. Rather, it has to be brought immediately to elders or in some cases to civil authority (Rape, pedophilia). When a head leader of a congregation or ministry is accused of gross sin, it is too difficult for local elders to handle and such accusations should be handled in a higher court of appeal in the Church (or in civil court if the crime is as stated above).

We are now especially seeing a terrible destruction through media prosecutions of for sexual abuse. We cannot just believe all women, but we have brought shame and injustice on ourselves because we do not insist always that we handle such things in the courts, crimes in the civil courts and all other serious allegations in the courts of the Church. Social media prosecution is sin, the sins of gossip and slander even if the accusations are true. Social media should be limited to naming the accusation and calling for a fair court either in civil or ecclesial authority. This is only when no fair court is offered.

Authority to make the Judicial Determination

The authority to bind and loose, to make the judicial determination, is in the eldership court and once their job is done, their decisions are to be respected. As Torah teaches, there is to be reverence for the court unless there is proof of terrible corruption, bribery etc. The fear of God is connected to the proper fear of his courts.

My book Due Process provides more information

Toward Jerusalem Council II, Daniel Juster

For 30 years, I have been involved in a project, Toward Jerusalem Council II. This was a vision given to Messianic Jewish Rabbi Marty Waldman. The original vision was to gather the leaders of all large denominations and streams of the Body of the Messiah in Jerusalem, to have a council parallel to the Acts 15 council that embraced Gentiles in the Body without their becoming Jews or living a Jewish way of life. The Church of later centuries, largely Gentile, declared that maintaining Jewish life and identity in Yeshua was heresy. The Church had largely embraced replacement theology, that the Church had replaced Israel as God’s elect, and ethnic Jewish people were no longer elect.

Marty’s original vision embraced the importance of official declarations on the continued election of Israel and the importance of the restoration of Messianic Jews as the saved remnant of Israel, as the Jewish members of the Body of the Messiah. To see the importance of this vision, it is crucial not to think in merely empirical, pragmatic ways. Rather, we have to see that the right orientation here is a key to the unity for which Yeshua prayed in John 17:21, that we may be one that the world might believe. The split between the Messianic Jewish communities of the early centuries of this era and the rest of the Church was the beginning of splits, and spiritually, this is the root. To see the completion of God’s work, this split has to be healed. This opens the heavens and will bring new power and revival.

God prepared me to be one of the founding leaders of this effort with John Dawson, the later President of Youth with a Mission, and Fr. Dr. Peter Hocken, who had similar insights about healing this split. We met together in Dallas 29 years ago. We received the wise counsel that we cannot officially call together a council, but can seek to motivate those in official authority in the churches to do so. We thus became Toward Jerusalem Council II.

Since that time, we have traveled on prayer journeys and diplomatic journeys to so many places. I have been to many countries in Europe, South America, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. Finally, after 29 years, we have a summit in Jerusalem planned for this October on the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. Leaders will be coming from all over the world, from every continent. Last week, our Executive Committee planned this convocation for 400 to 500 people. We see momentum building and a path for more and more senior leaders to embrace this vision.

Our personal ministry has financed much of my involvement in this: flights, hotels, communication, and so much more, first under the name Tikkun International and today under Restoration From Zion. Imagine the unity of the Church rightly connected to its Jewish roots, to the Jewish people/Israel, and rightly in unity with the Messianic Jewish community. This is hope and quest. We are closer to the goal of the Council than ever before.

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The Call for a Holy People, a Sexually Pure People

Leadership Failures

In recent years we have been bombarded with terrible leadership failures. Some were involved in adultery, even serial adultery. Some were found to have engaged in sexual harassment. Some are accused of grooming women much younger than them. Some have been found guilty of statutory rape. I can go on and on. How is this possible? Some led mega-churches and ministries.

We have struggled sometimes to know what to believe. Was it all the fault of the leader? However it happened, that leaders are many times more responsible for falling into sin. Was the leader the seducer (groomer is the word used today) or was the woman the seductress? Answering these questions will not solve the problem of why this happens. Prevention is the most important thing, though dealing justly and enforcing discipline is crucial. There must be just eldership courts to deal with all these matters and advocate women for the women who were abused so that they may have the strength to pursue justice and also find ministers who can provide healing ministry.

Narcissism in Leadership and the Solution

The book, The Other Half of Church, by Dr. Jim Wilder and Michael Hendricks, presents the thesis that many come into leadership due to great personal charisma but without solid character formation. Some of them are semi-narcheists with great talent who are able to build mega ministries and congregations. In such congregations and ministries, the leader becomes intimidating and cannot be questioned or challenged. He is untouchable. Two clear axioms are in order. Frist, leaders must be vetted for character and second, leaders must function in a team with a plurality of elders in mutual accountability. Eldership teams should form circles of accountability where confession of sin and prayer is paramount. The organization and movement, Life Model Works, is trying to foster this. Fostering character qualifications must deal with the quality of marriage and family and deal with any narcissistic tendencies due to upbringing and roots. It used to be said that psychiatrists should undergo a psychiatric analysis before they were allowed to practice. I wonder if all senior leaders should undergo a family systems psychological analysis and any trauma issues for healing before assuming leadership. The analysis should also vet attaining holiness in sexuality.

When I was still a young pastor, I was mentored by a senior apostle who tested potential leaders on the quality of their marriage. He especially wanted to know that the wife was really happy about being married to her husband. He could discern that.

The Ocean of Pornography Today

Today, we deal with a flood, an ocean, of easily available pornography. The worst hardcore pornograph is a click away. In the 1960s under the Keating-led commission, it was decided that viewing pornography was not dangerous. This was the early era of Playboy Magazine. One had to go to the counter of the local pharmacy to ask for a copy that was hidden behind the counter. It was wrong but mild compared to what came later. High school boys obtained the copies that their father hid under the bed, and they showed them around. The Keating group chose to see pornography as free speech, though there was no legal finding, and the Supreme Court held that material that was geared primarily to prurient interest could be banned. In Roth vs. The United States (19657) such material was declared not protected speech. But with Keating, the dye was the case nevertheless. During the administration of Ronald Reagan, the Meese Commission found pornography to be dangerous, habit-forming, and leading to destructive social behavior. They called for restrictions But the genie could not be put back in the bottle. Magazines and movies proliferated, and sections of newsstands had to be avoided. But today, the newsstands are largely free of pornography since video availability on computers has become the preferred vehicle for use. Today’s research shows pornography to be more dangerous than the Meese Commission conclusions. We now know that the use of pornography is like heroin and is addictive in the same way. It leads to two terrible results. For some, normal marital relationships and real intimacy become impossible. For others, they pursue in real life what was seen in the videos. The Western nations are pornographic societies. Advertising also sexualizes women and men, but women to a much greater degree and even young girls. I have wondered If the fall of some can be traced to pornography. We must work to see all leaders and members delivered from this plague. One should not be allowed to be a leader unless he is free of pornography.

The Example of Billy Graham

What can be done? In the late 1940s, The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association began. As they met in a hotel in Modesto, California, they shared their concerns about fallen evangelists in their day. They came up with a commitment to standards. One of them was to never be alone with a woman other than one’s spouse. The whole Billy Graham team embraced this, and it continued as they grew into a large organization. They have been scandal-free for 77 years! Billy Graham would not even enter an elevator with one woman in it. He noted that a person who wanted to hurt him could claim he had tried something in the elevator. Today, former Vice President Mike Pence is known for adopting this standard. He was criticized for this since feminists said women officials could not then meet him as an equal like the men. But Pence just held his ground and said another witness had to be in a meeting. These standards need to be passed on to our congregational members and to our youth to guard them against pre-marital sexual relationships.

When a Leader Falls

When a leader falls or is accused of sexual abuse, it is crucial that this be brought before the elders, who are the courts of a congregation. If it is a head leader, then an appeal eldership needs to be constituted because this is usually too much for a local eldership to deal fairly with their own leader. Women advocates need to be provided in every congregation to enable the accuser to have the courage to pursue the case. We must enforce standards. For a consensual fall or adultery, a serous period of counseling and help can lead to restoration (2 years). For serious abuse of younger women or minors (which requires reporting to civil authorities), the ban from leadership should be a lifetime, though restoration to fellowship is indeed possible. In a fair court of elders with advocates, the falsely accused can present his evidence as well. A small minority of false accusations of abuse do occur, but the great majority of accusations from women are true. I personally, however, have seen false accusations due to revenge for other reasons. For example, the cases where a woman was denied a promotion or her romantic pursuit was spurned. (Joseph in the Bible). I have also seen accusations from schizophrenics for things that never happened. Their imagination is a reality for them. For the sake of that small minority, the biblical standards of evidence must be followed.

The Tragedy of Today’s Church

The fact that most churches do not have good and safe processes to deal with sexual sin has led to social media prosecution and social media defense. Sometimes a reputation is wrongly destroyed by the accusers and also by the defenders. On the other hand, if there is no good and safe process, the true victims and their supporters often have no recourse but to go public to pressure all involved to seek a fair and just way forward. This empowers the victim. The fact that social media has become necessary is a stain on the Church and its lack of a way for true justice. However, if that pressure leads to a fair way forward with the courts of the Church, then social media should no longer be pursued.

My Flight with an Israeli Jewish Atheist

On my recent flight from Israel to the United States, I sat next to an Israeli Jewish atheist who grew up on a kibbutz. As we talked about Israel, the war, and Israeli and American politics, he noted that he was planning to move with his family to the United States. His wife is a U. S. citizen. She is a medical doctor. He is in hi-tech. Why does he want to move? Because life in Israel is too expensive, and too difficult in other ways, and there is too much war and terrorism. As an Israeli, I sought to encourage him and persuade him that Israel needs him. No doubt they are a successful couple that has made it. I got the impression that he does not own his own home and being a Tel Avivian, this is unusual.

It is true that the Israel government and the developers have mismanaged real estate in Israel so there is not an adequate supply. This drives up costs and hurts young families. But education and health care are good and very inexpensive in Israel. But overall, costs are way too high.

However, I sought to share a more divine-purpose perspective. He professed his belief in evolution, and I sought to show that the naturalistic atheist version of evolution was systematically incoherent. He was not convinced but was quite indoctrinated.

A generation ago, the majority of Israelis were atheists who did want to build a model society, especially those from the kibbutz movement. However, I think my new friend proves the point that over the long haul, atheism will not sustain Israel if Israel is not elect of God and has no divine purpose for the sake of humanity, why sacrifice for Israel? Why not assimilate and escape antisemitism? Ethnic pride? When push comes to shove, either due to war or economic pressures, too many of the atheists and agnostics will abandon Israel and the Zionist vision of having our own state. This new acquaintance strongly argued for his atheism, pointing to evil and suffering to disprove the existence of a good God. He does not represent the trend in Israel today. They are discovering belief in God and even see his protection in the present war.

I noted not long ago in a Facebook post that one modern Rabbi argued that faith in God was necessary to sustain Israel. Israel will not be sustained because Israel has a great economy in the world and people can live a nice life, but Israel has a divine purpose in the world. Most Jews who now believe in God in Israel might celebrate the Feasts or have a Passover celebration but do not want to be under the yoke of Rabbinic Judaism and its focus on keeping the miniate of Rabbinic laws. Such Jews in Israel are open to reading the Bible and the promises in the prophets of our return to the Land (Isaiah 43, Jeremiah16, 23, Amos 9, Joel 3, and many more passages)

Though not yet becoming Messianic Jews are Israeli Jews coming to a faith that I have envisioned as a step in the right direction and toward Yeshua. Yes, this is right now a weak faith, and some may also embrace superstition, some aspects of Eastern religion, and some aspects of paganism, but the God that is being embraced is a personal God who effected the exodus. Could we persuade them to be Biblical Jews and be committed to believing the Bible and the Laws of God from the Torah that are applicable today without the heavy yoke of Rabbinic Judaism? Could they also read about God’s grace and forgiveness as taught in the Hebrew Bible? Could they really become Hebrew Bible Jews? Could they be interested in the teaching of Yeshua without yet fully embracing the teaching of the New Covenant Scriptures about him and his deity? Some Christians like Francis Schaeffer used to talk about pre-evangelism. I wonder if belief in God and the Hebrew Bible could be due to a move of God’s Spirit in preparing people for the Good News of Yeshua. I think Messianic Jews can have a very fruitful dialogue with the Jewish people of Israel in returning to faith in God. Sometimes our way into dialogue with secular atheist Jews is to show them the supernatural fulfillments in Israel’s regathering to the Land in our day.

Chabad Rabbi Calls for Change in Israeli Public Education

The lead Chabad Rabbi in Tel Aviv put a large ad in the Jerusalem Post’s weekend edition. In it, he decried secular education in Israel that was leading Jews in Israel away from believing in the Torah, the Exodus, the God of the Bible, and Israel’s election. This, he argued, would undercut the state of Israel and its passion for its survival and prosperity. He then pointed to a million Israelis who have left Israel and are assimilating in the West more than the Diaspora Jews themselves. There are other factors for leaving; one is the high cost of living, especially housing, and the super high prices are connected to a corrupt system here.

But of course, the Rabbi was right but ignored the elephant in the room. If Israelis return to faith in the Torah, they yet do not want to return to Halacha, to the minutiae of Rabbinic Orthodox practices and constraints. Conservative and Reform Judaism maintain traditions but do not really believe the Biblical supernatural events really happened. So in Israel, Orthodox Rabbinic Judaism is the only choice, is the state religion, and in charge of all marriages and conversions. Reform and Conservative are super tiny here.

Messianic Judaism is the best answer to the dilemma. We bring people back to faith in the Bible and the election of Israel. We also have a wise approach to Rabbinic Halacha. We evaluate it by the whole Bible and do not feel compelled to submit to it but affirm that which is good. Sadly, many Messianic Jews in Israel are not that Jewish in orientation, unlike in the Diaspora, for they are more Evangelicals in the Hebrew language. More change is needed.

However, short of becoming Messianic Jews, could there be a new Judaism?

In the Land that respects the Torah, the Prophets, and the good things in the Jewish heritage without coming under the constraints of Rabbinic Halacha. I would love to see someone work on that as well.

Book Review: Rick Renner’s Apostles and Prophets

I just finished reading Rick Renner’s Apostles and Prophets. It was recommended on a Facebook page by an apostolic leader whom I love and trust, and with whom I have related for over 30 years. Rich Renner has had astonishing success in the Russian-speaking world, beginning with Moscow.

A Defense of Five Fold Ministry

The book was very long and difficult for me to finish. It was 734 plages. The greatest aspect of the book was his great defense of five-fold ministry and the continued role of apostles and prophets today.

Rick Renner and the use of Greek Language for Interpretation

One feature of the book was an overwhelming emphasis on the Greek language. I was drowning in Greek! Sometimes this produced very good insights. Sometimes it needed correction. There were two corrections I would make. James Barr’s Semantics of Biblical Language is one of the classics in biblical hermeneutics, or text interpretation. In it, Barr criticizes an error of some who seek to use Greek in their exegesis. Words have a range of possible meanings. The translator knows that word range and seeks the best word in the translation as the center of what the original writer intended. Yes, there is somewhat of a word range that can be helpful, but we must not overdo it. The writer of the biblical text is not implying that the whole word range is to be read into the meaning of the text. In the same way, when we read an English paragraph, we do not assume the intended meaning of the word range of the English word which a comprehensive dictionary like the Oxford English Dictionary can give us. Sometimes Dr. Renner slips into this error and overwhelms us by reading too large a word range into the meaning. One other point that should be noted. The Greek of the New Testament has a Hebrew language context. Some have called this Judeo-Greek. So we could use less reference to Greek writers and more to biblical Hebraic backgrounds for understanding.

Paul as the Model for what An Apostle Is

If the book was titled Paul and His Apostolic Ministry, I would not take issue with the content. This is the greatest presentation of the apostolic ministry of Paul I have ever read. The depth of Paul’s sacrifice, his empowerment, and his apostolic suffering are presented with great power. However, Renner then assumes that the meaning of being apostolic is having a ministry like Paul. It is to be pioneering in new fields like Paul, suffering, and manifesting signs and wonders in confirmation like Paul. He does credit Paul’s oversight role in his congregations but does not credit the level of difficulty that oversight over such vast distances with limited transportation presents. Yes, Paul has other team members that make reports.

The primary weakness is not recognizing that Paul speaks of the signs that confirmed his apostleship, but is not saying that all recognized must have the same level of signs. And the signs include the success of his fruit. Indeed Mark says that miracle signs will follow all believers and Renner notes such signs with prophets and evangelists. In my view, of course, there should be a supernatural confirmation of some kind for an apostolic call. And some like Augustine of Canterbury and St. Patrick had ministries that looked very much like Paul’s. One also sees this in the ministry of H.A. Baker, the grandfather-in-law of Heidi Baker among the Tibetans and the Ka Do tribes in Southwest China.

Apostolic Ministry and the Early Church

However, we do need to expand the idea of who is an apostle by referencing the early church. By the end of the New Testament period, apostolic functions of oversight and expansion practically had to be given to regional apostles who were called bishops. One sees this with the messengers of Rev. 2 and 3, the leaders of regional churches or city-wide congregations with multiple meeting places. They lead the presbyteries of the cities. Yes, their leadership produced continued expansion. This was very early and was seen as apostolic ministry. Think of Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Papias, and Ignatius. Some of these knew John. When I look at Church history was Luther apostolic, or Wesley or Zinzendorf? In my view, of course, they were. Renner’s view of who is an apostle is to me for narrow.

Effective Trans-local Leadership

The center for me is trans-local leadership that produces kingdom expansion and with a presbytery gives oversight. It can be regional with an apostolic central church with an apostolic pastor. The idea of Kingdom expansion is really crucial, or the association becomes led by managers. There is an anointing to raise leaders and expand. One can move to be the on-sight pioneer but also be apostolic by training and sending others. Prophetic confirmation of an apostolic call is important to me. Let us not forget that Paul pointed to the people as proof of his apostolic ministry.

The Government and Standards of the Body of Messiah, comments on Rev. 2, 3

In my book Passover, Key to the Book of Revelation, I give a reasonable interpretation of Chapters 2 and 3 as preparation for tribulation. These letters fit the circumstances of the first century when they were written, but will apply in the last of the last days to prepare the worldwide people of God for the final Great Tribulation. The congregations are exhorted to maintain passion for Yeshua, not lose their first love, and maintain moral purity and doctrinal truth. The two actually go together.

The letters are written to the angel, or messenger of each congregation. I argued that the angel addressed is the leader of the elders of the congregation. A letter given to a heavenly angel would not have any effect for it has to be delivered to the messenger who can actually deliver it. The messenger is the one that conveys God’s word to the congregation. I also argued that we Westerners do not rightly understand the nature of the Body in these cities at that time. It is not like what we call a local church today. By that time, some Church historians argue that when we talk about the seven churches we should see some as in the thousands. By that time, the signs and wonders with the progress of the Gospel led to thousands of believers who met in houses all in different parts of the city, but they were all linked together in an eldership of the city under a lead elder. In the early second century, this lead elder was called the bishop. He was not yet a monarchial bishop as in the later second century but governed with the elders of the city (Presbytery). If this is a correct picture of the situation in the seven congregations of Rev. 2 and 3 and if the messenger is the leader of the elders and a bishop kind of figure, it would bring a clearer understanding of the circumstances of Rev. 2, 3.

The question is raised how some congregations could be both commended and then also corrected strongly for tolerating bad doctrine or loose morals. The question is raised, who is being addressed as tolerating sin or error, and who is being called upon to correct it? Two examples suffice to illustrate this point. With regard to Pergamum, Yeshua says that they “Hold firm to my Name.” They did not deny their faith even when one of their leaders, Antipas, was put to death. They have withstood persecution. This then leads to the question of how a people like this could also be rebuked for sexual immorality and of eating food sacrificed to idols, and the false gnostic doctrines of the Nicolaitans. (This compromise with sin would fit the loyalty to the city rituals in connection to sacrifices to the city pagan gods and temple prostitution connected to the sacrifices even if the one gathering in the pagan temple did not actually go into the cult prostitute.) If the congregation was just one gathering in a large house, how could this be possible? However, if it was dozens or even many more gatherings in houses under an eldership of the city with a lead elder, then it is easy to see that some house groups could have allowed error to creep in. The leader of the house gathering was compromised and compromising. The messenger is addressed as responsible for bringing correction or discipline. We assume he could do so with the authority of the elders of the city over all the house gatherings.

We note the same kind of situation with Thyatira. The commendation is amazing. “I know your deeds and your faith and service, and that your last deeds are greater than the first.” Wow! This is a great commendation. However, the contrast is stark. They allow Jezebel to influence them, a false prophetess, who fosters sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols. This again could well be connected to compromise with the city pagan cult for the sake of civic loyalty but a loyalty contrary to faith in Yeshua. Again, the angel/messenger has to bring discipline.

When we read these letters in the context of the congregation of the city having many gatherings and most being commendable, but some go astray, we can understand how great commendation can be joined to stark rebuke. Submission to the elders and the lead elder of the elders is required if there is to be Body discipline. This gives us a window to government and the importance of elders enforcing doctrinal and moral standards in the first century.

This is a warning for our day. We indeed are called to enforce standards of good Bible doctrine and Biblical morals and not to compromise with the world or we can lose the Spirit of God, our lampstand of testimony.

The Anti-Missionary Campaign and the Jerusalem Post

For many years I have observed the anti-missionary groups that attack Messianic Jews and Christians who share their faith with the Jewish people. Years ago, the well-known Messianic Jewish apologist, revivalist, and cultural critic, Dr. Michael L. Brown, debated their leading figure. That anti-missionary was bested so badly that the word went out to not debate Dr. Brown. There are Rabbis and even some Orthodox ones, who have treated Messianic Jews fairly, honestly presenting who they are, what they believe, and why they disagree. We had good relations with conservative Rabbi Matthew Simon in the Washington D. C. area and the head of the Rabbinic Council in Washington, Rabbi Joshua Haberman. Rabbi Haberman even read my book Jewish Roots and asserted that we should be accepted in the Jewish community but that it would take another generation or two. I am used to the anti-missionary diatribe, and it is almost boilerplate, stereo-typing, and misrepresenting. One canard is that Messianic Judaism leads to assimilation and is a danger of destroying Jewish identity. Yet, the foundation of Messianic Judaism, in which I played a somewhat formative role, is a faith commitment that Jews who come to faith in Yeshua are called to identify and live as Jews, as part of their people. Messianic Jews are much more Jewish observant than the majority of Jews.

The article in the last Friday, Dec. 29, edition of the Jerusalem Post Magazine section, entitled, “Uncovering missionary efforts.” was the same boilerplate but more troubling. Why? It was the timing. Messianic Jewish congregation leaders in Israel have listed over 1000 Messianic Jews who are serving in the war, both in Gaza, in the north against Hezbollah, and in the West Bank. I am personal friends with some of these Messianic Jews. Their patriotism is stellar. In the midst of the war, the Jerusalem Post editor approved a boilerplate article full of misrepresentation of Messianic Jews, fostering mistrust and division. Where on earth was the editor’s mind or wisdom? Do they ever seek a Messianic Jewish response? They slandered good people by name!

The writer, Atara Beck, gives some credit to Christian Zionists who are supporting Israel in this dark time, but even then undercuts this credit by discrediting one such ministry that requires all that come to serve with them to sign a statement that they will not seek to share their faith with Jewish people in Israel while working with them. So much for the leading of the Holy Spirit in this ministry. However, even this ministry is slammed because its leader hopes that their acts of unconditional love will eventually lead to the Jewish people softening their hearts and embracing Yeshua. And this is so terrible? This is total hypocrisy from the writer. Why? Because Orthodox Jews, Evangelicals, and Messianic Jews all believe that one day all will embrace the true Messiah and Israel and the nations will be one under the rule of Israel’s true Messiah. Orthodox Jews believe that this is not Yeshua/Jesus but will be a yet-to-be-revealed person, but they believe all will convert to faith in the true Messiah and become Noachides. Messianic Jews and Christians believe that the true Messiah is Yeshua/Jesus. For Evangelicals and Messianic Jews to not believe that someday Israel will confess him would be to deny their own faith. Isn’t this obvious? Not to the anti-missionary who is blind to the contradiction. Even the Catholic Catechism, paragraph 674, puts out the faith statement that one day Israel will confess Him and that this will lead to his return. Yet, the Catholics have rejected an explicit missionary effort to the Jews. This does not mean that Catholics think that Jews coming to faith is wrong. Such Jewish believers are embraced, like the late Jewish Cardinal Lustiger of Paris who called himself a Messianic Jew.

The anti-missionary does not engage with the Messianic Jewish arguments and respond honestly after showing that he or she has understood it. They cannot present it objectively but have to resort to diatribe and propaganda. When they present their apologetic against faith in Yeshua it is a pile of distortions an misrepresentations as fully shown in Mike Brown’s masterpiece six volumes, Answering Jewish Objections.

Messianic Jews and Bible believing Christians have different views on approaching Jewish people, but all agree that Yeshua is the Messiah and by definition this means that Israel will eventually embrace him. However, other than that they have different views on practical engagement with Jewish people.

Most believe in a legitimate witness of sharing faith with Jewish people as led by the Spirit with the hope the Spirit will enlighten and bring a change of heart and faith in Yeshua.
Some believe in overt public witnessing and proclamation in streets and in media and some do not.
A minority believe that only Jews should share their Yeshua faith with Jews since if Gentiles share it could lead to assimilation.
A minority believe that the Jewish people have their own covenant status and acceptance with God if they are committed to God and that sharing faith should be avoided. If Jews come to faith, it should be by a supernatural act without a witness from another follower of Yeshua. This seems to be the case with the leaders of one of the ministry leaders described in the Jerusalem Post article.

Unlike the implication of the tone of the article, Messianic Jews are not stupid people who just bought into propaganda. That is what you would conclude from the article. On the contrary, many are intelligent and thinking people and a larger and larger number of Messianic Jewish scholars are doing great work. They have Ph. D’s from Duke, Cambridge, Emory, New York University, Tel Aviv, Hebrew University, Bar Ilan and other famous schools. For all, believing in Yeshua is by revelation of the Spirit and sometimes a response to real miracles. For many, they have responded to overwhelming evidence (see my book, The Biblical Worldview, An Apologetic)

We are grateful for those Jewish leaders who though they do not believe in Yeshua, engage with Messianic Jews with honesty and seek an objective engagement. A few have even written books arguing for mutual respect. (See Rabbi Cohn Sherbuck, Messianic Judaism.

Reverence for Law

A coherent and safe society requires just laws and reverence for law. Nowhere in world history does reverence for law attain the height of the revelation of the Law from God at Mt. Sinai. We see that reverence in the movie The Ten Commandments. That movie actually reflected the reverence for law that was so well established in the United States at that time. However, we do note the unjust laws that deserved protest, the Jim Crow discrimination laws, and discrimination policies that targeted Jews and African Americans in many parts of the United States.

The great philosopher at the end of the 18th century, Immanuel Kant, argued that society would fall apart if there was not a general reverence for law. He also argued that belief in God and rewards and punishments after death were necessary to sustain an adequate reverence or fear so that society would be law-abiding.

All societies, however, that attained greatness, whether ancient China, India, Babylon, or Egypt maintained a reverence for law. The problem in many societies was that the ruler was above the law and in some cases was considered divine with the authority to make law. This was not the case in Biblical Law. Indeed, Biblical Law requires the King to submit to the Law and precludes him from making laws contrary to God’s stated Law.

Paul in Romans 13 councils disciples of Yeshua to be submitted to the authorities and law of the land (so far as it does not contradict Biblical Law, as in Acts 5). If there is a contradiction, then for conscience’s sake, we must disobey and suffer for our protest. Paul also argues in Romans 2 that those who were not given the Law of God do rightly perceive much that is just and true though not on the level of Biblical Law.

One of the most painful aspects of our societies in the West and especially in the United States is that political leaders do not fulfill their oaths to uphold the law. The remedy for this disobedience to the law, the double standards in enforcing the law, and even a gross intention and action to ignore and not enforce the law, is impeachment. Officials that violate the law can be removed by legislatures. However, in the United States today political leaders are stymied by disagreement on upholding the law and do not remove officials that violate their oaths to uphold the law. Obedience to the law has been undercut by the claim that the law in general in the West was a manifestation of white supremacy and systemic racism. This leads to disdain for the law. We see the same disregard for immigration law. If the law is not good, legislatures can change it, but it must not be ignored by the political officials who can decide without legislative authority what laws to enforce and what to ignore. Most of the law system in the West has been good and much based on a combination of Biblical law and some very wise Roman laws. British common law was also based on these sources.

However, this lack of reference for law today translates into social anarchy and puts us on a road that is leading to dystopia. At Christmas season many watch the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. One recalls the vision experience of Jimmy Stewart as the lead actor, being shown a world where he never existed. The wicked Mr. Potter gains total control of the town and renames it Pottersville (nothing against the town of the same name on the southern end of Schroon Lake, New York). He does not revere law and exercises despotic power. When reverence for law is lost, those who have despotic power control the society. People obey out of fear for their lives but not out of respect for good law. The result is the dystopia of Pottersville, full of crime, prostitution, homelessness, poverty, grime, and despair. What a great paradigm for what is now happening in the United States. Our cities have become like Pottersville.

Messianic Judaism, like Reformed Christianity, is strong in upholding the Law of God, the Torah. When you read my book Jewish Roots, I hope you enjoy the presentation of the role of the Law of God as a constitution for ancient Israel to produce a just and model society. The Law does not save us but shows the goodness of God in his intention to organize societies in a just, humane and loving way.

Communion and Passover

I recently read a wonderful book by a Catholic scholar, Brant Pitre, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Passover. Not too long ago, I read a wonderful book by the late French Catholic scholar, Louis Bouyer, Eucharist. It is wonderful to see a developing interest in the original context for understanding the Bible. I will not emphasize Bouyer’s book in this post. I will write a bit about it. I should note that the term Eucharist, meaning thanksgiving, is very Jewish in rooting and comes from the blessing prayer, or thanksgiving prayer Yeshua prayed before the bread and the wine. “Blessed are you Lord our God” … is the Jewish thanksgiving formula.

Boyer argues that the liturgy for the Communion service in the ancient Church was based on Jewish synagogue liturgy which itself was based on Temple liturgy. He presents a strong case that the most basic prayer, the Amidah or the Shemoneh Esreh (the 18 Benedictions) formed the basic prayer for the communion liturgy. Grace after meals and elements of the Passover liturgy were integrated into the liturgy as well. For post Temple Judaism, the Amidah prayer is prayed as a substitute for sacrifices with the hope that God will accept this prayer in lieu of bringing an actual sacrifice. Hence the prayer is repeated in the morning and evening as were the sacrifices. In the Christian version of the prayers, the worshipper does not offer the prayer as a substitute for the sacrifice, but as a liturgy to enter into the meaning of the sacrifice of Yeshua and to receive the life that flows from His death and resurrection. When we sing the Holy, Holy, Holy in the Amidah worship prayer, we enter into the experience of being in very Holy place of God (Eph. 2:5). This leads to taking the bread and the wine.

Some of the elements of Pitre’s presentation are worth evaluating and probably worthy of our embrace as Messianic Jews. Pitre presents the case that Yeshua’s discourse in John 6 in a Passover context about eating His body and drinking His blood has Passover roots. There are several emphases the bread and the wine in this that some do not see in their celebration of communion.

First of all, the Bread of the Presence (literally the Face) in the Temple, eaten by the priests is connected to eating the bread of the Lord’s supper. The Mishnah, the Jewish application of Law in early rabbinic Judaism going back to the Pharisees, presents the Bread of the Presence as a manifestation of God’s love. This bread is offered with sacrificial wine. In the three pilgrim feasts, the table with the bread is carried out and shown to the people in the words, “Behold, God’s love for you.” The bread and wine of the Last Supper is the bread and wine of His Presence as a sign of the New Covenant.

Secondly, the feeding of the five thousand has overtones of the miracle of the manna in the wilderness, which was supernatural bread, the bread of angels. Those who asked afterward for Yeshua to do an actual miracle of manna from heaven are asking that He do an actual repeat of the miracle of manna. Why? This was expected in some Jewish traditions at that time as a miracle of the Messiah as the new Moses. However, Yeshua was offering Himself as the supernatural manna, and He is our supernatural bread in fulfillment of the manna expectations.

Thirdly, Pitre argues that the lambs killed for Passover were impaled after their slaughter. The lambs looked like a crucifixion. The crucifixion of Yeshua as the Lamb of God would have presented an image of the lambs that would find association by first century Jews who experienced Passover every year due to the annual Passover pilgrimage festival.

Fourthly, Pitre also argues that the seder celebrated the four cups of wine as in the Seder today. This is found in the Mishneh as well. Luke presents us with two cups. The one after the supper, Pitre argues, is the cup of redemption, the third. This is a common view in Messianic Judaism. He also presented a new argument for me. That is that Yeshua said he would not drink of it again until he would enter into his Kingdom. There was no recording of Yeshua eating the Lamb or drinking the last cup. Yeshua was the Lamb and many have noted that Yeshua and his disciples did not eat the Passover lamb. Pitre also believes Yeshua ended the seder early before the last cup. He then notes that just before He died, He drank the wine offered to him on the sponge, and then gave his spirit up to the Father. Was that the fourth cup? I find this to be more speculative, but possible.

Pitre is a proponent of the Catholic view that when the bread and wine is blessed and set apart by the priest (a necessary act for the transformation) it becomes the real body and blood of Yeshua. However, this is qualified because he argues that it is not the earthly body and blood but a partaking of his resurrected body and his actual life. This becomes, in my view, closer to the Lutheran view of the real presence. What is the actual body and blood really if it is not the earthly body and blood but resurrected and supernatural? I have argued that the Baptist view that the bread and wine are only part of a dramatic way of remembering and do not really convey the reality portrayed is wrong. Rather we participate in the symbol and receive the real life of Yeshua. Catholics, Anglicans, Moravians, Lutherans and Reformed all explain this in different ways, but say we really enter into and renew the reality of his death and resurrection in us as we partake. It should be the same for Messianic Jews.

I think this book by Pitre richly adds to our Messianic Jewish theology.