Author: Steven R. Bruck
Salvation From Both a Jewish and Christian Perspective- Part 1
This is the first time I have tried to give a teaching that will be formatted in a series of small lessons. I would appreciate any comments, either during or after the entire lesson is completed, which will let me know if any of you like this form of teaching. I will continue to post my normal “Drash to Start the Day” individual messages, but if you like these more in-depth lessons posted a bit at a time, please let me know.
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Before we look at the different views of salvation that exist between Jews and Christians, we should agree on what we mean when we talk about “salvation.” Salvation is the forgiveness of sin, meaning we are freed from the consequences (which could be either spiritual, physical or both) of the violations of God’s law that we have committed, which also means redemption from spending eternity in Hell (whatever form that takes) enabling us to have eternal life in the presence of God.
Since salvation is redemption from a crime or a sin, how do we achieve it? Well, in the case of a Civil crime, if we go to court and the judge finds for us, we are saved from paying a fine. If a corporation is suffering failure and a larger one comes along and merges with them, injecting new funds, that corporation has found salvation from bankruptcy. And what about life insurance? If a spouse passes away, there are many expenses that must be incurred and life insurance can be a real (pardon the pun) life-saver by providing the needed funds which could be salvation from debt.
These are types of salvation we find in the physical world, but we want to discuss the “religious” kind of salvation, which is first and foremost given to us in the Torah: we call it the Sacrificial System.
In Judaism as in Christianity, the shedding of innocent blood is the only way to atone for sin, and God outlined in the first 7 chapters of the Book of Leviticus the different types of sacrifices to be made in order to receive forgiveness for the different types of sin we commit.
In Christianity, the way to receive salvation is not through this sacrificial system but by means of the sacrifice performed by the Messiah, Yeshua ha Mashiach (Jesus Christ), which we receive when we profess faith in him.
Ultimately, salvation comes from faith. Just as with Abraham, whose faith was credited to him as righteousness (meaning sinless in God’s eyes), the way we find salvation is through our individual repentance and faith in God and the Messiah; a faith that inspires obedience.
The one thing about salvation that is agreed upon in both Jewish and Christian theology is that salvation, meaning forgiveness from sin and eternity in the presence of God, will come about through the intervention of a Messiah.
Judaism is the progenitor of the idea of a Messiah and is also from whence the Messiah will originate. The Tanakh (the “Jewish” Bible) has over 130 different references to the Messiah, and there are also many references to him in the Talmud, all of which tell us what to expect of him so that when he arrives we will be able to recognize him. In order to understand the Jewish expectations of the Messiah, let’s review some of these now.
Even before the Messiah comes, there will be specific events that signal his arrival. In Ezekiel 38:16 we are told there will be wars and suffering before the coming of the Messiah. The prophets Isaiah (11:11-12), Jeremiah (23:8 and 30:3) and Hosea (3:4-5) prophesied that before Messiah arrives God will regather his people back to their land (Israel.)
Because of what the prophets have said, Jews expect other things from the Messiah, as well. For instance, there will be the restoration of the religious courts of justice and we will have a one-world government (Isaiah 2:2-4, 11:10, and 42:1; Jeremiah 33:15.) The prophet Zephaniah (3:13) said there will be an end to wickedness, sin, and heresy. There will be rewards to the righteous, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the restoration of the line of David and one of the greatest of all Messianic (Jewish) expectations: the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem and the temple service (Jeremiah 33:18.)
Besides the general expectations we have seen already for what the Messiah will do, the Tanakh gives us very specific instructions on how to recognize the Messiah. Micah 5:12 tells us he will be born in Bethlehem, Isaiah 7:14 tells us he will be born of a virgin (there is an on-going argument about the use of the word “almah” in this passage), Isaiah 35:56 and 42:18 tell us that he will have the power to heal people, Daniel 9:24-26 tells us exactly when the Messiah will come (which has been mathematically worked out to the day Yeshua rode into Jerusalem on the back of a colt), Zachariah 11:12 lets us know he will be sold out for 30 pieces of silver, and (finally) Isaiah 53:5-7 and 53:12 give us the best news of all- his death will atone for the sins of all mankind.
This ends the first portion of this teaching, which is to identify the Jewish expectations of their Messiah and how they should recognize him when he arrives. Next, we will discuss why within Judaism, at that time and since then, the Jewish people (as a whole) have not accepted Yeshua as their Messiah.
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I welcome any comments you may want to make- just be nice.
Until the next time, lehitraot and Baruch HaShem!!
Video for Part 1-Salvation Jewish and Christian Perspective
Legalism in a Nutshell
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Legalism- just what is it? Many Christians have, for centuries, been taught that it means people who follow the Torah and the Jewish lifestyle are not really saved because they don’t have faith in Jesus. To a Jewish person, following the Torah is the ultimate indication of faith.
So, what legalism is, in a nutshell, is a belief that one can achieve eternal glory and be welcomed into the presence of God (i.e., be “saved”) through the performance of activities, specifically those which God gave in the Torah. I call it performance-based salvation.
Faith is not a necessary element of legalism, but it is not absent in those who are legalistic. In other words, one can have faith in God and still be legalistic. The main issue is whether or not salvation is considered to be the result of faith, which inspires obedience, or if obedience is how we attain salvation, which also requires having faith in God.
Legalism is a form of putting the cart before the horse.
We need to have the right type of faith: is our faith in God to “save” us based only on obedience, or is it because we believe God knows what is best for us so we do as he says? Isn’t that the type of faith Abraham had? Trusting in God so much that he obeyed without question.
Here is what I see as the foundation of wrong teaching in all religions- Abraham trusted without needing to know why, but “religion” tells us why we should trust, why we should obey and that we need to do what our religion tells us is the proper thing to do. God has no religion, but men have created “religion” in order to have power over other men by pretending to know best how to do what God said to do.
I believe that organized religion is the ultimate form of legalism.
For me, salvation is the result of faith, which inspires obedience, and together they result in salvation…but that is too simplistic a definition. What I should say is that proper faith will lead us to the desire to obey God, and when we are obedient for that reason it will strengthen our faith even more; ultimately, just as iron sharpens iron, our faith will strengthen our desire to obey which will enhance our faith. It is a win-win situation.
There are more than a few times in the Bible that God has told his people, through the Prophets, that lip-service to him is unacceptable. It is clear from the Bible that just doing what God says, just to do it, is not true worship- it is nothing more than being an automaton. God doesn’t want automatons, he wants worshipful, thinking human beings who love him and show that love through faithful and unquestioning obedience.
I am not saying we cannot ask God for explanations- he is always there and always listening to us. But (I believe) with the proper faith you will ask God without demanding an answer, and be thankful if he decides to give you one. Usually, this is done through prayer, and we all know (or should) that prayers are always answered, but God’s answer may be “No”, or it could be “Maybe later, but not now”, or “Yes, but it isn’t going to be what you expect and it won’t come when you expect it.” And sometimes we get an immediate answer that is just what we asked for- but if it should happen to you, don’t get used to it!
Legalism is still around today- not the same kind that Shaul (Paul) argued against, but from (mainly) Gentile Believers who are getting back to their Jewish roots. However, their form of legalism is so exacting that they forget faith is more important. They argue over how God’s name is pronounced, and stating that if you use what they consider to be the wrong name or pronunciation you are praying to idols. They are “anal” about when the moon sets and what calendar is the absolutely correct one. They universally reject all Jewish tradition, yet follow many traditional Christian teachings, such as Yeshua said all food is clean so we don’t have to be Kosher (Mark 7 or Acts 10), or Christians really only have to obey the 4 commands given by the Elders in Jerusalem (Acts 15), and other teachings like these. Their desire to be obedient is so strong that the pendulum has swung from one far side to the other, and their attempts to be correctly worshipful has caused them to stray off the path of true worship.
It is really simple: trust that God knows best, and believe that what he says is what we should do. Without question, without rationalization, without needing to know why- we should just do as God says because we trust in him and because…well, he’s God and we’re not!
Anything more than that is walking down a path that may lead us away from salvation.
Video for Legalism in a Nutshell
Parashah Mikketz 2018 (At the end of) Genesis 41 – 44:17
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The Torah reading today takes up from last Shabbat when Joseph had properly interpreted the dreams of the Baker and Cupbearer. Two years later, Pharaoh has a dream, a double-feature (so to speak) and no one in all the kingdom can interpret it. The Cupbearer remembers Joseph, and he is brought to Pharaoh. Joseph says God is the one who interprets dreams, and God gives Joseph the proper interpretation of the well-known dream: the 7 sickly cows eating up the 7 healthy cows and the seven sickly ears of corn eating up the seven full and ripe ears of corn. Joseph also consults Pharaoh on how to store the surplus from the good years to provide food during the famine to come. Pharaoh appoints Joseph ruler over all of Egypt, gives him a wife and before the famine hits Joseph has two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
Eventually, his brothers are sent to Egypt by Jacob in order to get food due to the famine. Joseph immediately recognizes them but they don’t know him, and he treats them as spies, locking up Simeon (Rabbinic tradition says he picked Simeon because Simeon was the one who first suggested they kill him) and demanding that they bring their youngest brother before him to prove their story, while secretly restoring their money before they leave. Of course, Jacob doesn’t want to part with Benjamin, but sooner or later he has to in order for them to get more food. Reuben offers to give his children as a sacrifice if Benjamin doesn’t come back, but Jacob won’t do that. When Judah offers to take total responsibility for Benjamin, Jacob finally relents and lets them take Benjamin to Egypt.
Once back in Egypt, Joseph has the brothers taken to his house to eat, restores Simeon to them and sets a trap for them. When they leave he has his servant hide a cup in Benjamin’s pack, along with all their money and sends them away. Soon after they leave he sends after them and they find the cup in Benjamin’s pack, bringing all the brothers back to face the charge of theft. Joseph says Benjamin will become his slave and tells the other brothers to return home, and that is where this parashah stops.
If you aren’t aware of this, every parashah is followed with a Haftorah, which is a reading from other parts of the Tanakh which is related to the message found in the Torah reading. The Haftorah for Mikketz is 1 Kings 3:15- 4:1. This is the story (also well-known) of the two prostitutes who come before King Solomon to argue who is the rightful mother of a child who they both claim is their own. When Solomon says to bring him a sword and he will divide the child, the real mother gives up the child in order to save its life, after which Solomon judges she is the true mother.
What these two stories have in common is that people recognized the wisdom that Joseph and Solomon displayed could only have come from God. Pharaoh said of Joseph (Genesis 41:38):
And Pharaoh said unto his servants: “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom the spirit of God is?”
and when Solomon revealed the true mother of the child, we are told (1 Kings 3:28):
And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king; for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do justice.
God uses people, ordinary people like you and me, to intervene in human affairs in order to bring about his plans much more often than he uses angels. And when God imbues us with his wisdom or power, it is something that even the spiritually empty can recognize as coming from some supernatural source. Joseph and Solomon are just two examples of this; throughout the Bible, there are many examples of God giving people the gifts, power, and talents they need to achieve God’s plans.
There is a problem, though- how do we know that the person doing these things, making these judgments, or teaching us God’s word are really getting it from God? We are told that there will be false prophets and false Messiahs, as there have been over the millennia, even to modern days: think of Jim Jones, Father Devine, Jim Bakker, or even ‘the Rebbe’ Menachem Schneerson! They were all charismatic, had many followers and were considered to be either prophets or, in the case of Schneerson, the Messiah, himself. Yet, they have all proved to be false.
It is a hard thing to know the fake from the genuine, especially when the fake is going to be empowered supernaturally by the Enemy of God to perform miraculous feats, just as God empowers his prophets and messengers. The Bible tells us that if a prophet says something will happen, and it does then the prophet is proven to be from God, but sometimes prophecies don’t come about for a long time: I mean, look how long after Isaiah told us about Yeshua until he actually came. Hundreds of years! And the Enemy will make sure that what his messengers prophesize will happen.
So, again we ask, how do we know who is the true messenger of God?
My answer is that the only way to really know the difference is to know God as best as we can, and the way to do that is through his Word! God tells us in the Bible who he is, what is important to him, and how he expects us to behave. He gives us a really good idea of what is godly and what is not. It is up to us to read the Bible, daily, and to know what God has said so that we can hold up anyone that says they are from God against the biblical template God has provided for us.
Finally, for those of you who are like me, a teacher of the Word, we must be subjected to the highest level of scrutiny. This is why James warned us when he said (James 3:1):
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, since you know that we will be judged more severely.
I often have said, in my posts and when I spoke to my congregation, that everything I say must be verified by God’s word. And it is the responsibility of the one hearing my speech, as much as it is mine, to make sure that what I say is proven correct by God’s word. There is a basic model of communication that has three parts: the speaker, the hearer, and noise. The “noise’ is what is between the speaker and the hearer, and it can be anything from measurable sound to bias thinking to total ignorance. The Enemy will make a lot of noise when we try to hear God, and both the one speaking and also the one hearing must work to filter out that noise.
Let me leave you with what I always say when I am complimented on a post or a sermon: if what I do or say is received as being good and just, it is not me but the Holy Spirit working through me. When I totally screw something up, then I can take full credit.
Video for Parashah Mikketz 2018
What Does Do Not Add or Take Away Really Mean?
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There are many times within the Bible, from Genesis through to Revelation, that we are told we are not to add to or take away from the commandments we are given. The most specific commands I could find regarding this can be found in Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32; 13:1; and in Revelation 22:18-19.
Too often I have noticed that people use these admonitions as a means of denying the validity of both Jewish and Christian traditions, rites and holidays that are not specifically commanded in the Torah. They believe the words “do not add to or take away from” as universally encompassing any and all words, ceremonies, activities or regulations outside exactly what is written in the Torah.
This is a form of legalistic interpretation, and although their heart is in the right place, their understanding is incorrect.
When Moses warned against adding to or taking away from the instructions God gave us he meant not to change only those things which he just instructed us to do. Rabbi Rashi gave an example by saying that we are told to use 4 species for the Lulav, so we shouldn’t use 5 or 3. The idea is that we are not to make arbitrary changes to the laws; that, however, does not mean we cannot make new additions to the Mosaic laws, as conditions require. Obviously, with the advent of new technology and moving from an agrarian economy to a service economy, the Mosaic Laws, taken in a stoic and unbending literal meaning, in many cases cannot be applied.
Let us consider that we do not change anything in the Torah at all- literally, not one word is to be added or taken away. If that is the case, then the only way we can be sure we obey that command is to read the Torah in the original Hebrew it was written in. For example, if we are not to add to the words in the book, then English cannot be used to translate the Bible because we would have to add many, many words.
Here’s an example: in Hebrew, the possessive is usually the noun with the ending having a “-nu” added. “Adonai” means “Lord” but when we write “Adonainu” it means “our Lord” The Hebrew is a single word but the English translation requires the use of two words, which is a violation of the command not to add anything to the words in the book. Imagine how many uses of the possessive we find in the Bible, and how many words will have to be added just to interpret the Hebrew correctly. Not to mention that the Torah has been translated into scores of different languages, each of them having their own need to add or remove certain words to make the translation fit.
Can you see how ridiculous it becomes if we insist on an absolutely literal interpretation of that command?
The Torah is a book of instruction- it is the ultimate User’s Manual for worshiping God and treating each other. Torah doesn’t mean “law”, it means “instruction” and the instructions we are given are to be performed as God said to. That means we are to do what God said to do the way God said to do it, but it does NOT mean we cannot adjust to a changing world. R. Maimonides has said that the sages (Sanhedrin) are allowed to temporarily suspend some requirements or allow that which is forbidden under extreme circumstances. These are not to be permanent changes, but under extreme conditions and only to allow what needs to be done only while there is a need for it.
And under no circumstance can additional requirements be considered as Divine instructions- that is what it really boils down to when Moses said do not add to or take away from what God gave us: the instructions in the Torah are not to be changed, deleted, altered or modified in any way. However, what new “fences around the law” are required (aka, Talmudic instruction) are acceptable so long as they are not presented as Divine instruction.
This is where Judaism has violated the Torah- the Talmud is studied and revered as scripture by some of the more Orthodox sects of Judaism, and that is what Moses said we should not do. There is nothing wrong with traditional forms of worship if they do not nullify or over-rule God’s commands, AND if they are recognized as man-made and not presented as Divinely ordered.
Here is an example: the Divine order in Torah is that we are not to boil a calf in its mother’s milk; the fence around that law (given in the Talmud) is that we are not to even mix meat and dairy. I, myself, will never boil a calf in its mother’s milk but I will go to Steak and Shake and order a cheeseburger, fries and a milkshake (Oy! Now I’m hungry.) I am not violating God’s commandment, and the truth is even if I never mix meat and dairy, I am not violating God’s commandment, and I am not sinning- I am simply doing a little more than the minimum to ensure I do not violate the Divine order. That is really what the Talmudic/Rabbinic traditions are designed to do- they are to help us perform God’s commandments properly and not accidentally violate them (hence the term “fences around the law”, i.e. a way to prevent us from accidentally trespassing the law.)
So, here is how I look at “traditional” rites and holidays: do they change what God has said? Is celebrating Hanukkah (not specified in Lev. 23) a violation of God’s commandments? In my opinion, it isn’t because God couldn’t include it when he gave the Moedim to Moses simply because it hadn’t occurred yet. Is thanking God for a miraculous military victory which saved Judaism wrong? How could it be? How can anything that is a loving and worshipful celebration of the Lord and what he has done for us ever be wrong?
On the other hand, is failing to honor the Sabbath OK? Certainly not! Or if we decided we wanted to celebrate Sukkot for only 5 days, would that be OK? Certainly not! But what if I want to have a party and read the Magillah of Hadassah on Purim, is that OK? It certainly is!
God gave us the Torah so we can know how he wants us to live. It is not all-encompassing, it does not cover everything we will run into as the world changes, and it is not absolutely the exact words God gave to Moses. There is no way we can know that. So, nu? What is it? It is a collection of instructions that are the minimum we should do to obey God. Anything outside of the Torah that is required by our religious leadership is not a sin as long as that requirement is in accordance with God’s instructions; they must not nullify, overrule or change them, and they must not be presented as a Divine instruction.
What we are given in the Talmud and Constantinian Christian dogma is man-made instruction. It is not Divine, it is not absolutely required, and if it goes against what God said (such as changing the day we celebrate the Sabbath) it is a sin.
So, celebrate the Lord, give thanks in every way you can and don’t restrict your thankfulness to only what is in the Torah.