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Gentiles and Torah

Tags:  Boundary Stones, commandments, four prohibitions, Gentiles, Israel's mission, Jewish people, knowledge of God, light to the nations, replacement theology, supercessionism

Most Christian theologians dismiss the applicability of the Torah for believers whatsoever. This view, of course, is what the book Boundary Stones aims to confront. However, some Christian and Messianic teachers are comfortable with the idea that Jewish believers in Jesus can or should continue with Torah observance, but for Gentiles, it is either not recommended or entirely forbidden.

It is easy for Gentiles to feel a loss of identity when they discover the Jewishness of the Bible and the centrality of Israel, even in the New Testament. This sense of loss leads some people to supercessionism or replacement theology, which is the belief that the body believers in Jesus (i.e., the Church) has displaced the Jewish people and become the new Israel. Others look to theories that surmise that Gentile believers are actually physical descendants of the ancient Israelites. Some decide that their only recourse as Gentiles is to go through a process of formal conversion to Judaism and become Jews. (Note that this typically involves a formal and outright rejection of Jesus.)

Without a doubt, God chose a single people group as his own special nation. He entered into covenant with them, and over the course of history, he dealt with them differently from other nations. From its very inception, others were welcome in joining the people of Israel, as it seems, to varying degrees.

But to what end did God choose the Israelites? Surely God is not content to remain a tribal deity. Rather, Israel's chosen status reflects their mission to the world. The unique calling of the Jewish people is not merely to interact with God, but to bring the entire world into relationship with him.

God revealed himself to Israel by giving them the Torah. Each commandment in the Torah illuminates truth about God's nature. The relationship of God with Israel is put into practice by carrying out the commandments he gave them.

The Light to the Nations

It is the special mission of the Jewish people to share the knowledge of God with the entire world and to show them how to carry out a relationship with him. The Torah, which God has placed firmly within the hand of the Jewish people, is like a beacon that shines into the world.

See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law [Torah] that I set before you today? (Deuteronomy 4:5-8)

The prophet Isaiah speaks extensively about Israel's mission to reveal God to the world:

Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb ... And he said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." ... "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." (Isaiah 49:1-6)

This unique calling did not by any means come to an end when Jesus came. In fact, the prophets declared that carrying out this calling would be a huge part of the messianic mission:

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law [Torah], and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Micah 4:1-2)

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations... He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law [Torah]. (Isaiah 42:1-4)

This is exactly what occurred in the wake of Jesus' arrival. Gentiles began to flock to the synagogues and entered the community of believers. These Gentiles looked to Jesus' Jewish apostles for some sense of what to do, and how they should embark upon their relationship with God.

The Four Rulings

The apostles, after some deliberation, dispensed four rulings. Their letter to these Gentiles who are coming to faith indicated that they must abstain:

• from what has been sacrificed to idols
• from blood
• from what has been strangled
• from sexual immorality

The text of the letter is found in Acts 15:23-29. (Re-statements of these rulings appear in Acts 15:20, 21:25. Also note that manuscript variants exist with different versions of this list.)

Numerous and varied interpretations exist as to the exact intent and purpose of these rulings. Regardless, it is not reasonable to think that these four laws constitute the complete list of obligations of a Gentile before God. They say nothing about stealing, oppression, justice, or honor for parents, for example. Furthermore, the laws are not specific enough to be practical. What, for example, constitutes "sexual immorality"? Where does one go to find that definition, if not the Torah?

Regardless of their exact meaning and purpose, we can see from these rulings that they are not an end but a beginning of a Gentile's journey into a life conformed to God's will. Consider the rationale for these four prohibitions:

Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues. (Acts 15:19-21)

What purpose does it serve to mention the fact that [the Torah of] Moses is read every Sabbath in the synagogues in conjunction with the list of obligations for Gentiles? Clearly, the meaning is that a Gentile will be expected to learn the Torah week by week in the synagogue and begin to carry it out.

The Spiritual Life of a Gentile

Some people say that Gentiles are only permitted to observe the ethical principles in the Torah, but that poses a real problem. Humans need rituals, markers, special times, and symbolic actions to serve as reminders and a frame of reference for our behavior. If Gentiles don't use the ones in the Bible, then they will be left to invent them from nowhere or to adapt them from the surrounding cultures and religions.

If Gentiles were not to observe Torah, except to abide by some ethical principles, then what would the spiritual life of a Gentile look like?

First of all, would Gentile believers meet together in some sort of assembly? If so, when and where? One might suggest that Gentiles could go to churches, and Jews could go to synagogues. But that does not at all reflect the unity that existed in the first generation of believers. Additionally, "churches" as we know them today did not exist, particularly not as a separate meeting place for Gentiles. If Gentiles are not meant to be in the synagogue learning and worshiping together with Jews, then there is no place for them.

Would Gentiles get a day of rest, or any regular time of sanctity? The New Testament does not designate offer Sunday as an alternative holy day for Gentiles. If Gentiles are not to observe the Sabbath, then biblically, Gentiles have no holy day of rest.

Do Gentiles get to have any holidays, celebrations or seasonal markers? The holidays known to Christianity today (Christmas, Easter, the days of various saints) do not find any mention in the Bible, except for Pentecost (which is the biblical Festival of Weeks, Shavu'ot, found in the Torah). If Gentiles were not to celebrate the Torah's holidays, then they would not have any biblical holidays at all.

Spiritual life without sanctity and ritual would be empty, and in their absence, people simply invent substitutes.

Torah for the Nations

God gave the Torah to the Jewish people, not to hoard it or put it under a basket. Jesus was speaking to Jewish people when he said,

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others [anthropon, literally "men, humans, mankind"], so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)

Jesus and his disciples carried out the mission to his people by bringing the nations near to Israel's God. In doing so, he brought them near to the Torah as well.

Gentiles should not be ashamed of the fact that they are not Jewish. When Gentiles turn to the God of Israel and his laws, it is amazing and brings him glory. They also, however, should not minimize the uniqueness that belongs to the Jewish people by virtue of their special calling.

www.boundarystones.com

See the official Boundary Stones site for reviews and more articles about Torah observance.

About the Author: Aaron Eby writes for messiah magazine and other FFOZ publications. He is also the author of the forthcoming Siddur, as well as the recently published Hebrew lesson DVD.