Category: Discipleship
Reaching Out
There is a growing perception, in line with Orthodox halacha, among Messianic Jewish leaders that the believers from among the nations do not need to be encouraged to become Torah observant; but that the "Noachide laws" are prescribed to gentiles as HASHEM’s ultimate standard for them.
There is the notion that the requirements of Acts 15 (the council of Jerusalem’s decisions on the base requirements for gentile participation in the kehilah) are the equivalent of the Noachide laws. It is my opinion that this concept cannot be further from the truth and actually undermines the growth of Messianic Judaism. In my opinion, the Noachide laws are merely the introduction to a life of progressive Torah obedience for those who follow the Jewish Messiah.
One Nation—"Beneath His Wings"
Avraham, often referred to as ‘the father of faith,’ is traditionally thought of as the first convert and Jew. We read in Genesis 12:5 that Avram and Sarai took all the souls they had gathered in Haran with them to the Promised Land. These ‘souls’ are the converts they had made to the One true Elohim. Avram, prior to the covenant sign of circumcision or his name change, stirs pagans/gentiles to faith in HASHEM. Thus he and Sarai become the first ‘missionaries’1 or emissaries. The mixed multitude, consisting of persons of varied nationalities, that followed Moshe and the Hebrews into the wilderness were converts2 as they would have undergone circumcision as prescribed by HASHEM prior to partaking of the Pesach meal.3
HASHEM instructs Moshe that there shall be no distinction between the Israelites and the stranger within their gates, for those who follow Him. "There shall be one torah to the native and the proselyte who lives among you." This is but one of the many passages where Torah requires that proselytes ...
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Adapted from
Bikurei Tziyon #63
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