Standing Up to the Christian Bullies Part 1
Commentary on “Hebrew Roots Heresy” Facebook Page
One of the posts on this site rails upon Hebraic Roots advocating Christian believers being Torah Observant. This post went out of its way to insist that the New Testament commands that Christians NOT observe Torah, which they site Col. 2:16-17:
16 ¶ So don’t let anyone pass judgment on you in connection with eating and drinking, or in regard to a Jewish festival or Rosh–Hodesh or Shabbat. 17 These are a shadow of things that are coming, but the body is of the Messiah. (Col 2:16-17 CJB)
I have a hard time seeing how anyone can derive an abolition of Torah observance by believers in Yeshua Messiah from these two verses. I guess if you are coming at this from a western perspective or mindset and with a twist of pre-existing bias against Torah observance, then Shaul’s admonishment could be taken as an denouncement against Torah Observance.
But let’s do some simple investigation into exactly what was going on in Colossae at the time of Shaul’s writing and what Shaul’s message to the Colossians was. Colosse (aka Colossae in certain MS) was a city in Phrygia. The Colossian assembly was overwhelmingly Gentile in composition–NAS Colossians 2:13 And when you were adead 1in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He bmade you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, (Col 2:13 NAS). All indications are that Shaul did not establish the Colossian assembly as he had established the assemblies of Corinth and Thessalonica, but it was most likely Epaphras–as mentioned by Shaul–NAS Colossians 1:7 just as you learned it from aEpaphras, our bbeloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on 1our behalf, (Col 1:7 NAS). Early in the Colossian epistle we can clearly see that Shaul was counteracting some form of Jewish false teaching. Consequently, fundamentalists stop here and simply assume that the Jewish false teaching is Torah or the Law. Case closed. But is this indeed the case?
The passage in question–as put forth by our friends on Facebook–speaks to festivals (Jewish was added by the author of the CJB), Rosh Hodesh or Shabbat. Now we know that Judaizers were far far from being strict Torah followers. Their focus was on the oral tradition and many sects delved into Jewish mysticism that seems to have made it way into Messianic Judaism even today. Thus, inquiry reveals that Judaizers held to teachings on the new moon (rosh hodesh), sabbath days (not necessarily the weekly Sabbath) and specific practices to be adhered to during the Feasts of Yehovah. As just mentioned, these same Judaizers were adding into the mix what Jameson-Fascet-Brown describe as “…oriental theosophy and angel worship and ascetism.” This crazy mix was being foisted upon the unsuspecting Colossian gentiles as required initiation rites to the true Faith being delivered. Theosophy and theosophists believed that they had “insight into the world of spirits and understood and taught pathways to heavenly purity and intelligence.” (JFB) Some scholars contend that these same Judaizers were teaching the Colossian gentiles Greek philosophy from the Philo School of philosophy and were combining their beliefs and practices with Rabbinical theosophy and angelogy which are simply precursors to Kabbalah.
But wait, there’s more. Remember that Colossae was a city of Phrygia where worship of Cybele was a mainstay of everyday life. Cybele worship was considered one of the Mystery Religions of the Near East. According to Wikipedia– Cybele is Phrygia‘s only known goddess, and was probably its state deity. Her Phrygian cult was adopted and adapted by Greek colonists of Asia Minor and spread from there to mainland Greece and its more distantwestern colonies from around the 6th century BCE. In Greece, Cybele met with a mixed reception. She was partially assimilated to aspects of the Earth-goddess Gaia, herMinoan equivalent Rhea, and the Harvest-Mother goddess Demeter. Some city-states, notably Athens, evoked her as a protector, but her most celebrated Greek rites and processions show her as an essentially foreign, exotic mystery-goddess who arrives in a lion-drawn chariot to the accompaniment of wild music, wine, and a disorderly, ecstatic following. Uniquely in Greek religion, she had a transgender or eunuch mendicant priesthood. Many of her Greek cults included rites to a divine Phrygian castrate shepherd-consort Attis, who was probably a Greek invention. In Greece, Cybele is associated with mountains, town and city walls, fertile nature, and wild animals, especially lions.
So very early on, we can see quite clearly the mess that Shaul was having to clean up in Colossae. We can also conclude this early on that the problems Shaul was addressing was not the Colossian assembly practice Torah and that Torah was an anathema to the true Faith being delivered.
The problem facing Hebraic Roots as well as churchianity is this concept of seeing the writings of Shaul through the lenses of Shaul and the assemblies he is addressing in his various writings. Churchianity only sees a series of colorful sound bites which are then used individually (in most situations) as the basis for doctrine and foundational belief systems and structures. As we can clearly see in this passage of Colossians, verse 16 cannot be taken alone or as a single sound bite. Why? Because Shaul begins verse 16 with the word “so.” So implies that this is a “carry-on” of sorts from a previous set of verses. When you and I are talking with one another, we typically use the term “so” to carry-on the conversation from something that was explained or discussed earlier. Starting any conversation with “so” and then moving on to substantive content would only serve to cause the listener a lot of confusion. I know when I’m at work and someone comes to my office to talk to me about something and they start off the conversation with “so,” it usually means that they are expecting me to be able to make a connection with the content they are about to spill out to me. “So Rod, about the investigators’ schedule…” says to me that the speaker is going to talk to me about the schedule and I should know what it is they are going to be talking to me about prior to them getting too deep into their dissertation on the schedule. Otherwise, by the time they get half-way through their dissertation, I will be totally confused or lost and will have to get them to provide me some background on what they are talking to me about…and believe me, this happens more times than not…they begin telling me about something, starting out with “so,” but I know nothing about what they are talking about. This may prove somewhat embarrassing to the individual trying to talk to me about the issue at hand and they are then required to get me up to speed on what it is they are there to talk to me about.
In the above passage of Colossians, the “so” is a crossover or conjunction for verses 8-15 of that same chapter 2 which speaks to the Colossians avoiding the trap of philosophy (the precursor of Gnosticism that would soon hit the first century Church) and human traditions:
8 ¶ Watch out, so that no one will take you captive by means of philosophy and empty deceit, following human tradition which accords with the elemental spirits of the world but does not accord with the Messiah. 9 For in him, bodily, lives the fullness of all that God is. 10 And it is in union with him that you have been made full – he is the head of every rule and authority. 11 Also it was in union with him that you were circumcised with a circumcision not done by human hands, but accomplished by stripping away the old nature’s control over the body. In this circumcision done by the Messiah, 12 you were buried along with him by being immersed; and in union with him, you were also raised up along with him by God’s faithfulness that worked when he raised Yeshua from the dead. 13 You were dead because of your sins, that is, because of your “foreskin,” your old nature. But God made you alive along with the Messiah by forgiving you all your sins. 14 He wiped away the bill of charges against us. Because of the regulations, it stood as a testimony against us; but he removed it by nailing it to the execution-stake. 15 Stripping the rulers and authorities of their power, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by means of the stake. (Col 2:8-15 CJB)
From what we’ve gathered so far, Shaul was not likely speaking out against the discipline of philosophy per se, but more so, “The Philosophy” and that Philosophy was the likely precursor to Gnosticism. The Philosophy here that is mentioned is NOT Torah and if one is true to heart and soul, they must concede this point and not simply default to anti-Semitic–anti-Torah rhetoric. But we must be called to stick to the facts and not denominational hogbosh.
The Traditions of men in this section seems to apply to Rabbinical traditions as well as the appendages of acetism/gnosticism that we spoke to earlier.
The Rudiments of the World” likely speaks to (adhering to the rules of context) legal ordinances that were taught to Jewish children throughout their childhood. These are Jewish practices that are in many cases contained in the Talmud.
Thus, the traditions of men, the rudiments of the world, and the Philosophy spoken of by Shaul seems to have been focused upon the carnal and worldliness of everyday life while setting aside the focus which should have been on Faith in Yeshua Messiah and being His worthy disciples.
The whole point to Hebraic Roots is that the true Believer in Messiah Yeshua must look at the content contained in our bibles from a Hebraic context. Notice that I did not say from a Jewish context. Simply put, if our Bibles were written in and through a Hebraic context, doesn’t it make perfect sense to read, understand and apply these messages contained therein in the same spirit and vein of being Hebraic based? It’s entirely asinine to think and do otherwise.
Case in point: White America could never understand the plight of Black America unless they themselves saw and understood life from a black perspective. And the same could be said in reverse.
In the case of these folks who are behind this Facebook page who go out of their way to villainize the Hebraic Roots Movement with enough venom and hatred to put the most di-heart racist to shame -they are so entrenched in seeing the Bible from a westernized, Pauline mind set and perspective that anything, any sect, and writing, any thoughts that suggests viewing and understanding the the Bible otherwise is heresy to their ears. I can’t discount either that the enemy has a huge stake in this fight as well; so he no doubt works overtime to further the cause of damaging the reputation of the Hebraic Roots Movement.
The funny thing is: the fundamentalists’ iron grip on understanding and interpreting the Bible from a western-Pauline perspective only leads them to a complete misunderstanding and misinterpretation of many of the passages of the Brit Hadashah (aka the New Testament), including the one I just mentioned. Unless you understand what was going on in Colossae and the Colossian Assembly–truly understand–as much as possible that is–you just might come to the grossly erroneous conclusions that traditionalists have come to with regard to this passage. The simple fact of the matter is that Judaizers (even precursors to Kaballah) had established a foot-hold in the Colossae Assembly and they set upon a mission to inject various mystical Jewish traditions into the Gospel message and into the everyday life of the Christian Colossian. Today, as in first-century Colossae, certain Jewish sects practice a form of Judaism that is built upon man-made practices. Although these practices are framed upon and around Torah, they are far from the intent and beauty that is Torah.
The one thing that I’ve come to appreciate and understand about Hebraic Roots/Messianics is our insatiable hunger and thirst for knowledge and understanding about the contents contained in our Bibles. Churchianity has taught her adherents to be lazy. Lazy in the sense of: don’t search; don’t dig; don’t worry about the true meaning of what you’re reading. That is criminal my friends. Criminal in this day and age because the truth and the information is out there for all to see and possess. But the believer must want to gain that knowledge and understanding. Churchianity has taught its adherents to rely upon its pastors, ministers, evangelists, teachers and the like to provide them all the answers they think they need. Thus, there is no need for the believer to search out the truth for themselves…it’s automatically fed to them from pulpits each and every Sunday.
Picture this: when our bank statements or even our cell phone bills don’t match what we think the charges should be (i.e, we suspect erroneous charges), we will dig and hunt to the point of exhaustion to prove that those charges are invalid–in many cases, simply to save a couple dollars. But when it comes to our eternal life and our walk with Messiah Yeshua, we rather leave that to the experts (i.e., our church leaders). How many times have you tried to share some truth from Hebraic Roots with a family member, friend or acquaintance, only to be told by said family member, friend or acquaintance–I don’t know; let me ask my Pastor first? What?! Why can’t we simply tap the resources that are out there that are right at our finger tips (in many cases) and find out the truth for ourselves? Because we’ve been taught to be lazy and dependent upon those who have assumed authority over our spiritual lives. That laziness has the potential, however, to lead so many millions down a road to destruction.
But back to verses 16 and 17. With all that we’ve covered on this topic, what was Shaul saying to the Colossian assembly? Shaul was admonishing them not to get “caught up in the midst of a spiritual quagmire” and not allow folks to pass judgment upon them in connection to these “optional matters” (practices surrounding feasts and sabbaths and the like)–and I’ll add to the CJB commentary’s treatment on this passage in Colossians–and avoid these Kabbalisitic beliefs and traditions that would naturally supplant the truth of the Gospel message. Shaul did NOT command the Colossians to abandon Torah. Contrary to the Facebook people, Shaul gave the Colossians permission to either observe or not observe the man made rules surrounding dining and feast days as long as they kept everything in proper spiritual perspective and kept first things first–Faith in Yeshua Messiah and being His proper obedient disciples. Shaul did add that there is value in the Feasts of Yehovah for they, according to Shaul, were shadow pictures of good things to come. These Feasts must be looked upon and treated as rehearsals and nothing more. They can not be treated as an end unto themselves as so many in the Messianic and Hebraic Roots communities have done. In other words, avoid at all costs being bound legalistically to the festivals.
Thus, the owners and contributors of the Hebrew Roots Heresy Facebook page (I refuse to post the link to their page–if you are interested simply Google it) have in their post, addressing Colossians 2:16-17, failed to prove their contention that Shaul taught it was heresy to observe and practice Torah. Not only did they fail, have placed themselves in a precarious situation from which they must repent and make right–not only with Yehovah, but with their fellow fundamentalist Christian readers who are trusting them for the truth. The Master said Himself–NAS Matthew 5:19 “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches 1others, shall be called least ain the kingdom of heaven; but whoever 2keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Mat 5:19 NAS)
In closing, let me say: let us not grow weary in doing what it is we are compelled to do as disciples of Yeshua Messiah. Let us not be discouraged by the fundamentalists who seek to damage our Faith. Let us remained focused and NAS Philippians 3:14 … apress on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phi 3:14 NAS)