MY CHALLENGE TO SOME SEGMENTS OF THE MESSIANIC COMMUNITY

I had been a zealous Zionist, living in Israel for three years. My meaning in life revolved around my Jewish identity; my purpose was to fight for the preservation of Israel as a sanctuary for Jews. My years of enduring anti-Semitism had proved to me that the Jews needed a sanctuary away from the taunts and fists.

The idea of becoming a Christian was unthinkable, as unthinkable as becoming transgendered. However, life is stranger than fiction. While lying in a pool of my own blood, wondering if my next breath would be my last, I know that God was there, that He loved me, and would be with me even if I died. Later, I surrendered this life to my Savior Jesus.

Yet, my tenacious Jewish identity remained intact. I wanted to be part of a Messianic congregation, but there were none within several hundred miles. So I had to content myself with the fellowship of the Goyim. However, over the next several years, my Savior revealed to me that my identity was at odds with my new identity in Jesus.

This identity had been laced with pride – the type of pride from which the Lord wanted to deliver me. His surgery was painful; the recovery protracted. However, now I can see what I hadn’t seen before – how this pride is motivating other Jewish believers, even causing division within the Body of Christ.

The Apostle Peter’s conduct was also causing division. He was gladly fellowshipping with the uncircumcised Gentile believers in Antioch, until the leadership (the circumcision party) arrived from Jerusalem. Hastily, Peter withdrew from his Gentile brethren, even drawing others away with him. Paul was appalled by this sight:

·       And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” (Galatians 2:13-14 ESV)

Peter had been living as a Gentile, making no distinction between Jew and Gentile as the Gospel required, since, in Christ, there is no longer Jew or Gentile (Galatians 3:28). However, when he withdraw from his Gentile brethren at the arrival of the circumcision party, in effect, he was telling them that they must also become Jews if they were to fellowship together.

Paul correctly understood this behavior as a betrayal of the Gospel, which had made us all one (Ephesians 3:6) and to not separate into two but related communities. He explained:

·       For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. (Galatians 2:18-21)

To insist that the Gentiles had to become circumcised to become a Jew and to also follow the law was to “nullify the grace of God” and to “rebuild” what the Savior had fulfilled. To insist on this as a necessity for full fellowship was to again place believers under the law and to become a “transgressor” of the law in the process.

Actions speak loudly. Paul understood that Peter’s action represented the betrayal of the Gospel of Jesus and the unity that He had created through His death and resurrection (Ephesians 5:1-6). This unity in love would also serve as evidence that Christ is in our midst (John 17:2-23).

While many of my Jewish brethren understand this, some do not and call themselves “Messianic Jews” and insist that they are required to follow certain commandments that set them apart from Gentile believers.

Consequently, I will not allow my Jewish brethren to describe or introduce me as a “Messianic Jew.” Instead, I insist that I am a Christian. I want this name and my Savior to define me entirely, at least what is most important about me.

I don’t deny my Jewishness or how it has shaped my life. However, I am sold-out for my Savior and want this to be clear:

·       For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:27-28)