The Hebrew Roots Movement: A critical analysis of its origins, teachings & biblical interpretations

by Rubén Gómez

The use of alleged pictographic Hebrew meanings is widespread in the HRM. However, experts in the field label it as “linguistic idiocy,” and no reputable Hebrew lexicon resorts to this method.

Probably the most blatant hermeneutical error of the HRM is not knowing how to distinguish between Israel and the nations, between Jews and Gentiles.

such as torah, law, Israel, etc.,[93] and always assigning them the same meaning, that is, the one that is most convenient at each moment. For example, “gentile” in 1 Cor 12:2, “You know that when you were pagans (lit., Gentiles) you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led,” means “pagan” (hence the ESV translation), in the sense of someone who worships idols rather than the God of Israel. This is one of the possible meanings of the Greek word ἔθνος ethnos (Str. G1484). However, in Eph 2:11, “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called ‘the uncircumcision’ by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands,” the same term refers to those who a not Jews, and thus members of “the nations.”

The reality is that the converted Gentile stops being pagan but does not stop being a member of the nations (that is, a non-Jew).

Another very illustrative case is the two passages that narrate what happened in the council known as the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-33; 21:25). The celebration of that critical meeting itself demonstrates that there were different sensitivities about the role of non-Jewish believers within the Messianic community, and that the apostles (and the Holy Spirit!, Acts 15:28a) settled the issue by recognizing that believing Jews would continue to observe the Torah but that Gentiles would only have to be concerned with those aspects that would allow for full communion between Jews and non-Jews. (Acts 15:29). The context clearly shows that what was considered were not the ethical principles of the law in general, which have always been incumbent on believers of all times, but particularly sensitive aspects for Jews (sexual practices and consumption of certain foods commonly associated with idolatrous cults). All of them were matters that would be scandalous for a Jew but part of many Gentiles’ everyday life and customs. Ultimately, it is the coup de grace to the idea that all people must keep the Torah. However, the HRM clings to a convoluted interpretation of Acts 15:21 (not even included in the letter finally sent to the churches) to impugn everything. They use the argument of silence to prove their theses, understanding that, with absolute certainty, Gentiles would go to synagogues on the Sabbath and gradually begin the path of the Torah until they kept it in its entirety...

The theology of the HRM The HRM is highly critical of Christianity

However, they accuse those who do not observe the Mosaic law of being “doers of evil.” (lit., “workers of lawlessness,” Matt 7:23).

Mosaic law is no longer in effect as such, since we are under a new covenant.

The theology of the HRM is centered around the Torah,[96] rather than the person and work of Jesus Christ.

To not be under the law of Moses does not mean to be under no law at all, but rather to be under a different law, such as it behooves a different covenant.

All the ethical principles of the Torah can be found in the law of Christ and are lived in the Spirit.

If Gentile believers are “Israel” and the Torah is for all, the Jews lose their uniqueness and are replaced, de facto, by Gentiles who identify as Israelites.

This incorrect desire to “keep Torah” in order to become Israel is a deception that dates back to the time of the Apostles (1 Tim 1:4, Titus 3:9).

Although the HRM tries to distance itself from traditional British Israelism[102] as much as possible, the approach it takes, and even the vocabulary it uses, betray the fact that two house theology is simply a facelift of that false doctrine.

The message of the Gospel of Jesus the Messiah is not the restoration of the house of Israel but rather the coming of his Kingdom and divine salvation to the world, both for Jews and Gentiles.

HRM is mainly based on conspiracy theories: the original texts were manipulated, Christianity deliberately concealed certain teachings, current religious practices have a pagan origin, etc. The HRM spreads its teachings mainly through the Internet, so it uses many clickbaits to awaken people’s interest with catchy and sensationalist statements.

Familiar with click bait

There are plenty of video and conference titles like “what the church doesn’t want you to hear,” “what the church hides from us,” or “the church lied to us.” Everything is aimed at offering a supposed truth that takes us away from the deception in which most people live. This is precisely the mechanism through which the ground is prepared to accept fanciful conspiracy theories blindly. Doubt is always sown first, and when it takes root, it becomes increasingly easy to come to an absolute and unshakable conviction, no matter

when I considered writing my thesis on the HRM a while ago, I had to give up the idea a few days later due to the apparent lack of academic material to carry out the study successfully. Indeed, scholarly works written by Hebrew roots teachers are noticeably absent.

The crusade of the HRM against culture

HRM considers anything that does not come, in their view, from Hebrew culture to be hostile and suspicious.

It is as if the rest of the languages, cultures, and worldviews could do nothing but tarnish and cloud the revelation of God.

We must either go to the Hebrew mindset or miss what he...

demonizing anything that appears to deviate from their interpretation and making all kinds of accusations of paganism against Christianity is just one step away.

The favorite charges are, unsurprisingly, not keeping the Sabbath as a day of rest and celebrating Easter and Christmas instead of Pesach and Succoth.

As for Shabbat, the fundamental touchstone for determining the authenticity of a person’s faith according to the HRM, those who do not keep it are co...

The Sabbath is not included in the law of the Messiah. It is the sign of the Mosaic covenant established at Sinai. In addition, it was never the day to celebrate the worship of God but to remain at home and rest from all labor.

Jewish believers in Jesus the Messiah continued to celebrate them, but they were never intended as feasts for non-Jews.

But the constant accusations of paganism launched mercilessly by the HRM year after year denote an absolute misunderstanding of what resignifying symbols means. The

HRM frequently falls into parallelomania. When it comes to criticizing Christianity, anything goes. Thus, any similarity, however superficial or even non-existent, between some Christian date, event, teaching, or practice and its supposed pagan counterparts is used to make blanket accusations of plagiarism against Christianity and highlight its suspected links with the crudest forms of paganism. It does not matter whether these shocking allegations lack any historical rigor.

The motto seems to be, “throw enough mud at the wall; some...

It must be emphasized that the origin does not determine the meaning of a thing. That is a genetic fallacy. What determines the purpose of a given practice, and dictates how it should be interpreted, is the use and meaning given to it by those who carry it out here and now.[108]

Circumcision, covenants, sacrifices, many of the Mosaic laws, etc., are practices that existed before the formation of the people of Israel. But they were not adopted as is; they were substantially reinterpreted and repurposed.

It is absurd to label practices such as Sunday, Christmas, and Easter as pagan, as HRM consistently does. Thus, for instance, Christian ordinances like baptism and the Lord’s Supper originated in Judaism but are no longer considered Jewish practices due to their adoption and reinterpretation by the Christian church. This is how traditions and cultures evolve and change over time. They are transformed; they draw upon previous ones. None of them are perfect (nor is the Hebrew one), although certainly some are closer to biblical teachings than others, but in any case, God can work—and indeed he does—amid any culture.

If the central issue is that the gentiles will not be required to be circumcised or to observe the law of Moses, despite the pressures of some Jews (Acts 15:1, 5, 24) and that they are not to take upon themselves any further burden (Acts 15:10, 19, 28), v. 21 cannot be interpreted as the HRM claims. It is absolutely impossible and contradictory.

Is it true that current Christianity has pagan origins? No, it is not true.

over time it became what it is today: the futile effort to try to make 21st-century Christians encounter the faith of the early church of the 1st century and return to the supposed Israelite identity of non-Jewish believers. That is why it is better to speak of Jewish roots to refer to the linguistic and cultural substratum of the Christian faith and leave the Hebrew roots for the HRM.

Is any Jewish practice inherently Judaizing in itself? Of course not. A Jew can celebrate it as part of their identity, and a Gentile can participate in some of them as long as they do not usurp the place of the Jew or conceive it as an obligation for everyone.

What about Messianic Jews? They are witnesses of their faith in the Messiah in front of the Jewish community as a whole, and inseparable and necessary brothers and sisters of the Gentile believers. Together, we are the expression of the reconciliation achieved by the Lord on the cross of Calvary and a foretaste of the worship that Israel and the nations will one day offer him. •

Why are so many believers today adopting forms of worship with a distinctly Jewish flavor and constantly using Hebrew expressions when speaking or writing? Generally speaking, there is great confusion about the identity of the Gentile,

According to biblical taxonomy, humanity is divided into two differentiated groups: Israel and the nations.

Once the redemptive work of Jesus is finished, they say, there are only two types of people: those who believe in him and those who do not. Everything else is irrelevant.

However, unity in Christ is a union between different people (you and we), not between identical people, in very much the same way as marriage is a union between different persons (you and I)

Sang-Won Son writes that “[t]o a certain extent, this inclusive corporate humanity transcends racial, gender, and social distinctions, but without eradicating the individual person’s distinctiveness.”[120]

The HRM cultivates a genuine aversion to any culture in the world other than Hebrew. 7

Messianic Judaism (henceforth, MJ) is not related to Hebrew Roots groups either historically or doctrinally.

In fact, some of the sharpest critics of the HRM are Messianic Jews.

It idealizes a type of Judaism that does not exist and aspires to recover a primitive faith that turns its back on centuries of reflection and experience without wanting or knowing how to distinguish between the essential and the accessory. In short, it is a headlong flight that burns all bridges.

While MJ, like all of Judaism, maintains the distinction between the obligations of Jews and gentiles concerning the Mosaic law, the HRM teaches that the Torah is the same for everybody and that everyone is obligated to keep it.

MJ firmly holds to the distinction between Jews and Gentiles. There is no superiority of one over the other, nor between men and women, but there is a difference in gifts and calling (Rom 11:29).

It has nothing to do with the spurious reasons that lead gentiles in the HRM to appropriate elements of a covenant that does not belong to them and to follow customs and traditions that are entirely foreign to them.