Shadows and Substance: The Truth About Jewish Roots and Christian Believers

by Neil Silverberg

Throughout the book, I address the theological beliefs of much of the Movement while avoiding attacking people. I respect those who grapple with these things, even though I disagree

I have quoted many well-known Hebrew Roots Movement teachers not to disparage them but to set forth their theological convictions in the light of what Scripture teaches.

May these words encourage a generation to love the Lord and help perfect a bride as she is adorned for her husband. — Neil Silverberg,

theological premises. First is the belief that the Christian Church has veered from its original “Jewish” root system and, as a result, has embraced paganism. According to this view, the only way to reconnect to the original root system is to renounce its pagan practices and return to the original faith by practicing such things as the weekly Sabbath and the Jewish Feasts. The second is the belief that Jesus never abrogated the Law but expected his followers to obey it. Many HRM teachers quote passages such as Matthew 5:17 as the basis for the belief that all believers, both Jew and Gentile, are still under the Law. Beyond that, the movement is widely divergent as to what it practices and believes. These two things remain at the core of what most in the HRM believe.

HRM is mostly comprised of Gentiles who have embraced the view that the Church has veered from its original root system and that to live out the faith properly, they must reject the paganism practiced in most Protestant churches and return to biblical faith.

“Aren’t there already two books in the New Testament, Galatians and Hebrews, dealing with that topic?” some have asked. While I agree that these two New Testament books address some of the issues raised by the HRM, I still think a book like this is needed. As is the case with other heresies, the HRM have their predetermined answers to these biblical books.

It exposes much HRM teaching as simply another form of legalism perverting the Gospel of grace.

Legalism is the belief that something other than what God has already done through the work of the Jewish Messiah is needed to bring sinful human beings into a relationship with God. In

learning the Gospel of grace has been the best preparation for learning how to spot legalism whenever it raises its ugly head. Just as Secret Service agents study genuine currency until they are so familiar with it they can spot the counterfeit, becoming aware of the truth of the Gospel has only heightened my ability to recognize

The HRM is based on certain theological presuppositions and interpretations of Scripture that must be carefully analyzed if it is to be properly understood. Take, for example, Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount referenced earlier; that He did not come to “abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but rto fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17b). Any book attempting to understand the HRM must examine this vital statement since much of its theology is derived from it.

Not everything the HRM teaches is dangerous; after all, the roots of Christianity are deeply imbedded in Judaism.

one addressing the changes Emperor Constantine implemented when he took the throne of the Roman Empire.

Paul’s letter to the Philippians. I included it because it is probably the only letter written to a mostly Gentile congregation.

what the apostle Paul expected Gentile believers to observe when it comes to Jewish practices.

It includes a chapter regarding Paul and the claim of many in the HRM that he invented the religion of Christianity.

many in the HRM, under the guise of discovering their Hebrew roots, are “deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6b). Paul doesn’t view the Galatians’ embrace of Judaism as a boon to their spiritual development, but desertion of the God who called them

While many in the HRM believe they have discovered the true roots of their faith, in actuality, they have gone back under the Law.

the writer of Hebrews’ theme that the Law was a mere shadow of the good things that came when the Messiah appeared (Hebrews 10:1).

Perhaps there is something to what Paul said about personal weakness being the basis for divine empowerment (2 Corinthians 12:10).

began to demand that others who didn’t feel the same way participate as well. If they refused, then they would be looked at as second-class believers, if at all.

He went on to say that it’s not even wrong to appreciate the traditions and choose to keep some of them as a personal conviction.

Here I was, the only one in the room actually Jewish, maligned by Gentiles for failing to live as a Jew after believing.

Lol

“Hebrew Roots” (sometimes referred to as “Jewish Roots”) covers a wide array of teaching. Yet, there are a couple of key ideas that most HRM teaching shares in common. The first is the belief that the Church veered from its original Jewish root system and, in the process, adopted pagan beliefs and practices.

The movement maintains that Christianity has been indoctrinated with the culture and beliefs of Greek and Roman philosophy and that ultimately biblical Christianity, taught in churches today, has been corrupted with a pagan imitation of the New Testament Gospels.1

I did not know whatHRM was until I started investigating the pagan claims. These claims led me to WCG garbage from the 30s and HRM. Pagan claims are founded on genetic fallacy (the alleged origin of a thingforever determines its meaning.) Ascribing to fallacy = sin, because stupidity is the opposite of the wisdom we are commanded to walk in.

The movement maintains that Christianity has been indoctrinated with the culture and beliefs of Greek and Roman philosophy and that ultimately biblical Christianity, taught in churches today, has been corrupted with a pagan imitation of the New Testament Gospels.1

Accusing the christian church! Calling the bride a whore instead of reconciling her. If you believe she needs help then come help! If you abdicate then stop accusing!

Along with the belief that the Church has been influenced by paganism is the belief that Jesus never intended his followers (including Gentiles) to stop leading Torah-observant lives, including seventh-day Sabbath observance and the Jewish Feasts days. On the contrary, they believe that Yeshua (Jesus’ Hebrew name, which most of the HRM uses instead of Jesus) came to empower believers to keep it: Those of the Hebrew Roots belief hold to the teaching that Christ’s death on the cross d...

They teach that the understanding of the New Testament can only come from a Hebrew perspective and that the teachings of the Apostle Paul are not understood clearly or taught correctly by Christian pastors today. Many affirm the existence of an original Hebrew-language New Testament and, in some cases, denigrate the existing New Testament text written in Greek. This becomes a subtle attack on the reliability of the text of our Bible. If the ...

Summing it up, the HRM is essentially a “response-movement” calling people back to the original Hebrew roots of the faith, which were (supposedly) lost when the Church veered from its original stock. As the article previously stated, even the Greek text of the Bible can’t be trusted since it departed from the original Hebrew text.

True believers should, therefore, keep the Law as a demonstration of their love for God. In other words, they should live as Jews.

will make the case throughout this work that believing Gentiles, alongside their Jewish counterparts who believe, are called to live in and express the “one new man” created by God through the death and resurrection of the Messiah (Ephesians 2:15).

not to say that Gentile believers have now become physically Jewish or, for that matter, Jews are now physically non-Jewish. Just as men who believe remain men and women remain women, so the distinction outwardly between Jew and Gentile still exists.

what Paul says in the Ephesian letter is true identity is no longer found in anything outward but in that new humanity created by...

Ralph conveyed how a whole new world opened up to him through the realization that the true roots of the Christian faith were in Judaism rather than the Roman paganism much of the Church world practiced. He spoke of the enrichment his family had received by observing the Jewish feasts instead of the Christian holidays and keeping the weekly Saturday Sabbath.

He believed God was blessing his family for practicing a pure faith, untainted by paganism.

But then I told him he had overlooked the most fundamental truth: that the Jewish Feasts (as well as other aspects of the Old Testament) were mere shadows which had come in the Messiah and not the very form of these realities (Hebrews 10:1). Since reality has now come in Jesus, there was no longer a need to cling to the shadows.

These things could certainly be studied as a means of better understanding the Gospel. Nevertheless, they remain merely shadows.

What’s strange about this whole episode is that my pastor and I are both Jewish by birth, while Ralph is a Gentile. Could anything be more ironic? Two Jews pleaded with a non-Jewish man not to practice Judaism, while he frowned on us for living like Gentiles.

Lol

Ralph is just one example of the thousands of Gentile believers in Jesus who testify of the life-transforming blessings they have received by returning to the Hebrew roots of their faith. Many of these believers speak of discovering a richness they had not previously known while practicing traditional Christianity. Why do so many non-Jewish believers testify to such a heightened sense of blessing when embracing the HRM?

the discovery of the richness of the Old Testament as the sourcebook for New Testament theology and practice is certainly one of them.

Once exposed to the richness of the Hebrew Bible as the foundation for all they have come to

it makes sense that they receive a heightened sense of blessing. I have personally witnessed this when teaching the Old Testament to Gentile believers in the churches where I have served. It is as if these believers have discovered a whole new world. And they have—the world of the Hebrew Bible.

Instead of reading the Old Testament as a history book of an ancient people, they have begun reading it as a book detailing the rich history of a covenant people, whose history they now fully share (Ephesians 2:11-13, 3:6). And this new identification creates a love for the Jewish people and the nation of Israel, which is a positive force when sharing the Gospel with Jews. Many Jews are persuaded that most Gentiles hate them. When they meet instead with love, compassion, and a deep appreciation for Israel from Gentiles, it is a powerful means of convincing them of the truth of the Gospel. The apostle Paul seems to allude to this when speaking of God’s mysterious plan to provoke Jews to jealousy through the mercy he has shown to non-Jews (see Romans 11:13-14).

It is the mistaken belief that it is infinitely better to be a “Jewish” believer than a “non-Jewish” believer. Since “non-Jewish” believers cannot change birth, they are robbed of this blessing.

many Gentiles are being taught that by practicing a Jewish lifestyle, they have, in fact, become Jewish.

Previously, they were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were pfar off have been brought near qby the blood of Christ, — Ephesians 2:12-13

This is the result of the Messiah’s redeeming work, not because Gentiles are keeping the Law. They are blessed because they are in Christ.

Messianic Jewish congregations are congregations of (largely) Jewish believers who, after becoming believers in Yeshua as the Messiah, desire to live Jewish lifestyles.

meet on the Sabbath, celebrate the feasts, and raise their children as Jews who are believers (as opposed to being Christians).

The rationale for these congregations is that Jews won’t enter a church and must hear the Gos...

Messianic synagogues now exist in most major American cities and are represented by at least two major messianic denominations.