Ariel HaNaviy Messianic Jew and Torah Teacher with Messianic Congregation 'The Harvest'

Why is salvation by works a commonly held viewpoint by non-believers, and some believers as well? I cannot speak for non-believing Gentiles since there is a plethora of false religions and ideologies in the world that touch on this question for unsaved Gentiles. Given my personal knowledge of Judaism, however, I would like to speak briefly about unsaved Jewish views of “salvation by works.”

For my explanation, I need to divide the unsaved Jewish people into two types: 
1)	Historic Jews=those who lived from the birth of National Isra'el (basically the book of Exodus) up to the 1st century.
2)	Traditional Jews=those living after the destruction of the 2nd Temple in 70 AD until today.

Historic Jews: 
It is somewhat difficult to ascertain precisely what unsaved Jewish people of the period of the TaNaKH (OT) held to for personal salvation, but we can be fairly certain it was NOT mere “works,” viz, commandment keeping or bringing sacrifices. In truth, salvation most definitely involved those aspects, but it was not rooted in these aspects. If the surviving Jewish works such as the Talmuds, midrashim, Dead Sea Scrolls, etc., have anything to contribute to the discussion, it would be that salvation was believed to be extended by God via one’s heritage in Isra'el as a Jew. We can see this in the way many Jews of the gospels demonstrated loyalty to what was called “the merit of the fathers,” Hebrew=”z’khut avot,” (Matt 3:9; Lk 3:8; Jn 8:39). In this view, a “good-standing, saved covenant member” was duty-bound to keep Torah and avoid idolatry. Thus, Torah became the “maintenance tool” used by the community, not to save the Jews, but to maintain their place in God’s covenant as “saved Jews.”

Essentially, those we identify as unsaved Jews of the 1st century, held to a “nationalistic salvation,” where Jewish lineage guaranteed a good-standing Jew a place in the World to Come (i.e., heaven). We genuine believers KNOW that this is legalism (i.e., works), but those unsaved Jews did not term it legalism, because they did not feel they were “working” to gain it. In their eyes, Jewish ethnicity in National Isra'el was an act of grace. After all, those born with Jewish ethnicity did not “work” their way into that ethnicity, right? So you can see why they defined it as grace and not works.

Paul often calls this “salvation by being Jewish” ideology “works of the Law” (Gal 2:15, 16).

Traditional Jews:
Since the destruction of the Temple, the Pharisaic Judaisms of the 1st century gave rise to rabbinic Judaism, and eventually to the Traditional Judaisms of the 21st century. Traditional Jews understand that without a Temple, much of the Torah cannot be kept anymore. To be sure, ritual impurity and sins associated with it cannot be atoned for by the sacrificial system anymore either. Traditional Jews still maintain their belief in Jewish heritage, but the emphasis has evolved from primarily “ethnicity” to now include “What must I do to make the world a better place for me and for everyone involved?”

Thus, in Traditional Judaism, “salvation” is basically defined by these three things: 
1)	Doing charity
2)	Repenting of sins
3)	Praying the set-time prayer book prayers as dictated by the rabbis

As with Historic Jews, Traditional Jews do not really see these three as “working their way into heaven.” Rather, they see these three as a replacement for the missing sacrificial system, and a way to demonstrate one’s Jewish loyalty to the covenant that God made with Isra'el. Basically, Traditional Jews see their salvation as grace, with these three concepts vindicating genuine covenant membership.

Conclusions:
Anything that bypasses faith in Yeshua as the ONLY way to be saved (Jn 14:6; Acts 4:12; Eph 2:8, 9) is basically a “work.” Unsaved Jewish people may not define their respective beliefs as “salvation by works” but make no mistake, that is what it truly is if they reject Yeshua’s gracious offer.

September 17 2015 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

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