Mark Vestal Proud of nothing of myself. Freed by Christ who did it all!

This is such a great question. I had to recently remind myself (or rather, have God remind me through His written Word) to bring it down a notch. Romans chapter 14 helped. Basically, who am I to make that determination?

There are a couple of things to keep at the forefront. Anyone who has placed their faith in Jesus Christ is a Christian. The accuracy of what they specifically believe about Christ, His life, His earthly ministry, His death, His blood, His burial, His resurrection, His heavenly ministry, and our walk in faith are for God to judge. He alone has the authority to judge the believer.

Israel's believing remnant (the twelve and their followers) would be considered literal messianic Jews. The Jews that Paul tried to convince would be messianic Jews no different than Jews who believe in Jesus Christ today. Keeping Jewish traditions, holy days, feast days, etc., would not disqualify the true believer from being a Christian. Are these practices approved by God? Are the practices that Catholic or Protestant believers keep really any different? These are things that God will determine, but our job as believers is to study the Bible, learn what pleases God, share our learning with others, and live in line with our learning as Christ's ambassadors for the ministry of God's reconciliation to man.

There are levels of faith as Paul describes. Some are weaker in faith than others, but Paul refers to all of them as believers. Keeping that fact in mind and the fact that God will 'take it from there' may help in what we should be more concerned about. We should focus on studying God's true Word and OUR spiritual growth. Helping others then grow in the faith will have the strongest (and only) foundation that the ministry should be built on which is Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor 1:23).

Are we to keep the traditions and ordinances of men, or were they nailed to the cross? Will we be judged on how well we follow Christ's earthly ministry, or Christ's heavenly ministry? Do we keep the law of Moses? Will we be judged by our sins, or was Christ judged for us? Is there more that we must do for salvation in addition to what Christ completed for us on the cross? Are we destined for heaven if we have lived righteously enough for God, or have we submitted to the righteousness of God and then made righteous upon belief? Does our water baptism save us, or is there one baptism performed by the holy Spirit into the body of Christ? Do any of our works save us, or are we saved by God's grace through faith alone in Christ and His finished work? Can we lose our salvation, or are we sealed until the day of redemption? Are we appointed to God's eventual wrath, or to obtain salvation from the wrath of God?

These are just a few of the questions that are answered when we study as we are taught to. Studying by 'rightly dividing the word of truth' (2 Tim 2:15), the gospel of OUR salvation (Eph 1:13), will help us better understand and teach others about God's grace, what it means to have faith in Jesus Christ, and the Christian's post-salvation walk today. We may then discover that there is a simplicity in having faith in Jesus Christ that may otherwise remain hidden from us without diligent Bible study (2 Cor 11:3). Simply following tradition may keep the focus on ourselves rather than on God and what He has done for us out of His love and through Jesus Christ, and thus make the cross of Christ of no effect (1 Cor 1:17).

December 05 2023 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Paula Fether Lifelong student of the scriptures

Though it sounds like simply "Jews who become Christians", Messianic Judaism more resembles what's now called the Hebrew Roots movement. Https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/messianic-judaism/ summarizes Messianic Judaism, and Hebrew Roots is explained at https://www.fether.net/index.php?ID=389.

Since a Christian is someone who follows the Christ, and since Christ only gave us the command to love God and others (John 15:12), and since the Body of Christ is not Israel, and since salvation is by faith alone, then any belief that adds works to salvation or insists that people are in any way obligated to the law of Moses (Acts 15) is not a Christian belief.

Messianic Judaism seems to make such an obligation, so it can't be considered Christian.

December 05 2023 • 4 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report