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Philippians 2:5-8
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Yeshua HaMashiach, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Before even the end of the first century, non-Jewish believers reading Paul’s letters outside of their original Jewish contextual matrix misunderstood them and forsook the Torah’s dietary laws. Not only did they forsake the ideas of food being tahor or tamei (ceremonially fit or unfit), but also the idea of certain animal species not being fit for consumption. It is true that when read outside of their natural context, Paul’s letters seem to indicate that faith in Yeshua makes these elements of Torah observance obsolete. The same problem actually appears with any text and ruling when read outside of its original context. Even the American Constitution ideas of freedom of press and religion suffer from an identity crisis when quoted outside of their original context and intent into today's. The Jewish community of believers on the contrary had no issue with the whole idea of tahor and tamei (Acts 15: 20, 29; 21:25). It always was part of their lives and of Torah and they understood Paul’s letters within a Jewish contextual understanding. They also continued adhering to the injunction that sin is the breaking of Torah (1 John 3:4) and that a false prophet is one who teaches to disobey it, consequently, they could not have imagined the Master or Paul teaching against these things (Deuteronomy 13:1—5; Matthew 5:19). Would it have been clear from the beginning that the Master taught non-observance to these issues, Paul would not have needed to address them. The very discussion about it in the apostolic letters tells us that there were concerns about the levels of obedience on that issue, especially concerning Gentile observance; but that there were no problems concerning the issue itself being obsolete or not. From the very start of the Nazarene Movement Yeshua himself rebuked two Asia Minor congregations for promoting the consumption of meat sacrificed to idols, which would then be tamei (Revelations 2:14, 20). I would even claim that nowhere in the apostolic texts are issues of relevance concerning consumable and non-consumable foods or of ceremonial fitness raised. Jews already knew these things as clearly defined in the Book of Leviticus. The only issues raised were concerning the levels of observance to these things concerning the new Gentiles followers of Messiah. And what did both Yeshua and Paul say about it? That whereas these are legitimate Torah concerns to be observed, it should be done within the balanced perspectives of our obligation to love and fellowship, to help those in need, and of teaching the Torah. The Master also taught that these concerns did not require a spirit of self-righteous separatism, which was what was happening in the days when he walked the earth. The whole idea of Torah wisdom rests on knowing how to apply Hashem’s commandments with balance and the right spirit, especially when these commandments cross path with each other. It is so easy to apply the outer letter of the Torah and forget its weightier matters of justice, compassion and mercy which Yeshua mentioned recalling the exhortations of former prophets (Matthew 23:23; Hoseah 6:6; Micah 6:8). May we not be guilty of the same. May Abba give us the wisdom to apply his commands in his spirit, not forgetting that from the realms of sanctified glory, of his own volition Mashiach came down. He put on the Tamei garment of humanity; being tahor he made himself tamei so he could bring us to the tahor-ness of the Father. P. Gabriel Lumbroso For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.
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Acts 10:15
"What God has made clean, do not call common." It seems that in the days of the Master Israel had taken the considerations of Leviticus 11 to such an extreme that for religious people it rendered fellowship with common folks and non-Jews impossible. There is nothing wrong with doing due diligence to the Commandments as Yeshua Himself taught extreme measures in order to avoid breaking them (Matthew 5:27-30). In these issues, Yeshua was helping the leaders of Israel to apply these commandments in balance with other ones concerning their universal mission to the world, which required fellowship and contact. What He was teaching was, the idea of, “These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others (Matthew 23:23)”. Yeshua personally spoke to Peter about it in a vision telling him, “What God has ‘tahor-ed’, do not ‘tamei’ (my literal translation from the Hebrew text of Acts 10:15) thus allowing him to go to the house of the Roman centurion Cornelius. By obeying Peter initiated a revolutionary theological break with the Judaism of his day. He was throwing the newly-born Nazarene movement into its universal mission of teaching Torah to the gentile world, move that Paul followed in Syrian Antioch and later in Turkey, Greece, and finally Rome. As great as a disciple as he was for being the one chosen to challenge the stiff religious status quo of his day, Peter’s weakness for acceptance often surfaced. We saw him denying the Master the night of His arrest, and again in Antioch, to Paul’s horror, withdrawing himself from fellowship with gentiles (Matthew 26:75; Galatians 2:11-14). In both cases Peter yielded to peer-pressure and fear. He was afraid to stand up because he valued the opinions of men. It is easy to blame Peter, but what the Master was teaching here was of utmost importance. Whereas He retained the ideas of holiness, of being ‘set-apart for God’, Yeshua was teaching to not apply them in a way hampering our mission of being a ‘light’ to not only our brothers, but also to the world. The Master in effect was saying, ‘Do my will and trust Me for your sanctity; you can never attain it anyways!”; “These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others (Matthew 23:23)” Sad to say, I meet many today who ‘separate’ themselves from even their relatives, people even divorce on the same sort of imbalanced religious grounds. I would like to say here that the Master must be ‘rolling in His grave’, but we know that He is not in the grave. He actually watches us wondering how come He, He who is the Holy of Holy of Israel, set-apart for God from creation, He felt it necessary to put on the ‘tamei’ impurity of the world in order to reach us, but we, we are too ‘holy’ to do it? Even though Peter denied the Master in front of men (Matthew 10:33), the Master forgave Peter and reinstated Him (John 21:15-18). Later Peter also repented from his self-righteous separatism in Antioch and died as a martyr while ministering to the believers in Rome. May we also like Peter and Paul learn the proper balance of the commandments, and may it be in an easier way. A wise man may learn by his experiences, but a wiser man learns by the experiences of others! Philippians 2:5-8
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Yeshua HaMashiach, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Before even the end of the first century, non-Jewish believers reading Paul’s letters outside of their original Jewish contextual matrix misunderstood his letters and forsook the Torah’s dietary laws. Not only did they forsake the ideas of ‘food being ‘tahor’ or ‘tamei’, but also the idea of some animal species not being for consumption. It is true that when read outside of their natural context, Paul’s letters seem to indicate that faith in Yeshua makes these elements of Torah observance obsolete. The same problem actually appears with any text and ruling when read outside of its original context. Even the American Constitution ideas of freedom of press and religion suffer from an ‘identity crisis’ when quoted outside of their original context and intent. The Jewish community of believers on the other hand, had no issue with the whole idea of ‘tahor’ and tamei’. They continued reading the Word, including Paul’s letters, within a Jewish contextual understanding. They continued adhering to the injunction that sin is the breaking of Torah, and that a false prophet is one who teaches to disobey it. If it would have been clear from the beginning that the Master’s taught non-observance to these issues, Paul would not have needed to address them. The very discussion about it in the Apostolic Texts shows that there were concerns of obedience on that issue from the very start of the Nazarene Movement. Yeshua Himself rebuked two Asia Minor congregations for allowed the consumption of meat sacrificed to idols. Actually, nowhere in the Apostolic texts is the issue of consumable or non-consumable food raised. Jews already knew these things and they were clearly defined in the Book of Leviticus. The only issue raised was the issue of ritual cleanliness. And what did both Yeshua and Paul say about it? That whereas these are legitimate Torah concerns, they are not above our obligations for fellowship, helping those in need, teaching the Word, and that they certainly do not require a spirit of self-righteous separatism, which was what was happening in the days the Master walked the earth. The whole idea of wisdom rests on knowing how to apply God’s commandments with balance and the right spirit, especially when they cross path with each other. It is so easy to apply the outer letter of the Torah and forget its weightier matters of justice, compassion and mercy which Yeshua mentioned recalling the Words of former prophets (Matthew 23:23; Hoseah 6:6; Micah 6:8) ! May we not be guilty of the same. May Abba give the wisdom to apply His Commandments in His Sprit, not forgetting that from the realms of sanctified glory, the Mashiach came down. Of His own volition He put on the ‘Tamei’ garment of humanity, being ‘tahor’ made Himself ‘tamei’ so He could bring us to the ‘tahor-ness’ of the Father. |
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