Q. I've been trying to learn the underlying culture of Christianity. I realized just recently how much of my understanding of scripture was flawed because of my lack of understanding about Jewish (Hebrew?) heritage.

I'd be grateful for any links or information like "Messianic Judaism for dummies" or something along those lines.

One question for now...and I realize that it's probably a big one so just an overview is fine:

Do modern Messianic Jews "keep the law" as spelled out in the Torah?

I had seen a post that kind of alluded to that and I wondered.

Related to that, I was under the impression that Messiah was the final sacrifice necessary as described in Hebrews. (You know; how it contrast the year-after-year sacrifices of the priests with Jesus once-for-all sacrifice.)

I'm just trying to make sense of it and tie up loose threads in my mind...

You asked an extremely broad question: “Do modern Messianic Jews ‘keep the law’ as spelled out in the Torah?” That question has an both an extremely narrow answer and an extremely broad answer.

The “narrow” answer is “Yes, most do to the best of their ability.” But that answer requires a lot of terms to be defined:

There is no established "central authority" for Messianic Judaism, so there is nothing that could be categorized as a "general Messianic Jewish theology" ... there are probably at least as many different opinions as there are teachers within the Messianic Movement.

For those who come to faith in Messiah from Orthodox Judaism, I would assume that there is a greater tendency to follow Rabbinical interpretation of Torah and Talmud than there is for those who come to Messianic Judaism from other raditions.

For those who come to faith in Messiah from Conservative, Reform, or Reconstruction Judaism, I would assume that there is a tendency to continue in most of their own practices and traditions.

Among Gentile Believers who are involved with the Messianic Jewish movement, the spectrum of involvement is extremely wide, and range from those who attend Messianic services from time to time out of mere curiosity to those who seek a "formal conversion" to Judaism.

Among the leadership of the two largest American Messianic groups, the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America and the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, there has been considerable discussion of the pros and cons of establishing any kind of formal "conversion" process for those who would desire it.

One of the more prominent leaders of the MJAA is of the opinion that ethnic Jewish members of Messianic congregations should keep the entire Torah as much as possible, and should also follow the Rabbinic traditions as long as they do not contradict the written Torah (which they sometimes do). He has stated (in my personal hearing) that he feels Gentile believers in Messiah, whether members of Messianic Jewish congregations or not, are subject only to the Noahic Commandments:

These commandments, referred to as the Noahic or Noahide commandments, are inferred from Genesis Ch. 9, and are as follows: 1) to establish courts of justice; 2) not to commit blasphemy; 3) not to commit idolatry; 4) not to commit incest and adultery; 5) not to commit bloodshed; 6) not to commit robbery; and 7) not to eat flesh cut from a living animal. These commandments are fairly simple and straightforward, and most of them are recognized by most of the world as sound moral principles. (www.jewfaq.org/gentiles.htm#Noah)

My own personal opinion is that “it is the privilege of Believers in Mashiach to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation and their freedom from ‘bondage’ to Torah through the testimony of G-d’s Word which, however, clearly forbids the use of that liberty as an occasion to sin. Though free from ‘bondage’ to legalism, [I] believe that every person is yet accountable to the standard of righteousness that G-d has defined in His Torah. [I] believe that no man has ever been, or will ever be, saved or counted as righteous through observance of or obedience to Torah, but only through faith in Him who is the Giver of Torah, plus nothing else.”

(See more at  http://www.familybible.org/About/OurBeliefs/Constitution1.htm.)

By the term “legalism” I mean the futile effort to earn God’s favor by “being good” or by “doing good.”

If I were to offer a "general rule," I would have to say that probably the majority of Messianic congregations take the position that all believers in the Messiah, whether Jew or Gentile, although “saved by Grace through Faith plus nothing else” have a responsibility to do their best to live by God’s standard of righteousness, to be a light to the world as Messiah commanded. This would include observing all of God’s appointed Feasts and Festivals, including the seventh-day Sabbath (Fourth Commandment), and abstaining from “forbidden” foods (the most predominant of which would be pork and shellfish).

I would also think that the majority of Gentile members of Messianic congregations take the position that they consider themselves blessed and fortunate to have been “grafted in” to Israel by Grace through faith, and are privileged to partake in the blessings, the covenants, the Torah, the people, the land, and the Messiah of Israel.

Of course, with no Temple and no Priesthood, it is not possible to observe the provisions of Torah that are specific to those two institutions, just as it is not possible to observe the commandments pertaining to living in the Land of Israel for those of us who do not live there.

You are absolutely correct in your understanding that the sacrifice of Messiah was the final, ultimate, and only efficacious  sacrifice for the sins of the people. However,  there are a number of  respected Bible scholars (mostly Dispensationalists, however) who believe  that there will be “memorial” sacrifices performed as part of worship in the Millennial Temple (I haven’t yet made up my own mind on this particular issue).

I hope you find these few comments helpful.

Shalom b'Mashiah

Ari

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