One New Man: Messianic Jewish Scholar Explains Ephesians 2, with David Rudolph & David Blease

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So I think one of the big pitfalls that I’ve observed is that when, let’s say a pastor or a local Christian leader becomes aware that understanding the Jewish roots of their faith is actually very, very important. One of the knee-jerk reactions is to move kind of more in that one new Jew direction where they think, okay, let’s integrate into our church celebrating Passover, or let’s celebrate other Jewish festivals. The idea of being that if we practice Jewish life, that somehow we will be more in touch with the Jewishness of Jesus and be able to kind of experience the fullness of God’s blessing for our church life. But where I think it’s a misstep is actually the bigger issue, is building relationship with Jewish people.
Welcome back to another episode of the Covenant and Conflict Podcast, where we take ancient truths, modern issues, and we bring them intention together so that we can find the deep revelations of scripture and the truth in today’s world. With us today is an amazing guest and friend of this house, Dr. David Rudolph. I don’t know if anyone has informed our theology in this area more than Dr. David Rudolph. He is the expert that we talk about when we’re like, we didn’t just come up with this, we learned from the experts. Dr. David Rudolph is a professor and the director of the Messianic Jewish Studies Program at the King’s University, and he is a great friend of Gateway and the Center for Israel, and we’re so thankful that you’re here. It’s great to be here. Thank you, David. So will you tell us just a little bit about the work that you do at TKU and how you got into that and a little bit about yourself?
Alright. Well, the King’s University, as you know, is a Christian school,
Christian
University, but we have a Messianic Jewish studies program on the undergraduate, graduate and doctoral
Level. How rare is that in the Christian university world?
Well, there are a couple of universities that have Messianic Jewish studies programs in the world, but I think we’re the only one with undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral.
Wow. Praise the Lord.
And we also have a program in anti-Semitism, in Jewish advocacy. Come
On.
So now’s the time really for people to be helping to address that issue.
And how long have you been doing directing? At
Almost 10 years.
Wow.
Yeah.
And there’s so many people that come, he wouldn’t say this. So many people that come because they want to learn under David Rudolph, and I agree. I want to learn under David Rudolph as well. I’m in the Messianic Jewish Studies program. I know. We’re very grateful for that. So you grew up Jewish and was it something that, I know there’s people that grew up in the Jewish community and it’s kind of like for Christians, it’s the Christmas, Easter, you have the high holidays, or did you grow up in an observant household? What was your upbringing
Like? Yeah, so actually both of my parents are Jewish and my mom is a conservative Jew. So I grew up attending a conservative synagogue on Saturdays and my father became a Messianic Jew.
And
So we attended a Messianic synagogue on Friday nights. My parents were divorced, so that made it a little easier in a sense. So I grew up going to both and then to Hebrew school at the conservative synagogue.
Wow, what a journey. I feel like we could just talk about that this whole podcast. I know one of the things that you have really informed us regarding is this idea of the one new man. And I’d like to spend some time talking about that because we as the church, we desire unity. I think that’s probably one of the biggest prayers of the church. Jesus’s prayer in John 17, praying for Unity. And how do we exist as the church, as Jews and Gentiles? I think typically we’re either bifurcating those two things. There’s Jews meaning not believing in Jesus, and there’s Christians which are people that do believe in Jesus in Galatians 3 28, no longer Jew and Gentile
Or
It’s just we’re all the church now the replacement theology. So you’ve done a lot of deep study and thoughtful scholarly work on this idea of the one new man. So will you talk a little bit about how you got into that and then kind of explain your theology there?
Yeah, so it’s interesting. I think I first heard this term when I was a teenager growing up in a Messianic Jewish congregation and not really understanding what it was probably all the way up until probably when I was in graduate school. And so I was within a predominantly Jewish community, messianic Jewish community, never attended a church up until the time that I was in graduate school. And even then I attended a Messianic synagogue, but I was in a Christian seminary. And so for the first time in my life, the vast majority of the people around me were gentile Christians. So I became aware of this sense of being a very small minority. In fact, I was, as far as I know, this was Gordon Commonwealth Theological Seminary. And I was at the main campus and I think I was the only Jewish believer on the campus that identified as a Messianic Jew. There were other Jewish believers, there were a few, but they didn’t identify as,
They were just identified as Christian.
They identified as Christians. And so I remember once I was in the library at Gordon-Conwell and the librarian came up to me and said to me, actually prior to his coming up to me, I felt like he was staring at me. And every time I came into the library, I felt like he was staring at me. And then he finally came up and said to me, you bother me. So I wasn’t sure. I know aggressive, I wasn’t sure what kind of introduction that was, but he said that he was somehow aware that I was Jewish or he thought I was Jewish. Did you wear a kipa back then or I didn’t wear a kipa. So somebody must have communicated, let him know that I was a Messianic Jew. I was very open about my identity, and he said to me that he was the head librarian and that every year he developed an Easter display and he always thought about Easter colors. And every year he tried to do something a little different. And when I came into the library, he kept thinking about the question, why don’t I do anything Passover related? When he would see me, it would remind him that Jesus was Jewish
And that all of his first disciples were Jewish. And that Easter is really rooted in Passover week and the events surrounding Passover and the meaning of Passover. And so anyway, as just kind of an example of the kind of relationship that I developed with other students at Gordon Conwell with this librarian, he asked me a lot of questions about my Jewish background, about Judaism, about the Jewish roots of the New Testament faith. And so I helped him in that regard. And then he helped me because as I was researching different areas, he would help me with finding books and articles. And so we developed this really beautiful relationship where we were helping each other and in a sense I needed him and he needed me. There was a sense of doing things together, partnership, we actually did some projects together in the library. And I would say that that might’ve been the beginning of my kind of awareness of what the one new man was all about. So fundamentally, when Paul uses this term, one new man in Ephesians chapter two, he’s talking about, as we both know, this idea of Jews and Gentiles coming together. And Paul actually uses really kind of marriage like relationship.
He talks about the two becoming one. And so this idea of Jews and Gentiles in Messiah partnering together, viewing each other as covenant partners and having a relationship of interdependence, mutual blessing and mutual humbling,
But with still distinction,
But with still distinction.
Yeah.
Yeah. So I brought a Bible with me, a
Good thing to bring.
So I thought it might be worth just sharing a couple of, so sharing the scripture where this term actually occurs, and then just pointing out a few things about the context that might be
Helpful. Yeah, that’s awesome.
This term is in Ephesians two, verse 15, and Paul says in that verse that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two. So making peace. Now, what’s interesting is that in this translation, this is the ESV, which is not my, as I mentioned earlier, not my typical, not the typical translation I use personally, but I thought it would be interesting to bring it because it translates one new man in place of the two. So the implication you get from this translation is that the two, the Jew and the Gentile
Are
Replaced,
They’re done,
They’re done away with by the one new man. So it really is a very explicit kind of replacement theology translation. But the Greek doesn’t have to be translated that way. There are other ways of translating it. It’s just the translators decided to use a more replacement theology translation to reflect their theology, but it could be translated that he might create in himself one new man out of the two, which would leave room for the continued existence of the two. So which translation is the most accurate? Both are possible in this case. Is that one Greek word that they’re translating? No, it’s three Greek words
Out of the Or is that
It’s instead
Of,
Yeah,
I know. I’m putting you on the spot with Greg. That’s
Hena Nan Anthropos.
Okay.
Yeah, anthropo.
So there’s three words that you were really having to translate in order to get the understanding
Right. I mean, with one new man that is, but in terms of out of the two or in place of the two. Got it. Yeah. So this is where we, there’s room for both ways. And so how do you determine which is correct? Well, you look at the context. So how does Paul describe this one new man? What are the attributes of this one new man? So I just thought it would be interesting to point out that in verse 11, Paul says, therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision. So when he says you Gentiles, the implication is there’s some other group. The other group is we Jews. So we Jews is implied when he says, you Gentiles. Okay. So there we’ve got one. Then in verse 14, Paul says, for he himself is our peace who has made us both one or who has made two, one. So he uses the term for both or two, which suggests Jew and Gentile continuing to exist. And then in verse 16 he says, and might reconcile us both to God, so we’ve got both again. And then in verse 17, and he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. So you’ve got the two
For through him, we both have access. So again, both, both, both. And then in verse 19, he says, so then you speaking to the Gentiles are no longer strangers and aliens, but you again, this is you Gentiles, in contrast to we Jews are. And then he says, fellow citizens with the saints. So here we have this word, fellow citizens. So it’s not just citizens, it’s fellow citizens with the idea of with someone else. And then in verse 21, he says, in whom the whole structure being joined together, together. So that implies two. And then he says, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in him, you also being built together. So again, this together,
He’s really hitting it hard. He’s
Hitting it hard
For it to be one thing that’s erasing too.
Yeah. And then lastly, in chapter three, verses one through six, he says in verse one, he says, for this reason, I Paul, a prisoner for Messiah, Yeshua Christ, Jesus on behalf of you, Gentiles, again, the you Gentiles implied we Jews. And then in verse six, he says, this mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs. So again, fellow implying to members of the same body, they’re the Greek really could easily be translated fellow members of the same body because there’s a prefix, a very similar prefix, and then partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel or Messiah, sh through the gospel. Again, you have the same prefix, this kind of fellow, it doesn’t say in the ESV translation, but in the Greek it is fellow, I mean the Greek word there could be translated fellow or co. So actually in the Greek, from the Greek, a more accurate translation would be the Gentiles are co-members of the same body and co partakers of the promise. So in all these ways, both you, gentiles, we Jews together, co, co co,
Yeah, fellow heirs, fellow takers,
All of it is stressing that we have a partnership, we have this working relationship. And in Ephesians two, Paul is saying that as Jews and Gentiles we’re called to build this temple of the Lord together. And the implication is we need each other. We can’t do it without each other.
Yeah, a hundred
Percent.
So
Can I add a scripture
To this? Yeah, sure.
Because we’ve learned from you in so many ways that Jew and Gentile is very similar to male female. Two distinctions brought together to make one, the two shall become, one man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one. Not many people in the church are arguing that male and female then cease to exist, that they become this third race. Everyone’s pretty comfortable that Well, one means they’re unified, they’re distinct, but unified. And yet you and Gentile people have this opposite
Theology. No, they’re completely erased. And they become this third thing called Christian. And I was reading the other day and I was blown away that the Bible makes so much sense. One Peter three, seven, you husbands in the same way, this is the NASB, live with your wives in an understanding way as with someone weaker since she is a woman, and show her honor as a fellow heir. It’s that same language. Yeah, exactly. Male and female or a fellow heirs in this covenant. And I mean, Paul can’t stop talking about being a fellow heir and a fellow
Citizen.
It’s this distinction, but
Unified. And in Ephesians five, Paul also refers to husbands and wives as two who become one. So because the language is the same in Ephesians five and in Ephesians two, I think we can conjecture that in Ephesians two, Paul really is talking about a marriage like relationship as you’re
Suggesting.
So to me, that’s huge because it says it raises the level of the significance of the relationship. It’s a covenant relationship. It’s one where we have to depend on each other, we have to need each other and recognize that. And so often the case, I find that that recognition just isn’t there. If you were to ask the average Gentile Christian pastor, does your church need the local Jewish community in some way? And how is that expressed? If you do feel that way, I think the pastor would have a real difficult time saying yes to that. And then showing ways in which the church depends on the local Jewish community, the local Messianic Jewish community.
Yeah, totally. So much of what you’re saying is we’re having to make space for this distinction in our church, in our churches, in our understanding. And I think one of the biggest areas, and we talked about this a lot recently, is we have to embrace Gentile identity.
That’s right.
And I think one of the big issues is if I don’t see myself as a Gentile, then I won’t see you as a Jew.
That’s right.
Because I’m a Christian. And I’d love to hear you talk about Galatians 3 28. I’m sure that verse screamed at you as much as it screamed at us. Well, there is no longer Jew in Gentile, but then it says there’s no longer a male and female. So is that cherry picking or what’s going on there when Paul talks about these?
Yeah, so I think where Paul is going is he’s saying that in Messiah, when it comes to us being the people of God, when it comes to standing before the judgment seat of God, there is neither Jew nor Gentile. There’s neither slave nor free. There’s neither male and female.
We
Stand equally before God as his creation. But doesn’t, what Paul is not saying is that there are no longer distinctions. And so for example, in one Corinthians seven, he talks about his rule in all the congregations or churches in verses 17 through 24. And he says, if one is circumcised, he should remain circumcised and not become uncircumcised. And their circumcision is what we refer to as a monotony. It’s representative of Jewish people. So if you’re Jewish, stay Jewish, don’t assimilate, don’t become gentile. And then he says, if someone is uncircumcised, he should remain uncircumcised and not become circumcised. So if you’re Gentile, remain Gentile, don’t convert and become Jewish. That’s his principle. Not saying there aren’t exceptions, but I think Paul really valued and appreciated the relationships that he had with his gentile brothers and sisters, and he wanted to nurture that and see more and more of that within his communities.
Yeah, I think a lot of what your teachings kind of reveal is the Jewishness of the gospel, the Jewishness of Paul, the place that they’re coming from, the worldview they’re coming from, the history they’re coming from. And I know as Christians, gentile Christians who kind of grow up in the Gentile church, we can see Paul as this radical convert
From
One way to now. He’s another way, and he kind of stripped away his Judaism on the road to Damascus. It’s a misreading of Paul. It’s taking Paul and stripping him of his Jewish context. And even though he says in, I think it’s Acts 29, he’s like, I am a Jewish man. And then Philippians, I think it is where he is like, I’m a Hebrew of Hebrews of the tribe of Benjamin. He’s using all these present tense words. He’s never referring to himself as I was. He’s making a sacrifice to the temple. But what’s your understanding with reading Paul? Because in certain letters, he can feel very aggressive towards the circumcision party, these former Pharisees that follow Yeshua, but are leaning more towards this idea that everyone coming under the Torah so he can feel pretty aggressive, is his kind of aggressive tone at times because it’s like a family debate. It’s like he’s able to be harsh with them because he’s one of them. Is that how we should read Paul?
Yeah. So New Testament scholars today would refer to it as intra Jewish polemic. So when you’re talking to your own people, sometimes you can say things that I couldn’t say exactly. But in terms of Galatians, part of what’s happening, it’s not that Paul is speaking as a Christian and against Jewish believers, remaining Jews, what he is very strongly opposed to is basically the elimination of the one new man by Jewish believers trying to compel the Gentile believers to be circumcised, to leave behind their Gentile identity and essentially become the one new Jew. And it’s that I would say is the mirror image of the historic church’s compelling Jewish believers to leave behind their Jewish identity and essentially become kind of the one new
Gentile.
There’s a perspective paper, and we’ll link it in our show notes that you’ve done on the one New man. And I believe the subtitle, correct me if I’m wrong, is something like How to Embrace the Jewishness of Your Faith without Getting Weird.
That was the
Original one. I think I modified it. I like the original,
And
I’ve done a teaching that’s on our platform and it’s basically, I called it the Three Pools of the Jewish Plunge.
And
So it’s basically the three pools that you’re going to end up in if you start embracing the Jewish stuff, whatever that means. And it’s really, you’re teaching on the one new Jew, the one new Gentile, and the one new man. Those are essentially the three pools. So can you talk a little bit about basically the ends of that spectrum both being unhealthy
Because
It’s really easy for us to just drift in our desire to understand the Jewish foundation of our faith into one of these two extremes.
So maybe starting with the one new Gentile. So historically, the through church councils, through church cannons, through baptismal confessions, through preaching sermons that interpreted the New Testament and really the whole Bible through the lens of replacement theology.
Yeah.
Jewish believers were essentially told for, I mean, this is still going on, but I would say the better part of 1900 years, at least, that
Right into that second, third century really
Off right, that they needed to leave behind their Jewish identity. Because now as we discussed now, God has created this new third identity being a Christian, being part of the church where there is no longer Jew nor Gentile. So what that has resulted in essentially is generation after generation of churches where there are no identifiable Jews within them who not only identifies Jews, but practice as Jews live out their Jewish life and then pass on Jewish identity to their children, lado Vidor. And also that has led to the non-existence of Messianic Jewish synagogues, really from the fourth century until the 18th century, the late 18th century. And even then, it’s really only been in the late 20th century that we have this grassroots movement of Messianic Judaism. So the vast majority of church history has basically sadly reflected a loss of Jewish presence within the church, identifiable Jewish presence. And so I’ll give you an example. So my wife, her Rumi was away for 10 days recently. She was watching our grandchildren in Connecticut. So it was just me at the house, just me. I’ve got to tell you, it was a lonely, sad life for 10 days
Because all the things I do with Hami, the conversations I have, everything, just the little things and the big things, yeah, the
Activities you do,
All the activity, the processing, everything was with myself. And so then Hami came back the other day, and I felt this sense of reunion, the sense of my beloved is back. The one I treasure more than anyone else in this world is back in my life present. I mean, we spoke every night, but I could live life with her again, experience life with her again. And so for all these centuries, Jewish believers have been pushed out of the church or assimilated within the church. And so it’s been honestly a solitary existence for the Gentile believers. And there was so much joy and so much wonder and so much creativity, and there’s so much God wants to do in that relationship that has not existed for all these centuries. So there’s been great loss now with churches like Gateway that have created a Jewish ministry within the church, encouraging Jews within the church to remain Jews and to live out their Jewish identity. This is new. And this I think has been a real blessing to the whole church, to gateway Church and certainly to those Jewish believers. And then as an example, gateway has close relationships with Messianic Jewish synagogues.
So there’s an interaction, there’s a kind of working together. We’ve learned from each other, I’ve learned from you, I’ve learned from Nick, I’ve learned from Greg. I love the teamwork that we have here, but God wants to multiply that thousands and millions of times over. So that’s one end of it. The loss of Jewish identity and the need to return to that covenant partnership. On the other end of the extreme is what I would call Hebrew roots, one law theology, which today, generally speaking, messianic Jews do not try to assimilate Gentile Christians out of their Gentile Christian identity and bring and kind of Judaism them and make them into Messianic
Jews.
I honestly don’t know a single Messianic Jew that does that. Generally speaking, where this comes from, it is from generally speaking, gentile believers who become aware of the Jewishness of their faith, wonderfully of the Jewishness of Jesus Yeshua, the Jewishness of the New Testament, the Jewishness of the early church, the body of Messiah, the cia, and it’s like their eyes are opened and they experience, in some ways, they almost describe it as another conversion. They feel like everything is new, and they didn’t know any of these things.
I see everything clearer.
They see it clearer. The Bible is read more clearly. And so oftentimes they begin to then embrace Jewish life and begin to live out life the way a Jewish person is called to live. And they find so much joy in that and growth spiritually in that they want everyone else to experience that as well. And so what I think generally speaking happens is they take their personal calling. I’m not suggesting they don’t have a personal calling to do some of this or maybe all of this, but I think what often happens is they take their personal calling
And
Then assume it’s a universal calling that God is calling all Gentile believers to essentially leave behind their Gentile Christian identity and then embrace a Jewish more pure form of following Yeshua. Yes. So essentially to live as a Jew. And so the problem with this is that God is really not calling most Gentile Christians to do that. I think if he was, people would
Know.
So this pull in the other direction leads to what I refer to as you mentioned, as the one new Jew. So it’s trying to basically turn all churches into Hebrew roots congregations or Messianic synagogues and trying to portray Gentile Christian culture in a negative way.
It can produce a lot of pride if it’s not kept unchecked, because what they say in Proverbs, knowledge puffs up and is that Proverbs knowledge puffs up, and so it can create this man, the fact that I’m celebrating Passover and you still celebrate Easter, you need to come celebrate Passover and get the real revelation. It can develop this puffed up pride that communicates, I’m following Jesus closer because I know the Hebrew stuff. And it can create a lot of insecurity in a Gentile believer in Jesus that’s like, oh, do I need to burn my Christmas tree now? Because now I’m feeling like I’m sinning. And I’m sure you deal with a lot of this at the Tku, people attracted to the Messianic Jewish Studies program something that you maybe have to be very
Aware. Yeah, actually aware of. So we have an interview process for anyone who would like to be a student in our program. And so I asked them questions to draw out their perspective on the body of Messiah and what is their communal vision? Do they have a more one new man vision or a more one new Gentile vision or one new Jew vision? Absolutely. But what I find is oftentimes people just haven’t thought through these issues
Deeply,
And they’ve never actually sat down with somebody who challenged them about God’s desire to build a one new man where Jews and Gentiles in Messiah remain Jews and Gentiles like men and women and marriage remain men and women. And where the beauty of that distinction, the interrelationship between the two, producing in a kind of synergistic way, something wonderful that could never exist without the two being differentiated. It’s something they just haven’t thought through. And often they haven’t looked at these scriptures that really support that. Like Acts chapter 15 and others were clearly the
Distinction’s there.
The distinction is there, the early apostles, the Jewish apostolic leaders were affirming Gentile believers as Gentiles in the body of Messiah.
Yeah, that’s so good.
Or that there really is no example of Gentile believers in the New Testament being encouraged to live out Jewish life
Or the opposite, encouraging Jewish believers in Jesus to strip themselves of Jewish identity.
Absolutely. And I do want to affirm that I do think that some Gentile believers are called to embrace aspects of Jewish life, and we see many of them in Messianic Jewish
Congregations,
Even at Gateway. I think there are many, but I think that’s the exception to the rule, and I think that we should be able to acknowledge again that once personal calling shouldn’t be mapped onto other people’s callings.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That’s really good. That’s a nuance that not many times we want to sift through, but that’s what we do here at the Covenant conflict. We’re taking those and we’re sifting through these nuances. I have a somewhat off topic question that I was just interested in as you brought it up, and maybe we don’t have time for it, and so you’re going to have to come back for round two. But you mentioned Ecclesia Church, ecclesia being the Greek word for church, and it’s Hebrew counterpart being Kaila from the term Al. So what is the crossover from this Hebrew word? Because when you read the New Testament, and correct me if I’m wrong, the first time that we hear Ecclesia is when Jesus Yeshua makes that statement at Caea Philippi when he says, the gates of hell will not prevail on this rock, I will build my church Ecclesia. So I’m trying to understand what was Jesus referring to? What was in his mind when he says, obviously Ecclesia is the Greek translation of whatever he said. Maybe he said Kaila, I don’t know. We don’t know necessarily what he said, but what was his understanding of church? Right.
Well, so first of all, the term Ecclesia is not an exclusively Christian term.
That’s good to know.
I think it’s best translated as community or assembly. And what’s particularly notable is that the term Sia is found throughout the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, and Israel is often referred to as the CIA of Israel in the Tugen. Wow. Which that
Would’ve been around in Jesus’ days. He’s
Absolutely
Ministering. I mean, there are 200 years before Jesus there. The Tugen was
Exactly. Got it. Yeah. So that was already and Greek speaking for Greek speaking Jews like English speaking Jews. Today, the English translation of the Bible would be more familiar to them than the Hebrew translation. So in the first century diaspora context, even in the land of Israel, the EPT was a primary translation of the scriptures that Jews were hearing and interacting with. So anyway, to answer your question, in Matthew chapter 18 actually, where we have Yeshuas teaching on conflict resolution, if your brother sins against you, go to him. If he doesn’t listen to you, bring another person. And then if you still can’t work it out, he says, bring it to the cia. Now, in most translations of that passage, most Christian translations of the passage, often it has bring it to the church, but it’s meaning that especially since Elicia was in the Tugen, there’s another way of understanding it as opposed to it being like the Christian Church.
Yeah.
Obviously, when Yeshua said that to his disciples, there are no Christian churches. So what could theia be? It would be the local synagogue. In other words, bring it to the elders of the local synagogue and ask them to adjudicate it, which is what Jews did in the first century. Actually, that’s what Jews do today, even in very Orthodox Jewish communities. You bring it to the rabbi. You bring it to the rabbi. So I’m not saying that that’s the only way of understanding Matthew chapter 18, but there I think a very compelling case can be made that their EIA actually could be referring to the local synagogue and the elders of the local synagogue. Again, EIA just simply means
Gathering
Assembly or community. I could refer to the synagogue.
So as we wrap up, because I know we’re getting close out of time, how should that affect the way that we do church? Is it simply just making space for Jewish identity, or is there a deeper part or partnership to play with the synagogue? And is that exclusively the messianic synagogue versus what about the orthodox synagogues in our community? What’s our relationship there? I think that’s where we can get really confused as Gentile Christians, what am I supposed to do with this?
So I think one of the big pitfalls that I’ve observed
Is
That when, let’s say a pastor or a local Christian leader becomes aware that understanding the Jewish roots of their faith is actually very, very important. One of the knee-jerk reactions is to move kind of more in that one new Jew direction where they think, okay, let’s integrate into our church celebrating Passover, or let’s celebrate other Jewish festivals. The idea being that if we practice Jewish life, that somehow we will be more in touch with the Jewishness of Jesus and be able to kind of experience the fullness of God’s blessing for our church life. But where I think it’s a misstep is actually the bigger issue is building relationship with Jewish people. And so rather than, I’m not suggesting a church shouldn’t celebrate Passover as an example, but I think the first step should be moving in the direction of the question you’re asking, which is, how can we as a church of predominantly Gentile Christians, maybe there are no Jewish people or no known Jewish people, how can we develop relationship with, I would say, first Messianic Jews because there are our covenant brothers and sisters in with respect to the one new man in Ephesians two,
We talked about that language of both together cocoa. In other words, how can we develop relationship with messianic juice so that we are doing, we’re building the temple together. Yeah. Because
Fellow heirs under Messiah, under Jesus. Exactly. That’s our messianic brothers and
Sisters. So I would say the first step is find out if there are any messianic Jews in the church and begin to affirm them and begin to disciple the Jewish believers within the church to embrace their Jewishness and their Jewish identity. Second, I would say the church should ask itself, okay, are there any messianic synagogues locally that we can build relationship with and then do things locally? So for example, instead of having a Passover Seder at the church, I would suggest it would be better if possible for the church to see if the local messianic synagogue is having a Passover Seder, which often it does a congregational Seder, and usually it is open to the wider body of Messiah, because that’s a way for the local Messianic synagogue to try to build a one new man experience.
Yeah, totally.
And then to join the local messianic synagogue,
Do so in partnership with the Jewish community.
Right, exactly. Rather than in their stead. Exactly. So that’s another way. And another way would be then are there non messianic synagogues in the local area, Orthodox conservative reform where we can get to know the local rabbis, and maybe there are some things that we can do together. Are there ways that we as a church can support these local messianic synagogues and mainstream synagogues to express our love and our support? So that’s another way. How about praying together and worshiping together? The messianic synagogue can come to the local church. The local church can come to the Messianic synagogue. There’s a wonderful group called Toward Jerusalem Council too,
Which
Brings together gentile Christians and Messianic Jews for prayer and for intercession and for other kinds of activities where Jews and Gentiles and Messiah can learn from each other and glorify God together. So those are just some of the many ways that, how about going to Israel together, the life changer. It’s really endless. But it begins with asking this question, how can we partner with Messianic Jews and with mainstream Jews and develop this with the Messianic Jews, this one new man relationship with our covenant partners, that there was a movie some time ago, I think it was called The Oath, where I think I forgot if it was, I think the wife went into a coma and woke up and Totally
The vow.
The vow. The vow.
Yeah, I saw that movie. It was heartbreaking. And she forgot her husband. She forgot her husband. Her memories only went back to when she was like 18. So it was before she met him. So she
Had to learn, she had a covenant partner and then learn to experience life with her covenant partner. Wow. So in the same way, I think Gentile Christian churches, Christian pastors, Christian leaders, just Gentile Christians in general, need to experience that awareness of, wow, I have a covenant partner now I need to learn what it means to be kind of married to that person and then walk that out. And so that’s where we’re at. And I’m just so thankful that the Gateway Center for Israel exists to help churches and pastors who are moving in that direction.
Well, Senator Cruz, really glad to have you helping us figure out how to do that. I feel very blessed. Thank you. Yeah, your encouragement is so good because I think, and I’m guilty of this, we do strength finders at Gateway a lot, where it’s like, what are your strengths? And one of, I think is my number one is activator. So it’s like I want to go ready, shoot, aim. And I think that desire is often awoken when you get into the Jewish context of things, the Jewish Foundation, the Jewishness of Jesus, and you’re like, I want to do something. And if your two options are develop relationship with the Jewish community or just do a Passover, I just do a Passover. It’s quicker, it’s easier.
It’s true.
Relationship’s, hard. It’s true. And I don’t know where to start, and that’s going to be awkward. And I have to just randomly call a synagogue or messianic synagogue, and we have to embrace that hard. We have to embrace that. That might be more difficult, but that’s the path that leads to more fruit rather than there might be quick fruit. And me just doing a Passover at my house and seeing like, oh, wow, that’s what Jesus did. That’s so awesome. I’ll get context. There’s not going to be fruitless. But the greater fruit is what you’re saying is in the relationship. But it’s hard.
And I think that’s why a lot of people don’t get married because they don’t want to have that kind of that relationship where there’s the constant friction
Rub and tension.
But as a result, they miss out on just the incredible joys of marriage and the intimacy and the sense of walking together. And so, yeah, absolutely. It’s so good. I totally agree.
Can I close in prayer? We don’t close every podcast with prayer, but I feel very stirred to pray and join us wherever you’re listening.
Please can I just, one last thing that was on my mind as you were just talking, and that is one of the most important areas where I would say Gentile Christians can support their covenant partner today. Their Jewish covenant partner is in fighting antisemitism. It’s all over the world. Every day I read articles about this happened and that happened, and Gentile Christians are all over the world, and this is such a wonderful opportunity to be able to say, I stand with my covenant
Partner.
If someone were to try to hurt my wife, I would never stand for that. I would immediately be activated, like you said. And so I feel like that is one of the most important and relevant ways right now, that gentile Christians can act and express their love for their covenant
On the heart of every Jewish person.
Exactly.
And so it should be then on the heart of every Gentile father of Jesus if we are aware of our covenanted partner.
Exactly.
So yeah, that’s so good. Well, pray with me wherever you are. If you’re listening or watching right now, God, I pray right now that you would give us your heart for your people, both Jew and Gentile, Lord, that you would allow us to walk in this unity that you’ve written on the pages of scripture, the unity that does not erase distinction, but enhances it through mutual blessing, mutual interdependence, Lord, that we would not try and erase the identity that you gave us, but embrace it and embrace our covenanted partners. Lord, I pray that that would be what we are known for as the body of Messiah, as the church is the unity that we have as Jew and Gentile. And Lord, we pray right now for all the Jewish people in the world, Lord, we know that antisemitism is rising. The enemy is rearing his head.
Lord, we pray that you would put it on our hearts, how we can stand, how we can combat antisemitism, how we can link arms with our Jewish brothers and sisters, and not just say never again, but Lord actually do it. Actually participate in what you’re doing on Earth to restore us back to Eden, restore us back to the peace that you created us to walk in with you and intimacy with you. We pray this all in Yeshua’s name. Amen. Amen. Thank you for coming. Thanks for inviting me. This was so fun. Definitely part two coming up soon. So thank you for joining us on today’s episode. Please. We have other episodes we’d love for you to take part in. We have perspective papers, many of which were written and inspired by Dr. David Rudolph. I encourage you to read the One New Man Perspective paper that we talked about today. It goes into such detail and is so thoughtful in this understanding of Jew and Gentile. So we’ll see you next time on the Covenant Conflict Podcast.