What Hebrew Roots and One Law Theology Gets Wrong

315 Views 2 min May 22, 2023

The Hebrew Roots and/or One Law Theology movement is gaining momentum today. Gateway Center for Israel director Nic Lesmeister quickly shares why these movements are unhealthy.

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Unhealthy Theologies Regarding Israel

Video Transcript

One of the most unhealthy and wrong theologies of Israel is called One Law Theology, or the Hebrew Roots Movement. In short, it claims that it was always God’s desire for Gentiles to live a Torah-observant life, even after putting their faith in Jesus – that basically Jews and Gentiles should be under the one law of Torah. The proponents of this movement claim Christians should strictly keep the Sabbath, celebrate all of the Jewish biblical holidays instead of Christian holidays like Christmas or Easter, and should even maintain a kosher diet. Setting aside the technical theological errors of this belief, here’s why this theology is so dangerous. It’s a defiance of God’s creative purposes. If you were born a Gentile, there is nothing wrong with you. God accepts you in Jesus as a Gentile and makes no demand that you live a Jewish life. Similarly, if you were born Jewish, God makes no demand that you forego your identity and stop living a Jewish life, even after putting your faith in Jesus.

Long before Jesus, God created the distinction of Jew and Gentile just as he created male and female or day and night. It was God’s plan that each of these would maintain their distinct identities, but learn to love and serve the other in mutual submission. In Acts 15, the Jewish leaders of the Jesus-believing community decided Gentiles did not need to take on Jewish identity in order to be saved. This decision made clear that Gentiles could be assured that God accepts them as they are. It also showed that the Jewish believers continued to maintain an observant, faithful Jewish life after putting their faith in Jesus.

At Gateway, we encourage and honor our Jewish members to continue to live a Jewish life. We enjoy celebrating the Jewish holidays with them, finding deeper understanding of God as we do, but we also honor and value the traditions of the Christian Church. We agree with the first century apostles that no greater burdens should be laid upon the Gentiles in order to receive salvation.