The Wandering Heretic

In my last post, I noted the quandary that was created by God’s desire to “bring in the Gentiles.” The Apostles were taken aback by just how committed God was to that goal. In essence, they suddenly had a large group of Gentiles who were attaching themselves to Israel through the Jewish Messiah, Jesus. Through [...]

N.T. Wright has often said that an ordination question he asks seminarians concerns just what three chapters of the Bible they would keep if they were about to be stranded on a desert island. Then he notes, they already have Matthew 28, John 3, and Romans 8. I used to be at a loss for [...]

Acts Chapter 15 is the watershed passage in Scripture when one wants to consider the relationship between Jew and Gentile in the new Messianic communities. It also has bearing as to the nature of the Torah to both groups as members of the same body. However, there are some foundational assumptions behind the passage that [...]

Unlike most Orthodox Jews, Michael Wychogrod takes the writings of Paul seriously. Even in cases where he disagrees with Paul’s conclusions, he interacts with the writings and gives a historian’s—and specifically a Jewish historian’s—perspective. For the most part, at least in his landmark book, Abraham’s Promise, he appears to agree more than disagree with Paul’s [...]

I have determined that the use of the prayer scarf or head covering on the part of women remains a New Testament stipulation. In my last post, I discussed the example of Rabekah and her use of the veil only in the presence of her husband to be. As such, the use of the veil [...]

I have been discussing the discontinuity between the modern Jewish culture and that which existed in the time of Christ. As engrafted Gentiles, we have been fully placed into Israel. We are now as “special” a part of God’s people as are the Jewish people. As such, we are as much a part of Israelite [...]

I am currently discussing the issue on whether the current culture of Israel/Judaism is the same as or even rooted in first century Israel. The object of this quest is to ultimately judge just how much relevance current Jewish practices should have for the Gentile believer in Jesus. The question is not inconsequential since per [...]

I have argued that being “grafted into Israel,” the believing Gentiles enter into the culture and the governmental structure of the nation of Israel. They have been adopted and fully joined into the People of the Israelite God. In this essay, I want to reflect not so much on what it means to be a [...]

The Gentiles have been joined to Israel through the cross of the Messiah, making the two into one body. The body in question is the new assembly; the combined Jewish/Gentile communities under the Jewish Messiah, Jesus. The communities are the new Israel. As such, these communities have not so much replaced Israel as continued it [...]

The first part of this post covered the error of considering Israelites (whether in the Land of Israel or not) as somehow superior to Gentile believers in the New Covenant. The second part of this topic covers the equally unbalanced swing of the pendulum: that of ignoring or belittling of Israel and of the “Old [...]