The Oral Law Versus Written Law | How Judaism and Christianity Separated

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Orthodox Jews and the religious Pharisees of Jesus' day believed that Moses also received other information that he did not write down, but he passed it down orally to the 70 elders of Israel. We are discussing the topic of how Judaism and Christianity separated from each other. This is now the fourth show in this series, and it is really a fascinating subject. Once again, consider: how is it that because Jesus did not come to start a new religion? Remember, He said in Matthew 5:17 and 18, "Do not think I have come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have not come to abolish but to fulfill." How is it then that Jesus said He came to fulfill that which had already been given to the Jewish people through their forefathers and prophets? How is it now that the world looks at Christianity and Judaism as two totally different religions? The Jewish people look at Christianity as a different religion from Judaism, and most Christian people look at Judaism as a totally different religion than Christianity. This ought not to be. So, what we are going to do is go back in time. We are going to go back in history and trace how these two movements separated from each other. Let's begin just by asking for revelation from Father God. Father, we love You today and we worship You. Father, we ask You to give us divine intelligence by the Holy Spirit. Father, we ask You to help Your people understand how things have become what they are, and that in understanding, Father, we would be able to look at the lens of Your scriptures through the right perspective in Jesus' name. Amen. On the previous episodes, I began to introduce the topic. I discussed the jealousy of the religious leadership and how the jealousy of the religious Jewish leadership of Jesus' day caused a separation between the movement that Jesus launched versus that religion that the Jewish leadership was entrenched in 2,000 years ago. I talked about that. I talked also about the theological challenges. When Jesus claimed that He was in the Father, the Father was in Him, and that He and the Father were equal, when He began to declare that He had the authority to forgive sins, etc., that was anathema to the rabbinic mindset of Jesus' day because they saw God as being so far beyond anything that could be inhabited. They were not able to conceive of what we call the incarnation. The incarnation is the theological term that we use that God clothed Himself in humanity. So as Jesus appeared in human form and said that the Father was in Him, that He was in the Father, and that He and the Father were one, the Jewish religious leaders of Jesus' day just ripped their clothes. They just thought that was anathema. They thought that it was the worst type of blasphemy for a man to make himself to be equal with God. We talked about that again in a previous broadcast. I am going to move forward now, but I do want to encourage you to get this series because there is so much historical information here. It will so ground you in the truth of what we are all about at Discovering the Jewish Jesus, which I believe is the Father's heart in helping His people to understand the Hebraic or Jewish roots of their faith. It is a really important series to be able to get, study, and take notes on. Moving ahead then today with these introductory comments, we are going to talk about another reason that the Christian movement was separated from her Jewish roots. It has to do with a misunderstanding of the use of the term "Jew," particularly in John's Gospel. Of course, today, we are all familiar with the fact that there is lots of anti-Semitism around the world today. For some people, the word "Jew" is a dirty word. Even Jewish people, because of the way that the world has used the term "Jew" as an anti-Semitic word so often, find it is culturally more acceptable for a Jewish person to be referred to as Jewish as opposed to being a Jew. Again, this is because the word "Jew" has often been linked to anti-Semitism. Some of this goes as far back as a misunderstanding of the term "Jew" in John's Gospel. Let me show you what I mean. We are going to John's Gospel, and we are going to be examining the way that he used the term "Jew" here and how people that did not have understanding could have seen it as anti-Semitic. I am going to begin to illustrate this in the Gospel of John, chapter 5, and I am going to be reading here now verse number 15 and 16. Hear the word of God. Jesus had just got done healing somebody, and He said, "Go and sin no more so that nothing worse will happen." Then in verse 15, John 5, we read this: "The man went away and told the Jews," there is that term "Jew," "the man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus that had made him well." Who did he tell? Remember, everybody was Jewish in the area that Jesus was ministering in. So, the man that Jesus healed was Jewish. The people that were the common people that saw him get healed, they were Jewish. But now we read that this man went away and told the Jews. That does not make sense. How could that be because they were all Jews? Listen further and you will understand. "The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well." Then the next verse, 16, says, "For this reason, the Jews were persecuting Jesus because He was doing these things on the Sabbath." You see, the way that John is using the word "Jews" here, it applies to the Judean religious leadership. It had to do with the way that John most often used the term "Jews" in his Gospel. He was referring to the religious leadership in the geographical region of Judea. So, we have the term "Jews" as a general term meaning all the Jewish people, but remember so many of the Jewish people believed in Jesus. Remember when He walked into Jerusalem, they were lining the street, "Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord." So many Jewish people believed in Him. The first church was all Jewish. But the way that John oftentimes uses the term "Jew" is not to refer to the general population which was Jewish, but John is referring specifically here to the religious leadership living in the land of Judea. Again, we see that in John chapter 5, verse 15 and 16. We are going to take this a step further and I am going to give you a more clear illustration of this. I am going now to the Gospel of John, chapter 1. Hear the word of God. "This is the testimony of John when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, 'Who are you?'" The Jewish leadership is sending agents to Jesus to question Him as to who He was. Notice again, the word "Jews" here is referring specifically to the religious Jewish leadership, not all Jewish people in general, but the Jewish leadership. I am going to read it again, John 1:19. "This is the testimony of John when the Jews sent to him priests," what Jews? The religious leaders. "When the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, 'Who are you?'" What is the point? The point is that because the term "Jews" is used throughout John's Gospel in a disfavorable way, some people that do not have this understanding that he was referring just to the religious leadership, not to all Jewish people in general, have developed an anti-Semitic spirit against Jewish people. I want to show you this even further. I am going now to the Gospel of John, chapter number 4. Remember, this is all in John's Gospel. Here we see the term "Jews" used in the general sense. What does Jesus say in John 4:22 to guard against becoming anti-Semitic? Jesus says in John 4:22 to the woman from Samaria, the woman at the well, He says this. I want you to remember this verse and commit it to memory, John 4:22. He said to her, "You worship," because she wasn't Jewish, she was a Samaritan, He said to her, "You worship what you do not know. We," who's "we"? He's speaking of the Jewish people. He said, "We worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews." So here we see that there is not anti-Semitic language at this point. Jesus said, "Salvation is from the Jews." As we continue this theme, if we go to the Book of Revelation, chapter number 3, verse number 7: "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write," and this is Jesus Himself talking. He said, "He who is holy," He is speaking of Himself, "He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one who opens says this." So Jesus is describing Himself as the one who holds the key of David. But when He speaks of the Jewish religious leadership, those that had opposed Him, He speaks in a different way. In speaking of the religious leadership there, Jesus actually uses some very, very strong language when He speaks about the Jewish religious leadership that opposed Him. He said, "Those that say they're Jews but are not, but are actually," He said, "from the synagogue of Satan." So here we have two different uses of the term "Jews." We have the Jewish religious leadership, which was painted very disparagingly by Jesus and in John's Gospel because of their rejection of the Prince of Peace. I do not want you to confuse that with the Jewish people in general, which unfortunately too many Gentile Christians have done and have come up with an anti-Semitic spirit as a result. Why are we talking about this? Because we are talking about how Judaism and Christianity separated from each other. One of the ways that they got separated is because the church adopted an anti-Semitic mindset towards the Jewish people because they misunderstood the term "Jew" in John's Gospel. Does everybody understand today? I hope you do. If not, get the teaching and move on. By the way, these teachings are even available at no cost to you on YouTube. Please understand that we are not trying to sell you anything. 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Guest (Male): You're listening to Discovering the Jewish Jesus, and Rabbi will be right back in a moment. But first, I want you to know that our desire is to see God move powerfully in your life. If you have a prayer request, we invite you to submit it online at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Our team will prayerfully lift up your request to the Lord, believing with you for God's guidance and love in your life. Submit your request today.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: "For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?" Friends, this verse in Romans shows us that when the Jewish people come to Christ, we too will be blessed. The church will experience a spiritual awakening. Help us fulfill this calling to reach Israel. We cannot do it without your faithful support, so partner with us today by visiting us online at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. And now, back to Rabbi Schneider. What is another reason that Judaism and Christianity separated from each other? This is really fascinating. Many of us didn't realize that Jewish people today, the Orthodox Jewish community today, and this tradition that I am about to describe here goes all the way back to before the time of Jesus. This is what the Orthodox Jewish community today believes, and this is also what the religious community of Jesus' day believed, the Pharisees. This is what they believe: that when Moses was on top of Mount Sinai, he didn't just receive the Ten Commandments and that which he wrote down in the Torah, the first five books of our Bible, which is often called the Pentateuch. They believe that Moses didn't just receive what he wrote down in the Ten Commandments and the first five books of our Bible. Orthodox Jews and the religious Pharisees of Jesus' day believe that Moses also received other information that he did not write down, but instead of writing it down, he passed it down orally to what is called the 70 elders of Israel, which we read about in the Book of Exodus 24. They say Moses had other information, more revelation that he received from the Lord on top of Mount Sinai, revelation that he didn't write down in the Torah or the Pentateuch or the first five books of our Bible, but instead what he did is he passed it down orally to the 70 elders of Israel, which is described in Exodus 24. Then these 70 elders of Israel passed this tradition on that Moses they say received to the rest of Israel. So, what Orthodox Judaism believes is that there is all this other information that Jewish people are bound to today, and that the Jewish people of Jesus' day should have been bound to, even though it wasn't written down. We begin to see this unfold in the Book of Mark, chapter number 7. So, let's go now to the Book of Mark, chapter number 7 to illustrate this. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of God abides forever. We are talking about a tradition that is known as the oral law. In other words, they believe that the law that binds God's people together doesn't just consist of that which is written, but that which was orally passed down through Moses. I am going to begin there in the third verse. Hear the word of God. "For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands," listen now, "thus observing the tradition of the elders." That word "the traditions of the elders" is very important. So there was this rule, there were these regulations that you couldn't eat in Jesus' day, again Mark 7:3, without going through this ceremonial washing. They believed and taught that if you didn't wash your hands in this ceremonial way and said a specific blessing along with that, that you were violating God's commandments. What was Jesus' response to that? Let's continue to focus on this in the Book of Mark, chapter 7. Hear what Jesus said. Jesus said in verse number 6, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.'" Now get this. "But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men, neglecting the commandment of God," He said, "you hold fast to the tradition of men." Jesus actually went on to say in verse number 13 that in so doing, they were invalidating the word of God. Jesus said this, He is speaking to the religious leadership there. I want you to know I speak this very humbly, very lovingly, and very respectfully. But what Jesus was saying to the religious leadership there is these traditions that you say are from God, these traditions that you say that Moses received when he was on Mount Sinai that he never wrote down, but instead passed them on orally, verbally, to the 70 elders of Israel, who then passed them on to the rest of Israel, this information Jesus said that you say was given to Moses at Sinai, no, He said, "These are just the traditions of men." This creates a large conflict between those Messianic Jewish people like myself that follow Jesus and the Orthodox Jewish community, because the Orthodox Jewish community has a lot of other regulation and a lot of other laws that they say Moses received at Mount Sinai. But since they are not written down in the Torah or the first five books of the Bible, Messianic Jewish people like myself by and large do not see these Orthodox rules as binding revelation or having come from God. Let me say very lovingly and respectfully, I think a lot of the traditions in Orthodox Judaism are very beautiful and can be very helpful as we're seeking to follow Jesus and be led by the Spirit. Believe me, I'm not under the law and I don't put anybody under the law. I'm just showing respect towards my tradition and towards my ancestry. But Jesus was very clear that the regulations that were not written down during Jesus' day were not coming from the revelation of Father God at Mount Sinai but were the traditions of men. Let me say this: eventually, beginning around 200 AD, they did begin to write these oral traditions down. They wrote them down and then they developed a commentary on these traditions that were now written down. Together these two, the oral law which was eventually written down and the commentary on it, these two together are called the Talmud, and it was completed around 500 AD. Today when rabbis go to Yeshiva, what we would call seminary, it's called in Judaism a Yeshiva to study, they study a lot from the Talmud. Again, it is the written version of what was then the oral law. So just summing up: because Jesus didn't teach that the oral law actually came from Mount Sinai, He called it the tradition of the elders. Remember we read that in Exodus 24 that they say Moses had these 70 elders. Because Jesus said, "Listen, a lot of this stuff that you guys are teaching as coming from God is just your own tradition," He said, "it is the tradition of men." Because Jesus taught that, and as followers of Jesus we agree with Jesus that this creates a separation between rabbinic Judaism and those of us that are following Jesus. We're following Jesus, and other people are following this oral law that Jesus called the tradition of men.
Guest (Male): I haven't heard a sermon on the Widow's Mite lately, have you? Maybe some of you have. Perhaps you don't even know the story. Yeshua Jesus was at the temple one day observing people as they were coming to put their offering before the Lord. A widow came, and she just gave just a little bit. But Yeshua Jesus commented to His disciples that her offering was actually the greatest of any He had observed, even though it was a small amount, because He said she gave out of her poverty when the others gave out of their abundance. They had so much money, it didn't cost them anything to make an offering. It didn't hurt. But that widow gave out of a position where it was just pure love, pure adoration for the Lord, pure obedience. It was a sacrifice. It reminds me of David that said, "I will not offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing." I want to encourage us all, let's be faithful to the Lord with our finances. It should hurt a little bit, and God promises it's going to come back good measure, running over into our lap. I encourage you to give unto the Lord through this ministry if it's feeding you. Amen. And if the Lord is calling you to give to Discovering the Jewish Jesus, visit us online at discoveringthejewishjesus.com, or you can call us. Our number is 800-777-7835. And if it's easier for you, just text in your donation right on your mobile phone. Text the keyword "GIVE" to the phone number 88777. You'll get a text right back with how to give. You know, your faithfulness allows us to spread the good news of Messiah far and wide all around the world. And you know what? Your generosity doesn't just support this radio program or podcast. It also allows us to pour into our prison ministry, our on-the-ground festivals, and so much more. Did you know that this ministry is also fulfilling the Bible's mandate to bring the gospel to Jewish people? Right now we are reaching Jewish people all around the globe with the good news of Messiah Jesus. Your monthly partnership helps create the spiritual climate for the Lord's return. Jesus said He won't return until Jewish people say, "Baruch Haba B'shem Adonai." That means, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." Jewish people are going to cry out for the Messiah's return, and they can't do that if we don't reach them for Jesus. So, if you want to help give and support Discovering the Jewish Jesus as we reach Jewish people, visit discoveringthejewishjesus.com and give there. Thank you and God bless you. Here's Rabbi with the Aaronic Blessing.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: The Aaronic Blessing in the Book of Numbers, chapter 6, is not a blessing that comes from an impersonal being out there somewhere in the heavens. This special blessing comes from a person, Yahweh God Almighty, our Creator and Maker. So receive God's blessing into your life right now. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with His countenance and the Lord give you, beloved one, His peace. And now in Hebrew. Yevarekhekha Yahweh veyishmerekha. Ya’er Yahweh panav eleykha vikhunekha. Yissa Yahweh panav eleykha veyasem lekha shalom. God bless you and Shalom.
Dustin Roberts: I'm your host Dustin Roberts, and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. Tomorrow Rabbi Schneider is going to explain how one event changed the course of Christianity and helped shape Gentiles' role in God's plan. That's Friday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.