A ? about messianic jews.

[A.W. Bowman]

To the issues:

Question: What is ‘wrong’ with removing “… the battle over Oneness doctrine from the Tanakh”, if that battle does not actually exist in God’s eyes? That is, what if that is the wrong battle to be engaged in?

An interesting observation: “We Oneness Christians accept IT [the oneness of God] as the revelation of God to the Jewish people nothing else.” I don’t think anyone will have a problem with that statement. However, the Old Covenant text never speaks about the ‘singularity’ of God, just that God is ‘one’ God, not just one of many gods or even as simply the leader of gods. Yet, an explanation of the nature of God is not included in these same scriptures, so there is where often times well meaning men get into the act. It is when we men decide to add to the revelation that the one true God of Israel is the only true God, period, end of discussion, that we run into trouble. When we add anything to the fact that God is but one God we must do violence to the word of God. In the English translations of the Holy Scripture, we read time and time again that the Jews, and by extension the entire world, are commanded to worship the one true, singular God of Israel. So, what s the problem? The problem is that we have stepped beyond scripture and decided to interpret ‘oneness’ scriptures according to our own understanding and imaginations. That is, there is no scripture a ‘oneness’ scripture (in English) will contain any description of God concerning His essentials of deity, elements of composition, descriptions of His modes and methods of existence or even the exact manner of how God relates to all of His creation. What we have are simple examples of who and what God is, and a great many instruction on how He expects us to conduct ourselves.

Then, there is the question of, “Many are trying to destroy the Oneness faith that was delivered to us by the Apostles.” This is similar to the controversy between living under grace and living under the law. As Paul noted in Romans 3, 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. 29 [is he] the God of the Jews only? [is he] not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: 30 Seeing [it is] one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law [Torah] through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law [Torah]. [KJV]

Testing to see if something is true is not an attempt to destroy, but to establish. Even if that is the case, then the question that comes to mind is this, “Why ‘test’ something that has been accepted by our spiritual leaders and teachers, for have they not also discovered, examined, tested and established the acceptable apostolic doctrines?” If a doctrinal position is correct (established in scripture) then why not simply accept it, as is? Because in many instances, while the position may be correct, the arguments used to support (or defend) the position have been all too frequently twisted in meaning or misdirected in their application from their original intent. This practice results in the scriptures losing their authority because they are only open to the preacher’s interpretation – not yours. This means that one cannot read and study the scriptures for themselves, without getting the pastor’s approval on what the individual comes up with. What is wrong with that approach? This leaves the Holy Ghost out of the equation, unless, of course, the Spirit of God will only teach and guide the senior pastor (everything must first come through him). The corollary problem is the willful ignoring of scriptures that seem to challenge or even contradict the selected doctrinal support verses. These verses are most often excluded from the scriptural list for any given doctrine.

Example: Galatians 2:16 (KJV)
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

And, we know how Abraham is held up as our model for a man of faith. Yet, if one reads Genesis 26:1-6 we find a different picture of Abraham than what is usually presented from most platforms.