Judaism

Romans 10:1-4

Introduction

• One of the main world’s religions–Roots go back about 4,000

–Enemies roots also from Abraham

–Often unknown or overlooked fact

Introduction

• Three major parts–Origin and history of Judaism

–Various beliefs of Judaism

–Necessity of converting them

Origin and History

• Abraham (Genesis)–Three-fold promise (12:1-3)

–Promised son: Isaac (15:1-6)

–Name change and the sign of circumcision (17:1-8)

Origin and History

• Lineage (Genesis)–Isaac (21:3)

–Jacob (25:21-26)

–Gained the birthright (25:27-34)

Origin and History

• Land promise–Kept the promise (Joshua 21:43-45)

–Lost due to unfaithfulness (Deuteronomy 28:56-68)

–Restored but not the same

Origin and History

• Spiritual promise–Most important (Genesis 12:3)

–Abraham’s seed: Christ (Galatians 3:18-18)

Modern Judaism

• Factors –Effect of captivity on temple worship

–Not relevant by the first century

–Convinced that it wasn’t needed

Modern Judaism

• Composite –Old Testament + Oral Law + human

interpretation (compare to Catholicism)

–Orthodox

–Conservative

–Reform

Modern Judaism

• Both oral and written Torah–Both given at Sinai to Moses

–Oral (Mishna) in 200 AD

–Palestinian Talmud (400 AD)

–Babylonian Talmud (600 AD)

Modern Judaism

• Included in Torah–Targums and Midrash: writings of

prominent people

–Debates with conflicting opinions

–Majority prevails unless court prefers the minority

Sample

• “Honor is due the learned rabbi more than the scroll of the Torah, for through his learning and logic, he may alter the very content of Mosaic legislation. He is Torah” (Jacob Neusner, Way of Torah, p. 67)

Modern Judaism

• Accumulated merit–Zekhut: treasury of accumulated merit

–Good deeds offset sins

Mishna

• Merits of Moses bestowed on the community, and “… whatever virtue one lacks as an individual, one can make up for through zekhut” (Abot* 5:18) *fundamentals or principal considerations

Palestinian Talmud

• Man involved in the operation of a brothel was told, “You are worthy of praying and having your prayers answered.”

• Why? He had sold his bed and the covers for it to help one of the “ladies” free her husband from prison

No Temple

• During Babylonian captivity–Ritual purity without access to the

temple

–A “new hermeneutic”

Mishna

• The mikva, a Jewish immersion pool found in synagogues, was to contain 40 seahs could still have enough if the first person kept his foot in it while in use by the second (Mikvaot 7:6)

No Priests

• Followed naturally–“Judaism has no interceders; each

person must confront God in his own way.” (David Gross, 1001 Questions and Answers about Judaism, p. 14)

Midrash Pesiqta

• Sacrifices replaced with good works–“It was so that the Israelites should not

say ‘in the past we offered sacrifices and were so engaged [in study about] them, but now that we do not offer them anymore, we also need not study them anymore.’

Midrash Pesiqta

• Sacrifices replaced … (continued)–“Said the Holy one, blessed be He, to

them, ‘Since you engage in studying about them, it is the same as if you have actually carried them out.’” (deRab Kahana 5 III.2)

The Messiah

• Divided on this issue–Reform and Orthodox: more of an age

than a man

–How can this be?

The Answer

• “Why can we believe in the Messianic age even if we do not believe in the messiah? Judaism can function without the messianic vision and without the moral effort that is indispensable to its realization.” (Louis and Rebecca Barish, Varieties of Jewish Belief, p. 179)

The Messiah

• “Judaism does not believe that the soul is threatened in a way requiring outside rescue…The soul needs no saving because it is not lost; it needs no raising up because it is not fallen.” (Barish, p. 200)

The Messiah

• In Rabbinic Judaism, the Messiah is an ideal world leader who will deliver the Jews from oppression and bring peace to the world, and whose work would not depend on anyone believing in him

The Messiah

• Jews who insist that Jesus was not the Messiah reason “that it is not credible that God should have exposed His own son to that kind of death, because he himself said ‘Cursed is everyone who shall have hung on a tree.’” (Tertullian, An Answer To The Jews, Chapter 10)

Jews Need Salvation

• Judaism has nothing to offer– They offered the a “New Hermeneutic” and it was

wholeheartedly embraced.– “Through the power of interpretation the Jews were

able to free themselves from the laws of the Torah which they found difficult, unethical, harsh, or unreasonable, but they would rarely admit that they were overturning the sacred text. They insisted that they were merely interpreting it.”

(Shaye Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, p. 181)

Jews Need Salvation

• Bleak prospect–Proof for Jesus as the Messiah is seen

as proof that He is not

–Blinded (1 Corinthians 1:18-24; 2 Corinthians 3:14-16)

Conclusion

• Learn from their mistakes

• They abandoned God