POSTED 09 FEBRUARY, 2008

Hebrew or Greek: Languages Speak

by Mark Huey
mhuey@outreachisrael.net

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep” (2 Peter 2:1-3).

As the day of Yeshua’s return draws near, the Spirit of the Most High is continuing to awaken His people to the blindness that has been upon too many of them. The Lord is revealing to them that they are a part of the Commonwealth of Israel, and that after 2,700 years of separation all Israel will one day be fully restored. The Prophets declare that in the Last Days the Two Houses of Israel will come together as “one stick” in the hand of the Almighty (Ezekiel 37:15-28).[1] Testimonies from thousands all over the globe verify that this reunion is gathering momentum as the Spirit continues to enlighten God’s people about their Hebraic Roots.

This inevitable restoration does, however, have the enemy of our souls diligently working to postpone, if not destroy, the reunification. Satan knows the Scriptures intimately, and while he witnesses the prophecies being fulfilled, he realizes that his numbered days are coming to an end. Consequently, as he sees all Israel in the process of coming together, he is placing deviant teachings into the hearts and minds of many people so that the Kingdom will not be restored. He is indeed a worthy adversary, but we should not be deceived by his wiles. Remember, he is a defeated foe whose tentacles are still wreaking havoc on human weaknesses.

The emerging and relatively immature Messianic movement is one of the most vulnerable camps open to false doctrine and destructive heresy. It represents a viable middle ground between Judaism and Christianity. By planting questionable teachings among the Messianic community, the strategy to discredit all things Messianic takes root. The devious goal is to keep true Believers in Messiah Yeshua from considering anything that comes from the Messianic perspective. Remember, “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8), and his goal is to try to make Messianic Believers appear anomalistic, abnormal, or reactionary. He succeeds when falsehoods and unusual teachings are not challenged.

Damage to our viability mounts when certain voices from questionable Messianic (or pseudo-Messianic) circles make declarations like, “The Greek text of the New Testament is not inspired, but rather an early translation of the original Hebrew manuscripts. The Greek cannot be entirely trusted.” One teacher actually opens up his book with the words, “The Greek translation was the third translation of the New Covenant, so how pure can its meaning of the Truth really be?”[2]

What makes statements like these absolutely absurd is that no one can produce the purported original Hebrew texts, but that does not deter the teachers from voicing their illicit claims. What makes this attack even more insidious is the strategy to discredit the veracity of the message as contained in the Gospels and Epistles of the Apostles. Once unsuspecting people begin to question the viability of the Greek manuscripts, the next logical step is to question the object of the message: Messiah Yeshua Himself.

Such errant conclusions have already produced rotten fruit, as some in the Messianic community begin to leave their first love—who is supposed to be Messiah Yeshua—and they begin to embrace a works-oriented righteousness focused exclusively on the Written Torah. In time, the Apostolic Scriptures become nothing but “commentary” on the Torah, as opposed to the Divinely-inspired writings and halachah of the First Century Messianic community.

Once we question the validity of the message of Messiah Yeshua, we are open game for the enemy. He has the ability to use Kabbalists, Karaites, and the many others who have infected the Messianic community with dangerous teachings leading people away from the salvation available in Yeshua, and the path of sanctification that we are to be walking. People who fall prey to their arguments are often difficult to reason with, as they open themselves up to demonic spirits that cause them to believe fantasies and delusional concepts concerning the Bible. In some cases, these people often deny Yeshua as the Messiah and can either convert to Judaism or to their own primitive form of Yahwism. I have seen this happen many times with people who enter into the Messianic perspective, gain a little knowledge, and then go on tangents deriding the inspiration of the New Testament.

But why does this happen? How many people who do not consider the Greek Apostolic Scriptures to be inspired ever examine it? How many Messianics, thinking they are properly reading the New Testament, divorce it from its historical context? And then, how many truly want to not believe in Yeshua? These issues are unfortunately going to be with us until the Lord returns.

The Credibility Dilemma

There are some severe problems caused by those who advocate an original “Hebrew New Testament,” that all of us in Messianic ministry have to contend with. Many evangelical Christians look for reasons to criticize the Messianic movement. Often, these reasons are focused around our conviction that the Torah or Law of Moses is still to be followed. But many likewise believe that all of us deny the inspiration of the Greek Scriptures—which can lead people to denying Messiah Yeshua. Hence, in their minds, the Messianic movement is part of a massive end-time apostasy.

Certainly, any movement causing people to deny the salvation available in Yeshua is apostate. Are there sectors of the Messianic community that are apostate? Yes. But does this include our ministry? No.

Critics determine that the Messianic movement lacks basic scholarship by discounting one of the integral tenets of Biblical faith: the reliability of the Greek Scriptures. This is not to say that there are not interpretational or textual issues that need to be worked through from time to time, but we have those in our midst who believe that anything that is not in “Hebrew” cannot be inspired of the Holy One. When educated theologians discover some of the outlandish claims that are made, these types of beliefs dissuade them from even considering the Hebraic and Torah foundation that God is restoring to His people in this hour.

We must remember that Satan knows the fundamental principle, “a house divided against itself will never stand.” If he can use misguided people who have clevery developed a voice in the Messianic community to make these perfidious statements, the credibility of the whole movement suffers. Many Biblical scholars will simply dismiss the things that God is restoring to us when they see the level of “scholarship” employed to discount the inspiration of the Greek New Testament. The clouded minds of these people, sadly, become shrouded by ludicrous claims, and perpetuate the blindness that was placed upon all Israel, spoken of by the Apostle Paul:

“What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written, ‘God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day.’ And David says, ‘Let their table become a snare and a trap, and a stumbling block and a retribution to them. Let their eyes be darkened to see not, and bend their backs forever.’ I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous” (Romans 11:7-11).

Many believe that this passage only speaks of the blindness of the Jewish people to the truth of Messiah Yeshua, and do not consider the fact that it includes Israel scattered into the nations. All Israel has been blinded in various ways. The spirit of stupor is by no means exclusively reserved for the Jews, because non-Jewish followers of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have been wandering in the wilderness without significant reverence for the Torah. In our day and age, thankfully, these things are beginning to change.

An objective observer may conclude that the strategy to keep Israel divided has been successful. Today, various shrouds of false teaching and false understanding are being miraculously lifted by the Holy Spirit. Many are beginning to hear and see that Yeshua is indeed the Messiah, and the Torah is to be kept by all of God’s people. Jewish people are turning in massive numbers to faith in Yeshua, and non-Jewish Believers are beginning to embrace their Hebraic heritage.

Messianic Judaism has struggled to gain credibility among the Jewish community. Since the late 1960s, it has been used mightily by the Most High to validate the truth that, like our First Century forefathers, a Believer in the Messiah Yeshua can maintain his or her Jewish identity. As the Messianic Jewish movement has grown, non-Jewish Believers have been exposed to their Hebraic Roots, and have started to embrace the Torah obedient lifestyle of Yeshua and the Apostles. This is a move of the Holy Spirit, as many of these non-Jewish Believers have adopted things that are not necessarily encouraged by the mainline Protestant denominations. Paul says that both Jew and non-Jew are to be one in Messiah Yeshua, and that all are fellow members of God’s household of Israel:

“Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called ‘Uncircumcision’ by the so-called ‘Circumcision,’ which is performed in the flesh by human hands—remember that you were at that time separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Messiah Yeshua you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Messiah. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in [dogma],[3] so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Messiah Yeshua Himself being the corner stone” (Ephesians 2:11-20).

Torah Breakers

Unfortunately, the zeal of the “Hebrew only” crowd demonstrates actions that are inconsistent with the very Torah they vehemently defend. They embrace errors similar to those that Paul warned the Galatians about: “For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh” (Galatians 6:13). While claiming to keep the Torah, they exhibit behavior, attitudes, and motives that are condemned by the Torah. In many cases, such people proclaim the Hebrew language as the only pure “word” of the Holy One of Israel.

This may sound rudimentary, but the God of Israel is omniscient and omnipresent, and He alone has the right to declare His truths in whatever language He wishes. Conservative Bible scholars are confident that the Lord revealed Himself to Israel through His servant Moses. Additionally, we know from Paul that the oracles of God have been entrusted to the Jewish people: “What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God” (Romans 3:1-2, NIV).

But the teachings of the Tanakh (Old Testament), as foundational as they are for understanding the totality of Scripture, simply point to the most important events in the history of humanity: the birth, life, crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Yeshua the Messiah. Without these realities, the rest of the story would be without resolution. Paul, writing in Greek to the Believers in Rome—a mixed Jewish and non-Jewish community—says, “What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, ‘That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged’” (Romans 3:3-4).

It is clear from the writings of the post-resurrection authors that the Holy One was not finished speaking to His people when Malachi stopped prophesying. Some 400 years later, the Messiah of Israel came to dwell among His people in the land promised to His fathers—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is also imperative to understand the historical context of His Incarnation.

The Eastern Mediterranean basin was dominated by the Roman Empire, which had replaced the political and military presence of the Greeks. However, one aspect of Greek culture that had not been replaced was the Greek tongue as the language of commerce and business. The Greeks had been a dominating power for the previous few centuries, even as Alexander the Great’s empire was divided and fragmented. Anyone doing business in Eastern Mediterranean, from Jerusalem to Alexandria to Antioch to Corinth and even to Rome itself—whether Jewish or non-Jewish—spoke Greek.

By the First Century, let us also not forget that Israel had already been divided and the Northern Kingdom had been corporately assimiliated into the nations. The lost sheep of the dispersed Northern Kingdom had been corporately banished from the hills of Samaria and Galilee some 700 years earlier. According to Hosea, they would lose all traces of being Israel—and would not remember it again until the Last Days:

“And the Lord said, ‘Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people and I am not your God.’ Yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered; and in the place where it is said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ it will be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.’ And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint for themselves one leader, and they will go up from the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel” (Hosea 1:9-11).

The First Century Apostles of Yeshua knew that these people had been scattered into the nations of the world. Yeshua indicates a number of times, indirectly, that He had come to find and save these dispersed brethren, and His brother James specifically writes his epistle “To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations” (James 1:1, NIV).

There is a challenge among some determining in what language the Apostles would have written to their audience. Do you think it would be appropriate for James to address his readers in the commonly spoken language of his era? I certainly think so, especially if he were addressing it to non-Jewish Believers just coming to faith in the Messiah of Israel (be they of dispersed Israel or not). Does God not have a global vision that includes Israel bringing salvation to the entire world? The world at large does not speak Hebrew. By a part of Israel being scattered into the world, the Jewish Apostles had to go out into the world to bring salvation to them, and as a result bring salvation to all nations. It just so happens that in the First Century the Greek language dominated the areas the Apostles were called to minister. The Apostle Paul attests that God has called a people not just from the Jews, but also from the nations:

“What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. As He says also in Hosea, ‘I will call those who were not My people, “My people,” and her who was not beloved, “Beloved.”’ And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, “You are not My people,” there they shall be called sons of the living God.’ Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, ‘Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved; for the Lord will execute His word on the earth, thoroughly and quickly’” (Romans 9:22-28).

Paul understood who he was writing to in Rome when he quotes from the Prophets Hosea and Isaiah, which indicate that the sons and daughters of the Living God would come forth from both the Jewish people and the nations. Certainly, he was inspired to write the Romans in a language that they could all understand. To the chagrin of some in today’s Messianic movement, that language happened to be Greek. The Jews of the First Century did not have the problem of using Greek that some of today’s Messianics have. Why is this the case? Was God not concerned with saving the souls of those who spoke Greek in ancient times? From the arguments of some people, you would certainly think that He was not. My friends, we have to do better.

There is one interpretation of Scripture that has been gaining some credence among many people who are coming into the Messianic community. Certain false teachers have been using declarations made by the Prophet Zechariah to discredit the validity of the Greek Scriptures. Even more concerning is the fact that the terms “Judah and Ephraim” appear in the passage, and the clever teacher can persuade the naďve that the Greek text of the Apostolic Scriptures is invalid:

“Return to the stronghold, O prisoners who have the hope; this very day I am declaring that I will restore double to you. For I will bend Judah as My bow, I will fill the bow with Ephraim. And I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece; and I will make you like a warrior's sword. Then the Lord will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning; and the Lord God will blow the trumpet, and will march in the storm winds of the south. The Lord of hosts will defend them. And they will devour and trample on the sling stones; and they will drink and be boisterous as with wine; and they will be filled like a sacrificial basin, drenched like the corners of the altar. And the Lord their God will save them in that day as the flock of His people; for they are as the stones of a crown, sparkling in His land” (Zechariah 9:12-16).

This text has been frequently misused to support a number of false premises about the “Hebrew vs. Greek midset” to say that the Messianic movement has been raised up to purge the faith of any spiritual documents originating in the Greek language. The Prophet Zechariah is not speaking esoterically, proclaiming that the Greek text of the Apostolic Scriptures is invalid. What is equally ironic is that those who often speak about a “Hebrew vs. Greek midset” do not adequately know what is truly Hebraic or truly Hellenistic, and purport things they believe to be “Hebrew,” but in actuality are very “Greek.” The Hebraic mind is solely focused on God and His Word, whereas the Greek mind is focused on serving oneself and the pleasures of the flesh. What the text is speaking about is nothing less than a future war of aggression that will pit the regathered people of Israel against Greece.

Many who are coming into the Messianic movement, sadly, are gullible sheep swayed by shoddy arguments. They become enamored by teachers who sometimes will claim to be Jewish, and who employ Hebrew-only rhetoric in their insidious teachings. These teachings do not minister to the soul, nor do they foster spiritual growth and maturity. Do not be swayed by these arguments! The wiles of the Devil should be apparent to us as Messianic Believers, who should have a greater knowledge of the truth. We are to be like the Bereans, who checked the Scriptures for legitimate confirmation of the teachings of the Apostles (Acts 17:11). Beware, my friends, because what you hear is not necessarily the truth.

The prophecies of Israel’s restoration detail how the Lord is going to bring His people from all the nations into His Kingdom. In the end, all of Israel will be living in the Land of Israel with Messiah Yeshua reigning over the world from Jerusalem. As Messianic Believers, we work toward this end and pray earnestly for the day when God’s Kingdom is fully manifest among us. But membership in Israel is extended beyond those who speak or know Hebrew. One, of the nations, becomes a part of Israel by becoming one with Him who is the epitome of Israel: the Messiah Yeshua. Unless you know Yeshua and believe what is written about Him, you cannot be in that Kingdom.

Mark Huey (B.A., Vanderbilt University in History and Graduate Studies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University) is the Director of Outreach Israel Ministries (www.outreachisrael.net). He is the author of several books, including: TorahScope, Volumes I & II, and Counting the Omer: A Daily Devotional Toward Shavuot. He is also co-author of Hebraic Roots: An Introductory Study.

NOTES