Messianic Renewed Judaism

Messianic Renewed Judaism is a minor subset of the Messianic Jewish movement. Unlike the major Messianic organizations, such as the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations and the Messianic Jewish Alliance of North America, who consider that the name Jesus is derived from a Greek translation of his Aramaic name Yehoshua, Messianic Renewed Judaism considers that no such person as "Jesus" ever existed; that name, they say, is a deliberate corruption of "the Rabbi Yeshuah." Julio Dam, the leader of Messianic Renewed Judaism, claims that in sixty-nine places the New Testament has been deliberately mistranslated to obscure the Jewishness of Yeshuah and make him the head of a new religion, Christianity, which he never intended to found.

Interestingly, Messianic Renewed Judaism comprises mostly former Catholics and Protestants; only a minority are ethnic Jews. They claim, however, that Gentiles become Jews by embracing Yeshuah as Messiah and becoming part of the Messianic Renewed Judaism movement. By attracting and turning non-Jews into Jews (although they are not accepted as such by any recognized Jewish authority), Messianic renewed Judaism sees itself in contrast to other Messianic groups, such as Jews for Jesus, which it sees as turning Jews into Christians.

Messianic Renewed Judaism rejects the Trinity, which it considers a Pagan belief, but does believe in a God, originally called in Hebrew (Elohim whom they see as a three-dimensional being with a spirit, soul, and body. Elohim created man, they claim, after this same pattern. They claim support for this doctrine from 1st Thessalonians 5:23. It further believes that salvation has two steps: first, one saves one´s spirit, by believing in "The Right and Only Elohim, the Elohim of Israel." Ethnic Jews do this by birth, this movement teaches, so their spirit is saved automatically, provided they continue to believe in Elohim. On the other hand, they interpret 1st Corinthians 12:2 to mean that Gentiles, coming from pagan origins and cultures, need to accept Yeshuah first, in order to be grafted into the right tree, the only tree available for salvation, the Olive Tree of Romans 11:17. Then, they have to "do their homework" just as the ethnic Jews do: to behave properly, morally and ethically, which is accomplished by obeying the Commandments/Mitzvot. There is no such thing as "salvation just by belief in Jesus" for them. They say that Romans 10:9 ("If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved") has been misinterpreted by Christians to support salvation by faith alone. This, they say, is Aristotelian, linear thinking, which they consider to be unworthy of Elohim´s dialectical thinking.

Messianic Renewed Judaism has been accused of needlessly splitting hairs over terminology. Unlike most other Messianic groupings, it claims a key difference between what is known as the New Testament and the "Renewed Covenant," referred to in Yirmiahu (Jeremiah) 31:31-37. Dam interprets this passage as meaning that the "Renewed Covenant" of Jeremiah 31:31-37 was made with the Jewish people, not with the Christian church as were the other five Covenants (except the first, which was done with Noah). He also says this scripture makes the Torah "portable"—in other words, internalized on the heart of the believer. He finds further backing for this interpretation in Romans 8:1-4 and 14.

External links

• Beit shalom (http://www.beitshalom.org)