Gentiles and Torah
In Psalm 119:18, David sings to Hashem, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your Torah.” Is this a prayer that a Gentile (a non-Jew) can pray? Or can only Jewish people speak these words? At Tikvat Israel we believe that a Gentile can and should pray this prayer with kavanah (devotion). This is because the Torah is relevant to Gentiles. It is true that many sections of the Torah are not directly applicable to Gentiles (for example, commandments concerning priests or the land) but there are hundreds of other commandments that are directly applicable. There are at least twenty purposes of the Torah. They include:
The Torah serves all of these purposes and most of them are directly applicable to Gentiles. A Gentile’s love for the Torah’s commandments should include above all a commitment to Torah ethics as Paul highlights in Romans 2:26-27. These are centered on the Shema - love for God and love for neighbor.
While affirming the above, Tikvat Israel also teaches that Gentiles do not have a covenantal responsibility to keep those aspects of Torah that were given by God to serve as boundary markers of identity for the Jewish people. This relates to the last point on our list of purposes of the Torah - to preserve Israel as a distinct nation by God's design. Consider that if all Gentile Christians lived as Jews, the Jewish people would cease to exist as "a certain people who keep themselves separate; their customs are different from those of all other people" (Esther 3:8). Certainly it is not God's will for the Jewish people to cease to exist!
While the Scriptures do not provide a detailed list of mitzvot that comprise boundary markers of Jewish identity, it is the historic view of the wider Jewish community, the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America and the International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues, that God does not expect Gentile believers to be circumcised, keep the Sabbath and festivals, observe all the kosher laws or wear tsitsit, among other distinctively Jewish commandments. This has been the majority view within Judaism for centuries. We believe that this approach is consistent with the Jerusalem Council decision in Acts 15 (cf. 21:25), Paul's "rule in all the congregations" (1 Cor 7:17-24), and his teaching on this issue throughout Galatians (cf. Gal 5:2-4).
Gentiles who are called by God to be members of Tikvat Israel are called to embrace the Messianic Jewish lifestyle of our synagogue, not as Messianic Jews but as Messianic Gentiles (we also use the term K'rovei Yisrael). They are Gentiles (non-Jews) who practice Messianic Judaism. “Calling” is the operative term here since most Gentiles are not called to join Messianic synagogues and live out Jewish lifestyle. The corollary to this is that Gentile Christian churches are not violating God's will if they do not celebrate the Shabbat and Jewish festivals, etc. We want the Gentile wing of the Church to appreciate its Jewish origins, its Jewish Scriptures, its Jew-Gentile ecclesial identity and its Jewish Messiah, but we do not regard the Gentile wing of the Church as deficient if it does not follow distinctly Jewish customs.
We teach at Tikvat Israel that there is a difference between calling and commandment. Messianic Gentiles should view universal Torah ethics as commandments. It is a commandment to honor father and mother. It is a commandment to be humble. Universal commandments like these should be observed by God’s chesed (grace), through faith and with hearts of love.
In contrast to universal commandments, for the Gentile follower of Yeshua, more characteristically Jewish customs are a matter of individual calling and not commandment. The Messianic Gentile’s sense of “oughtness” in living out these more ethnic aspects of Jewish life derives from the person's sense of divine calling to be part of a Messianic Jewish community, and not from a covenantal responsibility to keep these particular commandments.
If a Messianic Gentile senses that God spoke to him personally and told him to live out an area of Jewish life that is a boundary marker of Jewish identity (for example, keeping kosher or celebrating Rosh Hashanah), then he should view it as something God told him to do and not something that God expects all Gentiles in the world to do (cf. Rom 14:5-6). Also, he should walk this out with a sensitivity to Jewish community norms and the norms of the Messianic Jewish congregation he is called to be a part of.
For those who would like to learn more about why we maintain this position on Gentiles and Torah at Tikvat Israel, please read the below resources.
You can also visit MessianicGentiles.com and First Fruits of Zion for more information on the calling of Messianic Gentiles.
- Rabbi David Rudolph, PhD former Rabbi of Tikvat Israel
- To serve as the foundational revelation of God
- To remind us of God’s love, grace and power exhibited in acts of creation and redemption
- To teach us how to love God and our neighbor
- To teach us how to worship God
- To establish the oneness and sovereignty of God
- To teach us to be holy as God is holy
- To point out sin so that we might repent to God
- To train us to exercise faith in God
- To train us to be obedient to God
- To reveal the heart and priorities of God
- To reveal the wisdom and knowledge of God
- To train us to meditate on the Word of God
- To establish the order of God’s creation
- To uphold God's standards of justice and compassion in society
- To draw the nations to God
- To foster unity among God's people
- To give our children a heritage from the Lord
- To point us to Yeshua the Messiah, in whom the story of Israel finds its climactic fulfillment through his death, resurrection and return
- To prepare Israel to fulfill God's calling
- To preserve Israel as a distinct nation by God's design
The Torah serves all of these purposes and most of them are directly applicable to Gentiles. A Gentile’s love for the Torah’s commandments should include above all a commitment to Torah ethics as Paul highlights in Romans 2:26-27. These are centered on the Shema - love for God and love for neighbor.
While affirming the above, Tikvat Israel also teaches that Gentiles do not have a covenantal responsibility to keep those aspects of Torah that were given by God to serve as boundary markers of identity for the Jewish people. This relates to the last point on our list of purposes of the Torah - to preserve Israel as a distinct nation by God's design. Consider that if all Gentile Christians lived as Jews, the Jewish people would cease to exist as "a certain people who keep themselves separate; their customs are different from those of all other people" (Esther 3:8). Certainly it is not God's will for the Jewish people to cease to exist!
While the Scriptures do not provide a detailed list of mitzvot that comprise boundary markers of Jewish identity, it is the historic view of the wider Jewish community, the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America and the International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues, that God does not expect Gentile believers to be circumcised, keep the Sabbath and festivals, observe all the kosher laws or wear tsitsit, among other distinctively Jewish commandments. This has been the majority view within Judaism for centuries. We believe that this approach is consistent with the Jerusalem Council decision in Acts 15 (cf. 21:25), Paul's "rule in all the congregations" (1 Cor 7:17-24), and his teaching on this issue throughout Galatians (cf. Gal 5:2-4).
Gentiles who are called by God to be members of Tikvat Israel are called to embrace the Messianic Jewish lifestyle of our synagogue, not as Messianic Jews but as Messianic Gentiles (we also use the term K'rovei Yisrael). They are Gentiles (non-Jews) who practice Messianic Judaism. “Calling” is the operative term here since most Gentiles are not called to join Messianic synagogues and live out Jewish lifestyle. The corollary to this is that Gentile Christian churches are not violating God's will if they do not celebrate the Shabbat and Jewish festivals, etc. We want the Gentile wing of the Church to appreciate its Jewish origins, its Jewish Scriptures, its Jew-Gentile ecclesial identity and its Jewish Messiah, but we do not regard the Gentile wing of the Church as deficient if it does not follow distinctly Jewish customs.
We teach at Tikvat Israel that there is a difference between calling and commandment. Messianic Gentiles should view universal Torah ethics as commandments. It is a commandment to honor father and mother. It is a commandment to be humble. Universal commandments like these should be observed by God’s chesed (grace), through faith and with hearts of love.
In contrast to universal commandments, for the Gentile follower of Yeshua, more characteristically Jewish customs are a matter of individual calling and not commandment. The Messianic Gentile’s sense of “oughtness” in living out these more ethnic aspects of Jewish life derives from the person's sense of divine calling to be part of a Messianic Jewish community, and not from a covenantal responsibility to keep these particular commandments.
If a Messianic Gentile senses that God spoke to him personally and told him to live out an area of Jewish life that is a boundary marker of Jewish identity (for example, keeping kosher or celebrating Rosh Hashanah), then he should view it as something God told him to do and not something that God expects all Gentiles in the world to do (cf. Rom 14:5-6). Also, he should walk this out with a sensitivity to Jewish community norms and the norms of the Messianic Jewish congregation he is called to be a part of.
For those who would like to learn more about why we maintain this position on Gentiles and Torah at Tikvat Israel, please read the below resources.
- Daniel Juster and Russ Resnik, "One Law Movements: A Challenge to the Messianic Jewish Community." Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, 28 January 2005.
- "One Law, Two Sticks: A Critical Look at the Hebrew Roots Movement. A Position Paper of the International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues (IAMCS) Steering Committee." International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues, January 15, 2014.
- Boaz Michael, "Messianic Judaism: Reconsidering the One-Law, Two-House Trajectories." Messiah Journal 111 (Fall 2012): 55–64.
- Toby Janicki, "One Law for All." Messiah Journal 105 (Fall 2009): 24–31.
- D. Thomas Lancaster and Boaz Michael, "'One Law' and the Messianic Gentile." Messiah Journal 101 (Summer 2009): 46–70.
- Ron Cantor, "Should Gentiles Keep Torah?" Messiah's Mandate, 12 August 2013.
You can also visit MessianicGentiles.com and First Fruits of Zion for more information on the calling of Messianic Gentiles.
- Rabbi David Rudolph, PhD former Rabbi of Tikvat Israel
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