Dan Juster - Jewish Roots: Understanding Your Jewish Faith (Revised Edition)

DESTINY IMAGE BOOKS BY DANIEL JUSTER

Israel, the Church, and the Last Days

Jewish Roots

Awakening the One New Man

Copyright 2013Daniel Juster

All rights reserved. This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. The use of short quotations or occasional page copying for personal or group study is permitted and encouraged. Permission will be granted upon request. Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version. Scripture quotations marked RSV are taken from The Holy Bible, The Oxford Annotated Bible, Revised Standard Version Copyright 1962, by Oxford University Press, Inc., Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All emphasis is the author's own.

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ISBN 13 TP: 978-0-7684-4203-8

ISBN 13 Ebook: 978-0-7684-8744-2

For Worldwide Distribution, Printed in the U.S.A.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 / 17 16 15 14 13

DEDICATION

To the two most special women in my life: First of all, my late mother, Edith Christensen Juster, whose kindness and love toward Jewish people has been a major factor in my life; and to my wife, Patty, whose love and devotion in hard times and good times has been extraordinary; she is a remarkable wife and mother to our children and grandmother to our many grandchildren.

ENDORSEMENTS

Dan Justers writings have been a blessing to so many of us. His book Jewish Roots is a balanced and solid presentation that covers many of the most important themes of biblical theology and its connection to the original Jewish context for understanding the Bible. It is both informative and inspirational. I highly recommend it.

Mike Bickle
International House of Prayer
Kansas City, MO

For over twenty-five years, Jewish Roots has been a valuable tool for discipleship and spiritual growth within the Messianic Jewish Movement and an excellent source of information for anyone interested in learning more about Messianic Judaism and the role of Israel and the Jewish people in the plan of God. This welcomed new addition will be a blessing to yet another generation as we face new challenges and engage new ideas.

Rabbi Howard Silverman
President, Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations

As a Gentile believer who longs to provoke the unbelieving Jew to jealousy, resulting in great harvest of souls, and leading to Messiahs returnI urge any and all to carefully digest this work. It is anointed, scholarly, and necessary. Daniel Juster is inspired and called to take us together to discover Gods hearta revelation to answer the high priestly prayer of Yeshua in John 17. Read on!

Bill McCartney
Founder, Promise Keepers

Jewish Roots is a classic, a foundational treatise in understanding Messianic theology.

John Dawson
President Emeritus, Youth with a Mission

It is worth it to gain at least an elementary grasp of this issue and its resolution. Two highly recommended books on the subject are Jewish Roots and Israel, the Church, and the Last Days by Dan Juster.

Jack Hayford
Senior Pastor, The Church on the Way

Dan Juster is one of the most astute men I know, and his exposition of theology related to the Jewish roots of Christianity is not only scholarly, but powerfully enlightening as well. I would highly recommend any work that Dan puts his pen to.

Jane Hansen Hoyt
President and CEO, Aglow International

A balanced, theological foundation for the Jewish roots of the Judeo-Christian faith is long overduebut now has arrived! Dan is theologically sound, yet sensitive and balanced in addressing some very divisive issues (i.e., Sabbath, biblical diet, Christmas, Chanukah, Passover, and many others, that affect relationships between the Church and the Messianic Jewish community). This work is a profound contribution to destroying the reestablished dividing wall of hostility between Jewish and Gentile believers in Messiah. A must-read for all believers!

Raleigh Washington, D.D.
President and CEO, Promise Keepers

T HE FOURTH EDITION OF JEWISH Roots is the first complete revision. The second edition reflected a more critical evaluation of Rabbinic Judaism, whereas the first was very positive. This edition will reflect new scholarship and more than fifteen years of further study and reflection. My essential wrestling with Rabbinic Judaism is whether or not it is a type of covenantal nomism as argued by Dr. E.P. Sanders or a works righteousness system as argued by Dr. Michael Brown. I have come to believe that the evaluation by Sanders and people who follow him show that pendulum has swung too far. Grace and law in Rabbinic Judaism in the version of Sanders almost looks like Reformed Christian Theology. God has saved us by His gracious intervention, but to walk in the covenant freely given, we have to maintain obedience expressed through His Law. With Dr. Brown, the pendulum swings the other way and sees the extensive concern with minute legalistic detail and explicit statements that teach righteous justification by works as showing that it is a false system. So to Dr. Brown, Rabbinic Judaism is a false religion, but for another friend of long standing in the Messianic Jewish movement, it is a true but incomplete religion. In the second and third editions of Jewish Roots, I leaned toward Dr. Brown. However, the massive scholarship on Judaism has again caused what I believe will be a final reevaluation.

Rabbinic literature reflects in numerous statements and sections, especially in the Hagaddic literature and the Siddur, that show it to be in accord with the E.P. Sanders view of Judaism. Basic Judaism is a salvation by grace where works follow, or is a covenant nomism. On the other hand, the Talmud is full of statements supporting Dr. Browns view. It all depends on how one gives weight to texts and then sees them as more foundational in interpreting the other texts. I, therefore, conclude that it is impossible to finally and certainly decide the issue. Suffice it to say that the basic understanding of salvation as a gracious and undeserved offer of God and mercy and forgiveness as the key in our understanding of God is pervasive in Rabbinic texts. This was also important in the New Testament period, as Sanders shows. There is also a great amount of material supporting Dr. Brown. The conflict is mitigated somewhat by noting recent New Testament studies that show that covenantal nomism is the theology of the New Testament. In this regard, faith and faithfulness are one in the Hebrew language. Therefore, I need not take a position on the whole of Rabbinic Judaism except to say that the truth from a pre-New Covenant perspective is present in a very significant way, but there is enough as well to hide the truth. Religious Jews themselves show great differences in understanding this and when one asks a religious Jew, one is likely to get a works righteousness answer to the question of personal salvation. Therefore, my response to Rabbinic Judaism is a critical evaluation through the teaching of biblical theology stressing the bright light of the New Covenant revelation. We are called to endorse everything that is good and reject what does not measure up to this standard. In addition, a more positive understanding of Rabbinic Judaism does not imply that Jewish people do not need the Gospel, for the general condition of our people is that they are not responding to God in the way of the theology of Judaism reflected in the writings of E.P. Sanders and those who follow him.