If repentance requires returning to paths of faithfulness to God, then one must first know from what paths one has departed. For Jews, that pathway is Torah obedience. We, the seed of Abraham and Sarah, whose ancestors, standing at the foot of Sinai, said “na’aseh v’nishmah—we will do and we will hear/obey—all that the Lord has spoken we will do”5 —must repent not of being sinners in general, but of being Jewish sinners specifically. The sins of all Israel, including Messianic Jews, include our neglect of the covenant to which we are all obligated.6
Although one may confidently say “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Messiah Yeshua,”7 one may not say “there is therefore now no responsibility for those who are in Messiah Yeshua.” “Jesus paid it all,” but not that we might go back to each of us turning to his own way.8 Surely, if our sin as Jews involves covenant violation, should not our repentance mean a return to that covenant faithfulness from which we departed?
It is no accident that texts describing God’s consummating purposes for our people frequently mention this return to Torah faithfulness, even including references to the Messiah. One such reference is penned by the Prophet Ezekiel: “My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow my ordinances and be careful to observe my statutes.”9 Such texts demand a post-missionary Messianic Judaism advocating and embodying a Torah obedience that the mission culture neglects, and even repudiates.
In common with the mission culture, my friends and I at MJTI advocate repentance and faith in Yeshua our Messiah. But we are postmissionary in our insistence that Jewish repentance is incomplete apart from a return to “the ancient paths.”10
- R. Kendall Soulen, The God of Israel and Christian Theology. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996), 153, emphasis added.
- “The Grammar of the Christian Story,” The Institute 10 (Autumn 2000). No pages. Accessed August 8, 2008. Online: http://www.icjs.org/news/vol10/soulenrevised. html. Scripture elsewhere highlights this distinction, as in Num 23:9, Deut 32:8, and Amos 3:2. And in Rom 11, Paul consistently calls all Gentiles “wild branches,” and Jews “natural branches” (Rom 11:17–24).
- Acts 16:3. This was not simply a matter of missionary expediency. The text mentions that Timothy’s father was a Greek. Paul was seeking to resolve the ambiguity in Timothy’s status, making it clear that Timothy was indeed a Jew. Being a Jew required that one obey the command to be circumcised (Gen 17:12).
- Gal 2:3–5
- Exod 24:3, 7
- Deut 29:10–15
- Rom 8:1
- Isa 53:6
- Ezek 37:24
- Jer 6:16
