Hebraic roots

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Hebrew Roots

Hebrew Roots (also referred to as Hebraic Roots) is a movement of modern-day Christians, including Messianic Jews, returning to the perspectives and beliefs of first-century faith. The movement strongly emphasizes the completion of the unified "House of Israel" in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus), made up of both Jews and non-Jews alike. Followers believe that they have become a co-heir and equal member of God's chosen people through the blood of Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah and that returning to the mindset of the first century church will provide deeper and more authentic insights into Hebrew idioms and first century cultural understandings presented in Scripture.

Theology and the Faith of Abraham

The theology of the movement is explained through the role of Torah as "Teaching and Instruction," a word that Greek interpretations shorten to "Law." The traditional Torah is the first five books of the Bible--Hebrew Roots followers view Torah as the entire revelation of the 66 books of the Bible.

The movement advocates a return to Torah observance, including keeping the Sabbath (on the seventh or last day of the week) and celebrating the feasts and festivals of God. This is not advocated out of legalistic bondage, but because adoption and ingrafting into Israel has now made it the right of every born again believer in Jesus the Messiah to participate in the lifestyle of the Israelite people. (see also Christian Torah-submission)

Hebrew Roots teachers emphasize the adoption of all believers in Jesus Christ into the faith of Abraham, often called in the Bible the "Unified House of Israel;" (), (), made up of Jews and Non-Jews who maintain faith in Jesus Christ while maintaining strict adherence to the Torah, God's Teaching and Instruction, as a lifestyle of faith and love.

History and Critics

In Jeremiah, God gave the northern kingdom of Israel a writ of divorce (Read Hosea 1: 2-10) for her idolatry and told her that He would scatter the nation to the ends of the earth a promise fulfilled in the Assyrian conquest and dispersion of the nation. The Southern Kingdom, made up of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and half of the tribe of Levi, was exiled for 70 years but returned to the land of Israel under the leadership of the prophet Ezra. However, God promises in the last days to unite "the stick of Ephraim" and "the stick of Judah" ending a 2700 year separation between the ancestors of the ten northern tribes called "Ephraim" also known as "The House of Israel" in the Bible, and the two tribes of the southern Kingdom that are commonly known as "The House of Judah" in Bible accounts.

Some, but not all, Hebrew Roots adherents believe that their ancestors may be made up of the ten lost tribes that are now returning to a non-paganized belief in the Yeshua the Messiah and His whole Torah as was prophesied in the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Isaiah after being culturally assimilated into every nation and language listed in the Genesis account of the table of nations. They teach that the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob grants salvation to all who truly repent (Teshuva) in faith and return to Him for their deliverance.

God's Teaching and Instruction

Hebrew Roots followers believe that Christians have the testimony of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, but are often found innocently to be living lawlessly according to the idea that Jesus died to do away with the Torah by abolishing it.

They further believe that Jews have been the safekeepers of God's Teaching and Instruction (the Torah), and eventually the lost of Israel will turn to the Jews for their knowledge ()

Prominent teachers in the movement include Pastor Curtis Taylor of Beit Lechem Ministries of Grand Junction, Colorado; Rabbi Ralph Messer of Simchat Torah Beit Midrash of Denver, Colorado;; Rabbi Edward Chumney of Hebraic Heritage Ministries International, Strasburg, Ohio;; and Rabbi Stan Farr of Kehilat Sar Shalom, St. Paul, Minnesota.