Confronting Issues

Vanhoff assesses Lichtenstein's view of the Law by translated passages for his own works, particularly his commentary on Rom 10:4.
11 pages

Looking at a number of Jewish scholars of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who had come to faith in Yeshua and were engaged in Jewish evangelism, Vanhoff translates excerpts from their writings in his search to find their answers to important questions being asked by the current messianic movement: "What is the place of Torah for believers in Messiah Yeshua? How are Paul’s letters to be interpreted? What is the relationship between the “Church” and the “Synagogue”? Includes excerpts from the works of Franz Delitzsch, Paul Levertoff, Joachim Biesenthal, and Jechiel Lichtenstein. 15 pages

Being primarily a Critical Review of “One Law and the Messianic Gentile” Messiah Journal 101(Aug 2009), 46–70, published by First Fruits of Zion. 69 pages

This 24 page paper (pdf format) gives examples taken directly from the Study Guide and Commentary on Love and the Messianic Age, demonstrating the theological issues that are at stake. It points out the problems with accepting the Kabbalistic approach to spirituality appealed to be Levertoff in his Love and the Messianic Age. 24 pages

• Are you hearing Messianic teachers saying that the we need to submit to "greater Israel" in our pursuit of Torah?
• Are you curious about the mystical method of interpreting the Bible, formed on the word Pardes (peshat, remez, d'rash, sod), and whether it is a correct way to explore the meaning of the biblical text?
• Then you need to read this essay. 11 pages, in pdf format

• Some messianic teachers are telling us that the Written Torah does not sufficiently define how to obey God's commandments, and so the traditions of the rabbis are necessary in order to obey God has He desires.
• They are teaching that God gave to Israel the authority to define the commandments, and that the Oral Torah (the traditions of the rabbis) is necessary to know God's will in terms of how to obey His commandments and live in accordance to Torah
• In this essay, a clear call to the Sufficiency of Scripture is sounded
• The inspired, eternal, and unchanging word of God must be our sole authority in all matters of faith and halachah.

• Is the "One Law" message flawed?
• Are we wrong to teach that God expects all of His children, whether Jew or Gentile, to obey the Torah and walk righteously before Him?
• Are there two covenants that bind people to God, one for Jews and another for Gentiles?
• At TorahResource, we remain firm in what has become known as the "One Law" position because we see it to be based upon Scripture.

• Do you keep hearing that the Torah is for Jewish people and not for Gentiles?
• What about the teaching that the Moral laws of the Torah remain, but the Ceremonial and Civil parts have been abolished?
• Are some of God's family required to obey more of the Torah than others?
• If so, read this essay that speaks to the issue of the Torah as God's instructions for all of His children, Jew and Gentile alike.

This short essay looks at the unity of the Torah and particularly how many times in the Tanach and Apostolic Scriptures, "commandment" or "word" is used in the singular to represent the whole Torah, emphasizing that the Torah is indivisible. Given this fact, the essay goes on to refute the teaching of some, that certain commandments of the Torah may be for people with Jewish lineage and not for non-Jews.

Is faith in Yeshua the only means of obtaining eternal salvation? You might be surprised at the answers to that question given by some of the leading authors and scholars in the Messianic movement. 25 pages

This paper is a response to an article written by Daniel Juster and Russ Resnik entitled "One Law Movements: A Challenge to the Messianic Jewish Community" in which the authors seek to establish their viewpoint that the Torah, in its fulness, is only for Jewish people.

At the close of Matthew's Gospel, Yeshua instructs His disciples to make disciples among the nations, and to baptize them "in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." Some have suggested that this phrase sounds too much like later Christianity and therefore consider it to be a later addition to Matthew's Gospel. This paper shows the solid evidence for accepting the verse as authentic.

In several articles, as well as in his book, The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus, Nehemia Gordon teaches that the correct reading of Matthew 23:3 is found primarily in the reading of a single Hebrew manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew, the so-called Even Bohan or Shem Tov Matthew. The upshot of Gordon's assertions is that Yeshua rejected all rabbinic authority and was Himself a Karaite. This paper shows why such an assertion is wrong. Read Gordon's reponse, and my rejoinder to his response.

In attempting to explain the mystery of God, some have suggested that the Messiah is presented in the Scriptures as a "lesser" deity, the "Father" being the "greater" deity. This article confronts and exposes this heretical position.