"Identity and the One Torah Movement"

An All-Day Seminar • November 14, 2010
Seminar Speaker – Tim Hegg

Studies on the Shema, Pt. 2
by Rob Vanhoff
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Click here to download Pt. 1 of this series if you missed it.

Click here to download a pdf of this article (Pt. 2)

“And you will love the Lord your God with both inclinations of your heart…” Deut 6:5, (Targum Jonathan)

Though there is much to be said about Targum Jonathan’s rendering of the Shema passage as a whole, right now I want to focus on this single line. We can’t say which came first, but the Mishnah (c. 200 AD) understands “with all your heart” in the same manner as this Targum: “with all your heart – this means with your two impulses, the evil impulse as well as the good impulse” (m. Berachot 9.5). The tradition is quite old, and the double letter ‘bayt’ in the word levavekha (“your heart”) has even been explained midrashically as indicating the yetzer ra (evil inclination) and the yetzer tov (good inclination).

Ancient as this interpretive tradition may be, thinking in such terms is not helpful for me; nor do I believe it is helpful for anyone in Messiah Yeshua. Why? Because Messiah and the Apostles never taught that we have “two inclinations,” and neither does the Tanakh! Rather, “Every yetzer of the thoughts of his heart are only evil continually” (Gen 6:5); “Whoever turns his ear from the Torah, even his prayer is an abomination” (Prov 28:9); “The carnal mind… does not subject itself to the Torah of God, neither is it able to do so” (Rom 8:6–7); “Without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Heb 11:6); “They shall put you out of the synagogues… whosoever kills you will think that he does God service” (John 16:2). Verses like these highlight the twisted condition of the unredeemed heart. Any approach to Torah apart from faith will twist and distort it, misrepresenting both God and His righteousness.

Yeshua calls us to purity of heart. “Make the whole tree good!” (Matt 12:33); “Cleanse the inside of the cup and the outside will also be clean!” (Matt 23:26). Through His Spirit in us, we put to death the deeds of the flesh. He is our life, our fulfilling of the righteousness of the Torah. On my own I can do nothing for God. How we rejoice in the prophet’s promise, “I will give you a new heart... and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments, and do them.” (Ezek 11:19–20, cp. Ezek 36:26–27). Never has a sweeter promise been made.

Time and again, Yeshua underscores that transgressions of Torah originate in the heart: “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies…” (Matt 15:19, cp. James 1:13–15).

How could such “inclinations” be offered to God as an expression of love? They can not. Go and reread the first chapter of Isaiah. Loving God with all your heart does not have anything to do with “good and evil inclinations,” as this tradition suggests. Such a picture of a person’s inner world is demonstrative of the blindness at the core of rabbinic philosophy. It’s no wonder this line of thought spins out of control and crashes by the time we get to the Talmud. Apart from the faith of Messiah, there is no “good inclination.” Rather, we receive the gift of faith; we die and rise again with Him. He paid our sin debt so that we could be reconciled to the Father in shalom. This is how we are able to bear good fruit unto Him; to love Him with all our heart.

(for additional thoughts on the yetzer ra and yetzer tov, see Tim Hegg, Notes & Commentary on Paul’s Epistle to the Romans [TorahResource, 2005], 1.112ff.)

to be continued…

August marks the month when we as a family will be heading off to spend a week camping in the great Northwest—our own "backyard." For over twenty years we have gone to the same campground, spending a week relaxing, reflecting, and just enjoying the beauty of God's creation. This year we'll be camping from August 8–15. The office of TorahResource will remain open, however, with Caleb filling orders as usual.

I always plan to take some reading along on the camping trip. This year I've decided to take an article by David Rudolph entitled "Paul's 'Rule in all the Churches' (1Cor 7:17–24) and Torah-Defined Ecclesiological Veriegation." (If you're interested in the article, you can download it by clicking this link.) I highly respect David Rudolph. He is a good scholar and we have had very cordial discussions together in the past. If you're wondering about the title of his paper, this article on 1Cor 7:17–24 is an attempt to substantiate that a "bi-lateral ecclesiology" was taught by the Apostle Paul. (A "bi-lateral ecclesiology" means that God intended that there be two separate segments of the ekklesia that Yeshua would build: one Jewish and the other Gentile.) So I already know that I disagree with his "Ecclesiological Veriegation", but I'm very interested to see how he comes to his conclusions via Paul's words in 1Cor 7. I hope to dialog with David on the subject of his paper once I have read it and sought to understand his arguments. Hopefully such dialog will be fruitful for both of us. For those of you who may be interested, I'll be writing up my own evaluation of the paper in the near future.

Besides the paper by Rudolph, I'm bring along a book written by Jason Meyer entitled The End of the Law: Mosaic Covenant in Pauline Theology (Broadman & Holman, 2009). Broadman & Holman Publishers represent one of the mainline Christian publishing houses, and has recently published a series of books (NAC Studies in Bible & Theology) in which they are attempting to re-establish (for the modern generation) the basic tenants of a Baptistic theology. It was curious to me that they would publish a book for the specific purpose of trying to show that the Torah (Law) is no longer viable for the followers of Yeshua! What this said to me is that the Torah message is having an impact even within the mainline Christian churches. There is no other reason why they would feel the necessity to have a learned professor (he will be at Bethlehem College & Seminary beginning this year) write an entire book on why the Torah has been abolished. Apparently a sufficient number of people in the traditional Christian Churches are asking questions about the Torah to warrant a concern on the part of pastors and teachers. Baruch HaShem! God's word is more powerful than any of men's theology. And He promised that His word would accomplish His purposes.

Which brings me to another topic. Recently I had the happy experience of talking with several people (via phone and email) who wondered if they could trust TorahResource to remain steadfast in our position on the Torah when so many messianic groups are being persuaded to jump on the "Torah-is-for-the-Jews" bandwagon. My response was quite straightforward: as long as we maintain that the Bible, the word of God, is the sole basis for our faith and halachah, and as long as we maintain that a grammatical, historical interpretation of the Scriptures is the proper hermeneutic for understanding their meaning, then we will remain steadfast in our message that the Torah is God's eternal teaching of righteousness, given to every son and daughter in His family. So this is our firm and unchanging foundation: the word of God, inspired by the Spirit of God and preserved by the providence of God, is the sole basis for our faith and for our halachah. And since God's word is written in human languages, the grammatical-historical hermeneutic is the only one that can remain faithful to the authors' original intent.

Finally, as we prepare for the upcoming Fall Festivals (Yom Teruah/Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot), I am once again filled with gratitude for God's grace and mercy toward us in Yeshua! How privileged we are to be part of His family and to walk day-by-day in the joy of His presence. I count it a special privilege and honor to be a teacher of the Scriptures, and I thank each and every one of you who have faithfully supported our work at TorahResource. Together may the Holy One of Israel enable us to carry the light of His glory to many, many more in this coming year!