"NEITHER JEW NOR GREEK"?

By Julio Dam

Messianic Renewed Rabbi

Copyright 2004 by Julio Dam

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           There is a contextual misreading  of the verse in Gal. 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor slave; there is no male nor female; because you are all one in Maschiach Yeshuah." As a result of this (mis)understanding, we are not allowed to perceive our self-identity as Jews by faith, if not by blood.

"A TEXT OUT OF CONTEXT IS A PRETEXT"

          Someone has said very aptly that "a text without its context is a pretext" to which I would like to protest, I would add. These words from our title: "there is neither Jew nor Greek" have been 1) taken out of its proper context; 2) (mis)quoted as "there is neither Jew nor Gentile," meaning that we are "one single, new man" which is "neither Jew nor Gentile," i.e., we are all Christians, which is NOT true.

          In the first place, the verse from Galatians 3:28, if we read it twice, we shall see that it does not say what we thought it says, for if it would, you would no longer be neither a man or a female; and yet, you still are one or the other, right? Moreover, there are still men and women, aren´t there? What chapter 3 of Galatians, IN CONTEXT, says is that all who have been submerged into water "..have put on Mashiach." The CONTEXT of this whole chapter is the Maschiach as a turning point vis-a-vis the Torah/Instructions/"Law." Nowhere does it imply that we have lost our self-identity, ethnicity, or nationality in the flesh. If you are American in the flesh, not because you have accepted the Rabbi Yeshuah as the Mashiach have you lost your nationality as an American, nor have you? Not because you are believer have you stopped being a woman or a man, right? If you happen to be a slave in Sudan, today, and you accept the Rabbi Yeshuah, you still continue to be a slave, isn´that so? Then, how come the only thing which has supposedly changed is my status as "Jew"? Either all of them have changed, in which case you are no longer an American, nor are you a woman, and then, yes, I am no longer a Jew, or all three of them remain as they are.

           In the second place, "Greek" does not ALWAYS mean "Gentile" as believers (mis)quote the phrase. OFTEN TIMES it means "Hellenized Jews," assimilated Jews which have taken Greek customs and Greek culture, and in some cases, which are in the minority, as in here, it means "non-Jews, Gentiles, i.e., idolaters."

            In the third place, the word "Gentile" is nothing to be proud of, if we stick by Scripture. It is almost ALWAYS used pejoratively. (Cf. Mtt. 5:47; 6: 7; 32; 10:5; 18:17; 20:19;  Lk. 21:24;  Acts 13:46; etc.etc.)

          To hide this fact, however, some translations have invented a new word, "heathen" in contradistinction to Christians, Jews, and Gentiles, whereas in Hebrew there are just two words: Jew and Goi/idol worshipper, i.e., "Gentile." In theology, as we have seen in many of our articles, and we will touch briefly in this article, there are three words (Jews, Gentiles/Goyim, and "Christians") where there should have been two: Jews and Goyim. 

THE GREAT DIVIDER DIVIDED PEOPLE IN TWO: JEWS AND GOIM/GENTILES

        Elohim chose ONE People, not two: He chose the Jewish People as His Chosen Ones. Again, here Christian theology (mis)understood the role of the Jews, as if they were rejected forever and substituted for the "Christians," when the former did not recognize Yeshuah as the promised JEWISH Messiah. As we have shown in our last article, ARE MESSIANIC RENEWED JEWS PART OF CHRISTIANITY? Yeshuah ha Mashiach "hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us" (Eph. 2:14). THIS IS ALSO MISUNDERSTOOD as if "Jesus Christ" had taken away Judaism and replaced it with Christianity, His own religion and away from Judaism and from the Jewish G´d Yahweh ´s religion.

          The truth about this "middle wall of partition," however, based in Scripture, is all to the contrary. What does this "wall of partition" mean? As we have explained in a previous article, there was several walls in the Jerusalem Temple, one of which separated the Gentiles from the Jews, and prevented the Gentiles from entering the Temple. King Erodou/"Herodes", who was not a Jew, was thus prevented from entering the Temple, and had to build a side columnade on the right side of the Temple to watch the Jewish feasts from there, even though he was a king. What Yeshuah did was to break down the wall of partition WHICH PREVENTED THE GENTILES TO ENTER the Temple, not to break down the wall of partition so that the Jews would go out of Judaism and enter idolatrous cathedrals full of images, statues, crosses and stained-glass windows  (violating the Second Commandment) with the picture of the sun "god" Tammuz, which a "Christian" halo around his head, purporting to be the Rabbi Yeshuah! There is a serious misreading of this verse, which as I said above, was on purpose. Its purpose , part of ha satan´s grand strategy was to de-Judaize 1st Century Jewish Messianic Renewal and to prepare it for its substitution by the Church of Babylon in 321, when Emperor Constantine and his mother Helena replaced it  with Mithraism disguised as "Christianity" what with its sun-god, Baal, with its weekly day, Sun-day, its yearly birth-day, December 25, and its symbol, the round host, which high priest of Mithraism still wear to this day on their heads (the zuchetto, or kippah-like round hat representing their status as priests of Mizra/"Mithra," the sun-"god.")

                            "CHRISTIANS"=JEWS BY FAITH

          Thus, as we have seen from the three verses quoted, Elohim chose ONE People, the Jews. With the coming of Himself in the flesh (that is the meaning of Yeshuah="Yahveh is salvation/deliverance/victory,") Elohim He did not create a new religion, "Christianity," which had a new Gentile G´d, "Jesus Christ," who never existed, but only in the theologial imagination of Christianity. He but came for three main reasons: 1) to bring salvation through His ONE atonement of blood, instead of the yearly lamb atonements on Pesach/Passover day; 2) to become an ETERNAL High Priest before the Father, interceding for us (as per Heb. 11); and, 3) to "export" Messianic Renewed Judaism throughout the whole world by living INSIDE OURSELVES, so that we could observe Torah through Him and via the Holy Spirit.

         He being an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi, and not a Gentile, or a "Christian," what else can we expect that "a new man" be? An idolater? Of course not. If you have a Jewish Rabbi inside yourself, what does THAT make you? An idolater? A Gentile? No, it makes you a Jew by faith in the one inside you! If, on the other, had we remember that there are nothing but TWO categories in the eyes of Elohim, Jews and Goim/Gentiles, i.e., idolaters, worshippers of other "gods," we would understand that we must be either of these: either a Jew (which means "glorifier of Yahweh") or an idolater. There are four verses in the Renewed Covenant, that, indeed, affirm quite explicitly that one who comes to the Elohim of Israel and the Messiah of Israel becomes a Jew by faith: Eph. 2:11-12; Phil. 3:3; Rom. 2:28-29; and Rev. 12:17; and two verses at least, which say that Gentiles/Goim cease to be Gentiles, i.e., idolaters, when they come to the Elohim of Israel and the Mashiach of Israel, 1st Cor. 12:2 and 1st Thess. 1:9. Here they are:

THREE VERSES WHICH SAY YOU ARE A JEW BY FAITH AND NO LONGER A GENTILE

       "Therefore remember that at ONE TIME ("ye being in TIME PAST" says KJV) you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision (the Jews), which is makde in the lfesh by hands, remember that you were at THAT TIME ("IN THOSE DAYS" KJV) separated from Mashiach, alienated from the politeias/Greek for "citizenship" of Israel, and strangers to the convenants of promise, having no hope and without Elohim in the world." (RSV in all these quotations) Notice: "ye being IN TIME PAST," thus, YOU are no longer a Gentile, but a "citizen of Israel," i.e., an Israeli. This is OUR theology, obviously, but Elohim´s.

           Phil. 3:3, for instance, says: "For we are the circumcision (i.e., the Jews), which worship Elohim in the spirit, and rejoice in Mashiach Yeshuah, and have no confidence in the flesh." What it says here, in other words is that Jews (the circumcision) are those who:1) worship Elohim (the Father) and, 2) rejoice in Mashiach Yeshuah. Do you do both? Then YOU ARE A JEW! Do non-Messianic Jews "rejoice in Christ Jesus"? Of course, not. The author of Phil. is speaking of us, of you and I. HE IS DEFINING THE WORD "JEW."

         Do you wish another of Elohím´s definition of who is a Jew? Listen to Rom. 2:28-29:

        "For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true cinrucmcison something external and physical. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circuncision is a matter of the heart, spiritual a not literal. His praise is not from men but from Elohim."

        In Rev. 12:17 it REALLY defines who YOU could be and SHOULD BE:

       "The the dragon (ha satan) was angry with the woman (Israel) and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who 1) keep the commandments of Elohim and 2) bear testimony to Yeshuah. And he stood on the sand of the sea."

        Why do we say: "who you COULD be and SHOULD be? Because, if you pay close attention, it is NOT talking about the non-believing Jews, here, for they do not "bear testimony to Yeshuah." The verse is talking here about those believers who do two things: 1) keep the commandments of Elohim; and 2) bear testimony of Yeshuah. However, you were taught that "we are no longer under the law but under grace," and therefore, you do NO LONGER keep the commandments--ignoring the dozens of verses which say the contrary of Rom. 6.14, like Rom. 3:31: "Do we, then, overthrow ("make void" KJV; "we no longer need obey God´s laws" says Living Bible; "abrogate" says Modern Language version) the Torah/Instructions/"Law" by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the Torah ("we establish the Torah/"Law" says KJV). Remember the verse in which Yeshuah Mashiach Himself said: "If you love me, obey the Commandments."

      1 Yochanan/"Jn." 3:4 defines what SIN is: "...because sin is to transgress the Torah/Instructions/"Law." Thus, it becomes obvious, that every time you do not obey the Torah, you are sinning, isn´t that so?

        And in 2nd Yochanan 6: "And this love, that we walk according to His (Who is this "His"? Yahveh!) Commandments. This is the Commandment: that you walk in agape love, as you have heard FROM THE BEGINNING" (i.e., from the Torah given to Mosheh)

ANSWERING SOME WOULD-BE OBJECTIONS

    "What about the word "Christian" you will ask? Doesn´t the "New Testament" call us that, Christians, and not Jews, as you keep insisting?"

         The word "Christian" appears just three times in the Renewed Covenant: in Acts. 11:26 it says that "disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." Now, please remember that the Renewed Covenant is A TRANSLATION FROM THE HEBREW! (See our article, IN WHICH LANGUAGE WAS THE RENEWED COVENANT WRITTEN? on this website) (See in Acts 22:2: "And in hearing that he spoke to them in Hebrew, they kept silent." The sign over the stake where the Rabbi Yeshuah was nailed to bore its cause in "Greek, Latin and Hebrew"--not Aramaic, nor Greek, as everyone teaches.) Now, bearing in mind that the book of Acts was originally written in Hebrew, just did they call the Rabbi Yeshuah in Hebrew? Mashiach, i.e., Messiah. So, how were His disciples called, then, "first in Antioch"? Mashiachim, i.e., Messianic--not "Christians." And who were these Mashiachim before they believed in Yeshuah Mashiach, the Jewish Mashiach promised to "the House of Israel and the House of Yehuda" in "Jer." 31:31-33? Jews, of course, not Gentiles.

         Two verses, nailing down what we are trying to say here, show clearly to everyone who wishes to hear, that a Gentile is, axiomatically, by its very definition, an idol worshipper, and thus, an enemy of Elohim.

            1 Cor. 12.2: "Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led." (KJV)

            It is written in 1st Thess. 1:9: "For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye TURNED TO ELOHIM FROM IDOLS to serve the living and true Elohim."

           It is plain to everyone to see that you are no longer a Gentile, who is, by self-definition and as per Scripture, an idol worshipper, but a Messianic Jew by faith, i.e., a Jew (remember that the word "Jew" means "glorifier of Yahveh") who happens to believe in the Messiah Yeshuah by faith, and not as part of an ethnic group, i.e., not by blood.

           See how semantics--which the devil used a lot to his advantage--gets into the way of the truth? Just by changing one single word, Messianic, the true, original designation, into "Christians" a third and new whole category of people were created, an imaginary one, for they were talking of those who followed the Mashiach, and all of them, until the  eunuch on the road from Yrushalaim/"Jerusalem" to Aza/"Gaza" was immersed in water by Philip (Acts 8:26-40) becoming the first Messianic Jew; then the Roman captain, Kornelios (Acts 10:1), accepted the Jewish Rabbi as Mashiach and Son of Elohim, and became the second Messianic Jew in history. It is explicitly said of Kornelios that he was a pious man and a God-fearing one and that "he gave alms to the (Jewish) people, and prayed to the (Jewish) God always." Another proof that he was already what is called "a proselyte at the door," i.e., one who is about to convert to Judaism, and has not yet been circumcised in the flesh, which would have made him a full-fledged convert to Judaism. When both the eunuch and Kornelios accepted the Rabbi Yeshuah they did not become "Christians" as we have seen, but Messianic--Jews and stopped being Gentiles, as 1 Cor. 12:2 says very clearly!

        Why do we say that they were Messianic Jews and not Christians? Because, in the first place, the Jewish People were the ones who first "invented" the coming of the Mashiach, which Elohim promised in the Jewish Tanak, specifically, in Yeremiahu/"Jer." 31:31-33. It was NOT a Christian idea, but a Jewish one. So anyone which accepts a Jewish Mashiach who is himself a Jewish Orthodox Rabbi, becomes a Messianic Jew.

 "How come you are the first one to ´discover´ this new ´distinction´? We have been calling ourselves ´Christians´ for 2,000 years now. How come all of the sudden we become Jews? Who do you think you are, Shylock?"

             It is certainly not MY fault, if, for 2,000 years believers have not paid close attention to their own Scripture.  These verses I have quoted above, plus the other information you can gather for yourself in Scripture has been there all along. Don´t ask me to guess why this was not dis-covered for the last 2,000 years. Ask those who taught it, wrote it, and still teach it!

           It is certainly not my fault if you have been allowed yourself to be deceived by the devil and by human teachings and doctrines which taught you otherwise. Likewise, the First and Second Commandment about not worshipping images has been there in Scripture for 3,000 years. It was not Luther´s fault that nobody paid any attention to it, was it? The fact that the Holy Spirit is moving until this day is also in Scripture. How come it had to pass 1900 years until Christianity "discovered" His existence and part of the Gentile Church became Pentecostal? Is that someone´s fault, too? The Fourth Commandments about keeping Shabat has also been there for 3,000 years. Is it the Adventists´fault or the Messianic Renewed Jews´s fault that they have realized, via His revelation, (as per Gal. 1:11-12 and Eph. 1:7) that Sun--day is ha satan´s trick to honor the "sun" god, Mithras, or that December 25 is the sun "god"´s birthday and that is why Christians celebrate "Xmas," since it is NOWHERE in Scripture commanded, nor was the Rabbi Yeshuah born on Dec. 25 but on Yom Ha Kipurim, the Day of Atonement, which falls in September/October?

         It is our OWN RESPONSIBILITY to search for the truth. Do not blame your pastor or your denomination for not doing the homework YOU HAVE to do by yourself, NOT WITH YOUR MIND, BUT WITH THE "SPIRIT OF REVELATION" which Rabbi Shaul speaks about in Gal. 1.11 and Eph. 1.17, as we have said. And if your pastor and your church and denomination do not agree with what you have come up with--because they themselves are too busy to look for the truth--then RESIGN, walk out of your church, and seek one congregation which teaches the truth!

          In the second place, I myself was born a Jew, then, met my Jewish Mashiach but in disguise, as "Jesus Christ," as the Gentile God and I and my whole family accepted me, until He became to reveal Himself to me as He really is: The Jewish Mashiach and Part of Elohim, not a Gentile, anti-Semitic God, as Christians believe He is. Thus, after eight years of being a Christian myself, I began to turn into what I really should have become from the beginning: a true Jew, a Messianic Jew, not a Christian. After 1989, our Congregation, which was just another Pentecostal church just as there are millions of them in the world, began to change course and is now a Messianic Congregation, a Messianic Synagogue, not a "church," and our members, who are 99 percent non-Jewish by blood, feel and believe they are Messianic Jews by faith, not "Christians" a misnomer if there ever was one.

                                           CONCLUSION

         In conclusion, "neither Jew nor Greek" does NOT mean that there is "neither Jew nor Gentile" but "one new man" (in effect, there are no such words "new man" in Greek, but kainen, i.e., "renewed man," which is much different.) It has been taken out of context to imply that.

         Elohim recognizes only two kinds of men: Jews, which semantically means "glorifiers of Yahweh" and Goim/Gentiles, idolaters. Either you and I are one or the other. The word "Christian" is the English translation of the Greek word Kristianos, which is the translation of the Hebrew word, Mashiachi, Messianic. Thus, YOU are a Messianic Jew by faith, if not by blood, if you believe in the Elohim of Israel and the Mashiach of Israel, whether you like it or not, whether you wish to accept it or not. Messianic Jews by faith is NOT an ethnia, like being American Indian, or Japanese, or Jews (by blood). It is a spiritual choice, by faith.

         Scripture says you are a Messianic Jew, and Rom. 11:17 gives you YOUR POSITION within this Jewish tree: "ingrafted into the Jewish tree of Rom. 11:17--AND NOWHERE ELSE.

         Thus, it is NOT true that there is "neither Jew nor Greek." It IS true only in THE CONTEXT of this verse. What is true is that all believers become Messianic Jews,and cease to be Gentiles, i.e., idolaters.

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