Fear of Hebrew Roots

It has been interesting as of late to meet with some friends here and there to talk about life with Christ and the community of believers. I am amazed at how fearful Christians are of the world. I believe the only thing we should be fearful of is the Lord himself.
I listened to a great sermon the other day from Tim Mackie at Blackhawk Church about the beginning of Jonah. In this sermon he discusses the notion that those who are striving the hardest to be righteous are often the farthest from it.
Tim does a great job explaining how Jonah should be viewed and I think it is very important to understand the old testament into the new testament. Some people when they hear of Hebrew Roots they think of a cult and of following covenant laws, dietary laws, etc... When evangelicals reference Hebrew Roots they are wanting reinforce viewing the bible as a whole from Genesis to Revelation, not just Matthew to Revelation.

NT Wright says this about Jerusalem and the Ministry of Jesus, “It was in this world that Jesus grew up, and to this world that he addressed his preaching. If we are to understand the thrust of Jesus’ ministry, we must project ourselves as far as possible into the worldview and mindset of a first-century Jew”.8

For some people they may elect to follow dietary laws or other Jewish traditions in order to gain true knowledge, but even a statement like that is not needed if we knew what Hebrew culture was like. Many of those laws and traditions were worship to God and were done joyfully.


8 In recent studies of Jesus, see S.C. Neill and N.T. Wright, The Interpretation of the New Testament, 1861- 1986 (2nd ed., Oxford, OUP 1988) 379-403; on this whole section see my forthcoming Jesus and the Victory of God (London, SPCK, 1994).