Messianic Judaism Quest

My original intention had been to review in depth the development of the New Testament Canon, with concentration on the various lists which show certain books (e.g. Revelation, Hebrews, Second Peter, Jude, etc.) as not having been accepted universally, as well as other books (e.g. Shepherd of Hermes), which were considered authoritative by many communities.

I will return at a later date to this question. For now the critical question, I wish to address is, in light of the questionable nature of at least some works, how should messianic Jews approach the question of authority in the New Testament writings?

The book is also listed in the work of Irenaeus as a New Testament book in a contested category of acceptance. The Russian Orthodox’s church approach to Revelation is most interesting. The book is accepted as a sacred text, yet it is not read publicly out of concern for the difficulty of interpretation that arises from the complicated nature of the text.

To me this is an interesting approach.Classical Judaism concerns itself with concept of Kedushah- i.e. of holiness embodied through the observance of the mitzvot.

It maintains nevertheless an esoteric tradition embodied in mystical writings of the Kabbalah. There is no doubt that many circles of Judaism have themselves overemphasized their attention on the issue of Kabbalah while forgetting that traditionally only the learned are to approach this area.

Can messianic Judaism adopt this approach in dealing with say Revelation? Can it embrace the text, while simultaneously relegating it to the study and domain of the mature follower of Yeshua instead of the masses? Can messianic Judaism disengage itself from its fixation with issues it cannot resolve on issues that do not affect the manner in which it defines its observance of Torah?

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