Messianic Judaism Quest

The question of whether differing levels of authority should be ascribed to different books in the “New Testament” is a major issue that remains unaddressed by those claiming to be Messianic Jews .
We have already briefly discussed the views regarding canonical and inspiration in Jewish thinking and have even dicussed this issue as far as the Hebrew Bible is concerned.

Yet this issue like most other questions of major concern, are largely ignored in messianic Jewish circles. The journal Kesher published through the (UMJC) Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations raised this question 10 or so years ago, yet to my knowledge no meaningful response to the question was ever given, much less a meaningful discussion “permitted.”

This stems largely from a strong association with evangelical organizations, or the theological standards they maintain. In short even raising the question of canonization or differing levels of authority is tantamount to heresy to most.

Nevertheless, the question of authority in the New Testament as well as its canonization is the question we are looking to consider in light of our quest to understand what an authentic messianic Judaism should reflect.

To begin with we should consider the process of canonization and how the New Testament in existence today came out.

The differences between the various canons of “Old Testament” in Christendom is worth noting however. The Hebrew Scriptures (i.e. the Tanakh) are based upon the Masoretic Hebrew texts.

For most Messianic Jews, the canon possessed by evangelical Protestant Churches is followed without question. Interestingly it was only in the 1800s when the Apocrypha was excluded from most English Bibles.

The “Old Testament” canon possessed by the Catholic Church is based upon the Septuagint which include those books called the Apocrypha.

The variety of Eastern Orthodox churches in turn present a variety of extended canons for the “Old Testament.” The Ethiopic Church for example in addition to the Apocrypha includes such books as Enoch, Jubilees, 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, Psalm 151, and several books under the title Maccabees, though their content is different from that of the books of the Maccabees accepted by other churches.

So how does this relate to the New Testament? This is a question we will visit in coming posts.

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