God-Fearers of Israel - Are You One?

There is much confusion today about what is required for non-Jewish (Gentile) followers of Yeshua (Jesus), Messiah of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as people are turning back to their Jewish roots. Some believe/teach that most or some of the guidelines and instructions (Torah/Teachings of Moses) given in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible are not required or are optional for non-Jewish Believers. This is not our position.

ONE HOUSEHOLD

Our perspective states that God has only ONE people (Israel) and one standard (Torah). Down through time, myriads of non-Jewish people from the nations have joined Israel, becoming fellow-citizens, joint-heirs, with the natural-born citizens of Israel. They were called "God-Fearers." Not to overly simplify, but to NOT have the same Torah for all of Israel’s citizens, would be like having emigrants to the United States not obey ALL of its laws, by just applying some to emigrants and requiring the natural-born citizen to keep all of them. This would cause much confusion like there is today. Therefore, here is our perspective on who are the God-Fearers, non-Jewish citizens from the nations, and what we believe is required of ALL citizens in God’s Abrahamic Covenant.

God- Fearers were composed of non-Jewish people from the nations who believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and attached themselves to His Covenant people. They attended synagogues, worshiped at the Temple where they practiced the faith of the patriarchs and matriarchs. God did not make a covenant with the nations. So, the only way for someone from the nations to receive salvation, is to be grafted into the Abrahamic Covenant.

There were God-Fearers living in the Gentile nations long before the first century. The first ones mentioned in the Hebrew bible, who accepted the God of Abraham, were those who were part of Abraham’s household. The Gentile men were circumcised and became fellow members of the Abrahamic Covenant. Abraham being a “righteous man” understood God’s ways and commandments and taught these to “all” of his household. These were written down by Moses a few hundred years later.

Abraham is the father of our faith. Every other part of the Abrahamic Covenant is based on this foundation. Abraham's children belong to ONE household, not two, three, etc.

HEBREW SCRIPTURE SPREADS TO THE NATIONS

The Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek [Septuagint (LXX)] by Jewish sages living in Alexander, Egypt around 200-300 BCE in order to reach Hellenized Jews living among the nations. Therefore, the scriptures were available to all Greek speaking/reading people. When Paul (Sh’ual) began his trips to Greece, Turkey, Syria, there were both Jews and God-Fearers meeting in the synagogues. He did not go to a Gentile city and tell them about Messiah, leave, and then poof, a Gentile only congregation appeared. This is why he went to the Jewish synagogues first. Those who believed his teaching and remained in the synagogue (as long as allowed), heard the Torah read every Shabbat (Acts 15:21), and worshiped the one true God together. These God-Fearers already shared a common belief with the Jewish people in these cities, practiced the Torah with them, gave to the poor, and to the Temple in Jerusalem. They were brothers of and united with the Jewish people.

In Acts 10:1, 34-35, “There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a Roman army officer in what was called the Italian Regiment. He was a devout man, a "God-Fearer," as was his whole household; he gave generously to help the Jewish poor and prayed regularly to God…Then Kefa (Peter) addressed them: ‘I now understand that God does not play favorites, but that whoever fears him and does what is right is acceptable to Him, no matter what people he belongs to.’” (CJB)

If God does not have favorites, then why would he withhold from God-Fearers the blessings that He promised to give anyone who keeps the commandments in His Torah? Each one carries with it many good promises. We want ALL of them!

Peter said above, “Whoever fears Him and does what is right is acceptable" to God. This means that they were keeping the guidelines and instructions that God gave in His Torah (commandments). We want to do likewise today.

God said in Psalm 25:12-14, that "...those who fear the LORD? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose. They will spend their days in prosperity, and their descendants will inherit the land. The LORD confides in those who fear Him; He makes His covenant known to them. (NKLV)

GOD-FEARERS

There were two main types of God-Fearers who attached themselves to the Abrahamic Covenant. There were the "Proselytes" (Acts 2:11). These God-Fearers not only observed the Torah as written down by Moses, but also kept the oral/written interpretations of the rabbis and scribes on “how to keep the Torah.” A modern example would be those who become full converts to Judaism.

The other God-Fearers were those who attached themselves to Israel and observed the Torah as written down by Moses. They did not consider the later oral/written interpretations of the rabbis and scribes on “how to” observe the Torah as binding on themselves. This does not mean that they rejected everything.

We know Paul told a couple of congregations to “hold to the traditions” (1 Cor 11:2; 2 Thess 2:15) that he had passed down to them, meaning “Jewish tradition.” Clearly, he was talking about the “good” traditions,” like the many at Passover, Pentecost, Day of Atonements, Tabernacles, and Shabbat that enhance our worship. His teachings were not void of Jewish roots and practices that many teachers today promote.

Many use Paul's writings to develop a "Gentile-ized" view of what is required of God-Fearers today. Most have developed a separate replacement system. During his time as a follower of Yeshua, Paul fought two extremes, legalism and lawlessness in his letters. We are still fighting these battles today as we all strive to not "add to" or "take away" from the Word of God.

Paul informed these God-Fearers in his letter to the Ephesians 2:12-16, "Therefore, remember your former state: you Gentiles by birth - called the Uncircumcised by those who, merely because of an operation on their flesh, are called the Circumcised - at that time had no Messiah. You were estranged from the national life of Isra'el. You were foreigners to the Covenants embodying God's promise. You were in this world without hope and without God. But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah's blood. For he himself is our shalom - he has made us both ONE...He did this in order to create in union with himself from the two groups a single new humanity and thus make shalom, and in order to reconcile to God both in a single body by being executed on a stake as a criminal and thus in himself killing that enmity." (CJB)

Eph. 2:19, So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with God's people and members of God's family.

How many groups do you count? One...one...one.... So why today are people trying to keep us in two groups, observing different commandments, special days, etc.? We see the beginning of one household that was based in one set of requirements for everyone in the Abrahamic Covenant.

We believe it is time for those who are God-Fearers of Israel to stop thinking of themselves as members of man-made denominations and start thinking of themselves as what God said they are a part of...joint-heirs and fellow-citizens of Israel WITH the Jewish people.

There is much more that we will add later...