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POSTED
07 FEBRUARY, 2008
The Hebrew New Testament Misunderstanding
by
J.K. McKee
editor@tnnonline.net
http://tnnonline.net/biblical-studies/hebrewnt-misunderstanding/index.html
In our post-modern society, the veracity and authority of the Holy
Scriptures have come under substantial attack
and criticism from those supposedly
inside the realm of Biblical faith.
Many of those who claim a belief in the God of
Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, and believe in His
Son, Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), question
whether or not these writings are a Divinely
inspired work, or are instead only a collection
of texts compiled over the centuries prone to
human error. The result of those who question
the Creator God, and do not have the guidance of
the Holy Spirit, is that they view the Bible as
being only a human work, and subject to
significant negligence. The view of higher
criticism is that the Bible is a product
exclusively of people, has been edited by
people, and has not been preserved accurately at
all.
Some in the Messianic community, whether they realize it or not,
have adopted similar views. Whereas in much of
the Messianic movement, one finds various
extensions of conservative evangelical Christian
doctrine and practice, in that the entire
Scriptures—both the Tanach and Apostolic
Writings (Old and New Testaments)—are viewed as
being Divinely inspired, with the foundation of
the Bible being the Torah or Law of Moses and
the other writings building on that foundation;
in too many sectors the veracity of the
Scriptures is being steadily challenged. The
veracity of the Scriptures is challenged by
Messianic Believers claiming that the New
Testament is perhaps only “mere commentary” on
the Torah, and thus may not be considered as
authoritative on spiritual matters as the Tanach
or Old Testament is. This is because various
persons in the broad Messianic movement,
including rabbis, pastors, teachers, and an
entire score of laypeople, believe that the
Apostolic Scriptures were originally written in
Hebrew. They believe that the extant Greek New
Testament we have is but a translation, and
sometimes a bad or faulty translation at that.
They tell us that we cannot understand the “true
meaning” of the Apostolic Scriptures because
they are in Greek.
The claim that the New Testament was originally written in Hebrew
is something that must be substantiated by those
who believe it with historical references,
textual support, and most of all extant
manuscripts in Hebrew. These references must be
credible, the textual claims must be supported
within a relatively conservative framework of
exposition, and the manuscripts must be verified
as authentic by organizations such as United
Bible Societies or the American Bible Society.
Thus far, no one in the Messianic community
has been able to prove a written Hebrew origin
for the entirety of the New Testament on the
basis of these factors. If those who
advocate a written Hebrew New Testament that
predates and is superior to the Greek New
Testament, have done anything, it is that they
have discredited much of what the Messianic
movement stands for to Christian scholars,
theologians, pastors, and informed laypeople who
are sincerely interested in their Hebraic Roots,
but are not interested in challenging the
inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. Furthermore,
those who are opposed to the Messianic movement,
the Hebraic Roots of the faith, and a message of
Torah validity—frequently use searching for a
supposed Hebrew New Testament as a legitimate
claim against us—because it cannot be
supported.
One Christian writer comments, “One of the subtle attacks on the
Christian Faith comes from the notion that the
New Testament was not written in Greek, but in
‘Hebrew.’ This may seem benign at first, but it
is not. It is an attack on the reliability of
the text of your Bible. If the Greek text is
unreliable and has been corrupted by Greeks, as
is charged by some, there is no longer a
standard of truth. The Protestant cry of ‘Sola
Scriptura’ is meaningless unless we have a
historically stable and reliable text. Once the
New Testament itself is discredited, the rope
typing your boat to the dock has been severed,
and you are bound to be ‘carried about by every
wind of doctrine.’”[1]
This quotation well summarizes the beliefs of many Christians who
encounter Messianics who advocate that the
Apostolic Scriptures were written in Hebrew, and
the problem that we have today. Christians see
this as a direct assault on their faith, and a
direct attack against the inspiration and
authority of the Bible. They see this as an
attack on the gospel message of salvation,
because as of today there are no extant texts of
the New Testament written in Hebrew. The concern
is that if these Hebrew New Testament
manuscripts do not exist, as is believed by some
Messianics, then these people will be
responsible for leading others away from the
Messiah Yeshua—because they advocate that the
God of the Universe will only inspire His Divine
message in the Hebrew language.
This is a very serious concern that exists for us in the Messianic
community, especially those of us who wish this
movement to be one that is theologically
credible. Part of being theologically credible
is being able to make a viable case concerning
what you believe regarding the composition of
Holy Scripture. As a Messianic teacher, I have
seen to it that Outreach Israel Ministries and
TNN Online have been able to defend many areas
of our doctrine and unique Messianic lifestyle
practice—and we have been able to do so quite
adequately and well from the Greek New
Testament, coupled with an understanding of
ancient history, background data, and employing
proper hermeneutics. We have certainly received
a substantial amount of inquiry from an array of
Christian pastors and informed laypersons, who
have had to think about what we have said and
defended. They have seen that it is not our
intention to rip apart or shred the Greek
Apostolic Scriptures, but rather treat the text
with integrity, even when providing some
alternative interpretations.
As a ministry, we have discovered through careful research,
examination of Hebrew and Greek linguistic
tools, and an objective view of Biblical
history, that there is no substantial
evidence in favor of the Apostolic Scriptures
originally being written in Hebrew. We have
discovered that at most, this is an opinion
advocated by those who have ideological problems
with the Lord inspiring His Word in other
languages, and this opinion is then repeated by
Messianic laypeople whose ability to adequately
interpret or understand the Scriptures is often
lacking. These people are often uninformed
regarding the transmission of the Scriptures,
Greek or Hebrew, and are likewise
often uninformed regarding the diverse
historical settings of the Scriptures, which
leads to misinterpretation, if not some gross
misinterpretation, on their behalf. They tend to
jump to conclusions a bit too quickly, when some
further deliberations and cross-examination on
important subjects, is necessary.
In this report, we will be examining the Hebrew New Testament
misunderstanding. We will be addressing the fact
that as students of the Bible, who believe in
the final authority of Scripture, we have to be
well informed regarding the Hebrew language, the
Tanach, the Greek language, the Apostolic
Scriptures, ancient Biblical history, textual
criticism, and above all consider the theology
and spiritual fruit of many of those who claim
that the Greek Apostolic Scriptures are
uninspired. We must consider the theological
credibility of the Messianic movement, and how
we can impact those who are in positions of
authority in Christendom who are opening up to
the restoration message that God is proclaiming
in this hour. Most of all, we must understand
that God is bigger than all of us, and He is not
limited to any single language or culture that
we may force upon Him. Rather, His Word is the
progressive revelation that He has given to all
of His chosen people—men and women throughout
the world who have acknowledged Yeshua (Jesus)
as Savior—and how they are to function in the
world, testifying to all, of who He is.
J.K. McKee
(B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A., Asbury
Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN
Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is a Messianic
apologist.
He is a 2009 recipient of the Zondervan Biblical
Languages Award for Greek.
He
is author of
numerous books, dealing with a wide range of
topics that are important for today’s
Messianic Believers. He has also written many articles on
theological issues,
and is presently focusing his attention on Messianic commentaries
of various books of the Bible.
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