|
POSTED 01 JANUARY, 2004
The Two-House Teaching in Proper Perspective
by
J.K. McKee
editor@tnnonline.net
The Messianic community has
reached an impasse with many Believers in Yeshua
the Messiah (Jesus Christ) coming to the
realization that they are a part of Israel.
Non-Jewish Believers, specifically, are
realizing that there is something more to their
faith than what mainstream Christianity has
presented in recent years. They have sought out
their Hebraic Roots and have been convicted by
the Holy Spirit that the Hebrew Scriptures are
for them as well. These Believers have
been convicted that to truly follow the
lifestyle of the Messiah, one must be Torah
observant and follow the teachings in the Law of
Moses to the best of his or her ability. These
Believers are now keeping the seventh-day
Sabbath or Shabbat, the Biblical holidays
of Leviticus 23, and are eating kosher, among
other things.
By changing their lifestyles,
many non-Jewish Believers have received
substantial criticism. Much of this criticism
comes from the peer pressure of Christian family
or friends who are not convicted concerning what
“New Testament Christians” should and should not
be doing—as opposed to what Bible Believers
should be doing, those who believe that
all of Scripture is for them. Criticism
against non-Jewish Believers adopting a Torah
observant lifestyle can also come from the
Messianic Jewish arena, many of whom believe
that the Torah is exclusively to be
followed by Jews. Both groups who are
criticizing, Christians and Messianic Jews,
largely believe that God has two groups of
elect: Israel and the Church, and believe that
non-Jewish Believers, who are part of “the
Church,” are not called to (any form of) Torah
obedience.
The Two-House community in recent
years has grown to become a bulwark against the
teaching that our Creator has two groups of
elect. The Two-House teaching advocates that the
Lord has only one group of chosen ones:
the people of Israel. This Israel is divided
into the House of Judah, the scattered House of
Israel/Ephraim, and all those companions of the
nations who might join in. As you can imagine,
this teaching is controversial. It is not widely
accepted by those in the theological milieu of
either evangelical Christianity or Messianic
Judaism. Furthermore, in recent days the message
has been tainted by some dominant,
sensationalistic personalities, who are
attaching their own personal agendas to the
Two-House teaching. Some advocating (a form of)
Two-House theology have brought discredit to the
message and have denied the Divinity and/or
Messiahship of Yeshua, or at the very least have
challenged the inspiration and authority of
certain Scriptures.
The time has
arrived for a balanced and proper look at the
Two-House teaching. There are many out there who
are Two-House advocates, but they have done
more damage than they have done good to the
message. In this article, I hope to present you
with a fair and reasonable look at what the
Two-House teaching really is, and sincerely pray
that you will realize that not everyone who
claims to be “Two-House” represents all in the
Two-House Messianic community.
The Promises and Their
Fulfillment
In the Apostle Paul’s letter to
the Ephesians, he makes a very intriguing
statement. In Ephesians 2:11-13, he admonishes
the non-Jewish Believers, “Therefore remember
that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh,
who are called ‘Uncircumcision’ by the so-called
‘Circumcision,’ which is performed in the
flesh by human hands—remember that you
were at that time separate from Messiah,
excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and
strangers to the covenants of promise, having no
hope and without God in the world. But now in
Messiah Yeshua you who formerly were far off
have been brought near by the blood of Messiah.”
The statement that Paul makes is that prior to
their conversion of faith, these people were
“alienated[1]
from the commonwealth of Israel” (RSV). Now,
having come to faith, they have been “brought
near by the blood of Messiah.”
When we review this Scripture
quotation, what is Paul actually telling us? Is
he writing that these non-Jewish Believers have
become part of “the Church”? No. He is telling
them that they have become part of the community
of Israel by their conversion of faith. This is
clearly understood by the Greek word politeia
(politeia),
rendered as “commonwealth,” which means “the
right to be a member of a sociopolitical entity,
citizenship” (BDAG).[2]
Nowhere in Yeshua the Messiah’s mission did He
ever come to establish “the Church” as a second
group of elect. On the contrary, He came to
restore and rebuild the people of Israel
(Jeremiah 33:7; cf. Matthew 16:18).[3]
As we understand that all Believers are a part
of Israel, it is imperative for us to recognize
what the Hebrew Scriptures or Tanach tell us
about Israel.
In Genesis 32:28-29, the
Patriarch Jacob wrestles with the angel all
night, and is renamed “Israel.” Part of his
being renamed Israel has to do with the mission
that the Lord had for both him and his
descendants after him:
“He said, ‘Your name shall no
longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have
striven with God and with men and have
prevailed.’ Then Jacob asked him and said,
‘Please tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is
it that you ask my name? And he blessed him
there.”
Prior to being renamed Israel, the Patriarch’s
name was Ya’akov (bq[y),
which has been traditionally interpreted as
meaning “supplanter,” although it more
specifically means “heel holder,” as he grabbed
his brother’s heel at the time of his birth
(Genesis 25:26).[4]
The Biblical story of Jacob reveals that he was
very much a trickster and a swindler prior to
this time. By being renamed Yisrael (larfy),
Jacob experienced a status change. J.H. Hertz
comments in Pentateuch & Haftorahs,
regarding the name Israel, that “The name is
clearly a title of victory; probably ‘a champion
of God’. The children of the Patriarch are
Israelites, Champions of God, Contenders for
the Divine, conquering by strength from Above.”[5]
Jacob was renamed Israel because he had remained
steadfast in wrestling with the angel during the
night. Jacob’s descendants, and those who
consider themselves a part of Israel, are
likewise called to endure and strive through the
power of God. This call is reemphasized in the
Apostolic Scriptures (New Testament):
“I press on toward the goal for
the prize of the upward call of God in Messiah
Yeshua” (Philippians 3:14).
As Believers in the Messiah of
Israel, we are all called to press forward in
our faith and never give up, no matter what the
cost. We are called to endure for our God.
When understanding oneself as a
part of Israel, it is necessary that we examine
the promises given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
regarding their physical seed, as the issue of
who comprises their offspring will undoubtedly
arise. Their descendants would be used by the
Lord to bless all in the world, so that all
might come to the knowledge of the One True God
and be redeemed. In Genesis 22:17-18, the Lord
promises Abraham that He will multiply his
descendants exponentially:
“[I]ndeed I will greatly bless
you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as
the stars of the heavens and as the sand which
is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess
the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the
nations of the earth shall be blessed, because
you have obeyed My voice.”
The Hebrew term zera ([rz)
has a variety of meanings, including “sowing,
seed, descendants, offspring, children, and
posterity” (AMG).[6]
Its equivalent in the Greek Septuagint and in
the Messianic Scriptures is sperma (sperma),
and the Latin Vulgate uses the word semen.
These words make it absolutely clear that the
text is speaking of physical people. It
is not just speaking of some generic “spiritual
seed” or “spiritual descendants.” Abraham’s
physical descendants were to multiply
themselves and spread out all over the world.
This same promise of physical multiplicity is
extended to the Patriarch Jacob/Israel:
“God also said to him, ‘I am God
Almighty; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and
a company of nations shall come from you, and
kings shall come forth from you” (Genesis
35:11).
The Lord promised Jacob that “a
nation and a congregation of nations” (ATS) or
“an assembly of nations” (NJPS) would come forth
from him. This promise experienced fulfillment
in ancient times as Moses attests in Deuteronomy
1:10:
“The
Lord
your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are
this day like the stars of heaven in number.”
Conservative
Biblical scholars estimate that at the time of
the Exodus the Ancient Israelites certainly
numbered in the hundreds of thousands, shortly
before Moses made this declaration. Moses’ next
words are extremely perplexing:
“May the
Lord,
the God of your fathers, increase you a
thousand-fold more than you are and bless you,
just as He has promised you!” (Deuteronomy
1:11).
If we take Moses’ words at face
value, then how many descendants of Israel are
there on Planet Earth today? Is it fair to
suggest that the number exceeds today’s Jewish
population of 14-15 million?
The promise of physical
multiplication is extended by Jacob/Israel to
Ephraim, the younger son of Joseph, while his
sons are in Egypt:
“But his father refused and said,
‘I know, my son, I know; he also will become a
people and he also will be great. However, his
younger brother shall be greater than he, and
his descendants shall become a multitude of
nations’’’ (Genesis 48:19).
Jacob/Israel said that Ephraim’s
descendants would become a melo ha’goyim
(~yAGh
alm)
or “the fulness of the nations” (YLT). Genesis
48:16 says, “may they grow into a multitude in
the midst of the earth.” The Hebrew verb
rendered as “grow” is dagah (hgD),
meaning “multiply, increase” (TWOT).[7]
It is related to the word dag (gD)
or “fish.” The ArtScroll Tanach actually
renders this promise as “may they proliferate
abundantly like fish within the land.” The
Rabbinical understanding behind this is that
just as fish multiply underwater, so would the
Israelites multiply on the face of Planet Earth.
But just as fish multiply underwater, unseen
by man, so would the Israelites multiply on
the Earth unseen by man, but seen by God.[8]
In other words, this multiplication would be
going on without anyone realizing it. Ephraim,
as you are probably aware, is one of the names
given to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, which
would break off from the Southern Kingdom of
Judah, following the death of King Solomon. The
descendants of the Northern Kingdom of
Israel/Ephraim would somehow become this
“fullness of nations.”
In Romans 11:25-26 the Apostle
Paul speaks of the coming in of the “fullness of
the nations” as a requirement for the salvation
of all Israel:
“For I do not want you, brethren,
to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you
will not be wise in your own estimation—that a
partial hardening has happened to Israel until
the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so
all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,
‘The
deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove
ungodliness from Jacob.’”[9]
The “fullness of the nations” or
“fullness of the Gentiles” coming back into the
fold of Israel is most probably a reference to
the descendants of the Northern Kingdom of
Israel/Ephraim coming to faith and being
acculturated into the Commonwealth of Israel. It
is notable that the Greek word plērōma (plhrwma)
means “completeness, reaching the intended goal”
(AMG).[10]
What this seemingly implies is that when the
“fullness of the nations,” those of scattered
Israel/Ephraim, come back into the fold of
Israel, they will have reached a point of
spiritual maturity. I believe that a critical
aspect of the reunification of all of Israel is
a return to the truths of the Torah. Could this
“fullness of the nations” possibly be returning
to the fold of Israel in our day?
The Division of Judah and Ephraim
Many of you have a
basic understanding of the history of Ancient
Israel. Ancient Israel was at its peak during
the reigns of King David and King Solomon.
Solomon was endowed with Divine wisdom from God,
constructed the Temple, and expanded Israel’s
influence. However, as a part of expanding
Israel’s influence, Solomon married many foreign
wives and was greatly affected by their
religion. He built temples to pagan gods and
participated in their worship, falling out of
the favor of the Lord. As a consequence God
decreed that the United Kingdom of Israel would
be divided, and He promised to give Jeroboam,
who was a servant of Solomon, the ten Northern
Tribes:
“Then Ahijah took hold of the new
cloak which was on him and tore it into twelve
pieces. He said to Jeroboam, ‘Take for yourself
ten pieces; for thus says the
Lord,
the God of Israel, “Behold, I will tear the
kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and give you
ten tribes (but he will have one tribe, for the
sake of My servant David and for the sake of
Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all
the tribes of Israel), because they have
forsaken Me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the
goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of
Moab, and Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon;
and they have not walked in My ways, doing what
is right in My sight and observing My
statutes and My ordinances, as his father David
did”’” (1 Kings 11:30-33).
It is abundantly clear that the Northern Kingdom
of Israel/Ephraim broke away from the Southern
Kingdom of Judah because of idolatry and because
of breaking the Torah or Law of Moses. After
Solomon died and Rehoboam came to power in
Judah, Jeroboam assumed power in the newly
formed Northern Kingdom, and he established
centers of worship for the Northern Kingdom
Israelites (1 Kings 12:28). The Northern and
Southern Kingdoms remained separate political
entities for the next two-hundred years. There
was some intermingling between them, as there
were Northern Kingdom Israelites who remained
faithful to the God of Israel and integrated
themselves into the Southern Kingdom. But in
722-721 B.C.E. the Assyrian Empire attacked and
dispersed the majority of Northern Kingdom
Israelites. Assyria would subdue conquered
peoples by displacing them and intermarrying
them with others. Since that time, the House of
Israel/Ephraim was corporately lost among the
nations.[11]
The Southern Kingdom of Judah, the Jewish
people, have been the only representatives of
Israel since that time. While experiencing their
own dispersions at the hands of Babylon and
Rome, and even terrible events like the
Inquisition and Holocaust, the Jewish people
have remained faithful to their Israelite
heritage.
In the end-times prior to the Messiah’s return,
it is prophesied that the scattered House of
Israel/Ephraim will return to its heritage in
Israel and some will even return to the Land of
Israel. All of Israel will have one King, Yeshua
the Messiah, and they will all be observing the
Torah or the Law of Moses.[12]
As one of the prophecies states,
“My servant David will be king
over them, and they will all have one shepherd;
and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My
statutes and observe them. They will live on the
land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which
your fathers lived; and they will live on it,
they, and their sons and their sons' sons,
forever; and David My servant will be their
prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace
with them; it will be an everlasting covenant
with them. And I will place them and multiply
them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst
forever. My dwelling place also will be with
them; and I will be their God, and they will be
My people. And the nations will know that I am
the Lord
who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in
their midst forever” (Ezekiel 37:24-28).
What the Two-House Teaching
Really Is
One of the statements that is
made in the Ezekiel 37 account of the reunion of
the two sticks, representing Judah and scattered
Ephraim, is seen in v. 18: “Will you not show us
what you mean by these?” (RSV). As many non-Jews
begin to see the importance of their Hebraic
Roots, and even the possibility that they may be
a part of the returning House of Israel/Ephraim,
they are asking questions concerning what all
these things mean. It is not a surprise by any
means that there are multiple voices
answering the questions being posed, and at the
present time there are various definitions of
the Two-House teaching circulating around,
many of which are contradictory. Part of
this has to do with the fact that the Two-House
teaching has only been popularized since the
late 1990s, and even more so that the Messianic
movement as a whole has only been around since
the late 1960s. We have
a great deal of progress to make in our
theology.[13]
The Two-House teaching is a Messianic
understanding of God’s elect. It is an
understanding of ecclesiology.[14]
Basically, what the Two-House teaching advocates
is that our Creator has only one group of elect:
the people of Israel, all of whom are Believers
in the Messiah. This Israel is composed of the
House of Judah, the scattered House of
Israel/Ephraim, and those companions of the
nations who join in to the restoration process.[15]
One’s ecclesiology affects how a person views
the Scriptures, it effects his lifestyle and his
view of the end-times. What makes the Two-House
teaching controversial is that it not only
advocates that all Believers are a part of
Israel, but it also advocates that all Believers
should live as Israel. This is often not
well received by those in either Messianic
Judaism or mainstream Christianity—at least at
present.
The Two-House Movement Today
Sadly, the Two-House community
today seems divided and factional. Part of this
has to do with the fact that the Two-House
community is very young and by necessity the
Two-House teaching must be subject to further
refinement. This is a developing movement,
and a developing theology. One serious problem
that exists is that there are various
“Two-House” ministries who teach about the
unification of all Israel, but connect their own
cardinal teachings along with it, so that
outsiders get the false impression that the
Two-House reunification is really the Two-House
reunification and this or that, failing
to understand what its prophecies are
Biblically. Time will have to work out the
fringe elements, and those who are scholastic
and fair-minded will be those who ultimately
prevail.
Thankfully, there are those who
have seen the errors that other people are
making, and are endeavoring to present the
message of the restoration of the whole House of
Israel in a very Yeshua-focused, uplifting, and
doctrinally sound manner. The challenge that
exists for us who are trying to be balanced and
fair-minded is that we must persevere. We must
demonstrate that the message of reuniting Judah
and Ephraim is not doctrinal error, as it would
lead people away from faith in the Messiah, but
that it brings greater maturity for Believers,
and brings us into a better relationship with
our Heavenly Father as we can grasp what His
mission is in this hour.
May we truly bring unity to the
Body of Messiah, and not seek to be divisive
because of dominant personalities or agendas.
May our goal be to be as Biblically sound as
possible, and may we uplift Messiah Yeshua in
all things. Most
importantly, we need to understand that the
belief in the Two-House teaching will be
determined more by the spiritual fruit of those
who believe in it, than what we believe about
Judah or Ephraim.
J.K. McKee (B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A. Student, Asbury
Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN Online (www.tnnonline.net)
and is a Messianic apologist. He is author of several books,
including: The New Testament Validates Torah, Torah In the
Balance, Volume I, and When Will the Messiah Return?.
He has also written many articles on the Two Houses of Israel
and Biblical theology, and is presently focusing on Messianic
commentaries on various books of the Bible.
NOTES
[1]
Grk. apallotrioō (apallotriow),
“to
estrange, alienate”
(H.G. Lidell and
R. Scott, An Intermediate
Greek-English Lexicon [Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1994], 87).
[2]
Frederick William Danker,
ed., et. al.,
A Greek-English Lexicon
of the New Testament and Other Early
Christian Literature,
third edition (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 2000), 845.
[3]
Consult the editor’s
article “When
Did ‘the Church’ Begin?”
for a further examination of how God has
always had only one assembly of
elect.
[4]
L. Hicks, “Jacob
(Israel),” in George Buttrick, ed. et.
al., Interpreter’s Dictionary of the
Bible, 4 vols. (Nashville: Abingdon,
1962), 2:782-783.
[5]
J.H. Hertz, ed.,
Pentateuch & Haftorahs (London:
Soncino Press, 1960), 124.
[6]
Warren Baker and Eugene
Carpenter, eds., Complete Word Study
Dictionary: New Testament
(Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 2003),
304.
[7]
Earl S. Kalland, “hgd,”
in R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer,
Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, eds.,
Theological Wordbook of the Old
Testament, 2 vols. (Chicago: Moody
Press, 1980), 1:182.
[8]
Cf. Nosson Scherman, ed.,
ArtScroll Chumash, Stone Edition
(Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, Ltd.,
2000), 273.
[9]
While rendered as “Gentile(s)”
in most Bibles, the Greek word ethnos
(eqnoß)
literally means “nation(s).” As
Newman indicates, ethnos has
a variety of definitions, including “nation,
people…non-Jews, Gentiles;
pagans, heathen, unbelievers”
(Barclay M. Newman, A Concise
Greek-English Dictionary of the New
Testament [Stuttgart: Deutche
Bibelgesellschaft/United Bible
Societies, 1971], 52). Two versions that
render ethnos as “nation(s),” and
not “Gentile(s),” include Young’s
Literal Translation and the Literal
Translation of the Holy Bible by Jay P.
Green.
[10]
Spiros Zodhiates, ed.,
Complete Word Study Dictionary: New
Testament (Chattanooga: AMG
Publishers, 1993), 1178.
[11]
The historian Josephus
was forced to write in the First
Century, “the ten tribes are beyond
Euphrates till now, and are an immense
multitude, and not to be estimated by
numbers” (Antiquities of the Jews
11.133; Flavius Josephus: The Works
of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged,
trans. William Whiston [Peabody, MA:
Hendrickson, 1987], 294).
[12]
An important listing of
Scripture passages relating to the
reunification of all Israel includes:
Isaiah 11:12-16; Jeremiah 10:6-10;
Ezekiel 37:15-28; Zechariah 10:6-10.
[13]
Consult the editor’s
article appearing in the November 2007
issue of OIM News, “The
Journey Ahead.”
[14]
Ecclesiology is a
technical term meaning “The area of
theological study concerned with
understanding the church…Ecclesiology
seeks to set forth the nature and
function of the church” (Stanley J.
Grenz, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee
Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of
Theological Terms [Downers Grove,
IL: InterVarsity, 1999], 42). For
Messianics who believe that God has only
one group of elect, Israel, it regards
our understanding of how we as Believers
are a part of the Commonwealth of
Israel, and how this affects our walk of
faith and mission as His people.
[15]
One of the great
confusions about the Two-House teaching
is that it is a racial teaching which
advocates that all non-Jewish Believers
are physical Israelites. This is not
true. While emphasizing that there
is a scattered Northern Kingdom of
Israel/Ephraim out in the world, and
thus the actual numbers of physical
Israel would be more than the 14-15
million Jewish people of today, those
who are true “Gentiles” and of the
nations are included within
Israel. The prophecy of Ezekiel 37:16
indicates that this reunion is “For
Judah and for the sons of Israel, his
companions…For Joseph, the stick of
Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his
companions.” The “companions” or
“comrades” (ATS) or “all who are joined
with him” (CJB), represent those who are
not physically Israel, but enjoin
themselves to one of the Two Houses of
Israel. Citizenship in Israel is open
to the foreigner or sojourner who
enjoins himself to the God of Israel,
and it ultimately is determined by faith
in Israel’s Messiah.
|
