Recently, I happened across a Bethany Christian Services magazine and was reading a couple articles about adoption, and no, that is not something we are considering at this time. But, a point in one of the articles prompted some thought about family unity and division.
A short conversation this morning in the comments section of another blog connected the thoughts to the One Law v. Two Law debates/discussions I have had before!
A much debated subject in the Messianic movement is whether the Torah is just for the Jews, or is it the revelation of righteousness for all mankind. We’ve looked at this topic multiple times from various angles, a list of links below, but here is another thought: ‘How to Divide a Family…’ Simple, have different standards and rewards for the adopted children as you have for the natural born.
Seriously, think about it! If you had a child and then you adopted another child, would it not cause bitterness, anger, jealousy, resentment and myriad other sins if you treated the two radically differently in terms of rules and expectations?
We have four boys, each with unique personalities, gifts, abilities, etc. They will always be different, but I discipline them all according to my best ability using a level standard. Still, I am imperfect and not always exactly consistent which leads to my boys pointing out, sometimes passionately, any inconsistency of measure or expectation. And, that is with all of them being natural born! Imagine if I adopted and gave the adopted child ‘free rein’ with extra blessings while tightening the reins and vigorously punishing my natural born sons. The results would be all manner of division and sin!! I’d be the poster boy for bad parenting skills.
Yet, this unjust scale is precisely what we accuse Yahweh of when we think that He has different standards for different groups, contrary to mountains of evidence in Scripture.
Meditate on that!
More articles covering different angles and thoughts:
Unjust Scales, Israel and the Church
Just Scales = One Law for All!!
One Law = Erasing Jewish Distinctives? Baloney!!
Bilateral Ecclesiology. Antisemitism… In Reverse?
11:3 Restoration 
Was just reading a post by Rico this morning on how Sarah, Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, Bilhah, Ruth and the mother of Ephraim and Manasheh were gentiles/of the nations. They were able to join covenant and they kept His ways to join the family. The nations in the end do without regard to which nation (Isaiah 11, Zech 14) ..there is no difference. Plus, this also debunks that the bloodline needs to come from the mother’s side!
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Good points!! Agreed!
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Reblogged this on Born From Above and commented:
Clearly said and laid out, so had to reblog ! Shalom 🙂
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Pete:
I am a scientist by schooling and evangelist if faith so this debate was significant for me also. I live near a ministry in Marshfield, Missouri which holds to to 2 laws. I have been in their facility several times, and like the people, but disagree strongly with this teaching of 2 laws. I have asked several questions which didn’t get answers. As an evangelist I asked what to do when I lead someone to Yeshua and was bringing them into a fellowship. “Which classes do they take: the gentile classes with optional Torah; or Jewish class with full Torah?” Then the scientist part of me asked them “What percentage of Jewish (semetic) genetics crosses the line making a Gentile now subject to Torah?” “Does this need to be done with DNA testing so we don’t have liability in the matter?” “Where in Scripture does it define that genetic testing is needed or what percentage of DNA is required, or is there a sliding scale?” “What if the man thinks he is gentile, and I wrongly assign him to a gentile (torahless) class, and later he hears from a family member (like I did) that the “dark secret” in our family is that grandmother’s real father was a Jewish laborer.” “Would it be my sin he wasn’t keeping Torah, because I made the decision for that person, or his for not knowing his family tree?”. “What if a man thought he was Jewish, and later after he had delighted in YHVH’s Shabbat and dwelt day and night on His Torah, and had had his eyes shown wonderful things in His Torah, was told, sorry it was really not for you all along. Forget all about it, you can’t do this, keeping Torah in love is only pleasing to YHVH if you are a Jew!”
Just a thought! Do we not become new creatures in Messiah? Does that change our DNA? Didn’t Paul clearly tell us in Eph. 2 we are formerly Gentile and now part of the “commonwealth of Israel”? And what about the re-dividing of the land in Ezk. 47:22 where the land is divided up and even the strangers (ger) will be considered “born in the land among the children of Israel” and will get their portion as a member of the tribes of Israel?
Bottom line, when you join yourself to YHVH, and keep His ways, no man can tell you you are not part of Israel in Father’s eyes, period! His Spirit bears witness with your spirit that you are a child of Elohiem! Halleluyah! Glory to Yeshua!
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Amein! Lots of good points! Really, from every angle I look at it, the Two Law position has holes that only seem avoidable if one has a reason for the Gentile not to keep Torah, be that false Christian lawlessness, or Judaic ethnocentrism for the promises.
Judah remains Judah with all the attendant specialness and Ephraim/Israel/grafted-in-nations remain as such with their own points of specialness, but all have the same rules to live n God’s house.
Another thought I had this morning: Isaiah 2:1-5 refers to the Torah going forth from Zion, but it is not for everyone, isn’t that a bit odd?
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Such timely comments! Abba has been showing me all morning more about the severity of the upcoming battle. As I read your blog Brother Pete and the comments I see the beginnings of the battle (Rev 16:14) Get ready my Brothers and Sisters because they are about to bring the Battle to us BIG TIME ! The Beast and it’s Image have started to join! have you seen this?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUQwDX71B6Y#aid=P-gyHcbPutE
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Yeah. We had a video up a few weeks back about this very thing. You may enjoy it as the Pope’s speech and Copeland’s reactions are expounded upon…
http://natsab.com/2014/03/02/prophecy-major-step-right-here/
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Another great post, Pete. The adoption analogy really says it all. Chaos would consume the house if the natural children had different rules than the adopted children. I have a sister with three adopted daughters. And they are of different races. They are each equally treated and share the same house rules. If an adopted child is (in the eyes of Yah) the same as a natural born as evidenced with Samuel (a natural Ephraimite who became a Levitical priest through the adoption of Eli), then why would those who have that same “spirit of adoption” expect to live by a different standard than the Jew?
I have one natural son, and one step son. I raised the older step son from age 8 to adulthood. Again, the same expectations and rules (though I’m sure there was plenty of human err). We did our best to love, respect, discipline, and raise them with the same standards. Why would we expect YHWH to do anything different?
Great things to meditate upon…
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All these comments are so good and so true. Can’t help but think of GB. My heart still yearns for them to have a yearning and understanding of Truth. How our Father must yearn for them too. I have hopes even some small thing here and the other blogs with cause the ‘blinders/scales to fall, deafness to recede, and the heart to understand’. To realize it is not against us they take a stand but against The One Who gave us His Wonderful Instructions and His Son to make all things good/possible for us.
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The foundation is: The Bible says that there is one law for the natural born and for the stranger that is within your gates. That is in Exodus somewhere. So case closed. Exodus 19 to Exodus 24 clears up the Law issue. And what is “Jewish” about “Thou shalt not steal”? What is Jewish about “Thou shalt not commit adultery”? And again, What is Jewish about “Thou shalt not kill”? It makes no sense to say that there are laws for one people and then laws for other people. The law is the law and God Almighty did not set one people apart and say, You can steal, but you people can’t steal. You special people can worker laborers and not pay them, but you Jews, You Jews have to pay your labourers. Perposterous.
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Reblogged this on The Lamb's Servant and commented:
Adopted vs Natural
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