The Hebrew Roots Faith and Traditional Christianity: What’s the Difference?

As many Christians grow in their faith, they begin to pursue the Biblical roots of their faith. They incorporate the Biblical Holy Days, the study of the Hebrew language, and maybe even some Jewish traditions into the practice of their Christian faith.

But how specifically is this different from traditional Christianity? We’ll get to that in a minute. First, let’s look at one way we’re the same to avoid confusion.

Salvation by Grace

Just as traditional Christianity holds to the doctrine of grace (Romans 11:6; Ephesians 2:8–9, and more), so do those in the Hebrew Roots Movement. Unfortunately, this is the biggest misunderstanding and most common objection to the Hebrew Roots faith from their Christian brothers and sisters. Many assume that we’ve shifted from the belief that we’re saved through the sacrifice of Jesus to the belief that we’re saved instead by adherence to the Law. This isn’t true.

Sadly, in some cases, this misunderstanding has led to a wide divide between traditional Christianity and Christians who practice in the ways of their Biblical roots. Instead of being a divider, the concept of grace should be one thing that unites these two faiths!

Where We Differ

Although we have many similarities and agree on many of the concepts in the Bible, the main thing we differ on is how to live out our faith.

Observing the Law

Applying the commands in the Torah to the life of a Christian is by far the most common objection traditional Christians have with our faith. You may be surprised to hear, though, that most Christians already observe much of the Law. The 10 Commandments (Ex. 20), the ideal setup for marriage (Gen. 2:24), and the command to love your neighbor (Lev. 19:8) are all parts of the Law. In the Hebrew Roots Movement, we observe a few more of the laws found in the Old Testament than traditional Christians do.

But because we make an effort to follow the Law doesn’t mean we think that’s what saves us. I’ve heard countless Christian arguments of this sort, and this is a result of a misunderstanding of what Hebrew Roots Christians believe.

The main objection is that we teach against grace. They incorrectly assume that, because we teach that Believers should observe the Law, we consider it to be what saves, instead of the blood of Jesus. I’ve heard it said that we even “preach a gospel contrary to what Paul preached” (Gal. 1:8-9).

But what they don’t understand is that we don’t believe that at all. We do not believe or preach that we’re not saved by grace. As a part of multiple communities in the Hebrew Roots and Messianic Christian faiths, I will tell you that I’ve never heard from someone who believes we’re not under grace. I haven’t heard from any group or individual in this faith that has replaced grace with the Law.

A lot of the disagreement comes from our differing interpretation of Pauline Scripture. If you’re interested in pursuing the Hebrew Roots position vs. that of traditional Christianity on this, 119 Ministries has an in depth video series explanation as well as a short book and blog post, all entitled “The Pauline Paradox”.

Learning the Hebrew Language

In the quest to get back to our Biblical roots, many choose to learn Biblical Hebrew. There are many benefits to learning Hebrew but the most common is to bring clarity when studying the Bible.

While some traditional Christians choose to learn Hebrew, most in the Hebrew Roots Movement are at some level of knowledge of Hebrew. Some just know basic greetings or names of people and places in the Bible and some are full-blown Hebraists!

Church Replaces Israel

Hebrew Roots Christians don’t believe in what’s known as Replacement Theology. This is the concept that the Christian church has replaced the nation (or people) of Israel. Replacement Theology says that God’s people are no longer the Israelites, but are now only those in the Christian church.

We believe instead that we’re grafted in to the promises God gave to Israel. We’re adopted into this family of God’s people through our faith in the Messiah but we don’t replace the natural-born children of that family. For more on the relationship between the church and Israel, read Wild Olive Branches: The Blessing of Being Grafted In.

Christians Don’t Become Jews

Another problem Christians see with the Hebrew Roots Movement is that they think we’re trying to become Jewish. They argue that one cannot just follow the Law and observe the Holy Days and then be changed into a Jew in the same way you can become Baptist by becoming a member of a Baptist church.

They’re correct. We do not become Jews. This is just another misunderstanding I’ve heard often about the Hebrew Roots Movement. We do not believe we are changing into Jews by practicing our faith this way. Our goal is to practice our faith in the way God wants us to. We base these practices on what we find in the Bible and we incorporate some valuable Jewish traditions as we see their relevance to our faith Biblically.

Acceptance of Jewish Traditions

While we’re on the subject of Jewish traditions, this is another objection Christians have to Hebrew Roots. Some say we shouldn’t have practices common to the Jewish people, as we’re not Jewish.

I have two responses to this. First, we follow a Jewish rabbi. Jesus did Jewish things, not just because he just happened to be born into a Jewish family but because that was the faith he was bringing others into. If you struggle with the idea of our Savior being Jewish, I encourage you to think and pray about this: When Jesus returns, will he be Jewish? Did he come to earth to start a new religion? Jesus’s Biblical Jewishness isn’t something he renounced and we shouldn’t either.

Second, many Jewish traditions are deeply rich in the ways they highlight aspects of our faith. Hanukkah is a celebration of God’s faithfulness to His people, as is Purim. Bar Mitzvahs are an important transition where our youth takes responsibility for their own faith. Lighting candles on Shabbat (the Sabbath) helps us fulfill the command to remember the Sabbath and sets it apart from the other days of the week.

These and other Jewish traditions bring our focus back to God and His Word in a way traditional Christianity does not. We learn from them and there are even some Jewish organizations, such as The Chabad, Rabbi Lapin, and Dennis Prager, that direct their ministries partly toward including Christians in their faith.

Different Bible Versions

Christians of all kinds have preferences to certain versions of the Bible. It’s wonderful to live in a time, where we not only have access to God’s Word, we can even choose our favorite way to study it because we have so many resources available to us!

In the Hebrew Roots Movement, we tend to prefer more literal Bible translations. We also attempt to replace some of the “Jewishness” and ancient Middle Eastern culture that has been removed from some traditional translations.

For some, this is the Scriptures Bible, while others prefer to read in the original Hebrew and/or Greek. The Complete Jewish Bible is another popular one, as well as the Tree of Life version.

My intent in writing this post is to clarify these differences for those seeking answers in this area. Although we do have differences, believers in Christ from all backgrounds are parts of the same body, and we should function as such:

For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.  For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Romans 12:3-5