In Jewish thought, death is not the end of life but rather the end of doing. Death is the end of action and works of the Law. Jesus reminds us that God is the God of the living and not the dead.[1]
Paul explains that those who have been immersed with Christ are no longer “under the law”.[2] While it is lost upon the usual audience, this is the translation of a Jewish legal term. The Hebrew term being translated as “not under the law” is “niftar”. This word is almost always translated as “dead.” Those who have passed on from this world are said to be “niftar.” The word does not actually mean “dead,” it means “not obligated to the law.” Although customs vary between communities, when a man of Israel dies, a corner tassel (ציצית), symbolic of the law, is often cut from his garment. In death, the Jew is released from legal obligation. Paul explains this explicitly in his letter to the Romans:
“Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?[3]“
Before this he says:
“Do you not know that all of us who have been immersed into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by immersion into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”[4]
When an Israelite dies (becomes niftar), his body is cared for by the members of a burial society called a hevrah kadishah (sacred society). The burial society washes the body of the Israelite and then immerses the body in one of two ways. If an immersion pool reserved for the dead is available the body is given total immersion. More common today is the alternative practice of “immersing” the body by pouring three buckets of water over the body from head to foot. If possible, the body is held in an upright position and water is poured over the head. If this is impractical, the body is placed on an inclined table and water is poured over the body—from head to toe—three times. The pouring must be continuous from one bucket to the next. In this way the three measures of water actually constitute a single pour of water. The immersion of the dead is called “taharah.” Taharah is not done to prepare a body for the grave. A body does not need preparation to decompose. Instead taharah is done to prepare the body for resurrection. This is in line with the description of baptism given by the ancient Christian Didache:
“And concerning immersion, immerse in this way: Having first said all these things, immerse into the name of the Father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living water. But if you do not have living water, immerse in other water; and if you cannot immerse in cold water, then immerse in warm water. But if you do not have either in sufficient quantity to immerse, pour water on the head three times…”[5]
Christian immersion is Jewish taharah for the dead.
Christ says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”[6] While this is obviously a call to humility and self-nullification, the legal language of this death is lost to many readers. The dead are under no obligation to the law. The dead cannot perform commandments nor can they transgress them.
Jesus asks those around him to realize that they are sick and simple, he tells his students to become as children. He says:
“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”[7]
What are little children like? Which little children? Those are the wrong questions. The sick, the simple, and children are not held responsible by the Torah. For the bedridden, it is permitted to transgress the sabbath. One who is sick is permitted to do things which would otherwise be forbidden according to Jewish law. One who is simple minded—having the mental capabilities of a child—is not punished by the law even as an adult. It is redundant to say that children are under no condemnation from Jewish law.
The dead are no longer under the law. Messiah’s teaching that one must die to self, that one must lose one’s life to gain it, is the most extreme example of this line of thinking.[8] Jesus calls his students to die to themselves that they might be atoned for and freed from condemnation.
The Eternal Divine Law, is both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing for those who keep it and a curse to all who transgress it. [9] While we have fallen short and transgressed the law, Jesus was and remains the living embodiment of God’s word. Christ is the Torah keeper.
The Law is life for the one who keeps it and death to all who transgress it.[10] Christ was proven sinless at his resurrection which is the life and blessing promised by Moses for the one who would fulfill God’s Law.
Jesus has not asked his followers to die to self to become practitioners of lawlessness. He said powerfully,
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”[11]
Instead, we are called to become one with Christ in death that we might be one with him in resurrection and new life. Paul says:
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”[12]
Paul argues against self-righteousness here. The prophet Isaiah said:
“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”[13]
Paul also argues against lawlessness. If Christ is alive in me than I must express Christ—the keeper of God’s Law—in my life. This is fundamental. In his own words, Paul argues,
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been immersed into Christ Jesus were immersed into his death? We were buried therefore with him by immersion into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
We are called the “Body of Christ”. One might imagine that, as the body of Christ, a non-Jew might be obligated to behave as a Jew. Perhaps a woman in Christ should take up the obligations of a man? But Paul explains, just as a body is formed of many parts, so to there are diverse callings within the people of God. He says:
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all immersed into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”[14]
The same messianic spirit that is expressed through the faithful life of an observant Jew is expressed in the life of a God-fearing Christian differently. A monarch is the head of a kingdom. For Paul, it is important that the collective people belonging to Israel be fully represented in all diversity.
The Bible describes four sub-communities within the people of God. The psalmist calls to each of them:
“House of Israel, bless the Lord! House of Aaron, bless the Lord! House of Levi, bless the Lord! God-Fearers, bless the Lord!”[15]
While the first three communities represent tribes descended from Jacob the last community is comprised of all Nations. Rabbinic thought obligates Israel to 613 commandments but some of these laws are specific to a man, some to a woman, others to a kohen, to a Levite or to a king.
The Torah can only be fully observed when God’s people are one. Christ said:
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”[16]
Jewish Proselytes
The possibility for a non-Jew to become Jewish is a biblical reality. Perhaps, no biblical persona embodies this reality more than the proselyte Ruth. Israelite identity is passed through the maternal lineage. If Ruth did not become Jewish the line of king David becomes more than problematic. The first martyr of the messianic movement after Jesus was Stephen, a man remembered as a Jewish proselyte. Proselytes have played an important role in the history of Israel.
Paul said:
“Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision.”[17]
Paul did not encourage proselytism to Judaism. Jewish law actually forbids any persuasion in this area. A conversion performed with some ulterior motive like pleasing a rogue rabbi is forbidden by Jewish law. A proselyte must come against all odds into the Jewish people and be willing to endure the full yoke of Jewish experience, including persecution. Nevertheless, the verse above does not prohibit a believer from being circumcised after coming to faith. This is evidenced by the fact that Paul circumcised his student, Timothy. Rabbi Yaakov Emden explained,
“Therefore, you can understand that Paul does not contradict himself because of his circumcision of Timothy, for the latter was the son of a Jewish mother and a Gentile father, and Paul was a scholar, an attendant of Rabban Gamliel the Elder, well-versed in the laws of the Torah. He knew that the child of a Jewish mother is considered a full Jew, even if the father should be a Gentile, as is written in the Talmud and Codes. He therefore acted entirely in accordance with the Halakha (Jewish law) by circumcising Timothy.”[18]
Paul uses the word circumcised euphemistically, meaning Jewish. The argument he makes is that one who is Jewish should stay Jewish and one who is a God-fearing Christian should stay that way. Paul’s letter to the Galatians is written to a community of Christians who were being compelled to Judaism by someone ignorant of Jewish law. Paul says:
“You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.”[19]
Paul goes on to say that the person responsible for this false teaching—that God-Fearing non-Jews must become Jewish—should cut himself off completely if he believes the kingdom of Heaven is earned through cutting off flesh.[20]
Paul writes his letter to the Romans with a different tone. The community in Rome was much older. There were more Jews living in Rome during Paul’s day than in Jerusalem. The community in Rome was comprised of both ethnic Israelites as well as many proselytes.
Paul speaks with masterful rabbinic authority when he warns the community in Rome:
“But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.”[21]
Non-Jews motivated to become Jewish only by a desire to be saved from eternal judgment believed that this salvation was to be found in their status as Israelites. Once these people had gained this position, they did little to live up to it. Paul, however, smashes any notions that he was not concerned for a Jew’s relationship to the Torah.
Paul’s intention was not to demonize Judaism, God forbid, but rather to make clear to all that true salvation is found only by the grace of God. This is both the Christian as well as the Jewish position even today. Paul wrote:
For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. (Romans 3:28-31)
Notice in the quote above that both the circumcised and the uncircumcised are justified through faith. Jews are neither given a free ride to salvation nor are they cut off from it. Gentiles are not condemned for their nationality nor are they rewarded for it. Recognizing that we will all stand for judgment after death, both Jew and Gentile are given the opportunity to “take up the cross”. We can stand before the creator today and confess our guilt and condemnation. We can accept our judgment and die to ourselves that we might be truly alive in Christ and walk out the Law of God, without opposition.
[1] Mark 12:27
[2] Rom. 6:14
[3] Rom. 7:1
[4] Rom. 6:1-4
[5] The Way of Life, Didache: A New Translation and Messianic Jewish Commentary by Toby Janicki. Copyright 2017 by Vine of David
[6] Mark 8:34
[7] Mat. 18:3
[8] Mat. 10:39
[9] See Deut. 11:26-27
[10] Deut.30:19
[11] Matt. 7:21-23
[12] Gal. 2:20
[13] Isa. 64:6
[14] 1 Cor. 12:12-13
[15] Ps. 135:19-21
[16] John 17:20-21
[17] 1 Cor. 7:18
[18] Seder Olam Rabbah Vezuta
[19] Gal. 5:7-10
[20] Gal. 5:12
[21] Rom. 2:17-29