[Don]

I am writing this review at the request of TL, since I have read the book.

The author is D. Thomas Lancaster, one of the authors from First Fruits of Zion, a Hebrew Roots of Christianity group that believes in Torah-observance for Messianics.  He is a leader of a Messianic congregation and an engaging writer.  I have all of his books and recommend them IF (and this is a big IF) one's faith is such that one can know why one believes as one does and is willing to study and keep the meat and toss the bones.  He has insights that I find are often persuasive, but not all.   I find he is an engaging author and speaker and this is not a "my way or the highway" type of presentation, he realizes that many will not agree with all he says, but at least they will understand better why he thinks as he does.

Note that some years ago FFOZ taught that all believers (both Jews and gentiles) should follow Torah (this was/is known as "One Law" by those that teach it), but a few years ago they changed their thoughts on this, now they teach that Messianic Jews should follow Torah, and that Messianic Gentiles are allowed to follow Torah but it is their choice, altho they think there are benefits in terms of understanding the Bible better.  I have never been "One Law" and basically thought the Bible taught what they now teach, but I did read their older material as I was able to learn insights on other things; I just dismissed their old "One Law" arguments as not being persuasive.

"Restoration" is a sustained argument that believers in Jesus should be able to follow Torah, such as keeping kosher, keeping Sabbath, celebrating the Biblical festivals and doing other things that are possible to do today.  Since the temple does not exist, animal sacrifices are not possible, since Torah says they are to only be done in the context of a tabernacle and later the special place of the temple.  Other parts are also not possible.

One way to look at his way of seeing things is that he sees the Bible as an integrated whole more than many non-Messianics, so the separating pages between the OT and NT are ripped out, in effect.  The OT is referred to as the Tanakh or the Hebrew Scriptures and the NT is referred to as the Apostolic Scriptures of the Greek Scriptures, this is to avoid the implication of the name OT implying that those Scriptures have been obsoleted by the NT.

In general, I find I have some things I disagree with, but I will need to review the book to remember them and then will post what I recall.

[Don]

The subtitle is "Returning the Torah of God to the Disciples of Jesus".

http://www.amazon.com/Restoration-Returning-Torah-Disciples-Jesus/dp/1892124211/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339333335&sr=8-1

is the amazon url which allows one to look inside the book some.

[TL]

thank you Don. 

[Don]

I said I would talk some about where I disagreed with him.  Here is one.

On p. 10 Lancaster writes:

"Conventional Definition of a Judaizer: One who compels Christians to adopt Jewish practices, such as observance of the Sabbath and Jewish festivals.

Biblical Definition of a Judaizer: One who compels non-Jews to undergo a ritual conversion in order to merit salvation, whereby they are reckoned as Jewish proselytes."

The verse in question where Judaize is used is:

LITV Gal 2:14  But when I saw that they did not walk uprightly with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before all, If you being a Jew, live heathen-like, and not as the Jews, why do you compel the nations to Judaize?

ESV Gal 2:14  But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?"

This is the famous rebuke of Peter by Paul, so it is important to see what Paul is claiming Peter did and also what Paul is NOT claiming.

The Greek word is G2450
Ἰουδαΐ́ζω
Ioudaizō
ee-oo-dah-id'-zo
From G2453; to become a Judaean, that is, “judaize”: - live as the Jews.

G2450
Ἰουδαΐ́ζω
Ioudaizō
Thayer Definition:
1) to adopt Jewish customs and rites, imitate the Jews, Judaise
1a) one who observes the ritual law of the Jews
Part of Speech: verb
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: from G2453
Citing in TDNT: 3:356, 372

However, this word is used once in the NT, this means narrowing down the meaning as used in this one verse is a challenge, as words are defined by the way they are used.  But it has something to do with acting like a Jew acts as contrasted with acting like a gentile acts.

But the concern I see that Paul had with Peter was the word compel, Peter was compelling gentiles to act (in some way) like Jews and that is what is not a good thing.  So I disagree with Lancaster on both of his proposed defs.

[Don]

Here is another place I disagree with Lancaster.  On pp.45-48 he discusses John 8 on Jesus and the woman caught in adultery.  As I see it, Lancaster gets part of it correct, as Jesus is disqualifying the witnesses, but he misunderstands HOW Jesus is disqualifying them and he also misunderstands WHAT Torah actually says in this area, which is somewhat surprising to me, as he is such a Torah advocate.  Because of these 2 misunderstandings on his part (as I see it) his explanation falls short.

[TL]

thanks Don.  I've put the book on my list for when I have some extra money.  Might be a while, but it does sound interesting. 

[Don]

I can almost guarantee that you will learn things, but again, not necessarily agree with everything he says.