Radiating God

Though the prophets, the greatest of whom was Moses, achieved a superior understanding of God, this understanding does not concern God as He is in Himself but His consequences or effects. In the Middle Ages, philosophers like Maimonides claimed that God's consequences or effects emanate from Him. It is as if God were like an eternal and inexhaustible source of light whose energy is so vast that it nourishes and illuminates everything around us. But even the best scientific theories cannot explain how that light is generated. All we know is that the light makes it possible everything we see and do. On the other hand, the light is so brilliant that no person can look at it directly.

Kenneth Seeskin
from Maimonides: A Guide for Today's Perplexed

Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” -Exodus 33:18-20

I don't believe in philosophy. I believe in ideas that change people.

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman
"Real Ideas"
Chabad.org

Rambam (Moses ben Maimon or Maimonides) was a superb philosopher and theologian and his writings are considered classic among Jewish scholars and lay people to this very day. I recently reviewed Seeskin's book Maimonidies: A Guide for Today's Perplexed (and am posting the link here so you can be a little background about the topic of today's blog) and through Seeskin's book, gained a greater insight into how this amazing Jewish scholar perceived God.

Rambam, a consummate rationalist, did not believe people could experience God in any manner or fashion but rather, thought we could only experience the results or effects of God. This is like saying that a person cannot look at a solar eclipse with the unaided eye but instead, must use a device to see an approximation of the effects. I also previously used the analogy of experiencing a fire by the effects or results, such as ash and smoke, rather than knowing the fire as it truly is.

We see in the above-quote from Exodus 33, that Moses "knew" or "experienced" God as the Divine Presence or the Shekhinah, God's manifestation in our universe, in a manner as close as possible to experiencing God's effects without actually experiencing God (seeing His "face"). But what did God "emanate" or "radiate" that Moses could "see"?

What did Jesus radiate?

I know that making a comparison between Seeskin's description of Rambam's understanding of experiencing the "effects" of God and the life of Jesus may seem like quite a conceptual leap, but stay with me here because I think the connection exists:

And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

“Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”

But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” -Luke 8:43-48

Look at one small bit of this narrative recorded in verse 46:

But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

We generally think that when Jesus performed a healing or a miracle, there had to be some sort of intent on his part. That is, he had to want to perform a miracle and had to have an intention as to what form the miracle would take. However we see in the case of the "woman with the issue of blood", that Jesus had no intention of healing whatsoever and in fact, didn't even know about the woman until the moment when she touched the hem (tzitzit?) of his garment and "power went out of him" to heal the woman.

Maimonides believes that we can only observe and benefit from the effects of God as they radiate from Him. Here we see an example of a person benefiting from the effects of what "radiates" from Jesus. Neither effect necessarily requires a specific intent of the "radiator" and this brings up an incredibly interesting question.

Do we benefit from the good effects of God upon our lives because God intents good toward us or do we reap these benefits simply because God is good and what He radiates (unintentionally) is good?

If we answer "yes" to the latter, we have to answer an additional question such as we see illustrated in the following:

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. -Genesis 50:20

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. -Jeremiah 29:11-12

Here we see that not only does God specifically intend to do good but that good will result from our prayers to God for aid and assistance. The Master said the same thing:

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” -Luke 11:11-13

Maimonides still doesn't have to be wrong here. God can intend to "radiate" what he radiates and direct His actions along intended lines. But how does this explain what we read in Luke 8:43-48? Of course, if you discount that Jesus and God have to be identical in the "mechanics" of how they "work", then you don't have to explain it, but when I was reading Seeskin's description of how Maimonides viewed God, the comparison between God and Jesus seemed a natural one.

There may be one other factor though. Let's go back to Luke 8 for a moment and specifically verse 48:

Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

Jesus said something like this on more than one occasion. He didn't say I have healed you. He said your faith has healed you, even under circumstances where Jesus was aware of the person's request to be healed and he intended to heal them (in Matthew 12:13, he heals the withered hand of a man who hadn't asked to be healed, but presumably the man wanted his hand healed and, in the larger context of the event, the man knew Jesus was discussing healing on the Shabbat with the Pharisees).

God can do good for us even if we don't ask Him (and even if we are not aware of Him), but we know that He will respond to us (though not always as we imagine) when we ask. Yet perhaps an effect of God is that He radiates His goodness throughout Creation so that we experience His benefits, just as the rain falls on both the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45). There's no reason why God can't specifically intend to do good to a person and then that good happens and that God's very existence causes beneficial effects within His creation that we experience. There's also no reason why Jesus, during his time on earth, couldn't have intended to do good to others, but that his very nature, being a Divine representation of God's on earth, couldn't also have affected his environment, even to the point of healing a woman who touched his garment and who had faith that she would be healed.

At the beginning of this blog post, I quoted Rabbi Freeman when he said, I don't believe in philosophy. I believe in ideas that change people. This seems to draw a distinction between thinking and philosophy as represented by Maimonides, and a specific intent or set of ideas that result in a demonstrable change in human beings, but there may be no difference. We tend to get a picture of Maimonides as a cold, unfeeling thinker who spent his life in an ivory tower pondering arcane thoughts about God and the Torah, but he was also a physician who healed people and who advocated for justice, kindness, and mercy. In the case of the Rambam, his thoughts, feelings, and actions were all connected to living out the life God designed him to live. There was intention of both God and Maimonides and there were observable effects of the existence of both.

I do believe, like Maimonides, that we cannot experience or observe the totality of God as He exists objectively in what mystics describe as the Ayn Sof (although some people may have mystically encountered more of God's nature than we can within the limits of Creation), but I do believe that God has an intention for us and that He demonstrates that intention on an ongoing basis in ways we can experience. I also believe that people can benefit from God's existence and intentions, both the righteous and unrighteous, but the righteous in their awareness of God through faith and trust, can struggle to draw nearer to God and to do His will and reap additional blessings. This doesn't mean that we have more money, or trouble-free lives, or are smarter and wiser than other people, but it does mean we can be deliberately aware of God and what He is doing in the world and as a result, we can be a part of what He is doing. We can have faith and learn to trust God as we "see" what He does and more over, we can be a reflection of what He "emanates" in what we say and do and in some small way, we can show the rest of the world our how we experience a real and living God.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.

Book Review of "Maimonides: A Guide for Today's Perplexed"

Maimonidies' philosophic reputation rests on his masterpiece, The Guide of the Perplexed, published in Arabic in 1190 and quickly translated into Hebrew. Unfortunately, it is difficult for the average person living in the twentieth century to read The Guide with any degree of comprehension. First, there is the difficulty of its length: three volumes and a total of 178 chapters. The second difficulty is the learning the author presupposes. Maimonides did not intend the book to be read by a general audience. He assumes his readers are familiar with the sacred literature of Judaism, the classics of Greek philosophy, and the later medieval commentaries. The last difficulty is that the book was written during the twelfth century, and since then our view of the world has undergone numerous changes.

from the Introduction to Maimonides: A Guide for Today's Perplexed
by Kenneth Seeskin

Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the midst of the land whither ye go in to possess it. Observe therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, that, when they hear all these statues, shall say: "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." -Deuteronomy 4:5-6

The quotes from Seeskin and Deuteronomy provide excellent reasons to read Maimonides: A Guide for Today's Perplexed, for both Jews who want to gain a greater understanding of the Rambam's (Moses ben Maimon or Maimonides) classic insights into the Torah, and Christians who are trying to grasp the significance of Judaism and a deeper meaning of "the Law" beyond a plain reading of the text. Seeskin's book can also be thought of as "an introduction to Maimonides", since we learn a great deal about how this exalted Jewish sage conceived of the Torah, what it told him about God and what it told him about being a Jew.

To say that Rambam was primarily a philosopher and a thinker is almost an understatement. He seems to be an archetypal intellectualist and rationalist of the Jewish world and his perspectives and teachings are as relevant in Judaism today as they were 800 years ago. His intellectual viewpoint, in and of itself, makes him difficult to comprehend, at least for most people, since his unique perspective is grasped only by others operating at his level. For the "average" person, his insights and the degree of detail which he uses to pursue the holy writings could easily seem like "over-analyzing".

In a scant 141 pages, Seeskin manages to tell his audience how Rambam conceived of God, God's unique "radical Oneness", Rambam's views on polytheism and idolatry, the cognitive qualifications necessary for a Prophet, and much more.

I must admit, after reading Seeskin's book, I find myself a little less enamored with Maimonides than I have been previously. The Rambam was obviously a highly intelligent and educated man and his conception of the world around him, his God, and his Jewishness were defined by those qualities. Everything he wrote was filtered through the values of philosophy and an almost extreme rationalism, to the exclusion of all else. Even love of God was considered a rational process in Rambam's view.

This isn't necessarily bad and it provides a good counterbalance to the emotionalism we find in many Christian churches where all you are expected to do is "feel" the Holy Spirit in order to experience God. For Maimonides, to truly grasp a Jew's purpose and meaning in life, you absolutely had to take on the role of scholar and devote significant resources to the deep study of the Torah and the classic Jewish and Greek philosophical literature.

The Rambam, in considering the commandments, believed that it was possible to understand the purpose behind all of them, not only the ones that seemed to make "obvious" sense, but those that seemed obscure, such as the reason one does not consume pork. He didn't accept the simple answer of "because God said so" and made great efforts to comprehend what most of us would consider incomprehensible. Yet he also believed we needed to love God especially when His commandments and requirements went "beyond reason". He was careful though, to say that what seems like it is beyond our reason does not mean God is unreasonable or irrational, and we may be able to understand Him in terms of His effects, given additional time and study.

God is needed only when we go beyond reason, when we are asked to perform or refrain from acts which we would not think of on our own. Only then can we truly claim that our actions are holy.

It is Rambam's highly rational point of view that puts him at odds with Jewish mysticism. Mystics believe it's possible to extend a human being beyond the rational and physical world and to know God in a way that isn't possible within the limits of our normal experience. Maimonides believed that we can only know God through His effects on the world and that there is no way to access Him as He truly is. I suppose a mystic would liken the difference to God as Ayn Sof vs. God as the Shekhinah or Divine Presence, but Rambam would view even the apparent visible and tangible Shekhinah only in terms of how it impacted the physical world, much like a person believing you can only "experience" fire by examining burnt wood and ash rather than the flame itself.

While Maimonidies did not believe that the majority of Torah commandments applied to the peoples of the world, he didn't believe that the wisdom of the Torah was exclusively a Jewish possession. Much to the dismay of his critics (and he had many) he believed that knowledge and philosophy had universal applications, including knowledge of the Torah.

In our day, Maimonides' position is often ignored. We put so much stress on the concept of peoplehood that it is hard not to conclude that ethnic considerations come before philosophic ones. The dangers of making ethnicity paramount are: (1) People will become so enamored of he ceremonies, rituals, and folklore that they will neglect the intellectual growth which is supposed to follow and forget about the idea of monotheism; and (2) In the cases where intellectual growth does follow, it will over look the universality of Judaism and focus on its cultural and religious peculiarities.

Rambam did believe in preserving the Jewish identity and uniqueness and acknowledged that the Torah was the means by which this was and is achieved. However, for him, Jewish identity is understood as participation in a spiritual community. He considered the customs, ritual, and ceremonies..worth preserving because they allow the community to propagate a defensible doctrine. He also believed another set of "rituals, ceremonies, and customs" could be applied to other people groups (i.e. non-Jews), allowing them to "propagate the same doctrine", acknowledge the unique and radical Oneness of God, enact compassion on strangers, widows, and orphans, promote social harmony, and generally espouse the values that have been the hallmark of the Jewish ideal for thousands of years.

This has profound implications for Christianity and other monotheistic religious groups and provides additional motivation for Christians to entertain a study of Maimonides and his works. Through his understanding of the Torah, which he did not consider the exclusive property of the Jewish people, we can understand our God, our purpose, and ourselves. We can also understand what Judaism has to teach us as God's creations since the Torah has been the keeper of God's wisdom, knowledge, and desires for humanity since the days of Moses.

Many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. -Isaiah 2:3

Listen to me, my people;
hear me, my nation:
Instruction will go out from me;
my justice will become a light to the nations. -Isaiah 51:4

Published well over a decade ago, Kenneth Seeskin's Maimonides: A Guide for Today's Perplexed continues to show us a truly relevant and educational view of not only Maimonides and his Guide, but the significance of the Torah and Judaism, not only to the Jewish people, but to the rest of us.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.

Getting in the Wheelbarrow

There are two words often lumped together and commonly perceived as synonymous, when in reality they are not.

The two are Faith and Trust. In Hebrew, emunah and bitachon.

One way of explaining the difference between these words is that the former is the belief that G-d exists. The latter is the knowledge thereof, or, more accurately, the result of that knowledge, in mind, heart, and deed.

Rabbeinu Bechaya (in his book Kad Hakemach) puts it this way: "Anyone who trusts has faith, but not anyone with faith trusts."

-Mendel Kalmenson
"The Real Answer to the Question, Who Moved My Cheese?"
Chabad.org

This could be a useful answer to a lot of people's difficulties in their relationship with God. It could be a useful answer to your relationship difficulties with God. It could be a useful answer to my relationship difficulties with God. We tend to think of having faith in God and trusting God as the same thing, but they're not. Because they're not, we're expecting certain things to happen in our lives that aren't going to happen. It's like being married. If we believe in our spouse but don't trust him or her, what kind of a marriage is that? Is it even a relationship at all?


Here's another example from the same source:

This point can be further illustrated by a parable:

Long before the entertainment industry boomed, tightrope walking was a common form of amusement and recreation.

Once, a world-famous master of the sport visited a particular region. Word spread quickly, and many people turned up for the show. All was quiet as the master nimbly climbed the tree from which he would begin his dangerous trek.

But just before beginning his routine he called out: "Who here believes I can make it across safely?"

The crowd roared their affirmation. Again he asked the question and was greeted by the same response.

He then pulled out a wheelbarrow from between the branches and asked, less boisterously, "Which of you is willing to get inside the wheelbarrow as I cross?"

You could hear a pin drop.

Faith is the roaring response of the crowd; trust is climbing into the wheelbarrow.

It's easy to have faith in God but not to trust Him. It's easy to say "God exists and I believe in Him" as long as we don't have to become personally involved in performing the weightier matters of Torah. We can have an incredible faith that the tightrope walker will make it to the other end of the rope as long as we don't have to climb into his wheelbarrow.

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder.

You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. -James 2:14-24

When James (Ya'akov) says "that a person is considered righteous by what they do", he's talking about trust or bitachon. Our problem, is that we "think" about God, and we "feel" all warm and fuzzy about Jesus, but we don't "do" anything about changing our lives to conform to our thinking and feeling. Here's another example:

Maimonides is one in a long line of Jewish commentators who have proposed rationalistic interpretations of Scripture. Thus, words denoting place, sight, hearing, or position (of God) are interpreted as mental properties or dispositions. In our own vocabulary, it could be said that Maimonides has attempted to demythologize biblical narrative.

from Maimonides: A Guide for Today's Perplexed
by Kenneth Seeskin

Maimonides tends to see Biblical interpretation as either literal or allegorical and his strength as a theologian, philosopher, and sage is in his rational approach to the Tanakh (Jewish Bible). However there is a significant gap in his vision. We can also interpret the Bible and God through a mystic and experiential lens. The mystic seeks to encounter God in an extra-natural realm; meeting Him outside the boundaries of our physical universe, but we can also experience God in our day-to-day life by experiencing ourselves. We can "do" God and not just "think" or "feel" God. We can be the answer to prayer. We can have and live out faith and trust.

We can get in the wheelbarrow.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.

Messianic Principles of Faith

1. I believe with perfect faith that G-d is the Creator and Ruler of all things. He alone has made, does make, and will make all things.
2. I believe with perfect faith that G-d is One. There is no unity that is in any way like His. He alone is our G-d He was, He is, and He will be.
3. I believe with perfect faith that G-d does not have a body. physical concepts do not apply to Him. There is nothing whatsoever that resembles Him at all.
4. I believe with perfect faith that G-d is first and last.
5. I believe with perfect faith that it is only proper to pray to G-d. One may not pray to anyone or anything else.
6. I believe with perfect faith that all the words of the prophets are true.
7. I believe with perfect faith that the prophecy of Moses is absolutely true. He was the chief of all prophets, both before and after Him.
8. I believe with perfect faith that the entire Torah that we now have is that which was given to Moses.
9. I believe with perfect faith that this Torah will not be changed, and that there will never be another given by G-d.
10. I believe with perfect faith that G-d knows all of man's deeds and thoughts. It is thus written (Psalm 33:15), "He has molded every heart together, He understands what each one does."
11. I believe with perfect faith that G-d rewards those who keep His commandments, and punishes those who transgress Him.
12. I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah. How long it takes, I will await His coming every day.
13. I believe with perfect faith that the dead will be brought back to life when G-d wills it to happen.

The Rambam's Thirteen Principles of Jewish Faith

Bilateral Ecclesiology and the Gentiles Series

According to Chabad.org:

The great codifier of Torah law and Jewish philosophy, Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon ("Maimonides" also known as "The Rambam"), compiled what he refers to as the Shloshah Asar Ikkarim, the "Thirteen Fundamental Principles" of the Jewish faith, as derived from the Torah. Maimonides refers to these thirteen principles of faith as "the fundamental truths of our religion and its very foundations."

If you're an observant Jewish person or a Christian who knows some of the basics of religious Judaism, you should be familiar with these thirteen principles and their meaning. What you may not know is that, in the early 20th century, a man named Pastor Joseph Immanuel Landsman wrote a response to the Rambam's thirteen principles. Landsman was born and Orthodox Jew and, in Jorge Quiñónez's document Messianic Jewish version of Maimonides’ "Thirteen Principles or Articles of Faith" in Hebrew (2005), we learn:

Around 1913, Joseph Immanuel Landsman wrote a Hebrew Messianic Jewish version of the Maimonides "Thirteen Principles or Articles of Faith," that is now standard in the siddur (Jewish prayer-book). Its Hebrew title is Ikarei Emunatenu Hakedosha (Hebrew for "The Principles of Our Holy Faith"). The Landsman piece is a pastiche or parody (depending how you look at it; imitation is the best form of flattery as they say) of the Rambam's original. It is virtually unknown to modern Messianic Jews. The version in the pdf file includes a nearly century-old English translation by David Baron from The Scattered Nation (1914) and the Hebrew original of Landsman's "Thirteen Principles" with a Yiddish translation at the bottom of each page. At the end, it includes a transcription I made of the Hebrew part only to print out a legible copy. Such liturgy today among Messianic Jews is uncommon. Most Messianic Jews today for various reasons prefer to employ the simplified versions of the traditional siddur.

Justin at Beit Tefillah Chavurah recently commmented about this document on Derek Leman's blog:

I have recently completed a fresh translation of Joseph Immanuel Landsman’s ‘Principles of our Holy Faith’; a wonderful Hebrew Christian response to the 13 Principles of Faith produced by the Rambam. Landsman’s Principles were not written for the Church, as he wrote them for the Jewish community in Hebrew and Yiddish, as a way of explaining our faith in Messiah and he did so in a very Jewish way, for the Jewish people. However, his point of view has not been and probably will not be accepted by the current stream of messianic thinkers, especially regarding ‘gentiles;’ which is why I have endeavored to produce an in depth Messianic Jewish commentary for this work.

While Justin's translation isn't available for public consumption (though I hope it will be soon), I'm presenting the version that is available in the public domain as translated by David Baron, another Messianic Jewish leader from the late 19th and early 20th century:

1. I believe with a perfect faith in YHVH, the Eternal God of Israel, the God of Love and Salvation, the Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. He is the One God and Father. Of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things, and He is over all and with all and in all. His is the glory for ever. Amen.

1 John 5:7-15; John 3:16; Romans 5:8; Genesis 1:1; Psalm 33:6; 1 Corinthians 8: 6; Ephesians 4:6; Romans 11:36; Mark 12:28-34; John 17:23.

2. I believe with a perfect faith that God - blessed by His Name! - is Spirit, and that the true worshippers must worship their Father in heaven in spirit and in truth, for with such worshippers the Father is well pleased.

John 4:21-24; Romans12:1; Hebrews 12:15; James 12:27.

3. I believe with a perfect faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, the only begotten and well-beloved of His Father in heaven, whom God raised up to be the Redeemer of Israel, according to the promise which He made to our fathers by the mouth of His holy prophets - Who for us men and our salvation descended from heaven and became man.

He was conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Marry, of the seed of David, and was anointed of God with the Holy Ghost and with power. He was in all points tempted as we are, but without sin. He glorified His Father in heaven, and made known His Name and His holy will to the children of men. He walked about on earth doing good to the children of Israel.

He bore the reproach of sinners, and was afflicted and humbled Himself unto dath; yea, the death of the cross - the Righteous One for the wicked.

He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.

Wherefore also God hath highly exalted Him, and raised Him up again from the dead on the third day after His death and burial. He showed Himself openly to His disciples after His resurrection, and ascended into heaven, where He now sitteth at the right hand of God; but thence He shall come again a second time in glory to set up His Kingdom, restore all things, and to judge the quick and the dead.

He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of His Kingdom there shall be no end.

Matthew15:13-17, 3:17, 17:5; Luke 2, John 3:13; Philippians 2:5-2; Matthew 1:1, 18-23; Romans 1:3- 4; Matthew 3:13-17; Acts 10:38; Hebrews 1:13, 14, 2:17,18, 12:2, 3; 1 Peter 3:18; Isaiah 53; Matthew 20:28, 26:26, 27; Acts 2:22-36, 3:12-26, 4:8-12, 5:30, 31; Romans 8:34; Acts 19-11; 2 Timothy4:1; Luke 1:33, 34.

4. I believe with a perfect faith that Jesus Christ our Lord is the image of the invisible God, the effulgence of His glory, the very image of His being, andthe pre-existnig cause of all things. He is the power of God and the wisdom of God. In Him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He that seeth Him seeth our Father in heaven. He is the Way, the Truth and the Live, and no one cometh unto the Father but by Him.

Matthew 11:26-30; Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:1-4; 1 Corinthians 1:23, 24; Colossians 22:3, 9; John 14:1-4.

5. I believe with a perfect faith that for us first God did raise up Jesus Christ, and sent Him to bless and to save His people from all their sins; and although our fathers rebelled and sinned against Him, God did not cast off His people, but exalted Jesus to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance unto Israel and the forgiveness of sins - even to as many as believe on the Name of Jesus Christ with a true and perfect heart.

Acts 3:25-26; 13:26, 31; 3:19, 20.

6. I believe with a perfect faith that by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God our fathers rebelled against the Messiah Jesus the Knig of Israel and his glory, that through their fall salvation may come to the Gentiles, that they might be brought near to God and to His salvation in the Messiah. But when the fulness of the Gentiles shall be gathered into His Kingdom then all Israel shall be saved with an everlasting salvation, and the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of God, and YHVH shall be King over all the earth.

Acts 2:23; 3:17-18; 7:51-52; Romans 11:11-32; Isaiah 11:1-10.

7. I believe with a perfect fatih that the Messiah through His cross, when He offered Himself as the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, abolished the law of the commandments and ordinances, which was the source of enmity between Jews and Gentiles, and broke down the middle wall of the partition that He might create in Himself of the two One new man, reconciling both unto God, and creating peace between them. And now there is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither maile nor female, but all are one in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:14-22; Galatians 3:26-29; Colossians 3:10-11.

8. I believe with a perfect faith that the Messiah is the end of the law unto righteousness to all them that believe on Him, and that it is by faith in Him apart from works of the law that men are justified before God; for by the works of the law no flesh can either by justified or perfected.

Romans 10: 4; 3:21-30; 4:5; Galatians 2:15-17; 3:10-11; Hebrews 7:18-19.

9. I believe with a perfect faith that in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation, and faith which worketh by love; for love out of a pure heart is the end of the whole law and its true fulfilment, and whoever is in Christ is a new creation, created unto good works.

Galatians 5:5; 6:15; 1Timothy 1:5; Romans 13:8-10; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:10.

10. I believe with a perfect faith in the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Comforter, Who dwelleth for ever with them that believe, to sanctify them and to lead them into all truth.

John 14:16-17, 26; 16:7-14.

11. I believe with a perfect faith that God, Who spake unto our fathers through the prophets, hath in the last days spoken unto us by His Son Jesus the Messiah, and that both alike are the words of the living God.

Hebrews 1:1; 2 Peter 1:21; John 6:63, 68; 7:16-18; 12:44-50.

12. I believe with a perfect faith that the Holy Scriptures which we now possess were written by the Holy Spirit, and are able to make us wise unto Salvation through faith in the Messiah Jesus, and to lead us in ways of righteousness so that we may be perfect and completely furnished unto all good works.

2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 4:12-13.

13. I believe with a perfect faith in one holy Catholic Church consisting of the whole congregation of the saints, and built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus the Messiah Himself being the chief Corner-stone. I believe in one baptism; in the forgiveness of sins; in the resurrection of the dead, and in the life everlasting. Amen.

Ephesians 2:19-22; Romans 12:4-5; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Colossians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:10; Philippians 1:1; Ephesians 4:5; Acts 2:38; Ephesians 1:7-8; Colossians 1:14; 1 John 1:8-9; 1 Corinthians1:14; 1 John 1:8-9; 1 Corinthians 15; John 5:24-29; 6:32-55.

Note: I tried to transcribe this text from the PDF as faithfully as possible, but if you see any errors, let me know. The only things I deliberately changed was replacing "Jehovah" with "YHVH" and changing the Roman numerals for the references to standard Arabic numerals.

As you can see, these thirteen Messianic principles are quite different from Rambam's presentation. Not only do Landsman's principles sound very traditionally Christian, but they fly in the face of much of what we believe in the Messianic (and particularly the Bilateral Ecclesiology) realm today. The late 19th/early 20th century Messianic Jews or Hebraic Christians seemed certainly more like their Gentile Christian counterparts, both then and today.

What's interesting is that, as Justin previously said, Landsman originally wrote this work in both Hebrew and Yiddish, so it was obviously meant for a Jewish, and not Gentile, audience. Further, if we were to apply what Pastor Landsman wrote to the Messianic landscape today, the distinctions between Messianic Jews and Christian Gentiles would be all but obliterated. This is doubtless a document that would not find much, if any, support in any part of the Messianic Jewish world in the early 21st century.

While Vine of David does include a PDF of this document (and I posted a link to the PDF, as provided me by Justin, above) on what they call their Remnant Repository for David Baron's works, it is unlikely that even their moderate viewpoint would be accepting of Landsman's principles.

I'm posting all of this to bring out into the light of day an interesting chapter in the history of modern Messianic Judaism. How are we to understand the words of Pastor Landsman in the modern era and what, if any, credence can we give to the thoughts of this pioneer in Messianic Judaism today?