Hebrew Roots

Hebrew Roots is a movement that advocates the return and adherence to the first century walk of faith and obedience to the Torah by seeking a better understanding of the culture, history, and religio-political backdrop of that era which led to the core differences with both the Jewish, and later, the Christian communities.

Joseph Good provides a good summary of religio-political history:

“During this time [after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.], congregations in the Diaspora (dispersion) scattered throughout the Roman world, experienced radical changes. To support the Jewish people, or even Jewish customs, was interpreted to as not being loyal to Rome...

"In spite of this, Jews were still becoming believers, so much so that in 90 Common Era (C.E), Rabbinical leaders who did not believe in Yeshua took steps to bar the Jewish believers from the synagogues. A benediction was added to the Amida...known as the Birkat haMinim. This benediction was a curse directed against the Jewish believers in Yeshua (Jesus), with the idea that this would put an end to the rapid growth among the people. Still, more Jews accepted Yeshua as their Savior. Now pressure was being put on Jewish believers from three sides: first, from the non-believing pagans who hated anything Jewish; second, from the non-believing Jews who feared their power among the people; and third, within their own congregations by the new gentile believers who were entering the faith already affected by the rampant anti-semitism.”

Pastor Matthew Vander Els affirms that the term Hebrew Roots does not indicate a denomination, but a mindset of a non-denominational Christian seeking to "emulate Christ as much as humanly possible".

Web sites such as Torah Babies produce easy to follow teachings designed to educate people who are not familiar with Hebrew Roots about the Torah and its role in first Century Christianity and their view about its ongoing life of believers today.

Since the early 20th century, different religious organizations have been teaching a belief in Yeshua as mankind's redeemer and savior from man's own sinful nature and a lifestyle in keeping with the Torah, the Sabbath and the annual Feasts (or moedim, Holy Days). These include Messianic Judaism (to a very limited degree) in 1916, the Sacred Name Movement (SNM) in 1937, and the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) in the 1930s, and, later, the Hebrew Roots Movement. Thus far, the WCG has had the greatest impact on all organizations which teach these beliefs, including obedience to much of the Old Testament law, both nationally and internationally until about 1994-95. Within a few years after the death of its founder, Herbert W Armstrong, in 1986, the succeeding church administration modified the denomination's doctrines and teachings in order to be compatible with mainstream evangelical Christianity, while many members and ministers left and formed other churches that conformed to many, but, not all, of Armstrong's teachings. Consequently, the WCG spawned numerous splinter groups, with most of these new churches adopting names bearing the term "Church of God" (COG) and retaining the belief system developed by Armstrong.

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