What You Should Know About the Hebrew Roots Movement

The hiss of the cappuccino machine filled the coffee shop, forcing him to lean in and raise his voice. “Show me,” he said, “where Jesus or the apostles ever told Christians they no longer had to keep the law of Moses.” I remember realizing that, if I were honest, I wasn’t entirely sure how to answer that challenge. I knew Christians weren’t under that law, but where in the Bible would I go to explain why?

In the years since that initial encounter, I’ve had countless such conversations with Christians who have become involved in the growing restorationist movement most often known as Hebrew Roots. This movement teaches that Christians are obligated to keep the ceremonial law—especially the feast days, the dietary laws, and the seventh-day Sabbath.

For most Christians, it appears out of nowhere. A church member begins lobbying for the Old Testament dietary laws. A spouse begins denouncing Easter, believing Christians are required to keep Passover instead. A small-group leader starts recommending YouTube channels that teach Christians are sinning if they don’t observe Shabbat. Before you know it, long-held historical Christian beliefs about the gospel, the church, and the new covenant are being openly challenged.

These aren’t isolated stories. I regularly hear from pastors, leaders, and believers seeing Hebrew Roots theology sow confusion, strain relationships, and, in some cases, draw believers away from Christ’s sufficiency. They want to know what it actually teaches and why so many Christians are being drawn into it. And perhaps most importantly, how should pastors and church leaders respond?

Hebrew Roots Defined

To answer those questions, we must first understand what the Hebrew Roots Movement is—and what it isn’t.

Over the past few decades, many Christians have grown disillusioned with shallow expressions of Christianity and begun looking for something deeper and more ancient. That desire has led some to seek out more liturgical and traditional Christian denominations.

Others, however, are drawn to Torah-keeping communities, believing these groups more closely align with the beliefs and practices of the earliest Christians. But careful study of history shows that isn’t the case. Rather than uniting believers to ancient Christian practices, Hebrew Roots provides a highly diverse movement that emphasizes ongoing obedience to portions of the Old Testament.

Before you know it, long-held historical Christian beliefs about the gospel, the church, and the new covenant are being openly challenged.

The Hebrew Roots movement isn’t a monolithic organization. Most groups don’t even call themselves “Hebrew Roots,” preferring terms such as “Torah-observant,” “Torah-keepers,” or “Pronomian.” It’s a loose collection of teachers, ministries, and online communities that have emerged from mainstream Christianity and believe they’re recovering the “true faith” taught by Jesus and the apostles. The emphasis on recovering long-lost and hidden truths sometimes leads to highly individualistic interpretations among Hebrew Roots adherents.

Despite their diversity, these groups share one central theological conviction: New-covenant Christians are required to keep the old-covenant law, and not doing so is sinful. This errant theology is commonly known as Torahism.

Whereas the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) is a beautiful and fundamental part of the Christian faith, Torahism is a dangerous misapplication of the old-covenant commands God gave to Israel. And if the theology sounds a little familiar, yes, this is a modern version of the beliefs taught by the New Testament Judaizers and rebuked by Paul in Galatians.

It’s important to distinguish between Hebrew Roots and Messianic Judaism. The two movements are sometimes conflated because they look similar on the surface, but there’s an important difference: Hebrew Roots teaches Torahism; Messianic Judaism doesn’t. I’m speaking in broad terms here, and beliefs can vary by group. But I’ve found most Messianic Jewish congregations closely align with mainstream Christian theology, teaching that the old-covenant rituals are permitted but not required for Jesus’s followers today.

Practical Implications

In my experience, most are drawn into this movement innocently, even admirably, by a sincere desire to understand the Jewish context of Scripture and to take the Bible seriously. That’s a healthy interest. The better we understand the Old Testament and the story of Israel, the better we understand Jesus and his gospel.

For some, however, that interest is carried beyond an appreciation for the Jewish roots of the Christian faith into the dangerous and unbiblical conviction that followers of Jesus are obligated to observe certain rituals and regulations given to Israel under the Sinai covenant.

In practical terms, Torahism centers on three primary issues: the biblical feast days, the Leviticus 11 dietary laws, and the seventh-day Sabbath. All Hebrew Roots groups agree that these three institutions apply to modern Christians. Most Torah-keepers additionally reject traditional Christian holidays such as Christmas and Easter, believing the Christian church has been deceived into adopting pagan religious practices. They also regularly use Hebrew names and terminology, especially referring to Jesus by his Hebrew name, Yeshua.

Sadly, another common characteristic of the movement is its posture toward other Christians. I’ve been interacting with Hebrew Roots teachers and adherents for more than eight years, and while there are certainly gracious exceptions, many become increasingly convinced that they alone have recovered a long-lost truth. That belief often gives way to an attitude of spiritual superiority, leading them to view faithful Christians not as fellow believers to encourage but as deceived people who need to be corrected.

As a result, rather than directing their evangelistic efforts toward a lost world that doesn’t know Jesus, churches become their mission field; they try to persuade sincere believers that they’re living in disobedience to God and must “keep Torah.”

Dangers of Hebrew Roots

The dangers in modern restorationist movements may not be immediately apparent. Most Torah-keepers would agree that salvation comes through faith in Christ rather than through works of the law, and acknowledge Scripture as the inspired Word of God.

Many become increasingly convinced that they alone have recovered a long-lost truth.

As a result, many Hebrew Roots communities seem sincere and deeply committed to the Bible. After all, Christians should treasure the Torah as God’s inspired Word (2 Tim. 3:16–17). The law does reveal God’s holiness and expose our sin (Rom. 3:20; 7:12). Even their reasoning sounds biblical on the surface: “We don’t keep the Torah commandments to be saved but because we are saved. Jesus said, ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments’” (see John 14:15).

The danger isn’t that these movements encourage Christians to study the Old Testament or appreciate the Torah. Every Christian should do that. The danger arises when the ceremonial law is taught as binding on new-covenant Christians. The New Testament consistently teaches that believers have been released from the law to serve in the new way of the Spirit (Rom. 7:6). The apostle Paul explicitly says,

Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. (Col. 2:16–17)

Once old-covenant rituals become requirements rather than matters of Christian freedom, the gravity of the Christian life inevitably shifts. Instead of fixing our eyes on Jesus and his finished work (Heb. 12:2), our attention is subtly and gradually redirected toward Moses and our own religious performance. Three dangers, in particular, deserve careful attention.

1. It recenters the Christian life.

The New Testament nowhere presents the Christian life as a journey toward increasing Torah observance. Its focus is consistently—and uncompromisingly—on Jesus Christ, who repeatedly calls us to follow him (Matt. 10:38; Mark 10:21).

Jesus taught that the Law and the Prophets pointed to him (Luke 24:27, 44), that Moses wrote of him (John 5:46), and that “Abraham rejoiced that he would see [Jesus’s] day . . . and was glad” (8:56). Accordingly, Jesus teaches that he alone is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (14:6) for all who would follow him. The apostles likewise teach believers to walk in Christ (Col. 2:6), grow in Christ (2 Pet. 3:18), put on Christ (Rom. 13:14), be conformed to Christ (8:29), and fix our eyes on Jesus (Heb. 12:2).

The Hebrew Roots Movement doesn’t deny these truths. The danger is much subtler. Their theology acknowledges Christ while gradually—perhaps unconsciously—removing him from the center of the Christian life. The center of the faith life becomes reoriented around the Mosaic days and diet.

When our spiritual lives become centered on rituals that pointed to Christ rather than on Christ himself, we’ve elevated a good thing into the ultimate thing—a place where only Jesus rightfully belongs. While this may not be the stated intention of Hebrew Roots, it’s the inevitable outworking of requiring new-covenant believers to keep the old-covenant rituals. When Mosaic rituals become the defining marks of faithful Christian discipleship, the center of gravity has shifted away from Scripture.

2. Christian freedom becomes Christian obligation.

The Bible nowhere forbids Christians from the Torah feasts, the Leviticus 11 diet, or the Sabbath rest. Observing those things is well within our freedom in Christ. Yet what the Bible teaches as permitted, Hebrew Roots commands as required. They view these as matters of Christian obedience—failing to observe them is considered sinful and rebellious.

The New Testament, however, paints a different picture. At the Jerusalem Council, for example, the apostles refuse to place the law of Moses on Gentile believers, calling it a “yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear” (Acts 15:10).

Their theology acknowledges Christ while gradually—perhaps unconsciously—removing him from the center of the Christian life.

Once old-covenant rituals become requirements for new-covenant believers, Christian freedom gives way to religious obligation. The result is a burden neither Jesus nor his apostles ever placed on believers.

So while most Torah-keepers profess that salvation comes from faith in Christ alone, the practical application of their theology seems to say otherwise. If keeping those Mosaic rituals is required to be in right standing before God, it implies that Christ’s fulfillment of the law was somehow insufficient for salvation (Matt. 5:17). Hebrew Roots doesn’t merely add optional practices to the Christian life; it changes the Bible’s definition of faithful obedience for Jesus’s followers.

3. Grace gives way to self-righteousness.

My pastor once said, “Even a little bit of self-righteousness can choke out the grace of Jesus in our lives if we’re not careful.” Perhaps the greatest danger of Hebrew Roots is what it can do to the human heart.

After years of interacting with this movement, I’ve noticed a recurring pattern. The longer someone practices this theology, the more he begins measuring spiritual maturity by Torah observance. His daily focus becomes less about growing in Christ and more about keeping the diet and the days. And because he views these practices as God’s ongoing requirements for every believer, he sees those who don’t observe them as spiritually immature—or worse, living in disobedience to God.

Ultimately, the question is whether Christ is enough. The New Testament says the Mosaic covenant found its fulfillment in Jesus, who inaugurated the promised new covenant (Luke 22:20; Heb. 8:6–13). The Mosaic rituals were never intended to become the defining marks of God’s new-covenant people. They were a shadow pointing to Christ (Col. 2:17; Heb. 10:1). When those shadows become obligations, the unavoidable result is a growing self-righteousness that threatens to choke out the grace of Jesus Christ and his finished work.

How Can Christian Leaders Respond?

If the Hebrew Roots Movement is affecting your church, the most common reflex is to try to find the perfect Bible verse to set them straight. That was my first instinct too. But after nearly a decade of working with families and churches affected by this movement, I can tell you that no single verse will change their minds.

The path out of Hebrew Roots is often measured in years, rather than days. A big reason is that it’s not primarily a theological miscalculation. Many other factors are at play, including issues of identity, emotional commitments, and spiritual warfare. So when you engage with Torah-keepers, remember these three tips.

First, don’t get lost in the weeds. In many groups, Torah-keeping theology has become sophisticated. Discussing theology with those deeply entrenched in the movement often becomes a frustrating labyrinthian endeavor. Conversations will inevitably bounce among the seventh-day Sabbath, dietary laws, Israel, telos, Acts 15, Matthew 5:17–20, Constantine, calendars, and any number of other issues.

So, when engaging with Torah-keepers, recognize the basic arguments but don’t assume that answering every theological objection is the path out of Hebrew Roots. And don’t be surprised if the conversation becomes contentious. Don’t take the bait. You don’t need to answer every challenge or untangle every questionable interpretation.

Ultimately, the question is whether Christ is enough.

Second, keep returning to Christ and the gospel. Sadly, if Torah-keepers are allowed to drive the conversation, the topic of the gospel will rarely be broached. Our job is to lovingly and directly point them to Jesus at every turn.

I’m hesitant to offer any specific theological lines of argument because they can go in so many different directions. But one topic I’ve found helpful for keeping the conversation focused on Jesus is our atonement for sin. It can sometimes be fruitful to compare the old-covenant sin sacrifices (Lev. 16) to their clear new-covenant fulfillment in Christ (Heb. 10). Most Hebrew Roots adherents won’t deny the sufficiency of Christ’s atoning work on the cross. That establishes an important starting point: The fact that God commanded something in the Torah doesn’t, by itself, establish that Christians remain obligated to practice it.

Third, ask open-ended questions. Showing genuine curiosity and asking them to explain their theological reasoning can reveal unspoken assumptions behind their beliefs. Here are three questions I’ve found helpful in my own conversations:

• What changed for God’s people when Jesus died and inaugurated the new covenant?
• What did Jesus accomplish that the law of Moses could not?
• What does it mean, practically, for Christ to be sufficient for our righteousness and our life with God?

Our responsibility is to patiently speak the truth in love, continually point people to Christ, and trust the Holy Spirit with the outcome. We need to be consistent not only in our theological defense of Scripture but in living out the quiet witness of a Christ-centered life. I’ve heard from many former Hebrew Roots members that what put the first “crack in their armor” was a selfless act of love from a Christian friend or a kind and respectful defense of Scripture.

This is simply the Christian life lived out loud. So don’t lose hope. Continue preaching Christ, loving those who have been drawn into these teachings, and prayerfully trusting the Holy Spirit to do what no argument ever can. The goal isn’t merely to win a theological debate. It’s to help people fix their eyes once again on Jesus—the One to whom the Law and the Prophets and all of Scripture ultimately bear witness (Luke 24:13–27).