Torah

The law had a weakness: it could bring death, but not life. It made nothing perfect (Heb 7:18f). It promised life but proved to be death (Rom 7:10) because a person was required to keep all the law or be cursed (Gal. 3:10f), and none could keep it all. So all had the sentence of death.

That same weakness prevents any law from saving. Law has no power to save. John assures us that all of us sin (1 John 1:8f).

"For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it" --(James 2:10).

If we keep 99% of the law but fail in the remaining one percent, what happens? The Torah spells out that there are 613 that we are required to keep. If we fail in one point we are guilty of the other 612 also. We are back to zero! So it is all by grace! If one is to be saved, it must be totally by grace. One cannot be saved partly by law keeping and partly by grace. If grace saves only to the extent that one is able to keep law, then none can be saved. If one could keep all the law, he would need no grace. Our traditional exhortation to the one who fails to keep all the law is "Try harder!" While giving lip-service to grace, we frustrate disciples by urging that they must attain it by keeping all the law - or making a passing score, whatever that may be.

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The Torah has not been divided into parts for believer's to pick and choose. We must read James 2:10 for exactly for what it says and nothing less. We must keep the whole law and not divide it into portions that are convenient.

The claim of justification by law keeping was "another gospel" of Galatians 1:6-9. Any effort to be justified by legal means is a falling away from grace (Gal 5:4). Grace is not a quality of law.

The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Yeshua. Grace and truth were not a system of law to replace the old one. God did not send another law, but He sent His Son in whom we may be justified. To saved persons, Paul explained, "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace" (Rom 6:14). Please read Romans 3:20-28 and observe that justification apart from law is by grace as a free gift to those who believe. Righteousness is not attained by rule keeping, but it is a free gift (Rom. 5:17). Also please read another passage of length, Galatians 3:23 through 4:7, to learn that, now that faith has come, the custodian is no longer in charge and that God sent His Son instead of another legal custodian. Ours is a personal relationship in Him instead of a legal relationship. It is a heart inscribed law and not a stone inscribed law.

Galatians 5:24-25 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to the Messiah, that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

What about the Ten Commandments?

2 Corinthians 3:2-4 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of the Messiah, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone (ie the Ten Commandments), but on tablets of human hearts. And such confidence we have through the Messiah toward God.

It is a heart issue and not a legal issue. Some would say that we are to at least obey the TEN COMMANDMENTS, as opposed to the 613.

The Shabbat (Sabbath) has always been the seventh day of the week beginning Friday sunset until Saturday sunset. Christians have often called Sunday the Sabbath, but there is no scriptural basis for Sunday being the Sabbath. Some think Saturday is a holy day, while others think Sunday is holy. Actually if a believer thinks that Tuesday is a holy day he may do so, as long as he does not force others to hold Tuesday as a Holy Day. This is left up to the individual.

Romans 14:5 One man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.

Keeping Sabbath and keeping Kosher is totally up to the individual. You are free to keep the Shabbat and you are free to keep Tuesday or any other day as a Holy Day. You are FREE to eat any food or you are FREE to not eat any food. We are under no obligation to keep or not keep these issues. Where legalism steps in is where we tell others to keep these because we do, or to gain kosher brownie points with God.

What is the nature of our relationship to God?

The Spirit makes us new creatures in the Messiah. "But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit" (Rom 7:6). This new relationship is accomplished through the new birth (John 3:3f), by which we are all sons of God through faith (Gal 3:26f), and in which our life becomes hidden with the Messiah in God (Col. 3:3). It is not a legal relationship, but a spiritual one. Some would contend that the law is not the torah, instead some sort of "law of sin" or possibly the Pharisaic additions known as the Oral law but clearly Paul is speaking of the written code, none other than the Torah, the Law of Moses.

We enter into a covenant relationship. God made a covenant with Abraham and sealed it by circumcision (Gen. 17:9f). Later the law was given to guide the covenant people (Deut. 4:4f). The law was not the covenant of promise, nor did it make them covenant people. The new covenant is sealed in us by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13f). This is done when we receive the Spirit at the time of our obedience to the gospel; the other teachings are given to guide those in covenant relationship.

The new covenant is not a written code. Paul wrote that God "has qualified us to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code (the 613 written commandments) but in the Spirit; for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Cor. 3:6). Hebrews 8:7-8 further emphasizes that the new covenant would not be like the old one. His law is to be written on our hearts instead of stone or paper. (emphasis mine)

How can law be written on our hearts if we are not under law? To say that we are not under law is not to say that we are not under the Adonaiship (lordship) of the Messiah and the sovereignty of God. Law has a range of meanings. Law may be a legal system which demands perfect obedience. Law also can be a principle of action. We are justified through the principle of grace through faith (Eph. 2:8f; Rom. 3:27f; 8:1f). That grace activates our love.

What is the New Covenant Rule of Action?

If we are not under the Law of Moses, what are we under? We are under the Law of Messiah. Rules for the believer are spelled out in the Gospels, and the Letters to the Churches, in the Brit Chadasha, the New Testament. We obey the law "Do not commit adultery" not because Moses said so, instead it is because Messiah said don't even look upon someone lustfully, if you do you have already committed adultery. Many of the rules for a believer's life are the same as the Torah, but some are different and if you kept some portions of the Torah you would actually be sinning. You can not offer a sacrifice for give offerings to the Levitical priesthood.

It is love which God in His grace infuses into our hearts. "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Rom 5:5). "We love, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). God initiates the principle of loving action, writing His law upon our hearts.

The love which He has created in us is the master key to unlock the servile chain of any other law. "Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. The commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,' and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. 13:8f). Love fulfills God's requirements. It frees us. A legal code enslaves. " For freedom the Messiah has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (Gal. 5:1).

Paul emphasizes these points again in Galatians 5:13f: "For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" What greater and more comprehensive law - principle of action - could we want? How would a listing of authoritative demands help a person show love?

God directs us into right relationship with Him and man. "And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets'" (Matt. 22:37f). All through the ages, God was trying to help us simply to love Him and one another. That was the purpose of the law and the message of the prophets. God has shown us how to express that love through commands, exhortations, teachings, principles, and examples. Man has tried consistently to interpret these as lawful requirements, but God gave them as directives to love. Men argue, fight, and divide over lawful interpretations and thereby defeat the love into which God was directing. "For in the Messiah Yeshua neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love" (Gal 5:6). As new covenant people, we are guided by these but not justified by them. When we sin as disciples, we depend upon grace for our forgiveness rather than obeying more laws (1 John 1:5-10; 2:1-6).

Does this encourage sin, disobedience, and indifference? Anticipating such a question, Paul answers, "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?" (Rom. 6:1f). He warns against abuse of our freedom, then cautions, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh" (Gal. 5:13-16). Freedom is not for unrestrained indulgence.

Is Jewishness the Issue?

Messianic congregations are more susceptible to legalism in regard to the Torah. The issue of Jewishness is not defined in keeping Torah, Jewishness is based totally on physical descent from Abraham, Isaac (not Ishmael), and Jacob (not Essau). Remember that Abraham did not keep Glatt Kosher. Recall Abraham served the LORD, Ha Shem a tender good calf, butter, and milk. Genesis 18. We are to offer new life in Messiah, not a burden that even our fathers could not bear. More often than not it is Messianic Gentiles who try to enforce the Torah on other believers. A messianic congregation can not and should not try to compete with the local Orthodox synagogue on the Torah. Instead a Messianic congregation should provoke them to jealousy over love and knowing God in a personal way, not a legal way.

A Clear Example by Extension...

Here is an example why Paul had Timothy, a Jewish Believer circumcised. But was not under any obligation to have Titus, a Gentile believer, circumcised...

There was a disciple...

'.. named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer; but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brethren at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews that were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.' (Acts 16 1-3)²¹

This was done as a testimony to the Jewish unbelievers not because of the requirement of the Torah.

Paul then vindicates his apostleship, pointing out that he, who was zealous for the traditions of his ancestors and who had persecuted the Church, had been called by God to proclaim the gospel. (Gal. 1:11-24) He argues that it was he who took a principled stand against circumcision.

'But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.' (Gal. 2:3)

Paul blames the concern about circumcision on

'�false believers secretly brought in, who have slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus so that they might enslave us - we did not submit to them even for a moment.' (Gal. 2:4-5)

Testimony and Identity is the Key to Torah.

There is an identity through the Torah. THE TORAH IS TOTALLY HOLY! Testimony comes by revealed action. As a rule of thumb some Messianics really blow their testimony by picking and choosing. You will never be able to bring the message of salvation by trying to keep up with the Cohens. Live a Godly lifestyle where the MESSIAH IS CENTER and the Torah is principle. The Torah is totally holy, but we are under no obligation to keep it. We are free to keep the biblical (still biblical) precepts of scripture. The key is individual freedom, not corporate legislative legalism. Messianic believers must hold firm that the Brit Chadasha is a very Jewish book and the most Jewish thing that anyone could do is to follow the Jewish Messiah Yeshua. God offers a free gift that can not be obtained at the local rabbinic synagogue.

For those who have the desire to be Torah Observant here are the 613 Commandments in the Torah that are required.

The Believer's Relationship to the Torah