Is Torah for Today?

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2: Principles of Bible Interpretation
About Torah
BibleStudy/Index.htm
BibleStudy/Parashot/Commentary/CommentaryFrames.htm
Is Torah for Today?
Messiah and Sacrifices
Scholars Who Support a Hebrew Source
The 613 Mitzvot
The Jerusalem Council
Torah
Torah and Legalism
Why Should I Obey Torah?

Is Torah for Today?

• Is Obedience to Torah for Today?

• Do modern Messianic Jews “keep the Law” as spelled out in the Torah?

Is Obedience to Torah for Today?

Q. My boss and I have been having some discussions ... we have been discussing … the Messianic movement and why they are continuing in Torah observance. ... We discussed the fact that Jesus and His disciples were Jewish and continued in their Jewishness even after accepting Him as Messiah, and that a natural-born Jew should continue in their Jewishness — which I don't think he agreed at all. Acts 21:15-25, I believe, shows that the Jews are to remain Torah-observant Jews, and that Paul was a Torah-observant Jew, and [that he did] not tell fellow Jews to turn away from Torah. What was the other verse where it talks about the same rules for Gentiles but it adds “because the Torah is taught every Shabbat”? ... He keeps going back to people believing works gets them to heaven; I told him that is not what being a Torah observant Messianic is about.

A. The reason that Messianic Jews continue in Torah observance is that G-d requires it. The only portion of the Torah that has been set aside is that which deals with the ceremonial aspects of temple worship ... impossible to follow now because there is no Temple; but in the future Kingdom ...? That is an area wide open to speculation. For me, this is the simplest line of reasoning to support Torah observance:

1. When the two primary divisions of Systematic Theology known as Theology Proper (the Doctrine of G-d) and Christology (the Doctrine of Christ, the Messiah) are correctly understood, the conclusion is reached that G-d the Father has never appeared to man at any time, and that all appearances of G-d to man at any time, whether recorded in the Apostolic Writings (so-called “New Testament”) or the Tanakh (so-called “Old Testament”), are the Person of G-d the Son (also known as Theophanies or Christophanies).

2. The Apostolic Writings teach, without any fear of contradiction, that Yeshua is G-d the Son.

3. Therefore, all appearances of G-d to man at any time are, in fact, appearances of Yeshua, whether before or after His incarnation (physical birth).

Having determined logically that all appearances of G-d in the Bible are appearances of Yeshua, we now turn to the Torah.

1. The One Who called Himself “I AM” — the One Who appeared to Moshe (Moses) on Mt. Sinai — the “I AM” who wrote the Torah in stone with His own finger and gave it to Moshe, was Yeshua.

2. The Torah, therefore, is the written record of “the commandments” (mitzvot) of Yeshua HaMashiach.

3. Yeshua said, “If you love Me, keep My mitzvot (commandments)” (John 14:15).

4. Since Yeshua’s mitzvot were given to Moshe at Sinai and recorded as the Torah, then Yeshua instructed us to keep the Torah if we love Him.

Yeshua also said:

“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law [the Torah] until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17-18)

“But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.” (Luke 16:17)

If the above line of reasoning is correct, then the Torah consists of the words of Yeshua, about which He said:

Matthew 24:35: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”

Mark 8:38: “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

Mark 13:31: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”

Luke 6:47: “Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like:”

Luke 9:26: “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”

Luke 21:33: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”

Luke 24:44: “Now He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’”

John 5:47: Show Context “ButActs 21:15-21 if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

John 14:24: Show Context
“He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.”

John 15:7: Show Context “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

Since Yeshua used the phrase “My words” to indicate his teaching (the Hebrew word for teaching or instruction is torah), then we can replace the phrase “My words” with “My Torah” in all of the above quotations, and still be accurate both logically and theologically.

I agree with your interpretation of Acts 21:15-21.

A Jew who is born a Jew is always a Jew, regardless of what he/she believes or does not believe. A Jew doesn't become a Gentile (non-Jew) by embracing Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah any more than a Chinese person who embraces Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah becomes an Anglo-Saxon (non-Chinese). [Look how many Irish-Americans celebrate St. Patrick's Day! I dare you to tell an Irish-American that he/she is no longer Irish!] But that brings us to the sticky question of who is to be Torah observant.

At the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) it was decided that Gentiles who embraced the Jewish Messiah were not required to be circumcised, nor were they required to convert to Judaism in order to be “saved” — but they could [and I believe they were expected to] learn how to follow Torah over time as they participated in the Holy Community, the Synagogue, and the “teaching of Moshe” on every Shabbat. So the question is not whether or not Messianic Jews are required to continue observing Torah (or are exempted from observing Torah), but whether or not all believers (both Jewish and non-Jewish) are obligated to observe Torah (Biblical Torah, not Rabbinic Torah).

1. The Torah is the Word of G-d.

2. All Believers are obligated to observe and follow the Word of G-d.

3. Therefore: All Believers are obligated to observe and follow the Torah of G-d.

Is obedience a condition of salvation? No. Disobedience of any kind is sin, which can be forgiven by G-d’s grace!

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of G-d; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. [Most Gentile Christians stop reading at the end of verse 9.] 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which G-d prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them [that is, walk in—perform—the good works, obey the Torah]. (Eph. 2:8-10)

Do we then obey the Torah of G-d in order to be saved? No! Rather, we obey the Torah of G-d because we have been saved and created in Yeshua HaMashiach so that we would be able to do so! We obey His mitzvot [instruction, commandments, or torah] because He asked us to, and because we love Him.

One additional thought on the subject: we are to be His disciples (talmidim).

Matthew 28:19: — “Go therefore and make disciples (talmidim) of all the nations [literally, gentiles], baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, …”

The Hebrew word that Yeshua used in this context was “talmidim,” or talmid in the singular form. A talmid, or disciple, is not a person who wishes to know that the teacher knows. Rather, a true talmid is a person who wants to be what the teacher is, and to do what the teacher does. Yeshua was obedient to Torah every moment of His life, not because He had to be, but because He chose to be. As talmidim of Yeshua, we should strive to live our lives the way he lived His life, not because we have to, but because we choose to — because that should be the desire of our hearts.

Click here for more information on the phrase “because the Torah is taught every Shabbat.”

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Do modern Messianic Jews “keep the law” as spelled out in the Torah?

Q. I’ve been trying to learn the underlying culture of Christianity. I realized just recently how much of my understanding of scripture was flawed because of my lack of understanding about Jewish (Hebrew?) heritage.

I’d be grateful for any links or information like “Messianic Judaism for dummies” or something along those lines.

One question for now...and I realize that it’s probably a big one so just an overview is fine: Do modern Messianic Jews “keep the law” as spelled out in the Torah?

I had seen a post that kind of alluded to that and I wondered.

Related to that, I was under the impression that Messiah was the final sacrifice necessary as described in Hebrews. (You know; how it contrast the year-after-year sacrifices of the priests with Jesus once-for-all sacrifice.)

I’m just trying to make sense of it and tie up loose threads in my mind...

A. To answer your question, I don’t know of a website that specifically offers “Messianic Judaism for Dummies” but I try to keep some basic information posted on my website at FamilyBible.org. I will be retiring from my secular job the end of June [2008] and plan to spend a lot more time working my website and this eGroup after that. (If you do find a “Dummies”-level website, I would certainly appreciate hearing about it.)

You asked an extremely broad question: “Do modern Messianic Jews ‘keep the law’ as spelled out in the Torah?” That question has an both an extremely narrow answer and an extremely broad answer.

The “narrow” answer is “Yes, most do to the best of their ability.” But that answer requires a lot of terms to be defined:

What does the term “Messianic Jew” include. Does it include only those of ethnic Jewish descent who have come to faith in Messiah, or does it include Gentile members of Messianic Jewish congregations?
What does it mean to “keep the Law” and what is included in “Torah”? Does that mean just the five books of Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy), the entire Tenakh (the Hebrew Scriptures, or so-called “Old Testament”), or the entire Bible (the Tenakh plus the Apostolic Scriptures, or so-called “New Testament”), or does it mean the Tenakh as interpreted by the Jewish sages in the Talmud?

Does “keep the Law” mean to earn one’s salvation by obedience to the 613 Positive and Negative Commandments compiled by Rambam in the Mishneh Torah?

There is no established “central authority” for Messianic Judaism, so there is nothing that could be categorized as a “general Messianic Jewish theology” ... there are probably at least as many different opinions as there are teachers within the Messianic Movement.

For those who come to faith in Messiah from Orthodox Judaism, I would assume that there is a greater tendency to follow Rabbinical interpretation of Torah and Talmud than there is for those who come to Messianic Judaism from other traditions.

For those who come to faith in Messiah from Conservative, Reform, or Reconstruction Judaism, I would assume that there is a tendency to continue in most of their own practices and traditions.

Among Gentile Believers who are involved with the Messianic Jewish movement, the spectrum of involvement is extremely wide, and range from those who attend Messianic services from time to time out of mere curiosity to those who seek a “formal conversion” to Judaism.

Among the leadership of the two largest American Messianic groups, the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America and the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, there has been considerable discussion of the pros and cons of establishing any kind of formal “conversion” process for those who would desire it.

One of the more prominent leaders of the MJAA is of the opinion that ethnic Jewish members of Messianic congregations should keep the entire Torah as much as possible, and should also follow the Rabbinic traditions as long as they do not contradict the written Torah (which they often do). He has stated (in my personal hearing) that he feels Gentile believers in Messiah, whether members of Messianic Jewish congregations or not, are subject only to the Noahic Commandments:

These commandments, referred to as the Noahic or Noahide commandments, are inferred from Genesis Ch. 9, and are as follows: 1) to establish courts of justice; 2) not to commit blasphemy; 3) not to commit idolatry; 4) not to commit incest and adultery; 5) not to commit bloodshed; 6) not to commit robbery; and 7) not to eat flesh cut from a living animal. These commandments are fairly simple and straightforward, and most of them are recognized by most of the world as sound moral principles.
(www.jewfaq.org/gentiles.htm#Noah)

My own personal opinion is that “it is the privilege of Believers in Mashiach to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation and their freedom from ‘bondage’ to Torah through the testimony of G-d’s Word which, however, clearly forbids the use of that liberty as an occasion to sin. Though free from ‘bondage’ to legalism, [I] believe that every person is yet accountable to the standard of righteousness that G-d has defined in His Torah. [I] believe that no man has ever been, or will ever be, saved or counted as righteous through observance of or obedience to Torah, but only through faith in Him who is the Giver of Torah, plus nothing else.”

(See more at http://www.familybible.org/About/OurBeliefs/Constitution1.htm.)

By the term “legalism” I mean the futile effort to earn God’s favor by “being good” or by “doing good.”

If I were to offer a “general rule,” I would have to say that probably the majority of Messianic congregations take the position that all believers in the Messiah, whether Jew or Gentile, although “saved by Grace through Faith plus nothing else” have a responsibility to do their best to live by God’s standard of righteousness, to be a light to the world as Messiah commanded. This would include observing all of God’s appointed Feasts and Festivals, including the seventh-day Sabbath (Fourth Commandment), and abstaining from “forbidden” foods (the most predominant of which would be pork and shellfish).

I would also think that the majority of Gentile members of Messianic congregations take the position that they consider themselves blessed and fortunate to have been “grafted in” to Israel by Grace through faith, and are privileged to partake in the blessings, the covenants, the Torah, the people, the land, and the Messiah of Israel.

Of course, with no Temple and no Priesthood, it is not possible to observe the provisions of Torah that are specific to those two institutions, just as it is not possible to observe the commandments pertaining to living in the Land of Israel for those of us who do not live there.

You are absolutely correct in your understanding that the sacrifice of Messiah was the final, ultimate, and only efficacious sacrifice for the sins of the people. However, there are a number of respected Bible scholars (mostly Dispensationalists, however) who believe that there will be “memorial” sacrifices performed as part of worship in the Millennial Temple (I haven’t yet made up my own mind on this particular issue).