Law - 'Versus' - Grace
by Rev. Allan Moorhead
Part 2
Purposes of Torah
To get a greater understanding of Torah we must understand its purpose. There are many reasons for Torah. Contained in the Torah are theological concepts such as sin, sacrifice, salvation, sanctification, and revealing the Messiah. Many of the sacrifices and feasts were given as 'witnesses' to reveal the 'One' who is to come.Let's look at some of the purposes:
1. Torah was given to know God. God gave us his Word so we can understand him better. Torah was given to help us get a glimpse of the Father of Heaven. Torah helped us to see where we came from and to get a small understanding of the awesomeness of God and his creation. Torah reveals the good, holy, just, and perfect nature of God.
2. Torah was given to help us know how to worship God and to praise him. Torah teaches us what pleases and displeases God.
3. Torah was given as a covenant to Israel. Deuteronomy 29:1 says, "These are the words of the covenant, which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab." Here in the land of Moab, God reaffirmed the covenant that he originally spoke to the people at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:5-8). Remember that the people agreed to the covenant when God spoke from Mount Sinai. The people said, "All that the LORD hath spoken we will do" (Exodus 19:8).
4. Torah reveals conditions of covenant. We see this in Deuteronomy 28 where God promises to bless Israel if they obey Him. Those who obey will be blessed and shall prosper. No enemy shall overcome them. All the people of the earth shall be afraid of Israel and fear God. Israel shall multiply and be blessed in all their labors. They shall lend to the nations and not borrow. Israel shall be the head and not the tail. Saul's letter to Timothy sums this up. "But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully" (1Timothy 1:8). On the other hand if Israel does not obey the terms of the covenant then curses shall come upon them. They will be cursed wherever they go. They will perish. Disease and pestilence will come upon them. The land will not produce. No rain will come down (physical and spiritual). Her enemies (physical and spiritual) will overcome them. Israel will be scattered to the nations. Wives and children will be given to others. Romans 4:15 tells us that "the law worketh wrath" when disobeyed. The Torah only becomes a curse when disobeyed. Deuteronomy 30:19-20 really sums up this part of the covenant when he spoke to Israel saying, "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. "
5. Torah is a constitution for Israel on how to conduct their lives and how to form a government much like our own constitution. Torah helps keep order and protects the inhabitants of the land. Torah not only protects Israel but also the gentiles who decide to live in Israel. However, the gentiles were also required to follow Torah if they lived in the land. Torah instructed Israel how to treat each other and how to develop interpersonal relationships. These interpersonal relationships are taught in the Old and New Covenants. Leviticus 19:18 says "Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD." Galatians 6:2 says "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 5:14 says, "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
6. Torah is a wedding contract (katubah). The Jews believe that when God appeared to them at Mount Sinai that they were married to Him. In Exodus 6:6-7 we see God redeem Israel and take them to be his people. This is similar to a man taking a woman in marriage. God approached Israel in a cloud. This was the chuppah like in a wedding. The physical sign of this marriage was the Sabbath, as compared to a ring (Exodus 31:12-17). (Ref. Torah Rediscovered page 11-13). With Yeshua as the living Torah, believers are also engaged to God in a marriage contract waiting on the day of consummation. We are the bride of the Messiah. God does not have two wives, for instance, Israel and bride of the Messiah. He has only one, which is Israel and those grafted in. As the bride of Messiah we are linked to the marriage contract. This ties us to Israel.
7. Torah reveals sin. Romans 5:13 says that "For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law." Romans 7:9 says "For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." Romans 7:13 says "…that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful." Romans 3:20 says "…for by the law is the knowledge of sin." The Torah reveals our sinfulness and the need for a Messiah. It must be understood here that the Torah was never given as a means for salvation. It reveals our need for salvation but following Torah will not give salvation. Torah was never intended to bring salvation. This is an important fact to understand. There is an order that God gives to bring a person into the fullness of God. First comes faith. Then comes obedience. Faith is the salvation, justification, and sanctification (holiness) part. By faith all believers are sanctified by the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:16). Saul explains this further by saying, "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law" (Romans 3:28).
Obedience is the next step for a believer to lead a protected and righteous life to show the evidence of justification. Obedience to God's Torah is also how a person is measured in this life and the next. This will be discussed more in part four when the topic will be about the believer's relationship to the Torah.
There is another part of sanctification that is seldom spoken of. That is when God is sanctified in the eyes of Israel or the world. This is when God's word is fulfilled. This could be a fulfillment of blessings or judgments. Leviticus 22:31-32 says, "Therefore shall ye keep my commandments, and do them: I am the LORD. Neither shall ye profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed (sanctified) among the children of Israel: I am the LORD, which hallow you (sanctify). When Israel obeyed God, God was sanctified in their sight and the nations of the world. God certainly would get upset when Israel failed to sanctify him by trusting in his word. For example, when Moses failed to speak to the rock for water and struck it instead, God refused to let Moses into the promise land. This is because Moses failed to sanctify God before Israel. Moses was disobedient. This same concept can be applied to our own obedience. When we fail to obey God's word, we fail to sanctify Him before others and ourselves. This doesn't mean we lose our salvation but it could result in God's blessings being pulled from our lives if we don't repent and seek forgiveness through Yeshua. Remember, we must first believe in God's faith promise through Yeshua like Abraham and then obey God's word (Torah) through Yeshua. When we obey His commandments we are blessed and we sanctify God before men. There are many who have this backwards. First they think they must obey Torah and then trust in God, or perhaps they never trust in God. This leads to trying to justify themselves by their own works. How many do you know of that justify themselves by their own righteousness by some work that they have done. This is wrong and Saul condemns this approach. You can never justify yourself by being obedient to Torah. Justifying yourself by following Torah will lead to failure. Obedience to Torah must always come after faith because justification is only by faith. This is the area of Torah that Saul mostly talked about in his letters. He condemned those who tried to justify themselves using Torah instead of faith. As we shall see as we go on, Saul dealt with the law mostly in three concepts:
1. Law as far as justifying ourselves by it.
2. Ceremonial law such as circumcision and laws of separation
3. The "law of sin" or the "law of sin and death."
This is the part of God's law that condemned us whenever we broke a commandment. It certainly made us realize a need for a Messiah who could deliver us from our sins. Whenever Saul talks about law, most of the negative statements about the law fits under one of these three concepts and not the Torah in general.
8. Torah is a schoolmaster to lead us to Messiah. Galatians 3:23-25 tells us "But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster." There needs to be a further interpretation of this scripture to clarify it better. The term 'under the law' is often thought as something really bad. This is not the case. The word 'under' has several meanings. It can mean underneath, below or time, and inferior position or condition. It has been used in terms like: under the wings, under a shadow, under the power, under sin, under the cloud, under tutors, under my footstool, etc... The word 'under' is used quite often as under a covering of some sort. Thus, it could be said that Israel was under the 'covering of the law'. The word 'shut up' is more of a protective state. This means that the law protected Israel until "the time appointed of the father" (Galatians 4:2) in which faith was revealed through Yeshua. The term 'schoolmaster' is a Greek term indicating a type of bodyguard that picks up the children, and protects them, until he delivers them to the teacher. The schoolmaster is not the teacher but brings them to the teacher. Once we have faith in Messiah we no longer need a schoolmaster. Now we have the teacher.
9. Torah reveals the Messiah through the prophetic word or by the witness work of feasts, temple ceremonies, and sacrifices. This alone is a major scriptural journey. We won't address the 'witnesses' in this teaching.
10. Torah teaches believers how to be happy and prosperous by allowing God's power and authority to reign in our lives. Joshua 1:8 says "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." Psalm 1:1-3 tells us to delight in the law and be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters. Then we will be fruitful, and prosper, and not a leaf will wither.
11. The Torah is the measure of a man's deeds toward God and his fellow man. Remember that Psalms 19:11 say that there is reward for those who follow Torah. 2Timothy 2:5 says "man is not crowned, except he strive lawfully." 1Corinthians 3:13-15 says "Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive that things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." There is more to our lives with Yeshua than just salvation.
12. Torah is to be written in our hearts by the Spirit of God through Yeshua by faith.
The goal of the Torah is always to express LOVE.
Deuteronomy 6:5 tells us 'Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." Saul tells us in Galatians 5:14, "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Saul is speaking from Leviticus 19:18 which also commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves. James 2:8 tells us that this commandment to love our neighbors is known as the royal law. Since Yeshua also taught on the same thing, I guess we can say we are under the royal law, in case someone tells you we are not under law anymore. In fact, if someone asks you if you are under the law, you can reply that "yes, I'm under perfect the law of liberty (James 1:25; which is pointing back to Psalms 119:45), the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2), the law of the Spirit (Romans 8:2), as well as the royal law (James 2:8)."Salvation and Torah
Torah is not the way to salvation. This was said before but it needs to be reemphasized. Torah is not a faith covenant, which came through Abraham and eventually Yeshua. Torah requires obedience to get maximum benefit of blessings. Torah did not promise the inheritance but protected the inheritors. Torah did protect and secure the promise of Abraham. Torah protected the nation so that it can enjoy its inheritance. It also protected the redeemed individual so he/she could also enjoy their inheritance. It also protected the unredeemed until God chooses to reveal himself to them. Also for the unredeemed, Torah points out sin and condemns them for it. This is to convince them of the need of forgiveness and the need for the Messiah. For the redeemed, Torah is a way of life to demonstrate our sanctification and to let God bless our lives. However, if we chose to walk in sin or in the flesh, Torah will also convict us to cause us to repent and return to his holiness. Have you ever done something wrong and felt bad about it? This is Torah in your heart. It is God speaking to you to help you hit the mark. Deuteronomy 30:14-15 tells us "But the word is very near you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may observe it. See, I have set before you today life and prosperity." Jeremiah 31:33 says, "I shall put my Torah within them, and on their heart I will write it." By the Spirit of God is Torah written in the hearts of the redeemed. Remember, Yeshua is Torah in the flesh. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Messiah (Romans 8:9). Therefore, it can be said that Torah is manifested in three ways:1. Written Torah. This is the letter of the law. It is limited. It is impossible to write into Torah every possible circumstance the redeemed community may face. This can cause unfair judgments and lack of mercy. Thus, the letter can become unyielding and the letter can kill.
2. Torah in the flesh. This is the Word of God that became flesh. Yeshua became the living fleshly Torah to be our teacher. It is this manifestation of Torah that redeemed us.
3. Torah in the Spirit. This is Torah written in our hearts by the Spirit of the Messiah or the Holy Spirit. This is a much better way to go. The Spirit can lead you into all righteousness and under any circumstance we may face. This is of course if we walk in the Spirit.Remember, following Torah becomes a way of life. You cannot get better saved by following the Torah, but blessings and curses can and will occur in this life depending on being obedient to Torah in its new manifestation. More will be spoken on this in part four about our relationship to Torah.
When James said "be doers of the Word" (James 1:22-25), what Word was he taking about? The only Word available at that time was Torah. So the first bishop of Jerusalem, half brother of Yeshua, is telling us to be doers of Torah. To be doers of the Word, we have to know what Torah says. Also, in Saul's letter to Timothy, Saul tells Timothy "Study to show thyself approved" (2Timothy 2:15).Again study what? This can only be the Torah. So James and Saul are telling us to be doers and students of Torah. The canon of the New Covenant was not available for yet a hundred plus years after these men wrote these letters.
Torah after Yeshua
One must understand the history of the church after Yeshua to understand what happened to Torah in the church. When the gentiles came into the church, they worshipped God with the Jews in the synagogues. Although it was uncomfortable at times, the Jews put up with them. This continued even after the temple was destroyed in 70 AD. Afterwards conflicts began to occur when the non-believing Jews began to say a curse ("benediction") against all those who held to pagan and heretical beliefs. This curse was aimed toward the believing Jews and believing gentiles. The gentiles began to meet away from the synagogues. A rift between the Jews and the gentiles began to grow.
In the year 135 AD, the Bar Kochba revolt began against the Romans. The believing Jews refused to help fight against the Romans because Rabbi Akiva declared that Bar Kochba was the Messiah. The believing Jews wanted no part of Bar Kochba. This began a major rift between believing and non-believing Jews.
Because the Romans hated the Jews, the gentile church began to separate themselves from anything Jewish. The gentile church, trying to avoid persecution because of their relationship to the Jews, now broke with their Hebraic foundation. The Romans considered Christians just another Jewish sect at this time. The gentile church began to read into Saul's letters that Yeshua must have done away with anything Jewish including the Torah. This is because of their Greek mindset. Remember that the Hebraic foundation had been severed and thus misunderstandings of Saul's letter began. Sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday. It was forbidden to celebrate the feasts of God. Soon afterwards vial things were said about all Jews, which are still being used this day against them.
One of the early 2nd Century leaders of the church was Marcion. His belief was that the Old Testament was about a bad, mean, unloving, God who seemed to enjoy judging people. Jesus on the other hand came from a good God and overcame the bad God of the Old Testament. Marcion completely rejected all Old Testament scriptures. He was totally against anything that could be remotely related to the Jews. Marcion taught that grace replaced the law and that the two were totally separate. Eventually Marcion was declared a heretic but his teachings and thoughts are still prevalent in the church today.
Historian Hugh Schonfield had this to say about this period
"…For them (gentile church) the destruction of Jerusalem and the cessation of the Temple services meant the end of the law. It came to them as a happy release from the incubus of Judaism and left them free to develop a Christian philosophy of their own better suited to the Gentile temperament" (Torah Rediscovered page 121).
Early Church Leader quotes concerning the law
In the Epistle of Barnabas (130-138 AD) we read words of a man named Barnabas condemning those who were sympathetic to the Jews and perhaps the Torah, "Take heed to yourselves and be not like some, piling up your sins and saying that the covenant is theirs as well as ours. It is ours, but they lost it completely just after Moses received it…" (Epistle 4:6-7) (Torah Rediscovered page 123)
Early gentile church leader Justin Martyr (100-165 AD) said this, "We too, would observe your circumcision of the flesh, your Sabbath days, and in a word all your festivals, if we were not aware of the reason why they were imposed upon you, namely, because of your sins and your hardness of heart" (Dialogue 18, 2, Torah Rediscovered page 123)
One of the fourth century church leaders John Chrysostom said this about the Jews, "How can Christians dare "have the slightest converse with the Jews, "most miserable of all men… men who are rapacious, greedy, perfidious bandits… ravenous murderers, destroyers, men possessed by the devil…" The Synagogue? It is the "domicile of the devil, as is also the soul of the Jews," Their religion is "a disease". Chrysostom continued, "He who can never love Christ enough will never have done fighting against them (the Jews) who hate him. Flee, then, their assemblies, flee their houses, and far from venerating the synagogue because of the books it contains hold it in hatred and aversion for the same reason. I hate the synagogue precisely because it has the law and the Prophets…I hate the Jews because they outrage the law." (Torah Rediscovered page 124-125)
So it happened. All that God intended as good became something evil in the mind of the gentile church. For almost 1800 years Torah was hidden from men. This is similar to the story of the priest Hilkiah and king Josiah in 2Kings chapters 22 and 23. After many years of the rule of wicked Manasseh and his son Amon, Josiah became king. After several years of rule Josiah ordered the house of the LORD to be repaired. During this reconstruction the priest Hilkiah found the book of the Law. This book was then read to Josiah. Josiah then ripped his clothes upon hearing the words of the book. Josiah ordered the book read before all the people to hear the words of the LORD. Josiah and the people repented and cleaned up the land. The idols were removed from the temple of God and burned. Idolatrous priests were destroyed. The houses of the Sodomites were destroyed. All forms of false worship were destroyed. Wizards, spirit workers, and all abominations were put away. Afterwards a great Passover was held. The Torah had a great effect on the people. Repentance and works of righteousness followed after learning the word of God.
What happened to Josiah can still happen today!
Torah is being understood rightly again after 1800 years. Let's hear the Word of the LORD and clean up our own temples. Let it affect our souls like it did Josiah and the people of Israel. Although there are some manifestations that have changed, and covenantal promises that are different today, but we should still have the right attitude toward the Torah of God and delight in the Torah of God. Maybe a greater understanding of Torah will lead to repentance in this nation like it did in Israel during Josiah's reign. I pray that it does.
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