POSTED 25 SEPTEMBER, 2001

Have We Been "Made Dead" to the Truths of God's Word?

by J.K. McKee
editor@tnnonline.net

None of us will forget the tragic events of September 11, 2001 as the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York were destroyed with two hijacked 767s, and the Pentagon was crippled with a hijacked 757, by Al-Qaida terrorists. As President George W. Bush rightly told Congress concerning international terrorism and its perpetrators, “Whether we bring our enemies to justice, or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.”[1]

As the Torah readily tells us, “Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death” (Numbers 35:31). We are furthermore told in Revelation 21:8, “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” This means that all the Hitlers and Stalins and terrorists of the world will not be a part of God’s Eternal Kingdom. You will seldom find a Bible-believing Christian today who will disagree with these Biblically-mandated principles: those responsible for global terrorism should be hunted down and dealt with, so that people can be safe.

There are Christians today who disagree with the death penalty, and some of them hold to forms of liberal theology concerning what “sin” is. Those of us who are more conservative with what we believe Scripture tells us, are generally of the conviction that the basic premise of the “death penalty” has been instilled for humans living on Earth: murderers and terrorists in a society are to be brought to justice and rooted out by execution. It is the most extreme penalty that can be afflicted on a person in the physical world.[2]

But what of other Scriptural matters that too have been instilled for God’s people, such as the seventh-day Sabbath or Shabbat, the appointed times of Leviticus 23, the dietary laws, indeed—even the whole of the Torah? Did not the Lord tells us that His Torah was olam (~l[), meaning “eternity; remotest time; perpetuity” (Nelson)?[3] Indeed, King David sang in Psalm 119:142, “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law truth.”

Just as many Believers are rightfully seeking to enforce the death penalty on terrorists who will murder people in cold blood—why are many of the same unwilling to see some of the other principles of Biblical instruction enforced on themselves?

This article addresses a very controversial issue for many of today’s Christians who have been told that they are “free from the Law.” Many in the religious community today believe they are now “free” in some manner or another to go and violate God’s eternal principles. We will address some of the subjects that arise when Messianic Believers readily defend the Torah’s eternal validity: Do Christians understand the Torah of Moses? Do Christians know how the Torah is applied in the Apostolic Scriptures or New Testament? Can Christians claiming to have knowledge of the Torah properly apply it in the writings of the Apostle Paul, so commonly used to refute Messianic beliefs?

All too often, we as Messianic Believers unfortunately do not systematically respond to the antinomian arguments that may come from mainstream Christianity. Instead, many of us get caught up in negative emotions and claim that Christians who tell us we have put ourselves “under a yoke” or “burden,” are “lawless,” rather than examining their claims—and hence we usually defeat our purpose of defending the validity of our Heavenly Father’s Instruction. We now seek to change this misconception.

Do Christians really understand the Torah?

It is unfortunate that when many Christians come against those of us who are “Torah observant,” or more specifically believe that we should obey some of the “finer points” of Scripture such as the seventh-day Sabbath, the Biblical holidays, and the dietary laws, things that Messiah Yeshua did, that many of these same Christians do not know what they are coming against—because they have never really studied the Torah.

In this category, we do not include knowing about Biblical stories that any Believer should be familiar with. We all know about Noah and the Flood, Joseph’s coat of many colors, and the Ancient Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt—accounts many of us were taught in Sunday school. We are talking about the specifics of the 613 mitzvot (twcm) or commandments contained in the Torah. We are talking about having a specific knowledge about what God decreed for His people to keep them holy unto Him and set-apart from the world. Indeed, as stated in Deuteronomy 7:6, “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (cf. 1 Peter 2:9; Titus 2:14).

Ignorance of the Torah’s commandments is quite commonplace in today’s Christianity. A strident example of this occurs when a Messianic Believer may tell a person that he or she eats “Biblically kosher.” Very few Christians have read enough of the Torah of Moses to even know what this means. They might know that it includes abstaining from things such as pork (Leviticus 11:7; Deuteronomy 14:8), but not that it also means abstaining from shellfish such as crab, lobsters, clams, and oysters (Leviticus 11:9-12; Deuteronomy 14:9-10). Furthermore, many of the same Christians readily conclude that being “Biblically kosher” includes things such as not mixing milk and meat, having two sets of regular dishes, eating gefilte fish, and other practices that are commonly associated with today’s Orthodox Judaism.

Certainly, I am not against those practices that have helped solidify Jewish identity throughout the centuries, although many of them may be based more on Rabbinical rulings and certain interpretations of Scripture. The problem with many Christians is that they believe that Orthodox Judaism today is a carbon copy of the Judaism that Yeshua was part of in the First Century, which it is not. (Likewise, the “Christianity” of today is not like the religion of the early Believers.) Many of the same readily forget that the Messiah had problems with some of the extra-Biblical practices that were adhered to in His time, which resulted in hypocrisy for many (Matthew 23).[4]

There is an old saying: know your enemy. In other words, before you come against something, know what you are coming against. Do not fly blind or attack something that you know little or nothing about. Unfortunately, this is the case for many Christians who attack the veracity of the Torah. They do not know what they are attacking, and they should be ashamed of what they are doing. If they truly realized it, the same Christians who are coming against what we as Messianic Believers stand for—are coming against the very heart and soul of our faith—which is that our loving Heavenly Father gave His Divine Instruction to His children by which we are to live. But, since many Christians do not regularly read the Torah, and in many cases may have never read it, they do not know how the Torah is applied in the words of Yeshua and when Paul discusses the intricacies of the Law.

For insight into some of the most seriously overlooked Scriptures in our Bible, we highly recommend that you follow the yearly Torah-reading cycle every week. In synagogues worldwide a particular portion or parashah of the Torah, usually a few chapters of Scripture, is read and discussed so that after a year you have read through it in its entirety.

The Torah in the Apostolic Scriptures

A fundamental problem exists today among many Christians, especially in their dealings with us as Messianic Believers. Although we should always remember that we serve the same God, the God of Israel, and know the same Savior, Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) as our Redeemer—we do have differences in regard to the character of our Heavenly Father. Many of your average Christians will not come out and say “I do not believe that the Law of Moses does not serve a purpose,” but rather in their walk with the Lord it is obvious that they want to do as little as possible in regard to obedience. We would also emphasize, whether realizing it or not, that many of these same people have a convoluted view of Divine “love” as I have had some actually tell me, “We do not feel obligated to observe commandments that are not evident of grace and love,” forgetting the entire purpose of the Torah altogether. It is thought that only some of God’s commandments actually came from God!

In order for us to have an appropriate understanding of the Torah of Moses, we must first realize that love and grace, concepts that many Christians readily take for granted, have always been characteristics of God. Love and grace existed in the wilderness when the Lord formally gave the commandments to Moses; they did not “begin” at the cross. Yeshua is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8, KJV), meaning that grace was present in the wilderness and during the Exodus. Why did God not destroy the Ancient Israelites when they disobeyed Him in the desert (cf. Exodus 32:9-14)? Was it because of strict “law,” or because of His grace and mercy?

Of course, many Christians eagerly quote Matthew 22:36-40 as “proof” that they “obey the Law”:

“‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ 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 foremost commandment. The second is like it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.’”

The problem with viewing these commandments in a strict “New Testament” context is that these principles are resonated throughout the Torah. Consider Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and Leviticus 19:18, which Yeshua was directly repeating:

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).

“You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:18).

If we believe that these Torah principles stand as Yeshua readily affirmed the validity of the Torah in His words, actions, and deeds (Matthew 5:17-19), then what of the so-called “negative” Torah principles that Christians today frequently discard? Do they not understand that by keeping our Father’s commandments that His love for us is evidenced in them? Do they not understand that God’s commandments are for our benefit as safeguards?

We Messianic Believers are also readily quoted John 13:34 by many Christians: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

Certainly, none of us should disagree with this clear admonition from our Lord. Indeed, He told us to agapaō (agapaw) one another, that agapē (agaph) love being so powerful that “Greater love [agapē] has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). But the Apostle John also writes, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:2-3). And Deuteronomy 11:1 tells us, “You shall therefore love the Lord your God, and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.”

An important point we would like to make note of in John 13:34 is the understanding of “new” in this verse. Obviously, the admonition to love one another was in the Torah and was not “entirely new,” but most Bibles render the Greek kainos (kainoß) as “new” and many readers get that impression.

The Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament by Barclay M. Newman gives us some varied meanings of kainos, including, “new; of new quality; unused; unknown, unheard of.”[5] It has been validly argued that some in Yeshua’s time did not emphasize many of the “heart commandments” of the Torah and instead focused on outward observances, forgetting basic Torah principles such as love, grace, and respect. First Century Israel had been under the occupation of the Romans, and with the exception of a brief period of independence under the Maccabees, the Jewish people had been dominated by foreign powers since the Babylonian dispersion. It would have been very easy for people to forget to love others, especially those outside the community of Israel. The commandment to love could have easily gone “unused.”

The characteristics of love and grace do not negate safeguards that our Heavenly Father wants us to be aware of and follow. Just as the Ancient Israelites were, so can we be set-apart from the world in which we live and be holy unto Him by obeying the Torah, and even by obeying those “finer points” that much of Christianity has cast aside or ignored.

Once Again, There is No “Church”

The most common refutation that is directed toward many Messianics concerning obedience to the Torah is very simply: “We are not Jewish and we do not feel that those laws apply to us.” If we were to look at it another way, this is really no different than the argument that many Christians use which says, “Jesus was speaking to the Jews in this passage, so it doesn’t apply to me.” If that is our logic when following the Messiah’s words, before long you do not have very much that applies to “you” in terms of either written Scripture or God’s revelation.

It should be emphasized that a great deal of today’s evangelical Christian doctrine is contingent on the presupposition that God has two groups of elect or chosen ones: Israel and “the Church.” The so-called “Church” is considered to compose all those who have put their faith in the Messiah from Shavuot/Pentecost to the present, and likewise Israel is considered to be the Jewish people. But let us reemphasize one thing—very clearly—Israel was divided into the Two Houses of Judah and Israel/Ephraim, two Kingdoms that split after the reign of King Solomon. These two groups of people—and those from the nations—will be reunited as a single people of Israel before Yeshua returns in fulfillment of Bible prophecy.[6] Israel is not solely composed of the Jewish people, so it is incorrect to say that Israel is “all Jews” and those of us who are not Jewish should not obey so-called “Jewish mitzvot.” All of God’s commandments are for all of God’s people.

It is correct to say that there are commandments for all Israel in Scripture, those that apply to all of God’s children. Born again Believers in Messiah Yeshua are a part of the community of Israel (Ephesians 2:11-12). For as the Torah says, “These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the sons of Israel at Mount Sinai” (Leviticus 27:34).

But what of the entity that is commonly called “the Church”? To put it candidly: it simply does not exist. There is no reference in Scripture to our Heavenly Father ever making a covenant with an entity known as “the Church,” but there are numerous references in Scripture to Him making a covenant with the people of Israel.[7] The concept of “the Church” as a second group of elect is unbiblical and is contrived on only a few passages such as Matthew 16:18, when Yeshua supposedly tells Peter that on Himself He will “build My church.” However, the Greek verb oikodomeō (oikodomew) could just as well be translated “rebuild” or “restore,” a direct reference to the Messiah’s reestablishing the divided Kingdom of Israel as Jeremiah 33:7 translated from the Septuagint, or ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, reads, “I will turn the captivity of Juda, and the captivity of Israel, and will build [oikodomeō] them, even as before” (LXE). Translated from the Hebrew verb banah (hnB) for “build,” Jeremiah 33:7 reads, “I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and will rebuild [banah] them as they were at first” (NASU).

The understanding of “Church” as it is understood among many Christians today is based on an inaccurate rendering of the Greek term ekklēsia (ekklhsia), which more properly means “assembly,” as ekklēsia is employed in the LXX to refer to Israel in many passages to translate the Hebrew term qahal (lhq).[8] This usage of ekklēsia, without question, was known by the Apostolic writers when they wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in reference to the people of Israel, not “the Church.”[9] Our understanding of what assembly of chosen ones we as born again Believers are part of, is best understood when the Apostle Paul tells us we are a part of “the commonwealth of Israel” (Ephesians 2:11-12). This should end any confusion of “the Church” being a viable entity of elect outside those who are born again and part of the ekklēsia of Israel.[10]

But what of the principles that govern Israel? Have they been dispensed with? If as Believers we are a part of Israel as opposed to “the Church,” are we not then obligated to obey God’s Torah? The answer is a clear: Yes!

In this hour many of us believe that the Lord has begun to restore all Israel. He says that in the end, “My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them” (Ezekiel 37:24). We are told that when all Israel is united that they all will be keeping the Torah.

Some Christians have heard and nominally accepted the message of all Israel being reunited, but the issue of “Torah observance” continues to be a pitfall for many. Many Christians will even eagerly consider themselves to perhaps be a part of returning Israel that has been scattered into the nations, and eagerly desire to be united with the Jewish people. At the very least, they consider themselves to be a part of Israel or connected to Israel in some way. But many of the same are unfortunately unwilling to take that responsibility seriously—not realizing that most Jewish people reject Jesus as Messiah because of “Christian” (mis)handling of the Torah. Our Jewish brethren are not impressed by what they see, by-and-large in practice, of a Messiah that came to “do away” with—or even “fulfill and thus abolish”—the Torah of Moses.

By not keeping the Torah, non-Jewish Believers have not been provoking Jews to jealousy for faith in Yeshua (cf. Romans 11:11) and are hindering the Messiah from returning. Why? Because only when Judah sees returning Israel doing what “he does”—according to the prophecies—obeying the Torah, coupled with faith in Yeshua, will he be compelled to want such satisfaction and hence be open to the gospel. If we are all serious about living a life like the Messiah’s—we will follow the Torah! Only then can any of us fulfill the mandate to provoke Jews to jealousy.

Isaiah 8:14 tells us concerning Yeshua, “Then He shall become a sanctuary; but to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, and a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” Both Jews and Christians generally have their own diluted views of the Messiah: one as a First Century heretic, and the other as one whose job it was to abrogate the “Old Testament Law.” Among many “Christians” who believe they should “honor the Law” is the false idea that we can “pick-and-choose” what to follow. In other words, we can follow the “moral commandments” but not the “ceremonial commandments.” But the character of God suggests otherwise, and the “pick-and-choose” method employed is flawed.[11]

The Lord told Ancient Israel in Deuteronomy 25:13-14, “You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a large and a small. You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small” (cf. Leviticus 19:36; Proverbs 20:10, 23).

Has this basic premise changed? Does the Lord tolerate differing weights and measures? No. God says “For I, the Lord, do not change” (Malachi 3:6). God does not have a double standard, but man does. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways” (Isaiah 55:8). Human beings might think it necessary to sift through what they like and do not like in the Torah, or what is applicable to “the Church,” but Biblically we do not have that luxury. We must take the entire Scriptures and the entire Torah as being for the Believer. This includes the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath or Shabbat, the appointed times, and the dietary laws, among other things.

A Proper Understanding of Romans 7:1-7

In the previous sections, we have laid the appropriate groundwork for understanding the context of Romans 7:1-7. When we interpret this Scripture passage, we must emphasize its Torah background. If we do not have a basis in the Torah’s commandments, we can have a tendency to misinterpret the Apostle Paul’s words.

As we have detailed before, it is our position as a ministry that the Torah or the Law of Moses is applicable for Believers today. We do not believe that it was “nailed to the cross” or “done away with” as many Christians believe. We do emphasize, however, that holding the Torah in a perspective consistent with the life and teachings of Yeshua is very important, as He is the Word made flesh and it is by His interpretation we follow it. The Messiah kept the Sabbath, the Biblical festivals, and the dietary laws, just to name a few things. Any objective, historical examination of the Gospels will reveal this.

But what about the Apostle Paul, the writings of whom so many use to support a denial of the Torah? What is he saying when Believers “have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter” (Romans 7:6)? Is Paul saying that it was the Torah itself that bound us and that we have been released from it by no longer being obligated to obey it? As we observed earlier, there are eternal principles in the Torah—such as love and grace and mercy—which we are commanded by God to have for one another. Just as many cast aside truths that the Messianic movement has been fortunate enough to revive, such as the Biblical holidays and Sabbath, are we expected to likewise cast aside love and grace? Surely not.

We now provide appropriate commentary of Romans 7:1-7, analyzing what Paul is really telling us what we have been released from:

“Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man” (Romans 7:1-3).

In the first part of this passage Paul compares the position of the Believer to the married woman who “is legally bound to her husband while he lives” (HCSB). The Greek text says dedetai nomō (dedetai nomw), lacking the definite object, which could very well mean that it is speaking of only a specific instruction and not the Torah in its entirety. The NASU does not capitalize “law,” reflecting an interpretation that something more generic, or perhaps even more specific, is being referred to. YLT renders this as, “for the married woman to the living husband hath been bound by law.”

The Greek verb translated “bound” is deō (dew) meaning, “to bind, i.e., put under obligation” (Thayer).[12] Paul later goes on and tells us that while the husband is living she is obligated to observe this instruction. If during their marriage she violates this “law” she is considered to be practicing infidelity, but if he dies and she remarries, she is not considered unfaithful.

The critical admonition here, that so many Christians miss, is how Torah commandments are relating to what Paul is saying. There are regulations in the Torah that specifically relate to marriage and are hence only applicable to married people. They are not applicable to those who are unmarried or who are widowed. For example, Leviticus 18:19 tells us “you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during her menstrual impurity.” What this means is that during a woman’s time of menstruation, no sexual contact is to occur with her husband. Obviously, if a woman is widowed as Romans 7:1-3 is speaking of, a woman is no longer applicable to the commandment to abstain from intercourse with her husband, because she is no longer married and can no longer have sexual relations with her husband. Paul writes, “if her husband dies she is discharged from the law concerning the husband” (Romans 7:2, RSV).[13]

If during her marriage the woman violates her marriage covenant by having an affair with another man, she has violated the Law. But, if she joins with another man after her first husband dies, just as she joined with her first husband, she has broken no commandment. By properly understanding the intricacies of the Torah, we can now understand what Paul is telling us:

“Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Messiah, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God” (Romans 7:4).

So often theologians read Romans 7:4 forgetting its Torah background. Paul is not saying that we have been made dead to the entirety of the Torah through the sacrifice of Yeshua. What did the Messiah come and die for? Did He die to do away with the Torah of Moses? No, because He said “truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matthew 5:18; cf. Luke 16:17). The married woman in Romans 7:1-3 was not removed from the entirety of the Torah and its moral standards simply because her husband died. What happened, rather, was that a particular part of the Torah—the instruction concerning marriage—was made non-applicable to her.

Yeshua has freed us as Believers from a particular aspect from the Torah. Paul writes in Galatians 3:13, “The Messiah redeemed us from the curse pronounced in the Torah by becoming cursed on our behalf” (CJB). Yeshua’s death, burial, and resurrection did not free us from the entirety of the Law of Moses and its standard of God’s holiness; He freed us from its death penalty pronounced upon sinners. Because born again Believers are covered by His shed blood, we are no longer taken out and executed for our violation of the commandments. And as a result, we will not experience the judgment of the Lake of Fire and be eternally separated from God. But even though our sin is covered, we certainly should not seek to disobey our Heavenly Father.

This is how we as Believers have “died to the Law.” We have not died to the eternal truths exemplified in God’s Word established in the Torah such as justice, grace, mercy, and love.

This understanding is now perfectly evident when we read Romans 7:5-6:

“For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”

Before we became Believers, repented of our sin, received Yeshua into our lives, and had His blood covering, we continually violated the Torah and were fully applicable to its penalties. But as blood-washed born again Believers with the Holy Spirit, we have been released from that state and now serve the Lord “in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”

This second verse has been under much scrutiny as many have a false understanding of the “oldness of the letter.” The NIV translates this as “we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” Many Christians readily conclude that this “written code” (also translated as such in RSV, NRSV, and ESV) spoken of contains the commandments of the Law of Moses. But, how do we obey God if we do not follow this so-called “written code” and instead obey Him in what we might call the vague “new way of the Spirit”? The Apostle John had some very strong words by stating, “The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). One who claims to honor the Torah “in the Spirit,” but does not attempt to even do it in the physical, is, according to John, speaking falsehoods.

Some Bibles have provided an inaccurate rendering of the original Greek text that is not literal. Paul was not speaking of the “written code,” but rather the gramma (gramma)—very clearly the “letter.”[14] If our lives are solely concentrated on the written letter of the Torah, without Yeshua’s atoning work, then certainly our observance is in vain and we will misapply its instruction. Our fleshly desires will be aroused and we may find ourselves applicable to the Torah’s penalties. But with the Holy Spirit and Yeshua’s example guiding us, then we can truly be in the will of our Heavenly Father.

Anyone can follow the Torah in its strictest sense without Yeshua, but still be going straight to Hell. Indeed, our Messiah told some Pharisees, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27). It is one thing to keep the Torah in the natural, but it is another thing to be following it with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

We now arrive at the apex of this critical text:

“What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet’” (Romans 7:7).

In this verse the Apostle Paul very clearly emphasizes that the Torah is not sin, but is in fact something that is to reveal the sin in one’s life, resulting in a person crying out for salvation. He does not say that keeping the Law of Moses is “sin,” as so many Messianic Believers can be told by their Christian colleagues. We are, rather, following the Biblical examples given to us by the lives of Yeshua, Paul, and the other Apostles—and hopefully for us, we are guided by the Spirit of God and not by “outward observances.” Hopefully, we have each experienced the new birth inside of us so that we might not be keeping rote “rules and regulations”—but rather our Heavenly Father’s safeguards for our well-being.

Have we been “made dead” to the truths of God’s Word?

In this article, we have established that many of the concepts that Christians only perceive as being revealed in the “New Testament,” such as love and grace and mercy, were in fact established in the Torah. We have also established that, as a part of Israel, born again Believers should be keeping the Torah. If all Israel is to be reunited in the Messiah, and Jewish people are to be provoked to jealousy and truly see Yeshua for who He is—upholding the Father’s Instruction—then we all need to keep it ourselves. Foremost above all, if we have been “made dead to the Law” in that it is no longer applicable today, does that mean that we are dead to eternal truths and principles established in the Torah? Does this mean we are no longer to be the upright, moral, just, loving, and grace-filled people as the Torah admonishes us to be?

Messianic Believers have often been misrepresented in the Christian world concerning our position of Torah validity, because so many Christians do not know what the Torah says about these things. They do not know what they are “attacking” and what they truly have been made “dead to.” Born again Believers have been freed from the Torah’s death penalty and its ultimate consequence, which is eternal damnation. We have not been “freed” from the truths of God’s Word established in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. We are not free to go out and become lawless persons who have no high and holy standard of living. The Lord admonishes us in the Torah to know that He is full of love and grace, and so are we to be in our dealings with other people:

“Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments” (Deuteronomy 7:9).

J.K. McKee (B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A. Student, Asbury Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is a Messianic apologist. He is author of several books, including: The New Testament Validates Torah, Torah In the Balance, Volume I, and When Will the Messiah Return?. He has also written many articles on the Two Houses of Israel and Biblical theology, and is presently focusing on Messianic commentaries on various books of the Bible.

NOTES

edited for spelling/grammar
30 July, 2007