The Jewish Leaders Had Forsaken the Higher Torah

Yeshua blasted the religious leaders of his day not only for not following Torah, but also for omitting the weightier matters of Torah, which are mercy, justice and faith.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. (Matt 23:23)

The Pharisees had a letter-of-the-law righteousness. But Yeshua said that the righteousness of his disciples had to exceed that of the religious Jews of that day (Matt 5:20). Yeshua wasn’t talking about the fine points of a letter-of-the-law Torah-obedience here, for it is doubtful that anyone could have surpassed the punctilious Pharisees in that arena. He must have therefore been talking about something else—something higher and beyond the mere keeping the letter of the law along with all their added legal traditions.

At the same time, sadly, the Jews had inadvertently nullified some of the Torah through their religious traditions (Mark 7:13). The Torah should be viewed as more than just a set of dos and don’ts; we should see it as pointing the way to our Father’s heart. His heart is the higher Torah. To get to YHVH’s heart we must lay aside any religious traditions that nullify the Torah-Word of  YHVH, and then follow the Torah at its purest and highest level. But merely following the letter of the Torah legalistically is not sufficient. There is something beyond that.

The Letter Kills, But the Spirit Makes Alive

The letter of the law kills, but the Spirit of the law brings life. The letter by itself brings bondage and legalism. It can even become burdensome and grievous.

Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. (2 Cor 3:6)

For this is the love of Elohim, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous/heavy or burdensome. (1 John 5:3)

Love, Not Law-Keeping, Is What Attracts

Yeshua told his disciples that men would know they were his not because they kept the Torah scrupulously to the letter, but because they walked in love for one another.

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (John 13:35)

Paul also taught that love was the greater thing in 1 Corinthians 13. Love is above all knowledge (including Torah), and all prophecy (inspired teaching of Torah).

The Higher Torah Is About Relationship

The higher Torah is this: Torah is not about bondage; it is about bonding. It is about relationship. Yeshua summed up the Torah as follows:

And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Yeshua answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; YHVH our Elohim is one YHVH: And thou shalt love YHVH thy Elohim with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one Elohim; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Yeshua saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of Elohim. And no man after that durst ask him any question. (Mark 12:28–34)

The higher Torah is about love, mercy, and faith! It is about building relationships and about bonding with your fellow man and Elohim! We can’t be bonding in love if we are constantly walking in offense, maintaining a critical spirit toward others, judging others, are religious exclusivists, or are arrogant toward those who do not believe or act as we do whether they be Christians, or even non-Christians. Rather, we must love everyone, and by a loving example show those around us the way to a higher walk or relationship with our loving Father. This is not to imply that we are to condone sin or compromise our standards of righteousness as defined by the Torah. We must simply love people into a relationship of obedience with our Father in heaven.

Yeshua said in John 13:34 that he was giving his disciples a qualitatively new commandment; they were to love one another as he had loved them, and that by their love for one another all men would know that they were his disciples. John repeats this “new” commandment in 1 John 2:8.

This “new” commandment bears a striking resemblance to the old commandment, which John says we have heard from the beginning. It is the vey ahavta or the “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” portion of the shema (Deut 6:4 and Lev 19:8 cp. Mark 12:28–31), which is the summation of that part of the Torah that relates to man loving his neighbor. The cornerstone of this part of the Torah is the last five of the Ten Commandments.

The difference between what Yeshua said and the ­vey ahavta­ is that Yeshua is now at the center of this “new” commandment. He showed us how to love our neighbor by walking out the vey ahavta, and now expects us to follow his example in this. This is another example of the higher Torah.