What Is the Purpose of the Torah?

The purpose of the Torah is to show man how to walk in right relationship (or righteousness) with his Creator. It shows us how to love YHVH with all one’s heart, soul, mind and strength (Deut 6:5; Mark 12:30) and love one’s neighbor as oneself (Lev 19:18; Mark 12:30). Once one is saved by grace through faith (see my teaching article on our web site entitled: The Abrahamic Covenant: The Covenant of Salvation), the Torah then helps show man how to walk in the straight and narrow path, which leads to blessings and life and avoidance of curses (Deut. 30:15; 32:47). The Torah shows man how to avoid sin, which is the violation of YHVH’s Torah-commandments (1 John 3:4). Sin is walking contrary to YHVH’s instructions in righteousness, which are for our blessing and benefit.

The Torah does not set an impossible standard by which to live. We must ask ourselves, would a righteous and just Creator and a loving Heavenly Father give to his chosen people a set of standards that were humanly impossible to perform, then curse them for their inability to meet these standards? Of course not. Rather, the Torah sets a standard of faith, trusting in Elohim, and of following its system of repentance and sacrifice for obtaining forgiveness from Elohim and restoring a condition of being considered righteous in his sight. After all, Moses, the human instrument through which YHVH revealed the Torah to the children of Israel, states in Deuteronomy 30:11-14:

For this [Torah] commandment which I command you this day, it is not hidden from you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou should say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou should say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that thou may do it.

Paul quotes this very passage in Romans 10:6-8 where he relates the written Torah to Yeshua, the Living Torah or Word of Elohim incarnate (in the flesh, see John 1:1, 14). He shows that the Torah and Yeshua are synonymous and that Messiah Yeshua came to live and reveal to us the righteousness of the Torah-law (verse 4) that is available to us if we will but have a heartfelt faith in him (verses 4, 9-10), and allow him to live out his righteousness in us through the empowering work of the Spirit of Elohim. In verses 11 through 21, Paul goes on to relate this very truth to being the central message of the gospel that Isaiah prophesied (Isa. 52:7) would be preached to redeem both houses of Israel to Yeshua their Messiah.

• It might be said that in a sense the Torah itself is neutral; neither positive nor negative. It is like a mirror simply reflecting the image portrayed in it. Torah reacts to human action. Those who obey it are blessed and those who disobey it are cursed.
• The Scriptures reveal that the Torah is much more than a list of dos and don’ts as many people have been led to believe it to be. The Scriptures reveal that the Torah is much more than a list of dos and don’ts as many people have been led to believe it to be.
• The Torah defines what sin (1 John 3:4) and righteousness are (Ps 119:172).
• The Torah shows us what YHVH expects from man (Deut 10:12–13). The Torah convicts man of sin or lawlessness and brings us to Yeshua by way of the cross (Gal 3:24).
• The Torah brings temporal and spiritual rewards; life and blessing when followed; curses when disobeyed (Deut 28; Matt 5:19).
• Obeying the Torah helps deepen a loving and intimate relationship with YHVH-Yeshua and helps us to abide in Yeshua (John 14:15; 1 John 2:3-6).
• Obeying the Torah helps us to stay spiritually pure (1 John 3:3-6).
• Obeying the Torah protects us from the influence of the devil (1 John 3:8).
• The Torah provides a framework for divine justice or judgment (Deut 17:11; John 12:48; Heb 4:12 cp. Rev 1:16; 2:16; 18:15, 21).
• The Torah forms the basis for the jurisprudence system of civil government (Deut 17:11).
• The Torah is heaven’s revelation of divine grace. It reveals how sinful man can be reconciled to a righteous Elohim; it reveals the path of redemption or salvation from slavery to sin through the idea of substitutionary sacrifice. This all points to Yeshua the Messiah, the Redeemer or Savior of the world.
• The Torah reveals the concept of covenant between YHVH and man involving YHVH’s chosen people—the nation of Israel.
• The Torah will guide and keep us on the path of righteousness and lead us into YHVH’s everlasting kingdom and spiritual divine family. It acts as a protective guardrail to keep us on the road leading to eternal life. It keeps man from falling into the spiritual ditches or off the spiritual cliff along the side of the road of life.
• The Torah is our light in a dark world; the answer to life’s questions and dilemmas (Ps 119:99, 105; Prov 6:23).
• Through Yeshua the Living Torah, the Torah helps us to become the person that YHVH wants to live with forever. It prepares us to be the spiritual bride of Yeshua (Rev 19:7–8).
• Obeying the Torah brings us eternal rewards (not eternal life, which is by grace through faith alone, see Eph. 2:8) in the world to come (Matt. 5:19).
• Obeying the Torah helps deepen a loving and intimate relationship with YHVH-Yeshua and helps us to abide in Yeshua (John 14:15; 1 John 2:3-6).
• Obeying the Torah helps us to stay spiritually pure (1 John 3:3-6).
• Obeying the Torah protects us from the influence of the devil (1 John 3:8).
• Obeying the Torah-Word of YHVH helps to perfect YHVH-Yeshua’s love in us (1 John 3:6).

Yeshua Is the Living Torah

• Yeshua was the Torah-Word of Elohim that was Elohim, and who came to earth to live in flesh form (John 1:1–14).
• He was the I am that was before Abraham (John 8:58)
• Rom 10, Yeshua is the ultimate expression, end goal of fullest fulfillment of Torah (Rom 10:4). Paul equates Yeshua, the Living Torah, with the written Torah of Moses (verses 5–10). In Rom 10:11 through 21, Paul goes on to relate this very truth to being the central message of the gospel that Isaiah prophesied (Isa 52:7) would be preached to redeem both houses of Israel to Yeshua their Messiah.
• Yeshua, was the Torah-Light-Word led who instructed, fed and watered Israel through the wilderness.
• 1 Cor 10:4, Yeshua was spiritual Rock that fed the Israelites.
• Acts 7:38, Yeshua was the one who spoke from Mt. Sinai and who was with the angel that led the Israelites in the wilderness.
• Yeshua is the Living Manna (John 6:48–51).
• Yeshua equates himself with Torah (John 6—manna).
• Yeshua referring to himself as the Light of the world (John 8:12, 9:5; 12:46) urged his disciples to believe in that Light and to become children of Light (John 12:35–36).
• Believers are not only called to emulate their Master and become light as he is light, but they are called to put on the “armor of light” which is likened to walking in righteousness (Rom 12:12–13) after the similitude of their Father in heaven who is called the Father of lights (Jas 1:17) and who dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim 6:16). This is the same light that caused Moses’ face to radiate with light upon descending Mt. Sinai after having been in the presence of YHVH (Exod 34:33, 35).
• In the Gospel of Matthew, Yeshua urged his followers to be lights in this dark world and to be a candlestick on a hill (Matt 5:14–16).

The Torah is the Bedrock Foundation of the Bible

Torah is the bedrock of the Bible. The rest of the Bible is built on this foundation, points back to it; points man forward to the Living Torah; urges us back to it, or forward to Yeshua; extols the virtue of Torah; predicts what will happen to man who remains outside of or rebellious to Torah; and is otherwise, an inspired commentary on Torah.

The Torah of the Testimony of Yeshua (the New Testament) are the Gospel books, which are the words of Yeshua/the testimony of Yeshua, the Living Torah.

The rest of the the Testimony of Yeshua is the historical chronicle of how the early believers walked out Torah, how the apostolic leaders defended Torah from those who would attempt to undermine, negate or lessen it.

The Essence of Torah

Love is the foundation and quintessential concept behind the Torah-law of Elohim. Yeshua states this in Mark 12:29–31,

“And Yeshua answered him, The first of all the [Torah] commandments is, Hear, O Israel; YHVH our Elohim is one Master: and thou shalt love YHVH your 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 neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”

Love must be the motive behind all our righteous deeds or else our actions count for nothing (1 Cor 13:1–13). The concept of love and the keeping of YHVH’s Torah-law are codependent actions. One cannot exist without the other.

Yeshua speaks of the higher function of the Torah in his famous “Golden Rule” passage of Matthew 7:12, “Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” Paul echoes this concept in Romans 13:8, “Love does not do harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fullness of the Torah.”

John, in his epistle, discusses this idea at length in 1 John 2:7-11; 3:11-24; 4:7-2 where he states that “Elohim is love” (4:8, 16) and that one’s love of Elohim and man is linked to obedience to the Torah-commandments (2:7-9; 3:11-18). As YHVH first loved us, we should love our fellow man (4:7–11), in word, deed and in (Torah) truth (3:18). This relates to Yeshua’s admonition to his disciples in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my Torah-commandments.”

David came and reduced the 613 laws of the Torah to eleven (Psalm 15), Isaiah to six (Isaiah 33:15), Micah to three (Micah 6:8), Isaiah again to two—“Observe and do righteousness” (Isaiah 56:1). Then Amos came and reduced them to one, “Seek me and live” (Amos 5:4)—as did Habakkuk, “The righteous one will live by his trusting [or by faith] (Habakkuk 2:4)”’