Tag Archives: Law of Moses

Overview of Romans — The Gospel, the Torah, & the Israelite Nation Reunited

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The following overview of Romans is a radical departure from what the mainstream church teaches. Read it and see if what I say doesn’t unite the truth of the Bible from beginning to end, instead of pitting one section of the Bible against the other, which is  the approach the church typically takes when presenting the teachings of Paul.

The Main Themes of Romans

This is perhaps the only book in the Bible that is organized systematically like a theological textbook from beginning to end with each point leading to the next. This is not how biblical books are typically arranged.

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In this epistle, there are several main themes.

Pre-eminently, Elohim is the Just Judge of the universe to whom all are accountable (both Jews and Gentiles). This concept alone is huge, since most humans don’t want to believe they’re accountable to anyone except their own egos.

The Torah is Elohim’s standard of righteousness by which he will judge the deeds of all men (both Jews and Gentiles) fairly. If people can accept the fact that there is a supreme Being to whom they’re accountable for their actions, then it’s a short next logical step to accept that such a Being (Elohim) has laws that man must follow if he’s not to run afoul of that Being.

Next, Paul counters a religious system that purported to explain who that Being was and what he required of sinful man. This was Judaism. The problem is that Judaism had perverted the truth of Elohim into a racially exclusive, legalistic, works-based salvational system. Paul attempts to correct this error, and restore this religion to its original truth.

Paul then presents the gospel message of salvation by grace through faith in Yeshua the Messiah is at the center of YHVH’s process to redeem sinful man.

Before Elohim, the Creator of the universe, there is no racial inequality between Jews and Gentiles. Elohim isn’t a racist. All are equal before him. All are sinners, and all need Yeshua.

Paul’s Epistle to the Romans keeps Yeshua and the gospel message front and center, yet at the same time Paul weaves together the good news of Yeshua with that of the righteous lifestyle of Torah-obedience. Together, these two messages form a beautiful tapestry-like picture encompassing the message of the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation — a message of the salvation of man resulting in his being reconciled to Elohim, and his becoming elevated to the spiritual status as a child of Elohim. This process occurs through man’s relationship with Yeshua the Messiah who is both the Written Torah incarnate.

Part 1 — Introduction: The Cornerstone of the Gospel Message

At the very beginning of his epistle, Paul carefully and boldly sets in place the cornerstone for what is to follow. He declares the preeminence of the gospel message and his submission to the lordship of Yeshua the Messiah and his unflinching mission to preach this truth.

1:1–17, The theme of Yeshua and the gospel message are front and center.

Part 2 — Putting Man in His Place

In this section, Paul climbs into the seat of his spiritual bulldozer and begins leveling the playing field between opposing groups of people by putting man in his rightful place before Elohim, who is the Just Judge of the universe. He first attacks the godless heathen for Continue reading →

 

Was Paul inconsistent regarding physical circumcision?

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Acts 16:3, Circumcised him. Evidently circumcision or uncircumcision wasn’t an issue for Paul. He had Timothy who was Jewish circumcised, but not Titus who was non-Jewish (Gal 2:3). Both men were elders and teachers in the assembly of believers. Both men as Torah-obedient individuals would have kept the biblical feasts including the Passover, which in the law of Moses required men to be circumcised.

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Let’s discuss the Torah requirement that all males keeping Passover must be circumcised (Exod 12:48). Is physical circumcision now irrelevant, or was Paul rejecting the Torah on this issue?

First, in Ezekiel’s descriptions of the assumed millennial temple, all those entering in that temple will be circumcised both in flesh and heart (Ezek 44:9).In YHVH’s eyes, those entering it who are uncircumcised are defiling it (v. 7). Obviously, to YHVH, physical circumcision is a holiness issue, though not a salvational issue (as the Jerusalem counsel ruled in Acts 15). So there is still a place in YHVH’s spiritual economy for physical circumcision. Physical circumcision (in addition to heart circumcision) shows a higher level of obedience and holiness, not a lower level.

Second, the law of Moses stipulates that all men be circumcised in order to be part of the Passover (Exod 12:48).

What I’m about to say is beyond the scope of this brief discussion, but the law of Moses (as opposed to the greater or Torah or the eternal principles thereof), it seems to me, was the administrative arm of the greater Torah that pre-existed the law of Moses. The latter contained rules and guidelines needed for a nation to function properly as such. It contained a complete legal code with penalties, a judicial system, an educational system, a taxation system, and government comprised of priests and tribal elders. For the nation of Israel to protect its spiritual integrity, Moses had to protect it from foreign or pagan defilement (spiritual pathogens), which could potentially lead to Israel’s apostasy. The circumcision requirement, to my thinking, was part of the law of Moses’ legal code for Israel regarding Passover observance, but wasn’t necessarily a requirement of the greater Torah, which applies generally to all men. My sense is that Paul in not making a big issue out of physical circumcision was appealing to the greater or higher requirements of the Torah (involving more spiritual and heart issues. At this point, please recall Yeshua’s Sermon on the Mount teaching where he brings the letter and spirit of the Torah together. Paul’s seeming inconsistency with regard to whether men should be circumcised or not may be due to the fact that he was focusing less on the legal requirements of the law of Moses,which was the administrative subdivision of the Torah, which was enacted for the proper legal functioning of the nation of Israel. He was focusing more on the greater Torah or the eternal principles of the Torah that pre-existed Moses. Moreover, when Paul came along, Israel was no longer a sovereign nation that ruled itself. Timothy was half Jewish and Titus was non-Jewish, and both were from Greek nations within the Roman Empire, and so some of the strict legal aspects of the law of Moses (e.g., circumcision for Passover) couldn’t or didn’t have to be applied as long as the greater principles of Torah (i.e., circumcision of the heart) were being kept.

 

What truth will set you free?

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John 8:32, Know the truth. “The truth shall set you free” is an often-quoted axiom, but few understand its deeper biblical implications.

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We violate the sanctity of Scripture if we impose on it our own meanings. This is a cavalier and presumptuous approach to understanding Bible and can hardly be called “rightly dividing the word of Elohim” (1 Tim 2:15).This practice often occurs with this verse. To do so is to twist the meaning of the Scriptures to fit our own vicissitudes and biases. This is humanism and insults the mind, will and sovereignty of the Almighty as divinely revealed in his Holy Word.

To properly understand this verse, we must look solely to the Bible for the keys to understanding it. We can start this process by first asking the question, what is truth? The Bible defines its own terms when it calls the Torah truth (Ps 119:142 and 151). The truth of Torah (i.e., the law of Moses) will set a person free, for when one hears and obeys the Torah, one ceases sinning (i.e., violating YHVH’s Torah-law; 1 John 3:4), and therefore doesn’t come under the penalty of the Torah-law’s judgment for breaking it, which the Bible  calls sin and which leads (ultimately) to eternal death (Ezek 18:4; Rom 6:23). When one is not under the judgment of sin, one is free. With freedom comes life. Yeshua the Messiah himself is also the truth (John 14:6), for he is the Living Torah-Word of Elohim (John 1:1, 14).

When we place our trusting faith in Yeshua and follow him, his spiritual life in the form of his Holy Spirit will then flow through us and empower us to walk away from sin and follow the spiritual light of his Torah, which will keep us sinfree. This is the path that leads us toward the ultimate freedom from eternal death resulting in everlasting life (John 8:52). As such, sin will no longer have any legal claim on us, and thus we will not come into condemnation, but will pass from death into everlasting life (John 5:24). This is possible because Yeshua has taken upon himself our past sins (Rom 3:25), paid the legal penalty of them, and wiped our spiritual slate clean and has given us a fresh start in life (Gal 2:20; 1 Cor 5:17) to walk sin-free (in accordance with his standards of righteousness, which is the Torah). This is the result of knowing the truth and experiencing the freedom that comes therefrom.

This is the full, biblical meaning of this verse.

Be strengthened with these words as you go forward walking in true freedom from sin and death!

 

The Blessing and Glory of the Torah—Readjusting Prejudicial Mindsets

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Exodus 20:1, And Elohim spoke all these words, saying.

The following is an excerpt from a larger article on the subject of the Torah, which can be found at http://hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/torahprimer.pdf.

What Is the Essence of the Torah?

Let us answer the question by posing a question. Why do you call yourself a believer, Messianic, Christian or otherwise? Why do you believe that the Scriptures are the Word of Elohim? Why are you currently reading this teaching article? Why were you created and what is your purpose in life? What is the meaning of life and what is your future destiny? Is there a Supreme Being in this universe and what does he expect from you, as a human, if anything at all? Does he care about you personally, and if he does, does he have anything to say to you about life – and about your life, in particular?

Torah reading in a synagogue with a hand holding a silver pointer

Very few humans alive, or who have ever lived, have answers to these questions. Most humans simply exist. Few actually live with purpose and meaning to their lives.

But you are privileged, for you are about to learn the answers to which so-called philosophers, sages and religious luminaries have been seeking since man has existed. Tidal waves of religion, philosophy and politics have swept across this planet carrying away peoples and nations promising to answer men’s most perplexing questions. Though volumes have been written, though countless libraries are full of millions of books, scrolls, papyri, clay tablets, documents and computer files, the answer to it all is surprisingly simple. In fact one word: It is T-O-R-A-H! The Torah of YHVH-Elohim is the Light of Truth from the Originator of Light and Truth. And it has been miraculously transmitted from heaven to earth, from the infinite to the finite, from the spiritual, boundless, eternal, omniscient and all wise mind of Elohim to the limited confines of physical existence on earth. Like a beam of Light shot through space from the great beyond, penetrating the darkness of human existence that Light became the written Torah, the Word of Elohim in the form of a Torah scroll written in Hebrew script of the set-apart Hebrew tongue (lashon kadosh) thousands of years ago.

The Torah-Word of Elohim forms the very bedrock foundation of the Scriptures. The spiritual building of the Prophets, Writings and Testimony of Yeshua rests squarely and securely upon the foundation of the Torah without which the rest would instantly crumble into nonexistence. Elohim was so determined to make that foundation so rock solid that he literally dictated it audibly letter-for-letter and word-for-word to the man Moses, who like a stenographer, wrote down exactly what he heard. This become the Books of the Law of Moses, or the Torah of YHVH Elohim. None of the Prophets or Writings in the Tanakh, though the inspired and infallible Word of Elohim, were so transmitted. The only words in all of Scripture that approach this level of purity and perfection are those words of the Written Word or Torah made flesh; namely, the words of Yeshua as recorded in the Gospels of the Testimony of Yeshua.

The level of one’s understanding of  the written Torah is the key to having a deep and abiding understanding of Yeshua, the Living Torah, and ultimately of having a blessed, a right, eternal relationship with our Father in heaven. ­Having a deep walking-it-out understanding of the Torah will also determine one’s level of rewards in the Kingdom of Elohim — whether YHVH bestows the title of The Least or The Greatest upon one (Matt. 5:19).

Below are quoted some deeply held, age-old convictions that the Jewish sages have lived and died for regarding the Torah. As you read them, please keep in the forefront of your thoughts the concept of Yeshua, the Living Torah-Word of Elohim, who was made flesh Continue reading →

 

One Torah-law for All People for All Time!

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Exodus 12: 49, One law. (Other “one law” passages include Lev 24:22; Num 9:14; 15:16, 29.) The context of this verse regards the observance of Passover (also Num 9:14). There was to be only one law pertaining to the observance of the Passover for both the native Israelite and for the stranger who sojourns with the Israelite. Leviticus 24:22 says that there is one law for the Israelite and the stranger in the areas of blasphemy, murder, slaying another man’s animal, and harming one’s neighbor in any way. Pertaining to the law about the various offerings for sin (i.e, despising the instructions or Torah of Elohim, verse 31), Numbers 15:15–16 and 29 states there is one law for both the Israelite and the sojourner forever throughout their generations.

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Some will say that these “one Torah for everyone” passages pertain only to the specific Torah laws mentioned in these passages. In numerous places, Israel was to take the Torah (the whole Torah) to the nations of the world, not just parts of the Torah (e.g., Deut 4:6–8; Isa 60:1–3; Zech 8:22–23; Matt 28:18–20; Luke 24:47). Moreover, during the Messianic Age, the Torah will go forth to all the nations (Isa 2:3; Mic 4:2). What’s more, there are numerous places in the Testimony of Yeshua that speak of Torah as the standard of righteousness for all believers for all time (e.g., Matt 5:17–19; John 14:15; Rom 3:31; 7:12, 14, 22; 1 John 2:3–6; 3:4; Rev 22:14). Hundreds of more citations could be added to this list from the apostolic writings alone!

So the Torah was not for Israel only, but ultimately was to be for all the peoples of the earth. This includes you and me.

 

Allusions to Torah-Obedience in Second Thessalonians

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Connecting the Gospel to Its Pro-Torah Hebrew Roots 33399150

When I was taking a college level biblical Greek class a few years back, the Christian professor and I had a few discussions about the Torah. It was his belief that the epistles in the New Testament contained very few references to the Torah. In his mind, therefore, the Torah wasn’t a very prominent idea in the minds of the apostolic writers. I tried to enlighten him otherwise. While the epistles might not contain very many outright references to the Torah — especially direct commands to be obedient to the Torah’s standards of righteousness, the apostolic writers weave the fundamental concepts of the Torah through their writings and make countless allusions to the Torah as we shall see in the study below.

The Torah was just part of their spiritual and social fabric and background. It was their spiritual foundation, and to them Yeshua the Jewish, Torah-obedient Messiah, who was the Living Word of Elohim incarnate, was simply an extensions or expression of this basic idea of Torah truth and righteousness, and whose example they expected the saints to follow as his disciples.

2 Thess 1:3, Love. The Torah defines how a man is to love Elohim and his neighbor. Biblically speaking, is love merely an emotion, or is it something more? The Bible presents love as an action. Yeshua said, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). This action involves obedience to YHVH’s Torah-commandments. Elsewhere, Yeshua sums up the Torah when he quotes the biblical shema, which states that the duty of man is to love YHVH with all one’s heart, soul, mind and strength and one’s neighbor as oneself (Mark 12:28–31 cp. Deut 6:4 and Lev 19:18). The shema is a summation of the ten commandments the first four of which show us how to love YHVH, while the last six how to love our neighbor. These ten statements form the foundation or cornerstone of the entire Torah, which expand out of them.

2 Thess 1:5, Righteous judgments of Elohim. As the just judge of the universe, YHVH Yeshua will judge all men at his second coming based on his word — the Torah (Rev 19:11, 15 cp. Isa 11:3–5 and Ps 119:172). He will then offer rewards to his servants based on how well they followed his Torah or not (Matt 5:19).

2 Thess 1:8, Taking vengeance. See notes on 2 Thess 1:5.

2 Thess 1:6, Righteous thing. The Torah defines what the biblical standard of righteousness is (Ps 119:172).

2 Thess 1:8, Know Elohim. One can’t know Elohim without understanding his character Continue reading →

 

Outline and Intro to Deuteronomy

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Outline of Sefer Devarim—The Book of Deuteronomy: Moses’ Farewell Address

Chapter 1:1–5, Introduction

Chapters 1:6–4:40, First Discourse
Moses gives a veiled rebuke for sin and disobedience, and gives a review of the journey from Mount Sinai to Kadesh with exhortations to obedience.

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Chapters 4:44–11, Second Discourse, Part 1
The religious foundations of the covenant, the spirit in which it is to be kept and the motives to right obedience are discussed. Moses shows how the covenant defines the relationship between YHVH and Israel and emphasizes the basic spiritual demands that such a relationship imposes upon Israel.

Chapters 12–26, Second Discourse, Part 2
The code of law dealing with:

  • Worship, Chapters 12:1–16:17
  • Government, Chapters 16:18–18
  • Criminal Law, Chapters 19:1–21:9
  • Domestic Life, Chapters 21:10–25
  • Rituals and the Sanctuary, Chapter 26

Chapters 27-30, Third Discourse

The enforcement of the Torah-law with its blessings and cursings; establishment of a fresh covenant between YHVH and Israel (i.e., the younger generation).

Chapters 31-34, The Last Days of Moses
Chapter 31, Committal of the law to the keeping of the priests.
Chapter 32, The Song of Moses (a prophecy about Israel’s future).
Chapter 33, Moses’ patriarchal blessing over the tribes of Israel.
Chapter 34, The death of Moses.

Overview of the Book of Deuteronomy/Devarim from Various Commentators
This last book of the Torah starts out with “These are the words which Moses spoke ….” The Hebrew name for Deuteronomy is Devarim meaning “words,” which is the plural form of devar meaning “word, speech, a matter or thing, a commandment, a report, a message, promise.” Note the similarity between the Hebrew word devar and the Greek word logos from John 1:1 (“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim.”). From this connection, we see that Yeshua was the Word of both the OT and the NT. He is the message of the entire Bible (Spirit Filled Life Bible, from the “Word Wealth” at Deut 1:1).

Deuteronomy is written similarly to the vassal-treaties formulated between captor and captive nations prior to 1000 B.C. It contains historical information, enumerates laws, and concludes with threats and promises (Hebrew Greek Key Study Bible, from the Continue reading →