How to Easily Understand the Hard Saying of Paul

I have just written this article in response to an email question that I received from one of the readers of this blog. John writes,

Studying Sha’ul has been a real challenge for me. He seems to say that Torah needs to be followed one moment and then tells the gentiles not to become Jewish and not to undergo circumcision. I am starting to wonder whether he was schizophrenic? How do you understand him? It is my understanding that circumcision is necessary to become partaker of God’s covenant with Abraham.

I quickly wrote the article below in several hours in answer to John’s question. The article probably contains some typos. If so, let me know in this article’s comments section. No matter how many times I read my articles, I still find typos, so your help will be appreciated. For those of you who have my cell phone number, don’t text me with your typo notices. Email them to me, please. It’s a lot easier for me to make the corrections from my computer than my cell phone. Thank you.

Why Paul Is Difficult to Understand

Paul was hard to understand in then in first century as Peter states in 2 Peter 3:16–17, and he’s hard to understand now in the twenty first century, as we will discuss below. In fact, it might be said that if it was hard for Paul’s contemporaries (those who knew him and ministered with him) to understand him, then, logically, it follows that it will be even much harder for those of us to understand him who live 2000 years later and who didn’t know him or work with him. To the former point, Peter writes, 

And account that the longsuffering of our YHVH is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

Again, if Paul was hard to understand in his day, how much more 2000 years later!

For those living and working with Paul, he was hard to understand because of his intellect and education. He was one of the top Jewish scholars of his day with an intellect to match it. You weren’t taught by Gamliel, the grandson of Hillel the Great, the founder of the Hillel School of Phariseeism and considered by some modern Jews to be the greatest sage of the common era, unless you were the top of your class in Jewry! This was the same Paul who was well-travelled, multi-lingual, could debate with the Greek philosophers of Athens, could quote Greek literature from memory and was from a wealthy and prominent family who were Roman citizens because of their wealth and influence. By contrast, most of Yeshua’s other disciples were from the backwoods regions of the Galilee and were common tradesman. Today it would analogous to a logger from Oregon or a fur trapper from Alaska suddenly linking up into a working relationship with a PhD professor in physics or philosophy from Oxford or Cambridge. That was Paul compared to the other apostles.

Now scroll forward 2000 years. Since then, we have nearly 2000 years of church history with all of its institutionalized traditions, syncretistic belief systems, man-made doctrines, anti-Semitic theologies and so on to have to wade through. The very purveyors of these church traditions are also the same people (the Christian leaders and “scholars”) who are translating our Bibles. This means that they’ll often be translating the biblical text in ways that agree with their best (often anti-Torah) understandings of Scripture. 

It is this Babylonian mixture of truth and error (man made doctrines and traditions of men along with questionable if not faulty Bible translations) out of which most of us have come. We have to somehow weave our way through this tangled religious theological mess and figure out what is truth and what is error, what to keep and what to toss out, who is right and who is wrong, what is wheat and what is chaff. This isn’t easy to do when we’ve been brainwashed to view Paul, the Torah-law and the rest of the Bible in a certain way through the lenses of those who have taught us their viewpoints be they right or wrong. This endeavor on our part to separate the precious from the vile, the holy from the polluted promises, justifiably so, to be a daunting and frightening proposition for most people. That’s why the majority of people will prefer to stay in the comfort zones of their churches and man made traditions, rather than to step out into the unknown and unexplored wilderness of being a truth seeker, and, like a modern-day archeologist, to dig down to the bedrock of biblical truth. To step out of the boat of the church system means that, like Peter, you have to have a higher measure of faith than those who will remain comfortably in the boat of their religious traditions. It means that one has to keep their eyes on Yeshua and follow his voice, or else sink into the spiritual watery depths of spiritual confusion. It means that you have to role up your sleeves and get to work, and put on your rubber muck boots and slog through the muddy dung in the barnyard of men’s religion to get to the solid high ground of biblical Truth.

Unlocking the Mystery of Understanding Paul

Now let’s discuss Paul specifically to unlock the mystery of how to understand him. This is not a complicated task if done in a logical way. The way NOT to do it is to cherry pick Paul’s difficult-to-understand scriptural passages out of the larger contest of Scripture and then to explain them one-by-one. This becomes an impossible knot to untie—especially in light of how many  Christian scholars have translated his hard sayings through the grid of their faulty understanding and biases. 

Rather, the best way to understand Paul is to step back and to view his writings from his larger context of Scripture—the forest for the trees. For example, Paul told the saints in Corinth to imitate him as he imitated Messiah Yeshua (1 Cor 11:1). By the way, this lines up with John’s instructions to all the saints in his first general epistle (1 John 2:6). If we’re to imitate Yeshua, then what did he do, so that we can imitate him as Paul (and John) instructs? For sure Yeshua followed the Torah-law. If not, he was a sinner, for we read in Scripture that “sin is the violation of the Torah-law” (1 John 3:4), that sin is unrighteousness (1 John 5:17) and that YHVH’s Torah-law defines what righteousness is (Ps 119:172). On the contrary, we know that Yeshua kept the Torah, for he was without sin, for if he had sinned, he wouldn’t been our perfect, sin-free Savior or Redeemer. He kept the Torah in all points and never violated a single command, which would have been sin (Heb 4:15; 2 Cor 5:21; 1 Pet 2:22; 1 John 3:5). Not only did Yeshua obey the Torah, but he clearly upheld its validity again and again (e.g. Matt 5:17–21; John 14:15), and he commissioned his disciples to carry his instructions in this regard forward to the whole earth (Matt 28:20, 18–20 for context). So according to Paul, this is what he imitated, and what he expected the saints of his day (and us) to imitate.

Next, we read in numerous places that Paul spoke favorably of the Torah law. 

Wherefore the law [Torah] is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. (Rom 7:12)

For we know that the law [Torah] is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. (Rom 7:14)

For I delight in the law [Torah] of Elohim after the inward man… (Rom 7:22)

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin [i.e., violation of the laws/Torah of YHVH, see 1 John 3:4], that grace may abound? Elohim forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? (Rom 6:1–2)

Do we then make void the law through faith? Elohim forbid: yea, we establish the law. (Rom 3:31)

But we know that the law [Torah] is good, if a man use it lawfully…(1 Tim 1:8)

But if, while we seek to be justified by Messiah, we ourselves also are found sinners [i.e., violators of the law/Torah], is therefore Messiah the minister of sin [lawlessness/Torahlessness]? Elohim forbid. (Gal 2:17)

And when they heard it, they glorified YHVH, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe [in Yeshua the Messiah]; and they are all zealous of the law [Torah]: And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs. What is it therefore? The multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come. Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them; them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law [Torah]. (Acts 20:20–24)

While he answered for himself, neither against the law [Torah] of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all. (Acts 25:8)

And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, [i.e., the Torah] yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. (Acts 28:17)

So with all of this overwhelming evidence (and more could be given) from Scripture itself that not only proves Paul’s favorable disposition toward the Torah-law, but that he actually lived  according to it himself and taught both the Jews and the non-Jewish saints to do likewise, how is it that so many Christian scholars believe and teach the opposite? This is a discussion for another day, but suffice it to say, two Bible verses sum up the indigenous and general antipathy that all carnal humans have toward the commandments of Elohim because of their sin nature:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jer 17:9)

Because the carnal mind is enmity against Elohim: for it is not subject to the law of Elohim, neither indeed can be. (Rom 8:7)

The antipathy of humans (even many Christian including scholars, Bible teachers and pastors) toward YHVH’s Torah-law can also be explained by the fact that man has this peculiar tendency to want to twist the word of Elohim to make him say what he’s not really saying at all. The religious Jews of Yeshua’s day had this same (sinful) tendency.

Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?” [Yeshua] answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME. AND IN VAIN THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN.’ For laying aside the commandment of Elohim, you hold the tradition of men….” He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of Elohim, that you may keep your tradition.…  making the word of Elohim of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.” (Mark 7:6–9, 13)

Why do men twist the Word of Elohim and make it say something that it doesn’t say? This is because of the innate sinful and rebellious nature of man’s heart as noted just above. This disposition of man all stems from the lie of the serpent at the tree of knowledge, who placed in the mind of man the seeds of doubt and unbelief when it came to obeying the clear commands of Elohim.

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which YHVH Elohim had made. And he said to the woman, “Has Elohim indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (Gen 3:1).

Note what the serpent-devil said to the first humans, which caused them to sin: “Has Elohim indeed said…?” In other words, “Does Elohim really mean what he says?” There you have it. The seeds of rebellion, sin, doubt and unbelief! The serpent was really say, “When Elohim gives us commandments to follow, he really doesn’t mean what he says.” All of the ancient church traditions not withstanding, all of the religious institutions, the seminaries, the denominations, the church buildings and cathedrals, the religious ceremonies, rituals, pomp, doctrinal statements, creeds, and the religious theological philosophies aside, this lie of the devil is at the basis of all of man’s anti-Torah-law, religious tradition, philosophy, doctrines and rhetoric.

And long ago YHVH’s holy prophets who were speaking for him prophesied that this rejection of his Torah on the part of his people would be to occurring down through the ages. 

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the Torah-law of your Elohim, I also will forget your children. (Hos 4:6)

I have written for him the great things of My Torah-law, But they were considered a strange thing. (Hos 8:12)

That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the Torah-law of YHVH. (Isa 30:9)

Thus says YHVH: “Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.…’  Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people—The fruit of their thoughts, Because they have not heeded My words Nor My Torah-law, but rejected it.” (Jer 6:16–17, 19)

 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, And the law of YHVH is with us’? Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood. The wise men are ashamed, They are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of YHVH; So what wisdom do they have? (Jer 8:8–9)

Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the Torah-law and the words which YHVH of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from YHVH of hosts. (Zech 78:12)

 “For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, And people should seek the Torah-law from his mouth; For he is the messenger of YHVH of hosts.But you have departed from the way; You have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” Says YHVH of hosts. (Mal 2:7–8)

And finally,

O YHVH, my strength and my fortress, My refuge in the day of affliction, The Gentiles shall come to You From the ends of the earth and say, “Surely our fathers have inherited lies, worthlessness and unprofitable things  [or lies, KJV].” (Jer 16:9)

The Truth About Paul and the Torah-Law

So if the church has twisted the truth about what Paul was saying as we’ve just discussed above, what was Paul really saying about the Torah-law? 

If Pal, contrary to popular and majority opinion, again for the reasons noted above, is really upholding the Torah-law, then what’s going on with him? Simply this. Paul IS NOT against the Torah, but against the false and unbiblical false teaching that man’s good works (i.e. Torah obedience) can earn a person salvation, or that adherence to men’s unbiblical traditions (e.g. that you have to be circumcised in order to be saved) are a necessary prerequisites to obtaining YHVH’s grace or unmerited favor (or pardon for sin). That’s it. This is Paul’s whole thesis and the basis for all of his brilliant and hard to understand polemic is all about. Nothing more or less. When all of Paul’s writings are understood through this grid, he makes perfect sense. He’s totally upholding Torah-law obedience, but not as a precondition for receiving initial salvation or right-standing with Elohim. Salvation occurs through faith in Yeshua and through legally identifying with his death, burial and resurrection. Once that spiritual legal transaction has been made in a person’s life, then Paul expects a person to produce the good spiritual fruits or good works of righteousness that obeying YHVH’s Torah commands bring. 

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of Elohim, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah Yeshua for good works, which Elohim prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:8–10, emphasis added)

So in light of this truth, some of Paul’s other statements make more sense, as do those of the other apostles and of Yeshua.

Wherefore the law [Torah] is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. (Rom 7:12)

For I delight in the law [Torah] of Elohim after the inward man… (Rom 7:22)

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin [i.e., violation of the laws/Torah of YHVH, see 1 John 3:4], that grace may abound? Elohim forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? (Rom 6:1–2)

Do we then make void the law through faith? Elohim forbid: yea, we establish the law. (Rom 3:31)

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” “YOU SHALL NOT MURDER,” “YOU SHALL NOT STEAL,” “YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS,” “YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on YHVH Yeshua The Messiah, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. (Rom 13:8–14)

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of Elohim is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. (1 John 2:2–6)

If you love Me, keep My commandments. (John 14:15)

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:18–20)

Instead of hearing what Paul is actually saying about the Torah, most people, including Bible teachers, popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, reverends, professors, pastors, Bible teachers, lay people et al have listened to and believe his false accusers, who said that he was violating the Torah and teaching against it.

And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. When he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which Elohim had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified YHVH. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law;  but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. (Acts 21:17–21)

What we see in this passage is two things. First, Paul was not teaching against the Torah, but rather was zealous for it and was teaching the Gentiles the same thing. Second, what Paul was against was the Jewish fable and lie that circumcision was a prerequisite for salvation. It never has been and never will be from Abraham until now. Paul makes this argument in Romans chapter four where he teaches that Abraham was justified by faith in Elohim, not by being circumcised. This is why Paul was ambivalent about the ritual of physical of circumcision. It was a good thing to do, but not a requirement for salvation.

When we understand Paul in this contextual light, suddenly he makes sense, and his words aren’t so difficult to understand. The theological knots that religious people have twisted the writings of Paul into suddenly g\begin to unravel. For those who hate the Torah-laws or commandments of Elohim, and prefer instead to believe the lies of the serpent at the tree of knowledge that Elohim doesn’t really mean what he says in his Word, what I have written above will make no sense. In fact they will be opposed to it. They, as Yeshua said, prefer the traditions of men over the word of Elohim, and there’s nothing more I can say to these blind folks except to quote Yeshua who quoted Isaiah.

Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: “THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME. AND IN VAIN THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN.” For laying aside the commandment of Elohim, you hold the tradition of men…. (Mark 7:6–8; Isa 29:13)

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Double-Speak and Double-Think in Christian Theology

Deuteronomy 31:10–13, You shall read this Torah before all Israel. Verses like this tend to expose the theological confusion that occurs in the minds of many Christian Bible teachers. For example, Christian commentator Matthew Henry on this verse writes about the need to read the Word of Elohim and that doing so will “help us to keep his commandments.” Yet elsewhere he says in the same commentary about the same laws that the commandments or laws of YHVH “are done away with.”

Statements like these are representative of a split and incongruous, double-speak and double-think on the part of many mainstream church teachers and people when it comes to the commandments or laws of Elohim. Some laws, they say, we are to keep (e.g. thou shalt not murder, lie, commit adultery, etc.), but other laws we can disobey (e.g. the Sabbath, dietary laws, and biblical feasts).

Is it possible to have it both ways: to believe that we need to keep his commandments, yet teach they are done away with? If so, then what is the meaning of such biblical phrases pertaining to YHVH’s Torah or Word as “forever,” “for a thousand generations,” “the same yesterday today and forever,” “till heaven and earth pass away,” “I change not,” and “think not that I came to destroy the Torah-law?” Is ­YHVH’s Word inconsistent and contradictory, or is this, instead, the case with the thinking of men? Is YHVH’s immutable character flawed with regard to keeping his Word, promises and standards or is man the one at fault?

Do we have a high enough view of YHVH Elohim and fear him and tremble at his Word (Isa 66:2), or have we, in reality, to demoted the veracity of his Word by contorting YHVH and his Word to fit the mindset of changeable and inconsistent man (which the Scriptures define as idolatry)? Have we bought into the lie that the serpent proffered at the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden when he told the man and the woman that YHVH really did not mean what he said and that humans can take the “have it your own way” and “pick and choose” approach when it comes to obeying the Word of YHVH (a philosophy that forms the basis for the religious movement called secular humanism, which is at the heart of all the religions of the world—including much of Christianity—except the true religion of the Bible)?

How many aspects of Christian theology are no more than a thinly veiled version of the religion of humanism in disguise? These are tough questions that we as redeemed Israelites need to ponder seriously. Let’s not forget the words of Yeshua in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my [Torah] commandments” and the words of the apostle in 1 John 2:5–5, “He that says, ‘I know him,’ and does not keep his [Torah] commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whosoever keeps his Word in him truly is the love of Elohim perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”

The bottom line as to why man has a hard time submitting to all of YHVH’s commandments is nowhere stated more concisely in the Bible than in Romans 8:7,

[T]he carnal mind is enmity against Elohim: for it is not subject to the law of Elohim, neither indeed can be.

 

Hebrews 8:6 — “A better covenant…”?

Hebrews 8:6, Better covenant … better promises. In the Greek, the word better is kreitton meaning “more useful, more serviceable, more advantageous, more excellent.”

The Renewed Covenant is a better covenant for the reasons discussed in the notes in verse eight. In 2 Cor 3:7 calls it “the ministry of the Spirit” and refers to it as “more glorious” than the former covenant.

The Renewed Covenant comes with Yeshua’s promise that from within our heart the Set-Apart Spirit will empower and lead us into all truth.

Moreover, under the Renewed Covenant, the promise of salvation resulting in eternal life in the kingdom of Elohim is spelled out more clearly.

The Renewed Covenant also carries with it relief from the penalty of the law, which is death, for those who put their faith in Yeshua’s atoning and substitutionary death (see notes at 2 Cor 3:7). Through the Spirit and blood of Yeshua, one’s sin conscience is now cleansed in that the guilt from sin is removed (Heb 9:14).

Also, as discussed in the verse eight notes, the covenant (or contract) is the actual agreement between two parties. The terms and conditions of a covenant (or contract) are something else. Torah was the terms and conditions of YHVH’s agreement between himself and his people.

When the author here uses phrase like “better covenant,” this in no way implies that the Torah has been abrogated. If this were true, then this flies in the face of what is said elsewhere in the Testimony of Yeshua to the contrary (e.g. Matt 5:17–19; Acts 21:24; 24:14; 25:8; Rom 3:31; 7:14; 1 John 2: 3–6; 3:4; Rev 12:17; 14:17; 22:14).

 

The 18 Benefits of Studying and Obeying YHVH’s Torah

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, and is therefore, in their mind, a negative thing. Deuteronomy 4:6 says that the Torah is our wisdom and understanding before the nations of the world. In Deuteronomy 11:8, we learn that the Torah makes us strong. The word strong in Hebrew is chazaq meaning “to be strong, grow strong, to prevail, to be firm, be caught fast, be secure, to grow stout, grow rigid, to restore to strength, give strength, sustain, encourage, make bold, encourage, to repair or to withstand.” This sounds like a good thing!

Here is a list of the other benefits of studying and obeying YHVH’s Torah:

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 or basis for YHVH’s divine justice or judgment (Deut 17:11; John 12:48; Heb 4:12 cp. Rev 1:16; 2:16; 19:15, 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. Only through covenantal relationship with the Elohim of Israel and by being grafted into the Israel of Elohim can one have eternal life (Eph 2:11–19).

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-Word of YHVH helps to perfect YHVH-Yeshua’s love in us (1 John 3:6).

The Torah shows us how to love Elohim and our neighbor (Mark 12:29–31).

 

The Torah in the Beginning, Middle and End of the Bible

The Living (Yeshua the Messiah) and Written Torah (the first five books of the Bible) is the dominant theme of the Bible. Let’s quickly review three parts of the Bible—the beginning, the middle and the end—to illustrate our point.

In Genesis one, at the beginning of the Bible we find the following.

Genesis 1:1, The Hebrew grammatical marker word consisting of an aleph and tav/<t (the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet) are found twice in verse one, just before and after the word heaven. They are the fourth and seventh Hebrew words in this sentence. The astute Bible student see this as a prophetic reference to Yeshua, who is the Beginning and the End (the Alpha and Omega, Rev 1:8, 11; 21:6, 22:13), and to the fact that Yeshua would come from heaven in the fourth millennia and would come back to earth from heaven in the seventh millennia.

Genesis 1:3, Light was the first creative act of Elohim. Light is a biblical metaphor for Torah or the Word of Elohim (Prov 6:23; Ps 119:105). Light pierced and still pierces the darkness of evil. Darkness is a biblical metaphor for Torahlessness or all that which is of the world, the flesh and the devil and which is contrary to or in rebellion against the will and Word of Elohim (John 1:5; 3:16–21).

Genesis 1:3–5, Light is mentioned five times here. Some Bible teachers refer to this as the five points of light—a reference to the five books of the Torah (Gen through Deut), and to Yeshua, who was the light of the world before the sun was created on the fourth day in Gen 1:14. Yeshua, that same spiritual Torah-light will replace the sun in the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:23; 22:5).

In Genesis 1:3, we find the complete spelling of the word light (Rut/aleph, vav, resh), as opposed to a defective spelling minus the u that the physical sun gives (see Gen 1:14, the first reference to light in that verse is spelled defectively). This points to the supreme and supernal Torah-light from heaven, which is Yeshua, the Torah-Word of Elohim that was made flesh and dwelt among men (John 1:1,14), and who was the spiritual Light of the world (John 1:4–5; 8:12).

Next we come to the middle of the Bible, which is Psalm 119. This is the Bible’s longest chapter and the highest praise of Torah to be found in all of the Scripture. This psalm examines all aspects of the Torah much like a jeweler examining and admiring every facet and angle of the world’s largest and most priceless diamond. In this psalm, we learn what should be our view of and response toward the Torah of Elohim.

Finally, we come to the end of the Bible, which is the Book of Revelation. In the last two chapters of the Bible we find a number of references to the written Torah, and to Yeshua, the Living Torah.

Revelation 22:14 states, “Blessed are they who keep his [Torah] commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.”

Revelation 21:23; 22:5 (also 2 Cor 4:6) reveals that Yeshua will be the light of the New Jerusalem. Yeshua is the Light of the World (John 1:4–5; 8:12) and the Sun of Righteousness (Mal 4:2) whose face shines like the sun (Rev 1:16). As the pre-incarnate Yeshua, Living Torah-Word of Elohim was the light that illuminated the earth until day four of creation when the physical sun was created, Yeshua will once again be the Light of the world.

Revelation 22:3, In the New Jerusalem, there will be no more curse because there will be no more sin or Torahlessness (1 John 3:4, sin is the transgression of the Torah), which brings on the curses of the law (Deut 28:15–68), which death (Ezek 18:4; Rom 6:23)—the ultimate curse for violating the Torah, which are Elohim’s instructions in righteousness.

Revelation 22:12, Yeshua is bringing spiritual rewards to his servants based on how faithful they were to obeying and teaching the Torah (cp. Matt 5:19).

Revelation 22:13, The alpha and omega or (in Hebrew) the aleph and tav—the beginning and end of the Torah-Word of Elohim—is another reference to the written Torah and to Yeshua, the Living Torah. This is a repetition of the same concept found in the first verse of the Bible.

Revelation 22:15 (also 21:8), Outside of the New Jerusalem are found sinners or those who are Torahless.

Revelation 22:17, The Spirit and Bride say come. Who gets to come? Those who have prepared themselves for the marriage supper of the Lamb by putting on the robes of the righteous acts of Torah (see Revelation 19:7–9, NIV and NAS). The Scriptures define righteousness as obedience to the Torah (Ps 119:172).

Revelation 22:18–19 tells us to neither add nor subtract from the Book of Revelation, and by implication, the entire Bible. This echoes the warning Moses wrote at the end of the Torah (Deut 4:2; 12:32).

Revelation 22:20–21, The Hebrew word amein is found twice in the last two verse of the Bible including the very last word of the Scriptures. Amein means “verily, truly” and is a Hebrew word that originates from the Hebrew word emet meaning “truth.” The word emet is spelled aleph, mem and tav, which are the first, middle and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Therefore, emet is a word that signifies all that is revealed on the subject from aleph to tav, thus comprising all that can be written on it and no more can be added to it. This is a one-word in Paleo-Hebrew word pictures literally means “the highest head and source of all knowledge.” Thus, the very last word in the Bible clearly points to both the written Torah of YHVH Elohim, and to Yeshua, the Living Torah, which is the Word of Elohim in human form. Spiritually speaking as revealed in the Bible, these two are one and are indivisible.

 

What about “I change not!” do we not understand?

Deuteronomy 31:10–13, You shall read this Torah before all Israel. Verses like this tend to expose the theological confusion that occurs in the minds of many Christian Bible teachers. For example, Christian commentator Matthew Henry on this verse writes about the need to read the Word of Elohim and that doing so will “help us to keep his commandments.” Yet elsewhere he says in the same commentary about the same laws that the commandments or laws of YHVH “are done away with.” Statements like these are representative of a split and incongruous, double-speak thinking on the part of many Christian Bible teachers and people when it comes to the commandments or laws of Elohim. Some laws, they say, we are to keep (e.g., thou shalt not murder, lie, commit adultery, etc.), but other laws we can disobey (e.g., the Sabbath, dietary laws, and biblical feasts). Is it possible to have it both ways: to believe that we need to keep his commandments, yet teach they are done away with? If so, then what is the meaning of such biblical phrases pertaining to YHVH’s Torah or Word as “forever,” “for a thousand generations,” “the same yesterday today and forever,” “till heaven and earth pass away,” “I change not,” and “think not that I came to destroy the Torah-law?” Is ­YHVH’s Word inconsistent and contradictory, or is this, instead, the case with the thinking of men? Is YHVH’s immutable character flawed with regard to keeping his Word, promises and standards or is man the one at fault?

Do we have a high enough view of YHVH Elohim and fear him and tremble at his Word (Isa  66:2), or have we, in reality, to demoted the veracity of his Word by contorting YHVH and his Word to fit the mindset of changeable and inconsistent man (which the Scriptures define as idolatry)? Have we bought into the lie that the serpent proffered at the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden when he told the man and the woman that YHVH really did not mean what he said and that humans can take the “have it your own way” and “pick and choose” approach when it comes to obeying the Word of YHVH (a philosophy that forms the basis for the religious movement called secular humanism, which is at the heart of all the religions of the world—including much of Christianity—except the true religion of the Bible)?

How many aspects of Christian theology are no more than a thinly veiled version of the religion of humanism in disguise? These are tough questions that we as redeemed Israelites need to ponder seriously. Let’s not forget the words of Yeshua in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my [Torah] commandments” and the words of the apostle in 1 John 2:5–5, “He that says, ‘I know him,’ and does not keep his [Torah] commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whosoever keeps his Word in him truly is the love of Elohim perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”

The bottom line of why man has a hard time submitting to all of YHVH’s commandments is nowhere stated more concisely in the Bible than in Romans 8:7,

[T]he carnal mind is enmity against Elohim: for it is not subject to the law of Elohim, neither indeed can be.

 

Some Troubling Verses in Hebrews 7 Explained

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Hebrews 7:12, Priesthood being changed…a change also of the law [Torah]. The Greek words for being changed and a change are respectively metatithemi (a verb) and metathesis (a noun). The the verb means “to transpose, to transfer, to go or pass over, to fall away or desert from one person or thing to another.” Many people interpret this verse to mean that YHVH’s Torah-law was changed (i.e., invalidated or annulled) by the new covenant, but is this what the author is saying here?

Before going further in our discussion, let’s lay out some basic truths of the Scriptures.

YHVH doesn’t change (Mal 3:6; Heb 13:8; Jas 1:17). The word torah [in English, translated as law] means “instructions, principles, teachings” and came directly from YHVH to his people. The Torah teaches men how to love YHVH and love one’s fellow man. It is YHVH’s instructions in righteousness and reflects his very character and nature. Who YHVH is doesn’t change.

It is a sin (a violation of the Torah) to change the Torah (Deut 4:2; 12:32).

So in this light, what is this verse really saying? It declares that the priesthood was changed. The Levitical priesthood that was temporarily and parenthetically inserted into the Melchizedek priesthood (both priesthoods are revealed in the Torah, see Exod 19:2, 4 cp. 28:1; 32:29). In the former priesthood, a father acted as the priest over his family Continue reading